Wow Mike the work looks great! Rob called me this morning and left a vm...I'll be getting back to him no doubt...

I really like the way your tint turned out, very nicely done...can you see any air bubbles? How well does it stick around the dot matrix areas?

 

No not really any air bubbles that I see. Checked the other night but, not recently so, I need to go out and look. HAd it not snowed I would have been out in the car!

Dot matrix stuck as expected..kind of sorta. It is not perfect but, it looks darn good! Tim the tinter will tell you that too. He does a good job of gettting it on there and looking pretty tight!

I feel confident you will be happy with the tint job!

 

Actually talked to Rob...super nice guy...turns out we have a bunch of friends in common in the car world and outside...lol talk about a small world! He educated me on all the history of clear film and different technologies out there!

 

Yeah he is! Very knowledgeable and helpful! It was a great experience. Looking forward to March 17th visit!

 

One thing to consider - in addition to general aptitude of installer - is that the Avery ("Nano") film currently comes in a max width of 48". I personally know the head guy of the Avery Dennison division that handles their PPF (paint protection film) products. Coming from that horse’s mouth they won't have a product wider than 48" (i.e. 60") until mid summer '11 best case. The wide film is very much so not an easy thing to mfg.

So... depending on what you mean by “full front".... I can tell you that the hood on a C6 Vette is precisely 59.69" wide and 51.91" top-bottom. 48" width film will not cover that dimension without a seam; I don’t care how much you stretch it.

I've worked with / demo-ed every iteration of the recent Avery Nano film and it isn't going to stretch and hold to cover that dimensional variance, so if someone is capable of doing it in spite of that factual assertion, please let me know and I will graciously and humbly eat my hat. On the other hand... IF someone is able to convince you that running a seam across the width of your precious pristine hood is the best way to go... and you believe them... than that is a totally different thing.

In additon to lack of adequate width, the Avery Nano film is far from a proven thing. They are "shipping" it, but according to my aforementioned Avery contact it is very much so still in a beta state of production. The top tier 3M PPF films are 8 mils thick (.008”) and in that have 2 mils (.002”) of adhesive. The current Avery Nano film has 1 mil (.001”= 50% of 3M) of adhesive….. Ergo it isn’t very strong but easy to apply because the thin layer of adhesive is not easily distorted…. Looks good freshly applied but applied to any curvature and just wait, I’ve seen it for myself many many times.

3M Ventureshield is consistently and reliably mfg.ed in 60” width to do whole wraps on almost any hood (notable exceptions being RR Phantom sedan and drop-head).

AND one anecdote that I have personal first-hand knowledge of b/c I worked on the deal, albeit in a limited and narrow capacity..... VW global (as in big papa daddy Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft = VW, Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Seat, Skoda… And yes now Porsche 100%) recently spent over 1 million Euros on a comprehensive full blown test on paint-protection-films; test including mad German scientist lab work and in-field quality-of-application type criteria, and 3M VentureShield was the resounding winner and the one they chose as their one and only OEM PPF.

EVEN IF someone around MD/NoVA could flawlessly apply the Avery Nano PPF … given its 48” width limitation it could never look flawlessly seamless like full-front-clip-ppf-wrap below.

And on the tint... skip the middle man mark-it-up carpet bagger... your guy was Tim Cooke = Absolute Perfection / direct 443-375-0461... Tim = good guy but the Llumar film he uses is way inferior to premium 3M and Huber Optik films.

 

Given it would appear you work for someone else I don't put alot of weight in your comments. So you either work for Auto Armour or had them do your car..so, you think they are the best. Good for you. As far as full front...I did not mean to imply from top to bottom as entire car. More so full front bumper half half way up hood(my opinon full front of car) The film that saw and watched put on was on a roll so, it's as a long as needed..and given where it will start and stop I would assume it's wide enough. Based on what I saw doing a corvette I feel it will be fine. I'll be watching him do the car so, if I have an issue..I'll ask. I think there are alot of good films out there...for pp and tinting. I believe, given my research with comments from installations, that mine will be fine. Thank you for putting down my choices and thus trying to ruin my enthusaism. Given your barely 40 or so posts in 3 years...again..I don't put much weight in your comments.

And I've heard the same comments about 3M and Huber Optik. 3M sucks and Huber your paying for a name...some of the comments. Everyone has an opinion...from what I read..3M sucked Huber and Llumar were similar except in cost. Yes I know it was Tim I watched him do it, saw his truck and have his card. When I spoke with Rob...he said he could do it...okay fine he is a middle man. He found someone who did the tint in my opinion very well...what the hell do I care if I paid a few more dollars for it. What should I cut him out after he helped me find the guy? Jeez...your just one be black cloud...full of supposed knowledge.

If you can prove you know these people with THEM coming on to make the comments to me personally followed by a demo example with plenty of spec sheets to back this up...I MIGHT believe you..until then..I'm going with what I found and see that many people are happy with. If there are issues..both have a warranty on them..I know where the shop is and will go talk to both of them (tim for tint and rob for clearbra) They both are nice and more than happy to work with me.

Have a great day....that is if you can. I'm sure you have more threads to write to tell people how wrong they are.

 

Wowwwza looks like a battle between 'ole Cliff and Rob! lol and the gloves are off!!!

Well I have no dog in this fight, aside from the fact that I am looking to get clear film and tint done...from one of these guys most likely...

to me it's whomever gives me the best deal - main factors are cost, what's covered on the car (I don't need a full front, a partial front is fine and a few other monor areas), and warranty. Each person claims their product is superior I will never know the truth and I am not an expert in PPF, since clear film is not a performance product the risk of catasrophe is not there, so to me as long as it has a lifetime warranty if it starts peeling or yellowing I will take it back and have it redone with another product of my choosing (Avery or 3M Venturesheild depending on which one I try first) ...

I had no idea there was this much drama in the clear film market demographic in our area wow!

 

I would not make the decision based on cost but, to each his own. No argument here...anyone who has to tout themselves like that...well....you know...if you gotta toot your own horn.

I don't see it as gloves of battle. He can say whatever he wants...he is still not getting my business. Rules of sales...never attack your competitor. You usually lose the sale...trust me....20 years in sales..and that tactic never works.

Anyway...back on topic. Install goes on tomorrow and I'll have pics! Can't wait!

 

I don’t know about a battle. I think Auto Armour has more work than it can handle as it is. They are called as far away as Phil and NY to luxury & exotic dealers.... perfect work & honest business goes a long way.

WeisachWilli is just presenting facts about films, listen or not doesn't matter to me a whole lot. Wanna drink the Kool Aid... go ahead. There is a reason certain kinds of clientele go to certain vendors, and that goes both ways, upscale & downscale and across commercial & direct retail.

Honestly I know very little about window tinting film. I just read the IWFA (int'l window film assoc.) test sheets. I don't really care for any of it.... I like to see out my windows.

If someone is posting about something they are about to get, or someone they are about to business with... makes you wonder, a preemptive move to reduce post-purchase-dissonance if they find out later their money was better spent elsewhere? I don't know. Whatever.

On the tint.... I see Tim @ absolute perfection recently posted thread pitching all kinds of films including ppf.....I hooked Tim up with Bentley Bethesda to do a tint job on a car and it turned out blue, had been sold out of state and shipped and the guy was not happy at all, disaster, I never should have gotten in the mix trying to do professional favors.

As for references :
Avery head of PPF = Max Stutz
VW PPF testing = Jan Prejawa VW Aftermarket Engineer

 

So even after the little bit of "rain" from Willi...I was off to see Rob yesterday...and let me tell you I had a BLAST! Got there at 10ish...and pulled the car in the shop. Rob and talked a bit and then he started on the car...while I watched..and shot the $hit. I mean...I got to watch the man in action! I think he could put the PPF on in his sleep! You can tell Rob knows his stuff..and he talked to me alot about it which was great to learn. Really cool that he tells you all about it and what he is doing, answers all your questions. I'm telling you there ain't a nicer guy out there...to work on your car. I truly enjoyed the day!

The product is on the car and looks GREAT! We did a few other things to the car too. Tinting and blackout of the halo. And they too look AWESOME! My cheeks hurt from smiling so much!

Some pics for ya! You can't really see the clear bra...but, its there and looks good. My mind is really at ease now that it is on the car. And the halo and lights we did look GREAT! No not headlights...the rest though!







Man...that is one bad a$$ looking vette!

Oh and that Porsche is one sweet machine! I am not as up on Porsche but, I believe it was GT2 ... Anyway...Holy Cow is that a nice car!

Oh and Wesiachwilli....we called Max....nice guy...

 

So if you can't tell I am EXTREMELY pleased with the install. Rob will be the only one touching my cars for PPF, tint, wrap, etc. I highly recommend him to anyone looking...you will NOT be disappointed. He has a great product, great price, knows his product, how to install and is a blast to hang out with....it's a win win win!