Exterior Window Tint

[jok]

I finally got the Exterior Window Tint on all the MC8 windows. I think it did a great job of covering up all the bad looking windows that are hidden behind the walls. Also recently painted it and gave the roof a few coats of KoolSeal. Luckily the snow and cold weather held off until I got finished. Still want to buff the stainless this year but we'll see.

John

[ruthi]

Looks good!

[Ericbsc]

Hate to be a jumper but I have been looking for film like on your windows. I would like to do my front, but do they make a film that fades to clear rather than a stripp off mirror?

[philiptompkjns]

Hey Jok,
Curious minds want to know (I'm thinking  of doing mine like that)
What did you use and where  did you buy it?
How  much did it cost you?
And about  how long did it take?
Thanks.

[jok]

Thanks Ruthi.

I bought the film from windowtint.com (http://www.windowtint.com/shop/Exterior-Deluxe-Silver-20-VLT.html). The roll I bought cost $220.24 plus $21.08 shipping, $241.32 total. I bought a roll 48 inches wide and 30 feet long.

My windows are 24 inches tall so I cut the film in half with a razor knife while it was still on the roll. It was just (JUST) enough to tint both sides. I was hoping to get a dark tinted film instead of the silver but I needed it to be applied to the exterior of the windows and I only found the exterior tint in Silver. I did not see any film that faded to clear, but they may have it.

It took me about 12 hours total. It was not that hard to put on, after the first window . The worst part was using the small hard plastic squeegee thing to get the bubbles out. You use a rubber squeegee first and follow with the hard plastic one. Mine was just a plastic blade with no handle. It was hard on the fingers. I used a piece of plywood on sawhorses and a drywall square for cutting to length. Use a lot of spray of water and baby shampoo.

John

[JohnEd]

JOK,

I seem to raining on peoples parades of late.  You want an honest opinion.....right?

The dark tint on the outside will heat the glass up really hot and transfer that heat to the inside.  No tint will let the heat right thru and heat up the same amount except it is distributed around inside.  Neither is good but nothing is worse.  Driving down the road with tint on the outside would be better than standing.  Reflector on the outside will block a lot of heat and is superior to reflector on the inside cause the UV travels through the glass twice in being reflected away.  Problem with outside is that it will weather and scratch and need replaced periodically.  Like plastic lens in glasses....glass lasted a lot longer....like forever. 

I think there is no way to avoid applying the stuff to the interior.  It lasts years inside.  Chrome is better than dark tint.  Windows on the MCI come out from the outside so I think you could get the covered windows out to apply the tint but I have no experience... only a hunch.

I put that tint on the inside of every car I ever owned in S California.  The top of the windshield got silver on the inside 4 inches down from the top.  The bottom of the windshield got silver applied to the bottom to every area that looked onto the hood and could not be used for driving vision.  I am sure the MCI has glass behind the instrument panel that could be treated with no cost to night vision.  Night vision suffers greatly with this stuff and I would under no circumstance apply it to the winshield where you see the road.  Clear or otherwise....inside or out.

I hope I am not sticking my nose where it isn't wanted.  Especially when your windows/entire bus look so darn good.

John

[jok]

JohnEd, I agree with what you say and do want honest opinions. I make too many mistakes and need all the help I can get to prevent more .

My Prevost heats up like an oven. It is all black except for the roof which has white KoolSeal. The windows are all dark tint and when we travel to Texas or California the three roof top airs don't keep up.

On the MC8 I needed to put the tint on the exterior or replace about half of the windows. It has dual pane windows and the previous owner painted some black, which probably lead to the cracked inner glass. Other windows that are behind the walls had dark tint which was peeling and a few windows had black plastic taped in place. Then there was the windows that turned white between the pieces of glass, luckily most are behind a wall.

I did have to remove one window frame from the outside because an angled piece of glass was cracked and chipped on the exterior. I took the drip edge off and removed the pins from the hinges. It was not too bad considering that the drip edge screws had been in for 32 years. Love my DeWalt hammer drill with screw driver bit.

I had one window that is in the dining area that had turned white between the glass panes. I took the frame out and removed the glass. I cleaned it with LimeAway. Then I used the buffer with fine rubbing compound. It was much better but still noticeable. When I put it back together I put the bad side of the glass toward the exterior hoping that the tint film would hide/seal the problem. Luckily it worked and is not noticeable from the inside or outside.

I am hoping to have the tinting last 2-3 years.

John

[ruthi]

I dont know how the tint reacts with single windows, but, we were told by the local glass place that when you install tint on double pane windows, it will get the hazy smokey look in time. We put tint on our sliding door at home, and it did just that. We also have a window in our current bus that has it on it, and it did the same thing. That is with it done on the inside, dont know about the outside. Hopefully, it will hold up as it does look good.

[ruthi]

PS, John ED, you are like a dark cloud approaching on a sunny day.  Just kidding, take care.

[JohnEd]

I am feeling like one, Ruthi.  I was relieved that JOK realized that my motive was positive.

That fogging of the window is a mystery, isn't it?  I hope somebody can explain it.

I overheard an engineer talking to another engineer one day.  The guy he was talking to was known to be a devil's advocate PITA.  What he told him when asked "can you explain that" was "son, I can explain anything to my satisfaction".  Great attitude!

John

[Dreamscape]

I would be wondering if this reaction is just happening in gas filled (Argon) Thermo Pane windows as opposed to the normal RV dual pane which is just a dead air space. Any thoughts on this?

Paul

[ruthi]

I dont know about double windows without gas, ours was gmc original windows that fogged. But, the glass place did say that the ones with the gas in them will do that when tint is applied. The business there has the whole front of their building, and they said they origianally had double pane windows, and tinted them, and they fogged. He said they had to replace them. We had our windows for the new bus made with the gas double pane, but they are already tinted glass.

[JohnEd]

The tinted glass gets too hot to touch.  Maybe it is related to the heat.