Tinting side windows - did you fully remove the window?

[Valence]

I am looking to have my deuce's driver and passenger side windows professionally tinted. If you had your windows tinted, did you (or would you) fully remove the window from the door first?

I have never been inside the doors on my truck to play with the windows, but from some reading around here it sounds like it would take a few hours to get them out properly - and if you mess something up you may scratch or even crack your window. It seems like a lot of time, bother and some risk to tint what will not be seen. (It's obvious which side of the fence I'm on, but I would still very much like to hear your views - or what you did.)

Or did you buy new windows and tint them before installing?

My side windows have some sandblast overspray from the Army, but work well and are otherwise undamaged.

 

[gimpyrobb]

If I were to do it, I'd pull them. Its not hard to do, or risky if you take your time.

 

[VPed]

A professional tint place should easily be able to knock that out without much extra effort compared to having the window out. These are not like modern cars or trucks where part of the glass that needs tinting remains below the window sill. Not worth the trouble in my opinion.

 

[Truckoholic]

It really is not very difficult at all the take the windows out. You just take that panel off the lower part of the door, and with the window rolled down part way, you can easily get to the screws that are holding it in, and once you have those out, you just lift it straight up and out. I've taken a few of them out when I was sandblasting, because at first I made the terrible mistake of thinking the glass would be safe from the blasting if it was rolled down inside the door. DOH!!!! Bad move!!! Ha ha. But yeah, it really is pretty easy. But like has been said already, there really is no part of the glass below the top of the door, so it should be tintable just fine with the windows in place.

 

[swbradley1]

Ziebart does complete window tinting and it is not worth the hassle to do it myself. It was like $120 to do the windows on my pickup and not much more to do another vehicle.

Would I take the glass out of anything to do it. No.

Plus it has a lifetime guarantee against bubbles and defects and they have stood behind it for 11 years now on one of them.

 

[wsucougarx]

I tinted my M109A3 without pulling the windows. I left 2" of tint to go down beyond the window gasket to keep it from grabbing the tint as you roll the window down. Be sure to buy quality tint! Don't buy the garbage you find in the auto parts store or Walmart. The adhesive will fail after a few months and you'll get bubbling.

 

[Valence]

Thanks everyone for you input, suggestions, and opinions. I like hearing your thoughts (...even it most of said thoughts should have been kept in a dark room, chained to a table and door sealed shut for public safety...).

 

[dusterdeere]

where would you get the good tint from. thanks

 

[Valence]

After two years of deliberating and mostly not-doing, I finally pulled the side windows out for tint. It was incredibly easy. I mean, no question pull the windows out to tint them. I was mostly trying to decide if I was going to replace the windows, since when the military prepared my truck for CARC, they sandblasted the glass a bit (I had to replace the windshields because I couldn't see out of them at low sun elevations!). I finally decided that the current windows were more than serviceable (scratches, pitting and all). I took my windows to a local place (A Shade Above) for the window tint. My mother wisely suggested putting tape on the outside of the windows so the proper side (inside) would be tinted.

I'm very pleased how it turned out and looks!
The only difficulty was aligning the windows to close more squarely with the hard top - I don't think I was able to get it as close as original.



Also, as with any "upgrade cascade", I decided that while I had the windows out, it was an opportune time to replace the worn out window channels. I purchased these window channels as part of this kit:
http://www.eriksmilitarysurplus.com/m3setrcabwes.html



**VERY IMPORTANT NOTE!: With the outside glass weather strip replacement, the "lip" is on top. Meaning, as pictured here on the bench, it is up-side-down. The clips on this NewStar replacement are very cheap compared to the original, and you will VERY LIKELY break them if you install it incorrectly (like I did).


The front most window channel was held in with a very nice brass rivet. I drilled it out and used a regular 3/16" aluminum rivet (with a 3/16"-5/16" grip range). Obviously, it sticks out further on the back side of the window channel support, but it only presses a little into the weather strip on the cab, and that will not matter. I actually used a vice grip to smash the head and back-side of the rivet down more, and then I took a flat punch to the face of the the rivet to flatten out the grooves left by the vice grips.



And finally, I replaced the door weather seal (rear and bottom side only - the front, or hinge side is still "TODO"). I not only reused the stock clamps, but I glued it down with pliobond too as, judging by the amount of scraping I had to do, the original had been glued down too. The new weather seal makes me slam the door a bit harder (the driver's side considerably more), but I think that'll only be until the new seal is "broken in".