Wash before Tint?
 

Hey guys, I'm getting my tints done for the first time on Wednesday. I was just wondering if tint places normally wash your car, or do you do it yourself before?

They're closed until the day of, so I can't contact them.

Thanks.

All they wash is the windows. I run mine through a touchless car wash on the best setting before it goes in for any work.

They don't care if your car is dirty. They'll wash the inside of the windows in preparation for installing the tint, but that's it.

They'll wash the inside of the windows, but the place I go to wanted me to wash the car. I think it was some OCD thing.

Great! Thanks for the replies fellas!

I'll agree with the ones above. The guy that did the tint just cleaned the windows. My car was filthy from the rain and he didn't care.

Nah. Don't wash the car. When they spray down the windows, they'll get it on the rest of the car... so just wash it all at once.

At least run water over the car. A lot of places use the outer window to make the rough cut on the tint and if there is any debris on it then it will transfer to the tint. If you rinse off the car or even wash it, it'll increase your chances of having perfect tint.

Yes, they are going to measure the tint on the outside by spraying tint lube on the window. They cut off a bit extra and then go inside and apply it. If you go to a 99$ special they will probably leave your car covered in lube stains. If you go to a legit place I'm sure they will clean up their mess.

The shop I went to is well-regarded but doesn't clean up afterwards. They claim it's due to liability. (e: I believe them, people here will try to take advantage of anyone any way they can).

A word of caution: CLEAN UP AFTERWARDS. They got a drip on the silver dash plastic that dried before I got the car back. I couldn't see it from the driver's seat but the first time I sat in the passenger seat it was incredibly obvious. It had only been a couple of days and I couldn't get it off. Now I have a permanent water streak down the middle of the panel. Awesome.

No wash before. Wash afterward. There will be spray and hand prints on doors.

Go to a licensed Llumar installer. Their tint is laser-cut to a pattern, and since your windows are probably not that different from my windows, it'll look fine.

Also, take off your third brake light before tinting, so they don't cut around it. Just remember to put it back afterwards.

An update for all those who contributed in this thread, and those who are wondering themselves.

Just my luck, the tint shop was a licensed Llumar installer, and that means they used lasers to cut a pattern. It appears that they cleaned the windows before they installed the tint. It's also apparent that they took off the door panels, but put them back on exactly as they found them. No marks on the door, panel, or whatever, it actually seems a bit cleaner than when I dropped it off as there were these sunscreen marks that I had left on the panel by accident and they were gone upon pickup. This is probably due to the fact that they took the time to clean-up after themselves and wiped down everything once they had finished the installation.

Overall, this tint shop is excellent. I'm gonna post a review of them on the Canada sub-forums. Name of the shop is Auto-links.

How dark did you go? Pic?