Raytech RX series (security tint) vs 3M Crystalline (solar) range?

Solar Gard, is it? That is a branded American tint brand. Top LX range?

Last time also I look into that when looking for metallic sputter tints. However there is little to no local reviews on this tint.
So I got no further comment on quality of this tint. It does not have detail of film material online.

Although the LX70 specs listed near on par with VKool Elite, the oversea comments I read mentioned it does not match up (then again, many other tints did the same with specs thingy, we cannot say for sure). It is cheaper than VKool, so you can decide for yourself.

Be wary that 3M also got fake imitation outside, so make sure get from trusted vendor.

For the 5 years vs 7 years warranty, I think no need bother coz by 5 years, tint still looks good the extra 2 years not much difference. Note that this is should be defect and installation (bubble and peeling) warranty. Does not cover performance degradation. It does give you 2 extra years of peace of mind, as long as the shop installing for you is official partner of the tint your want and does not renegade or close shop.

For 3M, it is already well established. In 5 years generally not much issue was heard with performance degradation. Cannot comment on solar gard tho since not much local reviews on that.

This post has been edited by Cavino: Jul 11 2024, 03:23 PM

Oh...you actually also considering Raytech. Raytech is also an established brand here with many branches. Their warranty from official shops (listed in their website) are valid in any of their official installation sites, not just from the shop you install only. Their top range RX (Security) and R (Solar) series have good review too. Trusted brand but the price is quite high thus many might just opt for 3M for 3M branding. The TSER for the top range are pretty good. It is actually one of my top choice last time when I looking for tint. Unfortunately for Klang Valley highway users, their top range windscreen cannot pass smart tag just like 3M but that is a non issue in Sabah. Ceramic based tho and my preference is metallic sputter anyway.

Oh....I remember now why I did not look into solar gard last time. I am looking for metallic sputter films then but their top LX range did not list if it is metallic sputter. Then their TSER for LX55 and LX25 are quite low when compared to some of its competitor. One thing, at least their site is being honest about lower TSER coz some other tints listed sky high TSER for the same VLT but cannot match the performance that they listed. FYI, TSER is the general estimate numbers to show the total combined heat resistance.

Too bad Irispro is not there in Sabah coz that local tint brand do worked with their listed high TSER (at least I can feel that in my cars) of their metallic sputter top range D and DX series. Just a bit thick thus harder to install and takes longer to dry out and their brand is too new for some and local brand some more.

Based on your budget lar...the darkest of cheaper tint and darkest of premium high price tint of 5% VLT got quality (effectiveness, lasting) difference wan. You willing to pay near 3K, that will be more effective than 1K++.

Can only recommend Premium Brands that I more familiar with.
VKool Eite - Price is quite exorbitant but IMO, it's the best clear tint (metallic sputter tints) if you can afford it. Priced out of many ppl budget nowadays. Proven reliable and lasting. (Really high pricing, priced out from my budget tho).

3M Crystalline - Established brand and worked well but note that if you use smart tag, many cars cannot smart tag with this tint. Proven but make sure to get authentic installer coz many fakes out there. Material is appx 200 nano-layers of polyesters. One of my top choice but smart tag don't worked, so out from my list.

Raytech R or RX- Very premium pricing as well, their top range also got smart tag detection issue if you use them. Worked quite well for top range. Note however that is ceramic based tint that absorb heat and disperse (especially when moving) than rather than reflect them like metallic tints do. Many tints are ceramic based tho. Warranty can be claimed in any of their shops (not just the shop you tinted with, as long as they are part of Raytech official network).

Since you have the voucher, can try nego for their top range for more discount but as mentioned, if you use smart tag, their top range likely blocked it (that is why I did not choose it, I need to go thru 6 tolls daily).

Irispro DX or D- Local branded metallic sputter tint that are quite premium priced but it is considered good pricing liao for high quality metallic sputter tints as it worked very well in reflecting heat. Much thicker than other brands tho, the price to pay to have multi-layer of metallic sputters. The only one with Blue Light protection layer. They don't have 70% clear tint tho for the for their top range. Only 60% VLT (visibility) max. GPS and Smart tag worked. My current tints for all my cars as alternative to VKool metallic sputter (heat reflection-based tint). One of the rare few to offer both 10 years warranty in defect and performance (vs 10% degradation over the years).


Affordable range
Totalgard - quite popular affordable tints in this forum. You get what you pay for tho for the pricing if you are not that type that must max out in comfort and heat blockage effectiveness. Those want maxed out comfort and effectiveness should go for premium tints.

Other tints I not familiar....

This post has been edited by Cavino: Jul 19 2024, 03:07 PM

Reputable and branded premium tints (top ranges) usually degrade much slower. My VKool Elite lasted more than a decade. You can feel it deteriorated but not too much. Only by 12 or 13rd years, I can feel the heat resistant has gone down quite a bit BUT the UV protection on the dash and leather still worked great.

Of course, some cheap tint did not even last a couple of years. You get what you pay (unless you get cheated and pay premium price for fake or cheap tints...hahaha).

You should ask yourself rather than others whether it is time to replace. You are the one who feel the heat, see if colour fading, blurring or peeling. If you feel it's heat resistant still worked great, keep it. If you feel like the heat getting thru and got worse, then even if not degrade much, it still means you are looking for greater comfort and protection, then prepare the dough and pay for new ones. Whether you pay for premium tints or cheaper ones, again depends on your budget and your willingness to fork out for comfort and car protection.

Rare crazy ppl like me willing to forked out premium new car tint pricing to re-tint decade and half old cars for max driving comfort and maxed interior leather and dashboard protection. Some think it is a waste of money as they reason they did not sleep in cars. Some think tint are not really necessary, just cheap tint will do but some think tint makes a huge difference in driving comfort and maxed out protection if keep car for long term. Different priorities, preference and budget.

This post has been edited by Cavino: Jul 22 2024, 05:10 PM

Some tints have the slight haze affect when sunlight shine at certain angle, that is the attribute unless your tint never have that until recently.

My top premium Irispro DX series tints has that although I don't see the slight white haze like effect on their 2nd range Diamond series. The DX tints are sharp and clear under normal lights and night, it only shows the haze under direct sunlight at certain angle.

Totalgard has that as well. It does not bother me too much as the heat resistant effect of the DX series are superb. The car are not oven hot (still hot, can't avoid) when parked under noon.

One thing tho, your rear windscreen definitely bubbled and blurred. Sign of damage and/or max out degradation. It is time to change.

This post has been edited by Cavino: Jul 24 2024, 08:41 AM

3M Crystalline is a good deal since you are not worry about smart tag. Nothing much to say about 3M Crystalline, the quality is there as long as it is authentic and you have a good installer, nuff said.

If it was me, I would forgo VKOOL REM as the specs are really low.....for the price. They might have the word VKool there but it is not the premium VKool that we know (aka the 55 is great tho).

M8 is a chain shops doing all in one, polishing, tinting, etc. I prefer metallic sputter films and I believe (I might be wrong) good premium metallic sputter films requires good metal that require higher costing for quality metals and premium sputtering process. So I would only go for specialized premium metallic sputter brand like VKool (NOT REM), local branded Irispro, etc. Unfortunately as mentioned on the pricing, good metallic multi-layers sputter have higher cost thus premium pricing. I can't find any detailed info on what M8 sputters are made of tho, thus can't comment further.

Irispro Elite, I don't have the experience in this grade tho. Elite is used to be their 2nd range metallic sputter, now falling into 3rd range due to addition of highest grade silver-based Irispro Diamond X series in addition to their double sputter nano-titanium Diamond series.

I am familiar with this brand as I have posted multiple experience reviews on their DX and Diamond series (both pro and cons, installed on 3 cars) thus I would give more info on this brand here as many ppl seems to not trust local brands (not those unknown 3rd party cheap tints).

I am their guinea pig for their DX series without knowing it first and gave lots of input on that tint until they changed their product slightly and release them officially. I have both their pre-release brownish based DX tints installed along with their latest blue-purplish based DX tints installed. Both provide different vibes (earlier inside brown lighting vs current mild purplish blue), even the both lighting also I like. Excellent heat resistance (no doubt abt that, if not I would not proceed to install them on 3 cars after trying it out in one car first), premium pricing tho and a bit thick but they are the only one with HEV blue light protection thus added another layer to the tint thickness not to mentioned so many layers of metallic sputtering.

Local branded thus they pushed in the 10 year defect and performance warranty to solidify their reliability reputation and try break into the matured premium tints local market. I have solid support from Klang Valley (Puchong and Klang) branches and they will just change the tints without argument the moment any defect or installation issues are detected (no dillydally), so I love their services at least in Puchong and Klang branches.

I have preference for metallic tint as they reflect heats rather than absorb them (ceramic tints), IMO, better heat resistance in real life (but depends on premium metal and sputter process, not all metallic sputter are better, some use celup process and metal). Thus I admittedly am bias towards metallic sputter after using VKool Elite (3 cars) that lasted a decade and half each. This local brand is one of the better metallic based alternative that I can find (with layers detailed in their website) to replace my cars' VKool Elite. DX have premium pricing half or 2/3 price of the famed VKool Serendipity series (Elite).

Their 10 years warranty and no nonsense approach to replace the tints when installation issue or defect detected gives me peace of mind to go ahead with all installations. These are comments on the brand tho, not the Elite range but it is still a premium nano-titanium (titanium has no rust issues vs more conductive silver) metallic based sputter tints with additional HEV blue light protection.

My DX series on b-segment sedan with no sunroof already cost near 3K liao, so for your budget, no doubt Irispro Elite is a good deal but I am not sure what tint they use for the roof tho (silver reflection??). Are you having an EV here or cars with permanently exposed glass roof? Those roof are mostly likely already pre-tinted.

I have no experience in Totalgard Infusion pro, so no comment there.

This post has been edited by Cavino: Aug 13 2024, 09:53 AM

I think you can opt with sunshade as well coz model 3 roof already has low VLT and are coated with UV protection, unlike X70. If you do tint the roof, better concentrate on tint with high IRR instead as that will concentrate on reducing the heat further based on general heat rejection ratio of 53% IRR, 44% VLT and 3% UV. Model 3 roof already covered the VLT and UV liao heat rejection liao. Adding a true high IRR tint on model 3 should be pretty costly tho.

Haha...this is based on common sense tho, no hard fact as not familiar with tesla roof.

This post has been edited by Cavino: Aug 13 2024, 02:20 PM

Err. roof 80%...I assume is VLT. Of course hot lar, why no use dark tint with low VLT on roof although normally the roof already using dark glass, still with our super hot weather, it can still cook the interior.

Anyway many have a misconception that tint will ELIMINATE heat. No, it just slow down the heat penetrating the car thru the windows and glass, it will not stop them. It reduced UV to minimum.

In general, if you parked a high quality tinted car under hot sun vs non-tinted car, within an hour, you can feel tinted car is not as warm as the non-tinted one. The dashboard of tinted car although hot will not be as hot as non-tinted. If you parked 3-5 hours, really not much different in heat inside the car, tinted or no.

However tinted car protected the dashboard from sun colour fading, the car leather from cracking due to sunlight, etc. The car will be much cooler when driving under hot sun vs non-tinted with the same air-conditioning as the heat are resisted It will still be hot.

Your roof, front windows and FWS are using high VLT aka clear tint, meaning they allow lots of light in....so does the heat. If all tints are authentic 3M crystalline, they will have high IRR. So it reduced some heat from there. Tint only block and reflect parts of the heat, it does not block them all depending on how high your IRR and VLT is. None can reach 100%. So large amt of heat will still penetrate.

This post has been edited by Cavino: Sep 10 2024, 03:45 PM

I think I just realised you might be typing 3M tint code, not the VLT becoz your % at FWS and Side Windows a bit weird

So if based on range, then it does make sense.

Roof CR80 at 62% VLT
FWS CR60 at at 51% VLT
Front Side Windows CR70 at VLT 58% VLT
Rear Windows CR20 at 17% VLT

The weird thing is why is your FWS lower than side windows, normally ppl either use the same tint range or FWS is mostly higher than side windows.

If listed as above, then your front FWS already not compliant but everything else is nice. Just the roof...if use CR20, probably can shave off at least 20% less heat coz VLT does contribute 50% of the heat penetration thru glass, in general. Choosing a dark tint with high VLR (high quality metallic based if possible due to metal reflect heat much better than other material) might be the best for roof. Too late tho, replacing the costly 3M are pretty pocket hurting and wasteful.

Also you have to accept there WILL be substantial heat from front windows under hot sun due to higher VLT range, no matter what tint you use, even the most premium VKool (IMO). Just put the back of your hand, see it stings bad or not under super hot noon sun, hot but minimal or not stinging, the tint already done it's job, that is my own layman unscientific way of testing the tint under super hot sun.

Beside good material tints (that really does what it says) with high IRR, one of best way to reduce the heat is to lower the VLT as much as possible but FWS and front side has to try keep to near JPJ compliancy. Meaning you don't get stop at JPJ roadblock, if go puspakom, lots of VLT 70% tint also cannot pass coz the car original glass thickness and coloring already take up substantial VLT %.

All my 2 cents only based on experience (layman, not technical).

And to add another layer to house brand, if the house brand kaput (bubble, low quality, blurred, etc), what it will likely damage your 3M tint as well. I think you just switch the air-cond higher will do better. The roof, sunshade does work along with air-cond, at least you can open the sunshade and enjoy moon light at night...hehehe,

This post has been edited by Cavino: Sep 11 2024, 09:06 AM

Security tint are already pretty thick, adding another layer will thicken it some more. Can you windows motor handle it?

CS series has super low IRR (meaning lousy heat rejection from 45% part) and can be consider their "budget" tint. The front using their premium tints and the rear budget tint. If you are ok with it and feel heat resistance is pretty good, I don't see any issue.

I wonder tho, since already pay premium for Tesla, why Tesla refer to non premium tint for the rear unless the rear are already pre-tinted. I know their roof should be pre-tinted or at least darkened a lot for this purpose but still not working very well naked without tint in our super hot weather.

This post has been edited by Cavino: Sep 12 2024, 09:00 AM

Wah...this is what I fear most when removing tint therefore I always emphasize don't skim on good quality tint especially for rear windscreen. Many ppl use cheaper tint for the rear as long as it is dark and not thinking about its durability.

Using a good tint also means it can more likely last longer before wearing out and the adhesive quality is better, so when removing, hopefully it will not tear off the demister due to adhesive quality. Then the workmanship is the utmost important when tearing.

I just re-tinted my 2 very old cars earlier this year (18 years and 16 years old respectively) and removed the existing VKool at Irispro Klang. Keep reminding them, please be very careful with my demister and try their best not to damage it. Monitored their removal process personally. They very carefully and slowly remove the tint with heat gun. Can see their attempt to slowly and carefully peel the tint at each demister line. I tot old cars with almost 2 decade old tint, the demister stick to the tint liao. So glad everything turned out fine for both old cars and demister still worked well after re-tinting.

Although it might not be mentioned elsewhere, tints normally does not warranty heat demisters of cars unless you negotiated in advance. Even if stated on my warranty, I will dismissed it as it is sort of like taken for granted heat demister working is on our own cost.

Normally installing would not cause any issue BUT removing tints (under or after warranty) might damage the demister. Normally makan sendiri when that happened, either change the RWS on your own or just live with no heat working heat demister.

Heat demister. Tint is under warranty, they will remove the tint and replace if bubble within warranty period. They just can't garantee if the demister will be damage when removing the tint thus inclusion of the term there.

Raytech tint warranty minimum 5 years. Go back to change it off coz rarely not even 1 year old bubble for good tints.

I believe most if not all reputable installers WILL replace any tints with bubble under warranty for rear windscreen under tint warranty regardless of where the bubble appear unless it is proven with intentional damage. If the tint are unable to withstand heat demister, they may as well forget about their tint reputation. What they would not take responsibility is heat demister damage when removing tints.

This post has been edited by Cavino: Oct 7 2024, 08:49 AM

Haha, if you can't afford 3M Crystalline, you CANNOT afford VKool. That is for me the most effective but also the most premium priced metallic based tint.

Forget about VKool non Serendipity range aka VK REM, they are not 2nd best but going towards the much lower range. Used to be VKool user for decades but the price now are priced out from my budget liao.

Raytech also priced quite high even for 2nd best range (do note their best RX for FWS are also non smart tag friendly but other than RX, most are smart tag friendly). Unless you go for even lower range. Then not 2nd best liao. Ceramic based.

Other brands, I not familiar enuf to comment.

However I am using Irispro most premium DX 60/30 tints and Diamond 60 range tint for my cars. Mine are all small sedan aka old Civic FD (supposed to be midsize decades ago, now become small sedan size). That also already hit 3K. Their 3rd best (used to be 2nd best before DX range comes out) are bout 2.2K for sedan previously. All are using their proprietary titanium metallic sputter tint with Blue Light protection feature. If you are in Klang Valley and want to check Irispro out, can PM me to have a direct to a very friendly manager contact in Puchong and Klang branches, can go check out or nego if you want. Already installed 3 cars with them, she have to friendly to me..hahaha...

Yes, it is too dark. Very obvious dark that can be stop at any tint road block. Just keep to 50%++ VLT to be safe.