Window tinting in Punchbowl

The darkness of a film is its VLT number, Visible Light Transmission. It is a percentage of light let through, so a 5% film is very dark and a 70% film is barely there. Compare shades on that number rather than on names, because every brand names them differently.

Very few cars get a single shade all round. The front pair and the rear are usually chosen separately, partly because a lighter front and darker rear looks right, and partly because the rear glass may already be tinted from the factory.

If the rear glass came tinted from the factory, the film and the glass stack. Put a mid-range film over it and the rear reads much darker than the number on the box. We look at the car, not the chart, so the front and rear finish as a deliberate match rather than a mismatch.

Tell us the look you are after and we will talk you through the shades that get you there, with samples held against your own glass so you can see it on the car before anything is cut.

A car parked in Sydney summer sun becomes an oven, and the cabin temperature is only half the story. The air conditioning then works against that heat every time you get in, which costs fuel and takes minutes you spend uncomfortable.

Quality film rejects a substantial share of the infrared radiation that causes it. The cabin cools faster, the air conditioning stops fighting as hard, and the difference is noticeable within about a week of having it done.

Glare reduction comes with it, and it is worth more than people expect driving into low winter sun down an east-west street.

A work vehicle spends its day parked on a site or a street in full sun, and the cab is where the driver sits at lunch. Tint on the cab is one of the cheaper ways to make that bearable, and on a van the cargo side often has no glass at all, so it is a small job.

For a fleet, the point is consistency. The same film and shade across every vehicle so they look like they belong to the same business. We can do a run of vehicles at your yard in Punchbowl rather than have each one off the road for a trip to the studio.

Utes with a canopy or a tub cover have their own combinations, and a hard-lid canopy with tinted glass is a case where the rear is often left as it is and only the cab is done.

Tint can be fitted at your home or workplace and the result is the same film, but the job likes still air and shade. Dust and wind while the film is wet are what put specks under it, and a speck under film is there for good.

A garage or carport in Punchbowl with the door closed is ideal. A driveway on a windy afternoon is not, and if the forecast is against us we will say so and either move the day or suggest the bay at Lakemba.

A full car with a large one-piece rear windscreen is the job where the studio makes the most difference, because shrinking film to a curved rear screen wants controlled conditions. The two fronts are easy anywhere.

The back seat is where the tint earns its money in a family car. A child in a car seat cannot move out of the sun and the glass beside them is where the heat and UV come through. Darker film at the rear takes that out of the equation.

It also fixes the glare on a tablet or a phone held up in the back, which is a small thing until you have driven from Punchbowl to the coast with a screen that nobody can see.

Phantom blocks 99% of UV whatever shade you choose, so the front does not have to be dark for the driver to get the same protection. Pick the front shade for the look and the rear shade for the kids.