When discussing tint, we refer to different shades of tint as 10%, 20%, 70%, etc. (or we call it 10, 20, 70, etc. for short). This is the percentage of light the film lets through.
A 5% tint (aka limo tint) only lets 5% of the light through making it one of the darkest shades. A 70% film (often used on windshields) lets 70% of the light through making it close to colorless compared to most tints.
Thanks to technology in the film itself, the percentage does not indicate the amount of heat or UV rays that comes through. Higher quality film is capable of keeping a substantial amount of heat out despite lighter shades of color.
Did you know that if you use the same kind of tint on a window in a building as you would a vehicle, the glass can easily crack or even shatter? The technology in the film must be different to account for the different ways the light hits and reflects off the glass. Flat Glass Film is used on windows in homes and buildings and Automotive Glass Film is used on all vehicles.
We are an Authorized Xpel Installer and offer 3 tiers of high quality window tint at Shaded Knight. We would recommend each of them for different uses. Whether you are looking for the biggest bang for your buck, a great long lasting tint or the best of the new technology, these options have you covered!
All films are color stable and come with a lifetime guarantee against fading, bubbles and manufacture defects!
99% UV Protection (UVA & UVB) – 32% Infrared Rejection (IRR) – Available in 5%, 20%, and 35%
Our entry level tint is the High Performance Film (aka HP film) and is a metalized based film. Privacy, security, glare reduction and relief from the direct sun are it’s best features. It looks great on any vehicle and will look like a high quality tint job for years to come. HP film is a great cost effective solution to upgrade your ride.
If escaping the heat is one of your most important goals, we recommend you keep reading. There’s simply no comparison to the heat rejection of ceramic tint.
99% UV Protection (UVA & UVB) – 78% Infrared Rejection (IRR) – Available in 5%, 20%, and 35%
The invention of ceramic tint revolutionized window tinting forever. Humans have been using ceramic pots for thousands of years to cook and store items because of its ability to absorb and endure heat. After the space program used ceramic tiles to protect astronauts from heat, the window tint industry got the idea to use nanotechnology to create a film with microscopic pieces of ceramic to do the same for windows. This is what allows window tint to be light in color and still keep out up to 78% of the infrared rays which will help to reduce the amount of heat entering the vehicle.
Despite being our middle option, Xpel’s XR Black Nano-Ceramic film is an excellent choice for UV protection, heat rejection, visible clarity, glare reduction, privacy and security. It is an affordable option that does it’s job very well and will often outlive the vehicle.
99% UV Protection (UVA & UVB) – 92 – 96% Infrared Rejection (IRR) – Available in 5%, 15%, 20%, 35%, 45% and 70%
Super Ceramic uses the same nanotechnology as Nano-Ceramic but does the job of heat rejection much better. The film has upgraded technology to keep out up to 96% of the infrared light waves that we can’t see but definitely feel as heat. If you’re looking for the top of the line across the board, Xpel’s XR Plus film is worth every penny. It is the best on the market for UV protection, heat rejection, visible clarity, glare reduction, privacy and security.
Worried about night vision? The 55% and 70% offered in this film are the perfect solution to living in a desert that gets very hot during the day and extremely dark at night. You will barely notice the color in the tint but will most certainly feel relief from the heat.
Wondering what the darkest legal tint you can get in Arizona is?
Here’s your answer!
Front Door Windows: 33% or Lighter
Back Door and Rear Windows: Any Shade
Windshield: Any Shade on Visor Strip only
Specific questions should be directed to your local law enforcement agency.
There are health exemptions available through ADOT to get permission to have darker tint.
Visit their website for more information as well as specific tint laws.
As in automotive films, ceramic tint for flat glass uses the nanotechnology of microscopic particles of ceramic to keep heat out of your home or office and protect against 99% of UV rays (both UVA and UVB radiation). This means your AC has to do much less work, the risk of skin cancer drops dramatically (according to The Skin Cancer Foundation) and furniture is protected from sun fading and cracking.
The glare reduction and clarity benefits will make any window with a view look like an HD screen and the color in the tint offers added privacy.
Live on a golf course? While window tint is not guaranteed to stop a golf ball, the extra layer of film on the glass adds another layer the ball must get through and can hold shattered glass together to prevent glass flying into your home.
Dual reflective film has a reflective outer layer to produce an almost mirror like effect from the outside and an inner non-metallic layer to improve nighttime visibility from the inside looking out. During the day, the sun reflects off the outside of the window and makes it almost impossible to see inside with the darker shades and slightly able to see through with the lighter shades. From the inside looking out, the visibility is the same as looking through standard tint.
At night, there is no sunlight to reflect and create the mirror like effect making the visibility the same looking in as looking out. For this reason, it is a very popular choice for large office buildings needing privacy during the day and visibility for security reasons at night.
The reflective nature of the film results in high UV protection and heat rejection. This type of film is offered in a variety of colors and with or without the ceramic nanotechnology.
Blackout films are exactly what they sound like. It basically makes your glass as see through as a wall. It blocks 100% of the sunlight and is completely opaque from inside and out, offering full privacy and a room as dark as a closet.
Window tint is reflective and can reflect the suns light onto things outside. When you have turf installed just outside your home or office, this can turn into a melted disaster in no time. The solution is Turf Guard tint! With reduced reflection, your turf, furniture and anything else in the area are safer from sunrays being reflected onto them.
When your goal is decorative or complete privacy instead of heat rejection and UV protection, there are a variety of specialty films to choose from. Of these, the most popular choice is frost film, which is a solid white film that lets light through but can’t be seen through. This is perfect for bathrooms when the goal is to gain privacy without losing all the natural light. Stained glass and perforated films are other popular choices.
We are happy to show you our books of decorative film options during the free consultation in your home or office!
A glass meter is our most valued tool for installing film on flat glass. Because of how flat glass is made, putting the wrong kind of film or a film that is not regulated for the size and thickness of the piece of glass can eventually lead to spontaneously cracked or shattered glass because of the heat the film holds against the glass. The Arizona sun is intense so this is a serious concern here in the Valley. While many installers choose to simply guess about the glass specs to avoid investing in a meter, we do things the right way.
During the free consultation, we use the meter to determine the thickness, square footage, presence of laminate and air space between panes along with any other site specific information required. With those calculations, we are better informed to discuss your film options based on the rating of each.
Our use of this meter gives you a limited warranty to replace qualifying glass that cracks or shatters due to the film installed. Quality and knowledgeable installation with a promise of long lasting customer satisfaction is the Shaded Knight way!
Not necessarily! This was true many years ago but advancements in film have allowed us to achieve better deflection of UV rays and Infrared without a darker color. In fact, the 70% super ceramic film (very little color) does a better job of keeping heat out of a vehicle than 20% high performance film (much darker color). While it used to be “the darker the tint, the cooler you are”, it is now “the best technology in the tint, the cooler you are”. No need to sacrifice night vision to protect yourself from the sun!
Many vehicles come with dyed glass windows, especially the rear windows of trucks and SUVs, straight from the factory. The dealership might call this Factory Tinted glass – but don’t be fooled. We have heard of salesmen telling customers that this glass has the same protection as window tint for too long and it is time to set the record straight. Dyed glass is just that – dyed. It looks like tint but usually has no affect on reducing infrared or UV rays. We have recently heard of a new technology in some dyes that do give a slight reduction in infrared and UV rays but it is still not comparable to the film put on at a tint shop.
We are happy to meter your vehicle’s windows free of charge if you’d like to know what your glass is doing for you. Give us a call and we will make sure someone is here to operate the meter when you stop by!
Absolutely! All window tint used at Shaded Knight (excluding a few of the specialty decorative films used for home and office windows) blocks 99% of harmful UV rays which are known to cause skin cancer. For this reason, The Skin Cancer Foundation includes window tint on their list of recommended products to help prevent skin cancer. (see the complete list here) Hours spent sitting in a vehicle during the daily commute can add up to a significant amount of sun exposure each year. A one hour commute to work can add up to 520 hours of UV radiation per year! Since most of us don’t lather up with sunscreen before work like we do before a day at the beach, window tint is a critical step in UV protection and skin cancer prevention.
It can! There are two main reasons that driving a vehicle with tinted windows is actually a safer vehicle to drive, especially in the Valley.
The first has to do with glare. Window tint significantly reduces glare and eases eye strain in the bright Arizona sun. Many say that it makes the world look like it is in HD and more visible details means more reaction time. It only takes driving in a fully tinted vehicle once to never want to go back to the limited vision of a vehicle without tint!
The second enhances the vehicles security and safety by adding a protective layer of film to the glass. A tinted window is much harder to break and thieves take this into consideration when choosing vehicles for smash and grab robberies. Being harder to break also makes them safer in an accident. Tint has been known to hold a shattered window together to avoid glass flying in some cases.
Don’t believe everything you see on TikTok!! It is easier to creatively edit a video to make it show what you want than it is to create a new technology of tint that defies how light travels. Although we would be pretty excited if someone invented that kind of film, there is not a film in existence that we are aware of that is truly opaque looking through one way and barely tinted looking through the other way. If you stand outside of a vehicle and look in through tint, the person on the side that it is the darkest will be able to see through and the one on the side with bright lights or the sun will not be able to see through very easily. That’s just how light and our eyes work. Things like one way mirrors require multiple pieces of glass.
We are happy to take our show on the road when the Arizona summer is not in full swing but we prefer to tint at the shop when possible. Arizona is a desert and that means there is plenty of dust in the air – which floats right into tint as it is applied. The shop is a controlled environment where we can keep contaminants to a minimum and provide a much higher quality tint job. We make exceptions where necessary but can’t make the same guarantee of a contaminant free window when we aren’t at the shop.
