How to Tint with the Lift-and-Pull Method

There are several methods of tinting your car windows. In most cases, it depends on the type of car and what window you are tinting. The lift-and-pull method works great for curved back glass. This is a tricky method and takes some amount of practice to perfect.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Tint film
• Squeegee
• Razor blade knife
• Heat gun

1. Clean the glass thoroughly. Start with a water and soap mixture. Dish detergent works well. Then wipe off with a squeegee. Flush with water from the top of the glass to the bottom. Dry window and frame. Work in a clean, wind-free environment.

2. Cut tint film to size, leaving a few inches of overlap on all sides. Apply film to car window. Trim sides only, leaving about 1/2 inch of film on either side of the window.

3. Round bottom corners of the film, but don't trim excess film off the bottom of the window. This is what you pull on as you heat shrink the film.

4. Pull bottom of film up and toward you as you apply heat to the film to shrink it against the glass. Start in one corner and work across and up as you go. Hold film at a 20- to 30-degree angle to the window.

5. Apply heat to the center of the window to draw in the edges. This helps create a nice flat finish to the film. Keep lifting film as you work to lift out any bumps.

6. Finish the top in the same manner, pulling and lifting the excess as you apply the heat gun to the upper part of the window. Trim off excess film from the top and bottom of the window.

Tips & Warnings

• If the car has a spoiler, wet the spoiler and lay the excess film at the bottom over it.
• Keep moving the heat gun from side to side as you shrink the film.
• Don't pull on the film as hard as the film shrinks, allowing excess to "feed" into the area you are shrinking.
• Film can pucker if you don't heat excess areas correctly to shrink them.
• Don't apply too much heat to any one area or the film can't shrink evenly. You can repair this, but it's tricky and takes more heating in the areas where there is too much excess film.