Scratch in window

[ianbarry]

We just got our windows professionally tinted on our new car today (2010 4 door), and we noticed a scratch on the outside of the rear drivers side window. It's on the outside and about an inch long. Not severely deep, but deep enough to catch your fingernail. It looks like it's probably from a razor blade, that would be my guess.

Any suggestions? We've already tried to contact the shop, but haven't heard back yet. Is there anything that can be done to correct this??

[2007yariz]

Originally Posted by ianbarry

We just got our windows professionally tinted on our new car today (2010 4 door), and we noticed a scratch on the outside of the rear drivers side window. It's on the outside and about an inch long. Not severely deep, but deep enough to catch your fingernail. It looks like it's probably from a razor blade, that would be my guess.

Any suggestions? We've already tried to contact the shop, but haven't heard back yet. Is there anything that can be done to correct this??

Hey What percentage of tint did u get if you dont mind me asking? I live in Northen Virginia, i heard the cops here are pretty strict about it....

[YarisSedan]

U can try a window resin to fill in the scratch. You fill it in till it cures. Then take a razor and scrape the surface till its flush. Should either 100 percent fix it or 90 percent fix it.

[ianbarry]

In MD 35 is legal, and we got 30. I think we'll be ok. The guy that did the tint took a meter to it before he started and he said factory is normally 74-77 and ours was at a 72.

We're taking the car back to the tint guy tomorrow to see what he wants to do about the scratch. The fact that he put a scratch in the glass on a brand new car, and has scratches in the tint also, isn't working for me.

[suckerface]

Ianbarry> Just to give you a head's up, prepare for the shop to pull some BS about the scratch. The place we took our Yaris to had to re-do the tint 3 times, and scratched the hell out of our paint and windows, but denied they did it (even though you could see the obvious path of the lines and that it was caused by their plastic tinting card). They're claim?

It was there before it was tinted, the tint just makes it more visible.

Funny how it wasn't visible the first time it was tinted, but the second time it magically appears...

Good luck!

[ianbarry]

That's exactly what the guy pulled. "You drove off the lot with that scratch in the glass. You didn't know it because the tint just makes it show up more." That's what he said. I think it's BS. We washed the car and all windows before we took it in for tint, and I am 99% sure we would have caught the scratch then.

What happened in your situation? Our guy is refusing to do anything about the scratch in the glass itself. His words were, "I have insurance, but I don't want to hit it. I highly doubt I did it." As for the tint, he's offered to take it all of and hand us our check back. This after we went to another tint shop to get their opinion on all the scratches in the tint itself. They told us it was a horrible job, and there's no way there should be all those scratches in the tint he just put on. Interesting, b/c the original guy said the scratches were unavoidable when putting the tint on.

[jamal1984]

hi guys, before get piss off at the tint guy, let's me tell you something first.
I do window tinting for living, and i can tell you that, most of new cars do have scratches outside and inside of the windows, most of the time it's very lightly visible, not a deep deep scratch or anything think like that. Unless you check it inch by inch
Now it's true that it's more visible when you put the tint on.
And most of our tools we used, is scratch resistance, so i have to say it's very very hard to scratch your windows, i tried to use my olfa knife and olfa blades to poke on my window, scratches in every differences positiion, and it's not do a damn thing.
But i don't know about this guy. And it's true that when you drove off the lot, that is it.
If there is anything that i can help, let's me know.

[suckerface]

@ianbarry> If I were you, get rid of the tint and take the money. Make sure they do a very thorough cleaning of the windows afterwards. I'd even watch them do it to make sure nothing "happens" while they work if at all possible. Then use the product mentioned above to fill them in and take your money to a better shop.

I didn't get any such option. They've re-done the tint twice, probably needs a third on a couple windows, and re-painted the top of my hatch and tried to buff out the window scratches.

@jamal> I'm not pissed at the tint guys. I'm sure it was a mistake and not malicious in any way. As far as the scratches being there, I can accept that as a normal response. However, in my situation, we had the windows tinted once. After 3 weeks of a very detailed weekly cleaning regime, no scratches were noticed. When we took the car back in to have the windows re-done due to the tint peeling up on one window, and way too many bubbles, there was no scratch. After we picked it up from the re-tint, we noticed the scratch only a few miles down the road.

Also, not saying the tools did it, I'm guessing there was some dust or something under the blades that did the actual scratching.

[ianbarry]

@suckerface - That's what we are planning to do. The guy offered to pull the tint off, and give us our check. It's supposed to happen tomorrow. Hopefully it'll all go ok. I'm concerened about the rear window with the defroster lines. I hope they don't get damaged or anything else happen to the windows.

And I agree with the fact that nothing that happened to our tint or window was intentional. But, the second tint shop that looked at our vehicle for us did say that all of the scratches that are in the tint are in places that make sense from a tool. That if the tool he is using has the slightest part of debris on it while he's using it, it will scratch the tint. I don't 100% blame the tint guy, things happen. But, he's not willing to fix it. He said that if he redid any of the windows, it would just happen again. That is what doesn't work for me.