Tainted windows

Tainting of windows is often described as difficult when doing it yourself.
The work itself is not that difficult but patience and a clean room to work in is needed for a good end result.

What do you need for the job?

– A quality tainting foil. – A sharp knife. – Spraycan with a warm water/soap solution. – Foil applying knife. – Water and sponge. – Heat gun. – Clear and black nail polish/lacquer. – Rope, 2 till 3 mm diameter, length of 1,5 times the circulemce of the largest window. – A 2 nd pair of hands to assist when needed.

It is the easiest to push the window out of the vehicle, this way it is better to apply the foil. Pushing the window out of the will be done by pushing the rubber lip on the inside, bit by bit, over the window channel. Start in the middle of the window not on the edges. In the end the complete rubber will be over the window channel and a 2 nd pair of hands can take out the window including the rubber seal.

Remove the rubber seal from the window and clean the inside and outside window thoroughly from dirt and dust.

Place the window on a bench, an empty beer crate with a towel against scratches will work fine. Cut the foil to length and make the window a little bit wet, this way the foil will not slide that easy. Cut the foil to the same size of the window, make sure the foil doesn’t move, cutting material off is easy but putting it back on is impossible. Check before cutting what the inside and outside of the foil is! Take a little piece of foil that will be cut off and pull the security film lose from the foil. If you can’t separate the 2 put 2 pieces of tape on either side and pull on these.

If the window is spherical you can relax the foil a little bit by heating it with a heat gun.

Roll up the foil and put it aside. Clean the inside of the window to be 100% grease, dirt and dust free, spray the window fully wet with the water/soap solution. This way you can apply the foil and slide it in position because the foil doesn’t stick to the glass immediately.

Remove the security film from the foil, do this with 2 persons. One holds up the foil between 2 hands and pulls it straight, the other pulls off the security film, make sure the foil doesn’t kink or sticks together. Place the foil on the window and slide it in position.

Press out the water/soap between the window and the foil with the applying knife. Work from the centre of the window to the outer edges. Do this with care not to kink the foil. The foil will come lose on the edge of the window, don’t try to press it on the window.

Cut away the foil in the areas of the heated windscreen connectors as well.

When the most of the water is pressed out, cut the edge off the foil so that it is 3mm inside the edge of the glass. The rubber will fall over this edge so it won’t be seen when fitted.

Now, press out the remaining water/soap completely from between the window and the foil, work here also from centre to outer edge. The foil will now stick to the glass and will not move. Make sure all the water/soap is removed. On tough spots it can be easier to relax the foil a little with the heat gun.

Check if all the water/soap if removed. Apply the clear nail polish/lacquer over the edge from the foil and the glass, this way the foil and the glass is prevented from air ingress. Use the black nail polish/lacquer for the areas of the heated windscreen connections, this way that area will be dark when looked at from the outside.

Let the nail polish/lacquer dry and place the rubber seal around the window.
Place the rope in the grove of the rubber seal in where the window channel will be and let the 2 ends cross each other on the longest part of the window. Put the window with the longest part and the ends of the rope on the inside in the window channel.

Let a 2 nd person push the window into the window channel and pull the rubber, by pulling the rope, inside the window channel. Eventually the whole rubber will be inside the window channel, with a few punches on the outside of the window it will sink into the original position.

Finished!!! And beautiful dark tainted windows as a result.

This method is only working on the rear windows of a Nova which are mounted in rubbers.

Check your local laws before tainting your windows!!!