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Windows

The word on tinting your windows yourself is: don't. I tried tinting the windows myself on a previous car a few years ago. I took great pains to do it right, but there were still little air bubbles. The filmmaker lied about the color, too ("limo black" turned out to be "indigo"). For a home install, it probably wasn't bad. You've seen those disgusting cars with purple film barely clinging to the windows, right? I have to wonder how many of those were professionally done.

I recently had my windows professionally tinted with FormulaOne film for around $120. I could have gone with limo black on the back passenger and rear windows for a few bucks more, but I wanted to be able to see out the back at night. It was a tradeoff--I wish the windows were not as see-through during the day, but I value my night vision. At any rate, the film looks terrific, and it has a lifetime warranty (lifetime of my ownership of KITT, that is). I liked the job so much, I let the same shop ("The Specialists" in Tucson, AZ) set me up with a subwoofer. More about that on the "Audio System" page.

Hit your back button and click the thumbnailed pictures to see how the tint looks. Below I have a picture of a very disgruntled Accord owner and his smashed windshield. On the way down to school, he popped the hood to check the oil, then he forgot to check it and he drove off with the hood unlatched. When he reached about 40 mph, the windshield went dark with a loud bang and that's when he got upset.

If it weren't for the two tiny windshield washer jets that are integrated into the hood, the windshield would have been okay and I would have only needed to replace the hood. Either way, I would have paid the full insurance deductible, but the hindered visibility didn't improve the trip any. One good thing came from this episode: I got a newly painted hood. For $250.