Most people use tinted car windows to prevent ultraviolet rays from entering them. UV rays are harmful to your skin; tinted car windows are a safety measure to protect you. But tinting is not so easy; it will consume a lot of time and require basic tools.
How to Tint Car Windows?
Time To Clean & Prepare The Windows
Choose The Right Spot & Clean The Stickers: There should be no disturbances like dust and dirt when installing the tint. Thus, choose the right clean and dry workspace to park your car and install the tint. Look for any stickers on your car window and remove them all. Even clean the adhesives or sticky things on the window, as they will disturb the tinting. To get rid of dirt and dust, vacuum the car’s interior.
- Use Soapy Water to Clean The Windows
Before cleaning, slightly lower the car windows so you can easily clean the top portion. Mix a few drops of liquid soap with warm water and spray them on the windows. Now, you can use a 1″ razor blade to remove the dirt particles from the window. You need to clean like this on both sides of the window for tinting properly.
- Clean The Windows and Dry Both Sides
After cleaning the window using soap water on both sides, you need to wipe them for drying. You can use Squeegee and clean using plenty of soap water for drying purposes. Only this lets the tint not stick or rip. Furthermore, you need to use your finger to remove all the dirt and dust underneath the car’s interior seals.
- Get The Tint & Check Its Adhesive Side
Now, get back the window up before beginning the procedure. While working, you need to move the window up and down and, thus, ensure that you are cleaning the window properly. Now, take the tint and start the measuring steps. Like a sticker, the tint comes with an adhesive side you need to peel off.
It’s Time to Cut & Measure Your Tint

- Spray Some Soapy Water & Cut Extra Tint
You can use some soapy water for the best adhering of the tinting windows. Now, unroll the tinting and place it outside the window, and allow at least 2 to 3 inches of extended tinting over the edges. Ensure that the liner part is facing you, and also don’t remove the liner. Now, you could see some inches of tint spreading across all four sides of the tint. It’s time to cut them using a precision knife to get an irregular four-sided square tint.
- Spray The Front of The Film with Water
After cutting the tint into a square, stick it on the window’s outer area. Now, start spraying over the tint itself to form a thin layer of soapy water on the entire tint. Again, you can see some extra inches of film extending on all the sides, which you need to remove them.
- Cut The Top & Bottom Edges of The Tint
Now, to cut the top & bottom edges, use your knife to trace your knife across the film. Ensure you have a perfectly shaped tint for its proper fit over the window. Slightly shift the film towards the left edge and see whether the tint sits perfectly on the opposite edge. You can cut it slightly when you notice extra tint on the left edge. You must repeat the same process over the bottom edge to remove the extra tint.
- Cut The Top Extra Tint Portion by Lowering The Window
Soon after cutting the bottom edges of the tint, it’s time to check the top portion of the film. For this purpose, slightly lower the window by a half inch and then cut the extra tint film. After completing this process, check the tint’s sides for the excess film.
- Realign The Film to Sit Over The Window Properly
Now, apply some water again to stick the film. Remove the tint film from the window and align it again after applying soapy water. Now, you must concentrate much as you eliminate the air bubbles from the tint film. You can use a heat gun and a hard card to eliminate the bubbles from the top down to the bottom. Now, you can leave the tint to stick to the outside of the window and prepare the inside window for a dust-free look.
How to Adhere The Tint Film?

- Preparing The Inside of The Window
In this process, you will use a lot of soapy water and, thus, use it to clean the inside of the window. You can use the hard edge to clean the window better. After it is done, you can spray some soapy water again. You can remove the layer that sticks to the tint to get an adhesive solid. So, you can peel only the upper half of the tint layer for an easier job. Now, spray the exposed tint layer with fresh water. The water makes the tinting happen easily and slightly down the window.
- Adhere The Tint
Firstly, you need to work on the top portion of the tint by lowering your window. Now, you can move the window up and concentrate on the bottom portion. Spray soapy water, use the hard surface to eliminate bubbles, and clean the tint.
You can clean and tuck the bottom of the tint to the seal using soapy water and a hard surface. Finally, smooth out the window using a hard edge to eliminate the air bubbles and water from the edges.
The Bottom Line
With this article, you can get an idea about how to tint your car easily at your home. All you require for the process is the tint film, hard edge, soapy water, sprayer, and heat gun at home. So, using these materials, you can easily tint your car window at your home.
Also read: A 9-Step Guide on How to Wash A Car by Hand Like A Pro