Brad, Florida resident as well Though I spend the summer in New England. I originally tinted the front side windows and later realized the windshield was the problem. I went back and got ceramic 70 film that is virtually clear and blocks out 60% of the heat. It seems to help, though I still put up a windshield shade when I park. It cost me $250.

 

I added 95% ceramic untinted to the windshield. I’m not sure how well it’s working or if I just got a good car, but I don’t have any cooling issues in mid 90s Texas heat.

 

I added 70% ceramic tint to all the windows for help with the heat. The windshield and front windows are noticeably darker than my last car with 70% but I’m happy with it. After I had the windows tinted I noticed that the windows had a little legend about the glass (front side windows and windshield) that included 70% VLT. So as I understand it 70% glass + 70% tint (.70x.70=.49) or about 50% VLT.
Scottyd

 

Thanks for the advice. There’s a Ceramic Pro dealer here in town. I made an appointment to have a KAVACA Ceramic IR Window Film installed. They claim that it blocks over 90% of the heat with minimal or no tinting. I’ll let you know how well it works.

 

A few general life philosophies for auto tinting...

1. Always buy the most premium window tint available. The incremental cost is not significant relative to the life you will have the tint on the car.
2. The quality of the tint installation work is far more significant than the quality of the tint.
3. If you can, find the tint shop that the ultra premium dealerships use for their lot cars. I use a tint shop that does Ferrari, Maserati, Bentley, etc. dealerships, along with the usual German luxury dealerships.

Big caveat to #3 - just because a luxury dealership uses a tint shop does not mean it is necessarily good. The crappy BMW dealer in my area uses a total garbage tint dude. Their cars have the worst tinting I have ever seen on a new dealer lot. So, check out their work.

 

KAVACA IR Film specifications:

 

3M Crystalline Film CR90 works great on windshields.

 

The IR rejecting film is especially effective on the windshield and the panoramic roof. I had it installed on every window. It has made a huge difference. The car can sit out in the Georgia sun for hours, and the AC can still pull it down to completely comfortable in only about 10 minutes. Do it!

 

I sense that most of the heat I'm detecting is from overhead (panoramic roof)... and, heat rises. Many times I feel a little hot headed (no, not that way). I keep the shade closed 99% of the time, but can feel the heat up there.

 

does it also reduce sun/radiation damage?

 

Yes, that's it's main purpose, and since the advent of ceramic tint there is also the advantage of it blocking heat.

When I wanted tint for my XTS, I did a lot of research on tint types and uva/uvb/radient and infrared heat. Ceramic tint blocks around 99% of UV and 80-89% of IRH. Regular carbon tint can make the interior of the car even hotter than without aftermarket tint. I saved the info and have pasted it below.

I went with 35% ceramic tint which means the final look is about 24.5% (70%x35%).

Keep in mind your area's tint laws, and if exceeding, I suggest getting an MD's note to avoid getting fined. I did not get the front windshield clear tinted, as the company said legally they cannot do it. When not out and about, my car is garaged out of the sun, so not such a big deal to not have it. When driving, the tint on sunroof, side and rear windows offers enough heat protection that the interior stays cool while driving with a/c. But not as much as when the sunshade is open - which really cuts down on the heat transfer. The UV protection was what really mattered to me.

“The harmful UV rays that reach the earth from the sun are divided into UVB and UVA,” explains dermatologist Dr. Michelle Levy. All of a car’s windows filter out the sun’s UVB rays, but not all windows will protect from all UVA rays.”

"The Pittsburgh Glass Works exec says windshields absorb 100 percent of UVB rays (which cause sunburn), and around 98 percent of UVA rays. Those UVA rays don't cause sunburn but can do long-term damage to the skin. That built-in protection gives windshields a sun protection factor - or SPF - of 50 or more, the equivalent of some of the strongest sunscreens. Sunroofs, too, often contain UV-absorbing technology that can block around 90 percent of UV rays. That's partly to keep the car cool as well as protect occupants from sun exposure. But side and rear windows are a different story, and their SPF can vary a lot depending on the vehicle. Side windows are usually made from cheaper tempered glass, which is around 4 millimeters thick and doesn't include a layer of plastic. Tempered glass is designed to shatter into tiny pieces in order to protect the occupants in a crash. But unless they're tinted for privacy, side windows usually absorb only 65 percent of UV rays. That gives them an SPF of around 16, the same as some of the lowest grades of sunscreen. Clear or tinted films can reduce the amount of total UV radiation penetrating the tempered glass by over 99%."

 

Had window tint on my 07 escalade windshield took it off because in Florida it worked well but moved to Georgia and it was difficult at best to drive the car at night (no street lights in our part of Georgia), however, it did help on the Hwy's by cutting down the glare from oncoming vehicles. Figured i'd try again with a lighter tint on my 22 Escalade, still a no go . Took it off again for the same reason. We had limo tint on a different car while living in South Florida on just the side windows and had a accident because of lack of vision at night (someone was passing us on the right we and couldn't see her) . My suggestion is if you live in South Florida it would be ok. Anywhere else might be a problem if driving at night. b/t/w even in South Florida with the windshield tinted expect to have distorted vision while driving west into the sun in the afternoon and in all cases the tint was the best available and not done on the cheap.

 

The ceramic films seem to do the best blocking heat and UV rays. Mine has no tint and I haven’t noticed any distortion.

 

I can second the reply by @1analguy (post #9). Our first trip in our 2025 Lux 2 from GA to south FL was tough. Could not touch the top of the display panel. When we returned home I got every window 70% (basically clear) tinted with XPEL Prime XR Plus - Nano-ceramic particles Blocks 98% heat, 99% UV. Fade-proof. Lifetime warranty. The difference was immediate and significant. It’s not cheap, but to me well worth it. No glare or distortion to speak of through the windshield, just a small amount of color distortion if you are wearing polarized sunglasses and only in certain conditions.

I later added a windshield protection film, also by XPEL, which as already paid for itself, twice.

Finally, I had the whole car ceramic coated. So much easier to keep the car clean. Bug guts and bird droppings wipe right off using some rinseless wash and a microfiber cloth.

 

As soon as we got our 2024 I had the windshield tinted with Lumar AIR80 (a ceramic basically almost clear - but designed to cut out the IR and UV). I also had the AIR80 put on the already factory darkened second row and back side windows and then had the shop match that resulting % with their next to the top line of ceramic on the front row windows. It came out great, but not CA compliant, so I had to sign off that I understood that. They would not do the panoramic roof glass saying they had several crack in Teslas and Porsches.

It came out great but still had lots of heat getting through the roof glass so I took the advice of Jimschoice who posted that industrial two sided metalized bubble film from the big box DIY stores can be tucked up above the shade. It is too narrow so you have to use reflective metalized tape and ordinary scissors to make the size you need, but it is fantastic and so worth the effort!

To you guys in the South, this is the cure. One $25 roll is more than enough and it can be easily removed if you miss looking at the moon.

 

Hi everyone. Update on my previous post. I got the Ceramic Pro Ultimate KAVACA IR 70% windshield tint installed by our Ceramic Pro dealer here in Sarasota. Cost was $399 + tax. They did a very good job with the installation. Put it to the test in our Florida sun and 95 degree heat and there is a very significant reduction in heat coming off the windshield. The AC was able to keep up and I no longer need to blast the fan to keep the cabin cool. Much more comfortable in the cabin and much quieter. 70% VLT was the most transparent tint they offered and only slightly noticeable. Driving at night is not a problem. So overall I think this was well worth the cost. Thanks for the helpful advice!

 

Any issues with polarized lenses, like someone else mentioned ?

 

Good point, forgot to mention. I was wearing polarized sunglasses, no issues with that.

 

When I'm wearing my polarized prescription sunglasses, other car's windows that are reflecting the sun back at me usually take on a pinkish or greenish hue, depending on the angle of incidence. That's it, as far as optical "issues" are concerned. When wearing my regular clear glasses, or none at all, everything looks 100% normal. I chose the least tinted (70%) ceramic based film...which is just shy of clear. I don't notice it at all at night, which is what I was after. I was so happy with the installation that I had them do our other new car the same way...with the same results.

The film applied to the panoramic fixed sunroof has done nothing but good things for comfort in the car. As someone pointed out, it not only cools down much faster, it also allows the HVAC to run lower (quieter) fan speeds once it has cooled down. I've only had it on there for a few months, but I haven't seen any negative effects from the glass roof. In fact, if I put my hand flat against the glass when the car is out in the sun, it never feels more than mildly warm...certainly no warmer that it did before the film went on. Those warnings about filming the roof glass appear to be totally bogus.

 

I owned two white cadillac sedans at one time, both tan interior, cts and ct6. Both had dual sunroof, both had sunroofs and windshield tinted at 70% and other windows 5%. One with 3m standard and one with xpel ceramic. Massive difference in Texas sun. I honestly thought the whole ceramic things was BS, but now i'm a believer. Seriously shocking how well it works. Expensive, yes, but for Texas well worth it. Also 70% windshield doesn't affect visibility at all. Looks clear, can't even tell.

 

The guy that did my film application showed me the difference between regular dark tint film and 70% ceramic IR film. I bought my car in north GA, but it was transported there from it's original dealer in FL. That dealer had applied regular dark tint to all the side and back windows. When I went to my tint shop, the guy had an IR heat lamp that he held up outside the driver's door window, about a foot away. When I held up my hand a foot from the inside of the window, I could feel a lot of heat coming through. Then he held up a sheet of the ceramic film and we tried it again at the same distances...and there was almost no heat coming through the better film. I had him remove all the original film, and install the ceramic on all the glass, roof included...and it's been sweet ever since.

 

I'm right here with y'all in the Texas heat. I thought my dealership told me that it was not legal in Texas to tint the windshield and that maybe there was something else about not tinting the sunroof in my 2025 Lyriq. But would that be correct?
Are y'all talking about putting the tint on the front side windows, the sunroof and the windshield? I need any relief I can get! My Dallas dealership has offered to add it. Thoughts?

 

Not legal but you can't even tell 70% tint on windshield. Looks clear. Sunroof is legal obviously. I do get stopped every couple years for the limo 5% tint on front side windows but they just looking for dui and other violations. Never got a ticket once in my life for tint.

 

I used ceramic with no tint on the windshield in Texas. It’s totally clear but ceramic blocks about 95% of the heat. Folks who put it on said totally legal

 

Hey Jim does it block UV as well? about how much $$ for the windshield? are there any special considerations about cleaning the glass?

 

The guy I use in Florida cautioned me against doing anything to the roof glass Or my previous Tesla or my Lyriq. He claims it will trap heat and likely cause problems.

 

I was wondering about that - there's already some level of tint, but I'd suspect that any additional tint you place there would reflect it back out, to whatever degree the existing tint allows. ?

 

My local tint guy (used him for cars/home/business over the years) uses 3M products. He's recommending their Crystalline film over the Ceramic IR. I think it's a little pricier, but when I indicated I wanted the clearest view possible, he said go with Crystalline.

?

 

Crystalline won't give you any tint though, just UV and heat blocking. Good for those who want the protection without the tinted aspect. For those who want tint, ceramic is still the way to go for top of the line tint.

 

Ok, so was there something about there being a reason to not put any tint on the sunroof? Do you do that too, jimpilot?

The guy I use in Florida cautioned me against doing anything to the roof glass Or my previous Tesla or my Lyriq. He claims it will trap heat and likely cause problems.

I was wondering about that - there's already some level of tint, but I'd suspect that any additional tint you place there would reflect it back out, to whatever degree the existing tint allows. ?

Yes I’cant speak to that but I’ve read it enough to not want to chance it. I touch the liner over my head driving home when it was almost 100 deg and direct sun light. It was cool, no heat noticed. So I didn't see a need for it.

my car has always had good AC, but after the ceramic on the windshield I’m feeling cold after about 5 min if I start from a hot car.

 

...I touch the liner over my head driving home when it was almost 100 deg and direct sun light. It was cool, no heat noticed. So I didn't see a need for it...

By "liner", I assume you're referring to the closed sunroof shade. Here's the thing: if you treat the sunroof with a good IR film, the car will feel virtually as cool with the shade open as it does when the shade is closed. Of course, the fixed sunroof is so large and lets in so much light that you may prefer to keep the shade closed when it's sunny anyway. It will solely be a question of whether you want the light or not, though, as heat will no longer be a consideration.