why do some installers hate 3M film so much?

[Guest edster922]

(I tried to do a search for "3M film" but the site search engine wouldn't allow it because "3M" is under 3 characters, LOL.)

This seems to be the one film that installers seem to either love or hate...actually mostly hate, in my experience.

But nobody has ever given me any real reasons why, other than the standard quick diss like "well 3M makes great post-its."

Are 3M films hard to install? I'm learning that HuperOptik seems to be, but I've never heard so many strong opinions against it like I have with 3M.

Does their adhesive suck? Do the films turn color quickly? Peel easily? Don't live up to their heat performance specs?

Or is it because it's not easy to become a 3M dealer (is it? I have no idea, am just speculating) and so the non-3M dealers are just protecting their turf against the huge name-recognition advantage that 3M enjoys with the consumer public?

Personally I don't put much stock in brand-name recognition myself: as an audio enthusiast, one of the first things I learned very quickly was that the big boys like Bose, Sony and Kenwood mainly use their massive advertising budget to sell mediocre products---and in Bose's case, godawful products.

But I'm curious about 3M auto film, because I sell their NightVision residential film and have never had any problems with it. As I understand it 3M recently came out with the Color Stable auto film which they claim to be a big improvement over their old auto films.

The 3M Color Stable 35 is listed on their website as having just 39% heat rejection for single pane clear glass, which seems surprisingly weak to me. I was happy to see that it's not anywhere near the same price range as the Huper or F1 ceramic films though!

[Guest Readyman]

[Guest Total tint]

most 3 m dealers seem to think they are big shoit notice I said most not all

[Mdog]

IN BEFORE THE LOCK