Crystalline tint / 3m ceramic tint questions

meeper · July 23

Hey I have gotten crystalline tint in the past ( 3 years ago ) an when washing the car it would have the reddish reflective shimmer to it . I have gotten my new car tinted at the same shop an took it to the car wash a few weeks afterwards I have not noticed the crystalline characteristics . I got in my head about it an thought they may have tinted with the wrong film . I called the shop an they said that that version of crystalline is weather protected so if you spray inside the car you will notice the same effect which it did..I read elsewhere that the new ceramic films have a ir coating on the outside of the film as where crystalline has it inside the film. I geuss my question is ..is there a such thing as a weather coated crystalline film an also do ceramic films with ir coating have this same type of characteristics as I described above...I just want to make sure I paid for what I got.

DynamicATL · July 24

As a 3M dealer who is Crystalline preferred, I have no idea what that shop is talking about. The rainbow color (not just red) is caused by light bouncing through the 200 layers in the film, which is visible in the drops. You will not see this every time the glass is wet, just when the light hits it at the right angle. If you got Crystalline 20 or 40, the brownish hue is noticeable.

meeper · July 24

Hey yeah I never heard of that either they said its weather coated ? ..they said if i sprayed the inside of the windshield I will notice that effect ( which I did ) so basically if I spray water on the outside it's regular but if I spray water on the inside it's rainbow . I will attach some pictures later.

Tintguy1980 · July 24

To my understanding, Crystalline is not a ceramic film product; it is an entirely different technology achieved through the use of hundreds of micro-layers (thought to be a coating or film). I could be wrong.

DynamicATL · July 24

13 hours ago, meeper said:

Hey yeah I never heard of that either they said its weather coated ? ..they said if i sprayed the inside of the windshield I will notice that effect ( which I did ) so basically if I spray water on the outside it's regular but if I spray water on the inside it's rainbow . I will attach some pictures later.

Tell them to produce info from 3M about this "weather coating." I would love to see it. 🤣 Nothing has changed with Crystalline in the last three years. They are updating the film right now to change the brownish hue to a normal charcoal color to match their Ceramic IR and reduce low-angle haze. I was told they were hoping for a summer release but no info yet.

Edited July 24 by DynamicATL