I want to tint the side / back windows in my Sonata.. I see several do it yourself kits on the internet auction site.. are they any good, hard to install or is it just better to visit a good window tint business and let them do it? A, looking for thoughts and comments...

this has been discussed before (use the search engine) in short if you do it yourself you are very likely to make a right mess of it. if you want it to look nice pay the money and get it done properly..it's not as easy as it looks

Do you ever want to tint a window again after your Sonata is done? If no, then pay to have a professional do it. I don't think it is really worth the time or the expense of doing it yourself.

You can go on youtube and search how to tint windows and get an understanding.

You can buy a good quality tint from a number of places on line. You can also buy the pre-cut tint on eBay which really speeds things up, but you pay extra for the convenience of having it precut.

What you can't buy is the first hand experience in handling the tint, cutting the tint, or shrinking the tint for the back window. Couple things to think about:

1. The tint is pretty cheap when compared to getting it done from a pro shop. I would guess they would charge anywhere from 200 to 300 for all the windows. That is an advantage of doing it yourself.

2. You need to buy about 50 dollars worth of tools if you want to do it right. Probably a waste of money to do something once.

3. Unless you use the pre-cut stuff, a beginner trying to free hand cut framed windows is VERY hard.

4. The rear window is most likely impossible to do in one piece without shrinking the tint. The rear window is almost impossible to shrink if you have never done it before.

So if you really want to learn to do it and do it in the future, go for it. You can practice on your own car and probably get it done for the same price or a bit more than what a pro shop would charge, but this does not factor in the hours of messing up and frustration you will experience in doing so....and your finished product will probably still not be close to perfect like a pro shop....small creases, tiny bubbles..etc.

I have been a "shade tree" tinter for years and have all the tools and heat gun. It me about 8 attempts to do my Elantra in one piece. I bought a 100' roll of tint so I had lots to play with and practice with.

This is all said with the idea you want really good looking tint. If it does not need to look good or if you don't care if your rear window is done in strips, then you can get away pretty cheaply by doing it yourself.

If you decide to have your windows tinted professionally, look for a shop that offers lifetime warranty. I think most shops do offer lifetime warranty on tinting windows.