OC, CA - Shark Fin Antenna / XLNT TINT

[jhall]

Hello,

First time poster here. First of all, I would like to thank everyone one this board. This is an awesome community and I have learned so much here. I just picked up my 2008 Touring #6 Magnetic Gray on Saturday and I am having so much fun with the car.

I am curious if anyone who has the Shark Fin in OC has had reception issues. I would imaging the bigger stations come in fine. I listen to 89.9 (KCRW) sometimes which isn't the strongest signal as well as a few others that aren't so strong and they come in decently with the stock antenna.

Also, I am probably going to get the windows tinted soon. My leading candidate right now is XLNT TINT (xlnttint.com) in Anaheim with the ceramic tint. Has anyone used them? Any opinions on them?

Thanks!

[firepa63]

You will have some degradation of signal with the shark fin antenna. Unless there is a real important reason to change the antenna, I recommend staying with the OEM antenna.

[jhall]

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I have read it degrades the signal, I am just curious to know how much as I like the look of the Shark Fin alot better.

[bustedryde]

hi jhall, i live in oc as well and was willing to travel to culver city at tint connection based on the reviews here (the shop has experience with the soft pillars) or signal hill, also based on a couple of rec's here, but anaheim would definitely be better. do you know if they have experience with the prius?

ps..i also ordered the shark fin, i have two more weeks until i receive it, but i'm pretty sure we'll be fine since the signals are strong around here

[jhall]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bustedryde @ Oct 26 2007, 12:52 PM) [snapback]530837[/snapback]</div>

hi jhall, i live in oc as well and was willing to travel to culver city at tint connection based on the reviews here (the shop has experience with the soft pillars) or signal hill, also based on a couple of rec's here, but anaheim would definitely be better. do you know if they have experience with the prius?

ps..i also ordered the shark fin, i have two more weeks until i receive it, but i'm pretty sure we'll be fine since the signals are strong around here
[/b]

I do have family up in LA and was thinking about Tint Connection as well. XLNT TINT claims they have Prius experience, and they seem reputable from what I have found on other forums. They are a bit on the pricey side though. I am still thinking about it.

[Scafremon]

I can concur that XLNT Tint has Prius experience - they did mine last Saturday!

I'm sure they have done more then just mine, as they said they had experience with them prior to my visit. The owner actually owns a Prius, but not sure if the Anaheim location tinted his windows (they have locations in Las Vegas and DC also).

I'm not sure what ceramic tint is. It appeared to me that they have (2) basic types of tint: A metallic tint that is less expensive ($195 as I recall for a Prius) but could interfere with Blutooth or GPS signals. The other was a 'carbon' tint, which is what I got, $245.

I did not shop around for tint places. Two friends of mine have had about 6 cars tinted there over the years, and recommended them to me. I really like the look of their facility - very clean. Kris Cruz was the young man that helped me, and was very nice.

They have 4 basics shades in each style. I went with the middle 2 shades - lighter of the two on front windows, and the darker on the rest. I believe these were 35% and 18%. It's only been a week for me, so the fact that my tint still looks good probably doesn't mean much. But I'm very happy so far.

[jhall]

Nice. Thank you very much for the info. Yeah sorry, I meant "Carbon" not "Ceramic". That is about the same quote I got over email. I asked and they said the manufacturer of the Carbon film is Sun-Tek/Commonwealth which seems pretty good from some posts I read over at www.tintdude.com (a forum for pro tinters I found while googling about auto tint). Anyway, I'll probably go for it this week.

I am assuming that price included the smaller side windows in the front and rear? They also said there is about an $85 adder for the windshield. I am still thinking about that one. I want to protect the dash area from fading (too lazy to put a sun shield up), but I don't want to worry about the possibility of a fix-it ticket.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Scafremon @ Oct 27 2007, 08:08 PM) [snapback]531420[/snapback]</div>

I can concur that XLNT Tint has Prius experience - they did mine last Saturday!

I'm sure they have done more then just mine, as they said they had experience with them prior to my visit. The owner actually owns a Prius, but not sure if the Anaheim location tinted his windows (they have locations in Las Vegas and DC also).

I'm not sure what ceramic tint is. It appeared to me that they have (2) basic types of tint: A metallic tint that is less expensive ($195 as I recall for a Prius) but could interfere with Blutooth or GPS signals. The other was a 'carbon' tint, which is what I got, $245.

I did not shop around for tint places. Two friends of mine have had about 6 cars tinted there over the years, and recommended them to me. I really like the look of their facility - very clean. Kris Cruz was the young man that helped me, and was very nice.

They have 4 basics shades in each style. I went with the middle 2 shades - lighter of the two on front windows, and the darker on the rest. I believe these were 35% and 18%. It's only been a week for me, so the fact that my tint still looks good probably doesn't mean much. But I'm very happy so far.
[/b]

[blzlovr]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jhall @ Oct 26 2007, 11:02 AM) [snapback]530779[/snapback]</div>

Hello,

First time poster here. First of all, I would like to thank everyone one this board. This is an awesome community and I have learned so much here. I just picked up my 2008 Touring #6 Magnetic Gray on Saturday and I am having so much fun with the car.

I am curious if anyone who has the Shark Fin in OC has had reception issues. I would imaging the bigger stations come in fine. I listen to 89.9 (KCRW) sometimes which isn't the strongest signal as well as a few others that aren't so strong and they come in decently with the stock antenna.

Also, I am probably going to get the windows tinted soon. My leading candidate right now is XLNT TINT (xlnttint.com) in Anaheim with the ceramic tint. Has anyone used them? Any opinions on them?

Thanks!
[/b]

I just installed the shark fin a couple of days ago, I haven't noticed any difference in reception. I mainly listen to 94.7 and 1070, was able to get the same reception when traveling down to No. San Diego (from H.

I got my windows tinted (35% front side - 20% back and rear) by Picture Perfect in Signal Hill, CA. They were recommended by someone in this group. He gives a discount to PriusChat.com group members, I paid 175.00. Lifetime warranty - SunTek film. I'm very happy with the work they did. There is a thead about this here: http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=3...mp;#entry415439

[Scafremon]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jhall @ Oct 28 2007, 11:00 AM) [snapback]531612[/snapback]</div>

Nice. Thank you very much for the info. Yeah sorry, I meant "Carbon" not "Ceramic". That is about the same quote I got over email. I asked and they said the manufacturer of the Carbon film is Sun-Tek/Commonwealth which seems pretty good from some posts I read over at www.tintdude.com (a forum for pro tinters I found while googling about auto tint). Anyway, I'll probably go for it this week.

I am assuming that price included the smaller side windows in the front and rear? They also said there is about an $85 adder for the windshield. I am still thinking about that one. I want to protect the dash area from fading (too lazy to put a sun shield up), but I don't want to worry about the possibility of a fix-it ticket.
[/b]

Yep, Sun-Tek was the product they installed. The price was for all windows sans the windshield (10 windows in all). Lifetime warranty included, and they do offer an additional one-time remove/replace warranty for $40.

The $175 price bizlovr mentions sounds good for same product, same warranty, and you gotta like a priuschat discount! Maybe I should have shopped around, but with XLNT Tint only a few miles from my house, it was nice to just get it done the same day I thought about it, and not be one of the many things that I tend to over-evalute for days/weeks/months.

If you decide on XLNT Tint, you might want to print out this thread, and take it with you, and see if they can cut you even a better deal.

Since I have never had a car tinted before, I was curious about the process, and Kris took me into the garage area to let me watch them do some of my car, and walked me through the whole process in another bay.

Good Luck to ya!

[jhall]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(blzlovr @ Oct 28 2007, 12:24 PM) [snapback]531642[/snapback]</div>

I just installed the shark fin a couple of days ago, I haven't noticed any difference in reception. I mainly listen to 94.7 and 1070, was able to get the same reception when traveling down to No. San Diego (from H.

I got my windows tinted (35% front side - 20% back and rear) by Picture Perfect in Signal Hill, CA. They were recommended by someone in this group. He gives a discount to PriusChat.com group members, I paid 175.00. Lifetime warranty - SunTek film. I'm very happy with the work they did. There is a thead about this here: http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=3...mp;#entry415439
[/b]

Nice. Thanks for the info on the Shark Fin Antenna. I'm sold.

For the tint, that does seem like a very good price for Picture Perfect. I am still kind of leaning towards Anaheim as it is much closer. My plan is probably just to get it done during an extended lunch this week.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Scafremon @ Oct 28 2007, 01:51 PM) [snapback]531664[/snapback]</div>

it was nice to just get it done the same day I thought about it, and not be one of the many things that I tend to over-evalute for days/weeks/months. [/b]

heh. Sometimes I have to slap myself for taking too much time picking a vendor/brand for even the smallest of purchases.