New here from So Cal.

I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Dean and I own a "tuner" shop here in Southern California. Back in 07, I had purchased a Prius (model 4) for my mother as her new daily driver. Her/my Accord was being given to my stepbrother, I won't touch my stepfather's C230 Kompressior with a 10 foot poll it's such a POS, and I also had sold my very pristine 88 Acura Integra. All that was left was my 2002 Acura RSX race car and my 2006 Honda Ridgeline. She can't drive stick and the race car isn't registered so can't be driven on the street, and the Ridgeline is my daily driver, so we had to get a new car. She was wanting to get a hybrid for fuel savings reasons.

Anyways, my mom has gotten to the age where it is unsafe for her to be driving, so I'm taking the vehicle back. Mechanically, the car is great. It just needs some fresh fluids and fresh filters, and it's good to go. Appearance-wise, it's pretty beat. Bumps, scrapes, and rubs all over the body. I'm thinking of taking the Prius as my new daily driver (I have a close to 70 mi commute round trip), so the fuel savings will be a big welcome to my pocketbook.

With me being me, this vehicle won't stay too stock for very long. I know the front shocks are going out (squeaking like mad), so I have a set of Megan Racing coilovers on standby, as well as some 17" Buddy Club SF wheels in white. The windows are in need of tinting (will be sent to get 3M Crystaline tint on all the glass), and I need to figure out a pulling issue under braking.

So, I'm here to use whatever little DIY tricks for basic maintenance I can find and maybe post up some DIY's of my own as well as offer as much general insight I have from my 20ish years in the automotive industry.

 

Even though it's out of the way, I'm probably going to bring it to Tint Factory in LA. The Motoiq guys use them. Probably going to end up doing something real similar to them, light tint all around with the clear (it's like 98% light transmission) on the windshield.

 

For sure. Plus I'm in the Valley as well, so I'm pretty local for you to pick my brain. I'm in Sun Valley (literally a few blocks north of the Burbank boarder). I see that you're in Woodland Hills. North or south of the boulevard?

 

Honestly, Yelp is probably better than anything else for the local area. There seems to be a few reputable shops in the Burbank area it seems like.
Window tinting Burbank

That kinda gives you an idea. I generally go for 4+ stars. For me, since I know what tint I want to use, it kinda makes it easier to boil down. Since I'm going to go with the 3M Crystalline tint, I just hopped on 3M's web site to search for their authorized dealers:
Find a Dealer - Automotive - Find a 3M Window Films dealer near you - 3M US

Sunshield looks pretty good. I'll probably give them a call after I get the interior of the car all cleaned out.

 

I remember back in the day, Solarguard used to be the best in the buesiness. But now, it seems as if 3M is making big headway. As far as what I can tell, the film is thinner, better light transmission into the vehicle, and much better heat rejection above all else. The downside seems to be that it is a significantly more expensive product. It's one of those "you get what you pay for". The only time that I've used the Crystalline on my cars to date have been in my race cars. I typically opt for the lightest color (I think it's the Crystalline 90) on the race cars (interiors can get well over 115 degrees during the summer, plus on top of that, you're typically also wearing a 3-layer nomex suit, gloves, helmet, long underwear, balacava, etc, so it feels much closer to 130-140 in cabin). I could tell at least in my race cars the difference in terms of in cabin temps. Before I used to go to California Tint in Rosemead, but since I no longer live in the San Gabriel Valley and they have no appointment service (first come, first serve), and I'll probably have my little 3 month old running around with me, I don't have time to take a gamble to drop the car off and maybe not even have it be done by the time I have to go home or run out of baby supplies.

 

I remember on my race cars, I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of around $550 for the Crystalline install. Yes, more expensive than normal tint, but for those applications, it was worth it. I'm trying to find some time to get it done on my Ridgeline (windshield only, already have tint on the front 2 windows).