The following steps illustrate a typical automotive installation and the procedures used by facory-trained LLumar installers.
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Step 1 - Exterior Cleaning
Moving clockwise around the vehicle (beginning at the "1 o'clock" position--the passenger side front door), the exterior of each pane should be well-cleaned, minimizing the potential for contamination and giving the film a better hold on the glass during the trimming operation. Be sure to roll each pane down slightly to wipe clean the extreme top edge of the glass where much dust is likely to be trapped.
Use a light spray of your film application solution (Film-On) or any good window cleaner for this purpose. trimming the film to size will be done (generally) on the outside surface. It's fast and, when a few tricks are mastered, extremely accurate. Ultimately, the film will be installed on the inside surfaces of the glass.
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Text and photos by Joseph Richard &
David Laufenberg, CPFilms Inc.
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Step 2 -Pattern Cutting
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The exterior of the pane is sprayed lightly with the film application solution ("Film-On"). The film is laid up, liner side out, positioned carefully, and trimmed to size along the perimeter. Good installers will take advantage of the edge moldings, using them as edge-guides for the razor knife, taking care to hold the knife at a pitch that cuts only the film (rather than the gaskets!).
Installers often choose to lay up the film, trim, and install all side windows before tackling the rear window, on the theory that it's best to get the easy panes done first.
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Step 3 - Heat Forming
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After trimming the film to size, any curvatuve in the glass will become apparent. Nearly all rear windows (and a great many side windows) have a slightly spherical curvature, preventing the film from laying flat on the glass. (Click here for a photo of the fingering effect on an especially curved side window). The effect on the film is called "fingering." A well-handled heat-gun works wonders to precisely shrink film to fit the compound curves of most car windows. Gone are the days when most rear windows required the installation of many small strips to wrap around those radical curves.
Heat-shrinking is done prior to installation, saving much time and the aggravation of persistent "fingering." Heat forming is discussed in detail in section 2.3.5. "Shrinking Under the Gun." Heat forming is probably the single most important procedure for speeding up the installation process and yielding the most professional results.
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Step 4 - Interior Glass Cleaning
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When trimming and any needed heat forming is complete, the interior of surface of the glass must be prepped with a strong liquid cleaning agent (Dirt-Off). Most surfaces can be bladed and then scrubbed with a nylon scrub pad to break down oily contaminants. The window is finally squeegeed clean, the borders stroked dry with a cloth or paper-wrapped glass surfaces are pristine to receive a tinted or metallized film. Special precautions are need when cleaning rear panes (especially those with defroster wires and dot matrix borders.)
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Step 5 - Liner Stripping
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After glass cleaning, the film's protective liner is removed and the exposed adhesive is sprayed with the application solution. This temporarily deactivates the pressure sensitive adhesive and allows the film to slide smoothly onto the clean inner surface of the glass. After the film's adhesive surface is sprayed, so, too, is the inner surface of the pane. A variety of ingenious techniques have been developed over the years to made this process go quickly and minimize the risk of contamination during the lay-up process.
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Step 6 - Film Lay-up: Side Windows
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With the liner stripped away and the application solution sprayed on both the glass and the adhesive side of the film, the film can now be slid into place.
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Step 7 - Film Lay-up: Rear Window
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As we indicated, rear windows present the greatest challenges to installers, so we devote more space discussing and illustrating, the multintude of techniques. The film lay-up process requires great care to float the wet film into place. Special handling techniques can be readily mastered allowing one installer to lay up a very large, one-piece rear window without assistance.
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Step 8 - Squeegeeing
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Immediately after each film pattern is settled into its final position, the surface of the pane is again sprayed with application solution to lubricate the squeegee. Special squeegee devices are used to extract all the "air bubbles" and as much application solution as possible. Residual moisture will dry out right through the film layers in a matter of days. Drying time will vary and depends on temperature, humidity, film composition, and the amount of moisture left behind after squeegeeing.
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Step 9 - Border Checking/Sealing
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All film borders are checked and sealed with teflon "hard card" (or one of an array of other tools). All borders must be sealed to prevent air, water, and dust particles from creeping back under the film during the curing process Often, these border tools will be covered will a thin aborbent material (paper towel or cotton fabric) to wick away extracted moisture.
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Step 10 - Final Clean-up & Inspection
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When the installation is complete, all windows are carefully wiped down (inside and out) to remove streaks and smudges, and give the whole vehicle a polished look. Check for problem areas: a bubble here, a small water pocket there, or a tiny carpet fiber to be extracted along an edge. Special "hardcard" squeegees can fix most problems. After the wipe-down, take the vehicle outdoors to perform the final visual inspection.
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Step 11 - Delivery!
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After checking for any defects that may show themselves in the bright light of day, you are ready to present the car the customer and explain your warranty program and/or basic care and maintenance instructions. ... And on the the next car!
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