Date:         Sun, 14 Jul 2013 18:02:36 -0500
Reply-To:     Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Weekend project: tinted windows
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

This weekend I "tanned" the windows in my Westy, as my grandson calls it.
While there are a couple of things only I would likely notice, the job was
not really difficult and makes a huge difference in the internal
temperature when the sun is shining.

Before I started this project, I looked up instructions on the internet and
those were good. But none were as good as the instructions that came with
the tint (gila.com, from my FLAPS). The instructions were so thorough that
there is nothing to add to them here.

When you do something like this is one of the times you realize how big the
Vanagon really is.

Taking the slider latch hardware off of the side windows for the install
was a chance to replace the worn fixtures with some from a later model
vanagon with better power coating, and to lube the spring and moving parts
so that all works nicely now. For this, don't waste your time with anything
other than a ratcheting 90 degree screwdriver with a flat blade. Nothing
else will work, no matter how many screwdrivers you own, and this is easy.

Of course, the windows have never been this clean since the car left the
factory. I didn't do the driver's rear all the way back, just what I could
reach behind the cabinet. The sun hits the curtains there anyway, and I
will someday soon be pulling the cabinet for other stuff so I will finish
that job then.

One word for Westy owners that tintop owners do not need to concern
themselves with: you have to do the rear window from a stepstool with the
hatch open, working above your head. The cabinets get in the way otherwise.

I did not take the curtains all the way off, but loosened the screws that
hold the top rail, and let the rail fall and then hooked the rail over the
latch mechanism on the base of the door. That held everything out of the
way during the install. I removed the screws holding down the curtain
bottoms and plastic straps, too, to get them out of the way so I could get
at the bottom corners. That was standard procedure on all the windows. For
the front windows, you only have to pop out the

I managed OK with the tint, but I would suggest not doing this
single-handedly as I did. I got lucky. If the sticky surface touches itself
during handling, you can just throw that piece away and go get another
roll. And it's a big window.

One of the things I learned in this process is the waste of time that glass
cleaners and paper towels are. It's just as quick to use the called-for
materials for window tinting: a spray bottle of water with 12 drops of dish
soap, a squeegee, and a razor blade. This does so much better.

When I asked for lint-free paper towels where I bought the tint, everyone
behind the counter said "use newspapers." So I did.

Other than the tint, everything else (squeegee, razor blades, knife, squirt
bottle) came from Home Depot.

Jim