w126 300sel window tint
 

1988 300sel

Went to check out some window tint shops today.

One of the guys mentioned that the rear window is double pane with a laminate in between. Nobody had ever mentioned the term "laminate". He continued on to tell me that laminate is the term they use for metal in between the glass.

He told me that the rear glass is subject to breaking if tint is installed.

He continued on to tell me that the tint will make the glass heat up even more than without the tint because the heat gets reflected back to the middle metal layer which will heat the glass.

I was again surprised because I had also never heard that one.

He gave me a quote and I drove away to do more research.

Question:

Is this tint shop telling me facts about the rear window

I have always had my windows tinted 123, 126, 140, 210...... nobody has ever said that and I have never had a window break. I use 3M shops a big body car like a W140 runs about $230 here.

Thanks, I needed a laugh today.



Find a new shop.

Bought mine used 20 yrs. ago this month. Came with tint on ALL windows. None have broken.

Sounds to me like he's lazy. Common problem these days.

xaliscomex, the defroster wires on that vintage rear glass may be raised somewhat on the interior surface, complicating installation of window tint. I believe the glass is laminated, but not with metal.

All automotive glass is laminated.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminated_glass

Not all auto glass is laminated.

For most cars only the windshield is laminated. This consists of two pieces of glass with a plastic "glue" layer between the two. This helps keep objects from entering the passenger compartment. It also tends to keep the glass sort of intact preventing large shards from flying around.

On MB cars, the rearmost glass tends to be laminated in the same fashion as the windshield.

All curved side glass is tempered, some flat side glass is laminated like a windshield but that is limited to 50's cars and trucks. Tempered glass turns into rock salt sized pieces when broken, this is because of the high internal stress when the glass is made causes it to shatter in all directions not just crack . It is a lot harder to break side glass than you think though a sharp edged tool does wonders. I have had tempered glass explode a few times. A car going from 10 *F into a 70* F shop had the rear window explode, and a couple of side windows break without any external impact.

I don't know where the metal in the middle came from other than the rear defroster wires may be there. As for breakage due to heat, you could look around here www.tintdude.com When getting tint film to shrink to size requires a heat gun, this might cause laminated to crack.