I have factory blue tints on my car and love them, so the very idea of tinting just simply doesn't appeal, and these simply clip in and out in seconds
there's lots of retailers stocking these now, ebay too, all at varying prices. Noting here that this review is for the
3dr and
not the 5dr so i wont be covering the function of being able to open the windows with them attached
i bought mine from here:
http://www.palmautomotive.co.uk/ at a cost of £74.95 delivered
so what do you get for your money?
well the blind come in 4 sections, 1 for each side rear window and 2 for the rear hatch window. Also you get a zip up bag for storage, basic instructions and a couple of metal clips for use with the rears
basically the same 'mothercare' baby blind material you see on cars with the suction cups and silly pictures of winnie the poo etc
the quality is very good, and the metal frames have decent 'give' in them whilst staying perfectly in shape. here's a shot to show the thickness of the weave:
each blind has a material tab on it for you to grip when removing them
now for the fitting.
for the rear passenger glass keep the material tabs on the blind facing inside the car (working out which blind is for which side is pretty apparent)
holding the blind outside the window recess start by gentle bending and sliding it into place against the B pillar:
then gently ease the top corner in
and now the bottom
it's a compression fit, not mega tight so give you the ability to get it where you want it....and we're done
naturally the same process applies to the other side.
onto the rear
the kit includes 2 metal clips, one for each of the rear hatch window blinds and they just clip on
make sure you have the flat side facing the glass with them..like so..
now to fit them, pretty much a similar process to the rear windows. start with either one and work from the upper middle out
then the top corner (watch out for the plastic stump your parcel shelf string loops around, dont want to bend the blinds!)
and then carefully without scratching your plastics pop the metal clips home
and we're installed, again as with the rears there's movement to allow you to get them into position but once in they're very happy to stay there and wont come out until removed
This should take no more than 5 minutes to install or remove when needed and once in the bag they fit perfectly under the boot floor for safe flat storage
The questions i know you want to hear
what the difference inside the car?well its is darker, not massively so but in a gentle way, here's a comparison. pic 1 is without and if you look at the glare on the interior plastics:
installed, no glare:
What's the visibility through them like?looking at the pictures below you can see that you can still see through the car, and importantly preserve my blue outer tint, but everythings just that little bit darker
perfect for the kids
inside the car there is good visability although very mildly restricted over standard, but less so that with the factory tints, the shoulder of the car is high so my kids cant reach to see out anyway yet. saying this though, if you have tints already then this would be very very restrictive if you combine them with these
What is the view like for the driver?very good. there's the join line down the middle, but easy seen past
and what you see in the mirror
Verdict- OEM looking
- Easy to remove and store
- Well made, should cope with kids grabing at them (if they can find the edge
), so durable - Car stays cooler in the sun
- Filters up to 70% of harmful UV Radiation.
- Theft Deterent - Privacy Shades for added security
- Gives 100% coverage of passenger and rear windows
- Easily removable - Better than Tinted Glass
- Stops insects entering when window is down (5dr)
- Anti Dazzle device against High Beam.
Hope this helps
Peace.
VC
