Just bought a 2013 S60, black, with black interior, for a family member. Never had a car tinted before, due to concerns about long term (10+year) durability, damage to element on rear window, etc.
Personally for my C30 I have custom fit heat shields for front and side windows and the Volvo sunshades, which are adequate and look fine. However, given this car is black, I may want better heat blocking. I am perfectly fine with a combination approach (heatshield in front, tint on doors, shade in rear window) if such makes sense. My family member is unlikely to put up and take down more than a windshield screen.
2) Tint - should I be concerned about the rear window element? If I go tint, should I go ceramic? What film brands I should use or avoid? I am not concerned with achieving a particular look, but of course I don't want it to look bad - purplish or bronzish tint, for example. My concern is keeping the interior such that the A/C will cool it down quickly. That is, not turning the interior into a heat sink.
I suspect this car will be kept at least 7-10 years, maybe longer.
I have Madico Charcool tint on all of our cars... past and present (non metallic). Never had an issue on the rear glass heating elements. Tint blocks UV and that will help keep the car cooler.
Is the factory rear window sunshade something you drive with in place, as in can you see thru it? Or just have to manually install when parked? Never seen one and the photos I see online are not good...
Yes, you drive with the rear window sunshade in place. Can be removed but I'm told it does not obscure rear vision at night. I just received one for an S80... will likely install this week sometime.
If you get windows tinted, check state laws on how far you can go .Cops up here in ny state lick their chops, pulling guys over with too much (dark) tinted glass. So I $$$ a pair of 150.00 sunglasses, and turned the air cond up higher.
On the C30, the sunshades remain in place. They are mesh fabric in a wire frame and basically press fit in the side windows, and are clipped into the rear hatch window. With it in place there is no need for an auto dimming mirror and you can certainly see out the rear at night (some say you get some distortion, but I do not). Taking it out at night, if it bothers you, takes less time than opening the hatch.
I believe the S60 shades are similar, but the picture is horrible, that is why I posted. I am leaning towards ceramic tint, but the two shops I have gone to so far give me little confidence. One of our other cars came with a fairly dark privacy glass in the rear, and nighttime rear visibility is greatly diminished. Where we drive, the first thing you do before applying the brakes is look into the rear view mirror to make sure you will not get rear ended, so rear visibility is important.
I have a black V60 R Design with the rear sun curtains. As mentioned earlier, they're a mesh with a wire frame...they do a great job of blocking out the sun and they're easy to see through at night. Unlike window tint, you can take them out if you don't need them. I was on the fence between tinting the windows vs. the sun curtains and I'm glad I bought the sun curtains.
I have 35% all around and the rear sunshades (my tinting place told me I could do 35% all around or 50% on the rear windows only - state law, I guess). The mesh helps keep the sun out of my son's eyes when he's watching the headrest DVD monitors. The tint looks excellent. At first, I just had the rear sunshades, but adding the tint makes a huge difference in appearance.
Two tint shops did not give me any confidence. One uses Sun-Gard ($200) and Madico ceramic ($350), does lots of dealership work. The other does 3M ($425 for color stable that they kept telling me was ceramic but is not) and over $800 for the crystalline. Decided I did not have time at the moment to run around to other tint shops, and all seemed to have mixed reviews. I bought the rear window sun shade and it is exactly the same as on my C30 - mesh fabric in a wire snap in frame. $84 + tax. Will get heatshields for the front and front side windows, and decide later whether to tint, get the mesh for the rear doors or what.
No pics, just got it and raining today. It is big, full size, so don't go pick it up in a tiny car.
Many new cars come with 35% tint installed at the dealer here in Texas, and from what I've seen the tint still looks good even on cars that are 10+ years old. I don't know who the dealerships use or what product. I have not had any issues with the tint in my cars. FWIW, the tint looks really sharp, especially with a dark exterior color.
Here is a third option that even Volvo does not advertise for the 2013 S60. Its a roll up sun shade that hooks onto the anchors on the ceiling.
The parts you need are: Sun shade (31305407) US$102.11
Tray Trim available in black (39817812) and beige (39817810) US$201.07
If you're good with tools, you can install it yourself. I chose to let my Volvo dealer install it since it involves removing the rear seatbelts.
Just another option if you don't want to tint and its rolls easily out of the way while driving at night.
Definitely do tint. Any good ceramic would be my suggestion.
Don't worry about damage to your car, just find a reputable installer.
Check local laws as well. MN only allows 50% generally, though 35% still looks light enough to avoid hassle from the POPO.
does anyone have any good pictures of the shades in their car? I would love to see what these things look like, might double down and get the shades in addition to the tint I already have...
So I finally got around to taking some pictures of these. I got the rear doors and window shades and they are very nice in that they are certainly made exactly for this car and look great. The first three photos are with no tint, and last two are with 20% ceramic tint all around. The rear shade at night makes the back pretty dark since the window is so raked, but during the daytime it's fine. The clips I could see breaking at some point if you are constantly taking them in and out. One very nice feature is that you can roll the rear windows down even with these installed, wouldn't want to do it at full speed, but cracked a bit or to help with venting the car would be no issue.
First time posting images to this forum, they should work but let me know if people can't see 'em.
You only have to worry about the rear defrost elements when the tint is being removed for whatever reason. Most tint shops don't know the secret to removing the tint without damaging them. The majority of them will peel and scrape with a razor blade to remove the glue. Use a window cleaner with ammonia in it to degrade the tint. Peel an edge back then use a penetrating oil or goo gone (pen oil works better/cheaper) to dissolve the glue behind the tint as you peel. Takes a while to do it right but it works every time. Once you're done your glass will look new again with your defrost elements intact.
Had a 240 for 28 yrs. Car was tinted 4 times. Removed the tint myself. Never had an issue with the rear defroster elements.
I actually purchased them through Amazon, $180 for all three. Sure it's a bit steep but as I said I have never seen shades like this for any other car made by the manufacture for a perfect fit.
Both is even better and combined with a good front windshield shade the car cools down in about 60 seconds no matter how hot it is outside, very helpful in the brutal Florida heat.
Took a few pictures today similar to what is already posted, but slightly different.
I already had tinted windows front and back, "legal" or whatever that means in Missouri for the driver & passenger windows but darker on the rear door windows and the rear window. However, it's wasn't enough (for me) in the summer. Decided to go with the Volvo sun shades as well.
Fits like a charm, way darker and nicer, colder car, improved mood, and virtually impossible to see inside the car, but not for me to see out. As soon as "fall & winter" starts, I could in theory remove then and just live with the tinted windows, but, we'll see.
11 years in Saint Louis (sinned for a while in a Mustang GT) with heavy tint with not even the tiniest remark from anybody which is kind of disappointing but probably the best. No issues traveling out of state either...
Happy driving!
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