Anyone tried Solarplexius window tints?

So these things are basically polycarbonate plastic inserts that behave like a standard film tint but slot into the windows and "just sit there" with clips to hold them in place. I ordered from solarplexius.co.uk/uk/ (not an ad, haven't actually received yet) for £115 with a code for my Gen 3. It's a Swedish company, they're custom shaped to the Jimny and they claim that they're easy to see out of at night etc.

I looked on the forums but couldn't find many people discussing them. Anyone had experiences with them?

I'll come back and update the thread with some pics / my experience once they arrive, which should be tomorrow

So you can't roll the windows down....

Yeah, that's the major downside for many vehicles. But for my Gen 3 with stock rear windows (none of that cool custom gullwing stuff some people do) it's not a problem! I'd only be putting them in the back 3 windows (and indeed that's all you can do because they don't make them for the passenger / driver windows because they'd be too dark to be road legal).

The Gen.4 has "Rear privacy Glass" ie tinted, on the SZ5 variant.

Roger

GandHisJimny wrote:

Yeah, that's the major downside for many vehicles. But for my Gen 3 with stock rear windows (none of that cool custom gullwing stuff some people do) it's not a problem! I'd only be putting them in the back 3 windows (and indeed that's all you can do because they don't make them for the passenger / driver windows because they'd be too dark to be road legal).
 

The rules regarding window tint to the front can be found here (at least 75% transmission to the front and 70% for the front side windows)

www.gov.uk/tinted-vehicle-window-rules

My Gen 3 has very little tint to the front windscreen and partial tint to the front side windows, I think that is standard.  The rear windows (side and back door) have quite a heavy tint on mine, I think the original owner (he worked at a Suzuki garage, preparing the new cars) put it on as it is obviously a professional job, unless someone replaced the glass?

Robin

no, but ordered a set for my gen4 lcv

They arrived today and I've put them in! Install process was OK, hardest part by far is getting the back one in. I would recommend having some plastic pry tools on hand just to push them where they're meant to go. I've not driven with them yet but I am cautiously optimistic that will not need to use any of the clips to keep them in place. If I do it wont be because they'll slip out, but because they might rattle (we'll see).

The tints are definitely on the darker side of things. The inside of the car is barely visible. If there's a light on you can see in slightly but only to make out shapes. I'd say it's only one notch more visible that "drug dealer" / "limo". From the inside, during the day, it's good visibility - like having sunglasses on. The sun set about an hour ago and now seeing out of them is definitely harder than if they weren't there. That's really my only concern with them atm, that they're potentially too dark.

We'll see though. I'll upload some photos tomorrow during the day and try to give an update in a few weeks once I'm used to them.

Oh, and for anyone else with a Gen 3 trying to undo the heated window wires at the back. You literally just pull them down and they (eventually) pop off. I was very concerned I'd snap them or something but nope, got them off. And you'll have to do it too to get the back tint in because it has little rectangle cutous that will only fit with the wires disconnected.

Once it's in place you can plug them back in.

Some pics:  imgur.com/a/EwG8bwH

I did a quick 5 minute drive to the shops and I'm really happy with them so far. No rattling noise (though we'll see next time I'm on a motorway) and they look really good from the outside (incredibly hard to see through). From the inside it definitely makes it a little tougher to see out of, in particular the rear view mirror. For whatever reason it's much easier to see over my shoulder looking backwards than it is using the mirror, maybe to do with eye adjustment to the dark.The picture that best conveys the inside experience is the rear view mirror one, #3.

Only other issue I've had so far is that a little piece of white thread (from who knows where) got onto the outward facing side and was very obvious, looked like a white scratch. I removed the insert and rubbed it off, looks fine now. But yeah, unless you've got a clean room handy there's a high chance you'll get little bits of dust or whatever visible from the outside.

Will see how I get on with them the next few weeks.

fitted, will show from inside in a bit.
 

and inside looking out

Looking snazzy on the gen 4!

Now that I've used mine for a while I realise that leaving them in place without clips does lead to the odd rattle noise from the side windows. I might do it "properly" and use the clips to see if it goes away. Other thing is that yeah, damn they are dark! No two ways about it, it's harder to see out my car at night and if the person behind me doesn't have lights on (even just DRL ones) it can be a challenge to passively notice. Reversing at night is more of a concern also. The upside is that people with horrifically bright LED headlamps are dimmer now and I also feel like I care less if I'm being tailgated, kinda just phase it out lol.

The product is really robust to being forced into place but they do scratch very easily. During the install process I must've scuffed mine because they have some marks on the passenger windows when look at closely from the inside, boo.

Still miles better than anything I could have DIY'd with a film though. Solid 8/10 purchase.