My tint woes
 

I got my car tinted finally on Saturday. The guy worked late to finish it as he was having troubles with a crinkle in the film while doing my back window. He had to do it 3 times to get it right. Imagine my dismay when I'm driving home and the radio isn't working. I didn't think *too* much about it and figured I'd deal with it later. It wasn't a setting on the radio, so I call the guy on my way in to work this morning. It's been 2 days now, so for it to still be something drying somewhere didn't make sense. Then he spills the beans: "Yeah, your speakers were making some popping noises when I was doing your side windows." WTF? He had my radio playing while he was installing my tint with wahtever water and glue concoction they mix as it ran down into the door. He turned the power off, he said, but figured the back speakers should've been working. Once at work, I pop the trunk and find that the trunk is wet pretty much everywhere. After having done the rear tint 3 times, it had 3 times the normal amount of runoff dumped into it. My guess is that he shorted out my amp. Hell, the speakers probably have puddles in them. I called him back on the way home, and explained what I found to him. He apologized and agreed to pay for whatever repair costs were needed. My tint looks nice, but I have to ride around in silence until I can get it to my dealer to have it checked out. I'm very frustrated right now. Coincidently, I had a throw pillow and 2 towels sitting in my trunk that I use for my kid's carseat. They managed to absorb most of the water.

Absolutely sucks! At least he's going to make it right. What tint shop did you go to? Solarworks?

Had my own horror story on Saturday. Took my 8 in for an oil change to one of the lube places in town. They had apparently never done one before and had trouble finding the filter. They started by trying to take off the skid plate. After a while they found the filter and put the screws back into the skid plate. I left happy as the car seemed to run smoother after the change (only 1,000 miles on it). Got the car washed, stopped for gas and walked around the car while the pump was going and what do I see? A screw sticking up out of my air dam about an inch and a half. Back to the lube place, manager is a real nice guy and is completely taking care of it. But my heart stopped nonetheless.

I went to Sunshades, up in Midway. My wife had her SUV done there, and it turned out nice, so I had no reason to think that this would happen.

Make sure that the antenna isn't damaged. After applying and removing the film 3 times it might be damaged. The owners manual tells you to use nothing but water and a soft cloth to clean back there.

Here's the update on my situation.

There was an inline fuse blown that Mazda fixed for $23 to get my radio working again. BUT, I got in the car to leave the dealership and heard a rapid pop, pop, pop from the passenger door speaker. Long story short, they looked at it and determined the speaker was "blown." I don't know to what extent exactly. The replacement speaker is $416.70 and $123.00 for labor! Needless to say, the tint guy was not happy. He wanted to take the speaker to a shop that repairs them and have it repaired, which would cost him less. I considered it, but changed my mind and decided I'd rather have an OEM replacement that I know will work and get installed right. In the end, I'll come out with new tint, an extra $300, and a splitting headache. :(

Re: My tint woes
 

Wow, that sucks! I'm not real impressed with your tint person either, as my guy got the tint perfect on the first try, and was using a squirt bottle and squeege - not a hose, as it seems your guy was. At least he's making things right.

QUICK! Go out and get your self a Borla (or Greddy, or RE, or Racing Beat, etc) exhaust and you'll not WANT to listen to the stereo! :D

Sorry to hear what you went through, but this makes me aware of the issues if any when I get mine done. Thanks for the info. I wouldn't have even thought about the water going to the speakers and amp.