Windshield Tint Strip?

I have a 2021 Tundra TRD Pro CrewMax in Lunar Rock. I got mine tinted at a shop that has done hundreds of tundras. I wanted to get a tint strip at the top of the windshield as I do on all my vehicles but the shop owner says he doesn't recommend doing it on Tundras because the center of the top windshield with the dotted area will look silver with tint behind it, and he says I will hate it because it will look bad and I will go back to him to take it off. He has done the same windshield strip on all my other vehicles and no problem. He said this is specific to Tundras because Toyota designed the windshield poorly. He obviously is being honest because he would rather I pay extra to have him do the strip, and even if I didn't like it he would charge me to remove it as well. Has anyone else done this windshield tint strip and noticed the silver look? Does it bother you? I personally love the look of windshield tint strips in general and the functionality of them. I had them on all my previous vehicles. I haven't seen one on a tundra in person though.

 

Any windshield that has dot matrix on it will look that way, it’s not uncommon. This is my pathfinder that has the silver look that you are talking about.

 

I have sprayed the dots with windshield primer before to avoid the crap tint look. It’s a pain to do with the glass in the truck (has to be sprayed inside the truck) but not really another option that I know of.

 

@Omohundro For my other vehicles that have the same dot matrix, I never got a silver look on them. The same tint shop owner never brought it up when tinting that before on other vehicles. He said it is specific to Tundras or Toyotas in general, and said in his experience a lot of people want them removed because they don't like the look of it. He even recommended that if I were to replace my windshield in the future, to replace it with an aftermarket one that doesn't have the same dot matrix Toyota uses, so that a windshield strip would look better

Did you use that primer on your tundra for the strip? What makes it a pain to do other than having to spray it on the inside? How does the primer affect the look?

 

The “silver” area doesn’t bother me too much, but I don’t like where mine lined up. It is crooked for one, but I think it looks better aligned to the bottom of the silver part, as opposed to the drop down that mine is aligned to.

I am actually taking it back in and if he can’t cut it higher then I will probably have him remove it altogether.

 

I have my whole windshield tinted and I think it looks great, silver doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Really never notice it.

 

No. If the shop uses the right type of vinyl (sometimes gloss) the dot matrix will disappear in the vinyl. Once mine dried, you can’t see it.

 

It’s just a pain because you have to tape everything up inside the truck, when you spray the primer it essentially covers the dots where you can not see them from the outside of the truck. We use to have to do it Corvette’s a lot.

 

I hate the eyebrow look of the top strip, I did my whole windshield on the tundra and called it a day.

 

I assume you did the primer on the dot matrix for your tundra before tinting the whole windshield?

 

I have a huge eyebrow on my truck. I love it, couldn’t have a vehicle without it. Dont even need sunglasses

 

No I didn’t, should have but I’m lazy.

 

I dunno, I have my whole windshield done and love it - never noticed any issues with the dot matrix. Sounds like your tint guy had a couple of people complain and doesn't want to deal with it again.

 

Went and got 3M crystalline tint this past Friday. They put a 5% tint strip on my windshield and never mentioned anything about dot matrix. Will have to take a closer look in a few minutes as I haven't noticed anything looking unusual when looking at it from the front.