First, why some think Carbon Tint is a good idea:Carbon offers the same heat rejection NANO technology as Ceramic, but also adds darkness in the process. You see, no matter how much Ceramic is added the tint gets no darker. By adding charcoal particles (Carbon), over say dye, to achieve ‘the look’ you desire … you can achieve up to 3% more heat rejection.
But HOW do the dark Carbon particles do this? Much the same way a dirty windshield helps a percent or two with heat rejection. Yes, this ‘Low Angle Haze’ problem with Carbon tint looks just like a dirty windshield. True, it only happens under certain settings. Depending on the angle of the windshield to the sun during the day, this could be a momentary issue or a real pain. On the other hand, Ceramic tint by FormulaOne does not do this.
Is the 3% worth it? No, not yet. Carbon tint is a new idea. They are experimenting with different types of carbons. Maybe one or a combination of carbon types at various sizes, can ‘solve the riddle’ on Carbon’s visibility concerns. For now, it is not the best option for Automotive Window Tinting.
Will Carbon get there? Maybe, but this could be like the “Metal Sputter” films of the 90’s. For a while everyone thought this “Metal Sputter” tint would be the next best thing. Sure, it also had high heat rejection, … but frankly … it didn’t look very good. It looked both shiny and light. Not a good look.
Just like now, the idea was promoted that: ‘with the right kind of metal we can keep the heat rejection and look good’. It never happened.
What did happen? LLUMAR and other USA companies figured out the dyed tint riddle. It is now “Color Stable”. It will not change colors (purple, blue, or any other color) nor fade away. We have had this tint on one of our company trucks for over 15 years. It still looks good.
The folks promoting Carbon tint are buying from unknown Asian companies (We’ve asked them, they will not say who and where in Asia they are buying Carbon tint. No USA company manufacturers Carbon tint, period.)
These Carbon tint companies have not ‘solved the riddle’ on dyed tint and have to use a dark particle carbon material to prevent fading. But FormulaOne by Llumar has solved the riddle.
If still, a customer wants Carbon tint, we reluctantly have it available but do NOT promote Carbon tint. Will it hold up? Nobody knows. The warranty is as good us the unknown Asian company making the tint.
Compare that to the Lifetime Transferable Warranty offered by Llumar made in Virginia USA. Well, really, there is no comparison. We have done our research. The best tint in the world is the Ceramic Hybrid tint by Formula One.