Show us your crack (windshields)

[RobS]

@parb thanks for the heads up. I pulled my racing optics film out of the box this morning and unfurled it so that I can get it on tomorrow. That really stinks that it didn’t work. Good luck with the exoshield.

 

[Loc Nar]

@parb thanks for the heads up. I pulled my racing optics film out of the box this morning and unfurled it so that I can get it on tomorrow. That really stinks that it didn’t work. Good luck with the exoshield.

Good luck with the install, RobS. Please post some pics after you are done.

 

[AUDIOBUS]

I bought this and had their recommended Installer put it on yesterday. The installer comes heavily recommended by others I know so I think they are competent.
They could not install it right, it wrinkles. The installer is convinced that the material isn't pre-shrunk for the slight radius that exists in our windshield. He called the company and so I will I. I think you're better off waiting until confirmed it works based on my experience.

I needed something for my road trip so I had exoshield installed instead. I'll let you know how it works out

Thanks for the tip, I hadn't ordered yet but that's a bummer. It appears it's jumped up from $229 to $249 too.

 

[MurphyMurph]

I bought this and had their recommended Installer put it on yesterday. The installer comes heavily recommended by others I know so I think they are competent.
They could not install it right, it wrinkles. The installer is convinced that the material isn't pre-shrunk for the slight radius that exists in our windshield. He called the company and so I will I. I think you're better off waiting until confirmed it works based on my experience.

I needed something for my road trip so I had exoshield installed instead. I'll let you know how it works out

Yes please do share your experience with exo shield. I’m interested in having that installed be a local company. I believe it also comes with a warranty? Have you heard that also?

 

[Tx246]

I bought the Racing Optics shield and installed it myself this evening. Not super excited, but most likely my inexperience, I couldn’t get the edges to adhere like Jeep install video. I didn’t have a heat gun, but will see how it looks in the morning.

Definitely not easy to keep the glass free of particles in the process.

 

[parb]

@Tx246 this is exactly what the installers from tint world experienced. They took it off, that said that if the edges wrinkle it will come off quickly. It's just a matter of time according to them. They also said that if it needs to be stretched then you need to apply the heat gun early in the process, nothing in the instructions said that this was needed so they didn't.

The where on the phone with the manufacturer this morning sharing their experiences.

@MurphyMurph I had the installers put on exoshield. Looks really good. Will look better tomorrow According to the installers. I got 2 years of warranty with it. The installers from tint world registered the warranty for me unprompted.

 

[Tx246]

Some of the small particulate stuff on the glass is pretty frustrating to me because I spent a tremendous amount of time cleaning and prepping the windshield. I can’t say that has anything to do with racing optics and all I can recommend is do not do this outside. In hindsight being inside may have reduced some of this.

However, I followed the videos pretty thoroughly and I’m a pretty detail oriented person, the edges were very difficult to get to it, they definitely don’t go down as easy as the Jeep video. Heat gun would definitely have made sense, but I also don’t know how that might distort the product. You can see haziness from the adhesion that in all fairness it says we’ll go away in a couple of days so we will see. But the edges are definitely a bit disappointing because I don’t know how to adhere six months if it’s not really adhering on the edges at day one

 

[Shroomy]

Some of the small particulate stuff on the glass is pretty frustrating to me because I spent a tremendous amount of time cleaning and prepping the windshield. I can’t say that has anything to do with racing optics and all I can recommend is do not do this outside. In hindsight being inside may have reduced some of this.

However, I followed the videos pretty thoroughly and I’m a pretty detail oriented person, the edges were very difficult to get to it, they definitely don’t go down as easy as the Jeep video. Heat gun would definitely have made sense, but I also don’t know how that might distort the product. You can see haziness from the adhesion that in all fairness it says we’ll go away in a couple of days so we will see. But the edges are definitely a bit disappointing because I don’t know how to adhere six months if it’s not really adhering on the edges at day one

When I did my Jeep 392 a year ago with the RO I had these same issues but after parking it in the sun for a few day during the summer all of these micro bubbles went away as well as some of the bigger hazy spots. It looks great now with no visible defects.

 

[parb]

I had none of that with the exoshield. A touch haziness that mostly went away overnight. They say it will be completely gone over the next few days.

 

[Loc Nar]

For what it's worth my local Tintworld only offers the Racing Optics protection and no longer offers Exoshield due to reported installation issues (not on the Grenadier mind you). They don't offer Exoshield for any vehicle anymore. It seems so easy for these installs to go wrong. I feel like I'm playing a high stakes game of Operation whenever I just put a protective shield on my phone, and I've messed up more than my fair share (dust trapped, bubbles that won't go away, misaligned corners - you name it). So, I'm going the professional install route. My local Tintworld sales guy called Racing Optics and specifically inquired about whether there are any installation issues with the Grenadier offering, whether it is being re-tooled, etc., and they told him everything was good to go and they were doing a soft roll out of the Grenadier product. Of course, it's possible that who he spoke with is not in the loop on the issue reported here, but I don't mind being a guinea pig for a professional install, because if it is messed up, they will do it again on their dime. The install cost (including the product) is, in my opinion, reasonable at $400.

 

[RobS]

@Loc Nar I put my Racing Optics film on this morning. Like @Tx246 has said, “definitely didn’t go down as easy as the Jeep video”. Side note: The Jeep video is the tutorial on how to install the film for those that don’t know. For $400, I think it’s a fair price to avoid the misery that I went through. The film is cut to nearly perfect size and not a 1/4 smaller like marketed. I squeegeed the he’ll out of mine for almost 45 minutes trying to get all the air bubbles out of it and trying to work the wrinkles out of the edges like @parb mentioned with his installation attempt. I move the car out in the sun hoping that the warm (74 degree) temps would help make the film more malleable. Not sure if it helped in that regard. The downside of having sun on the windscreen is the hazy residue left between the windshield and the film. Looks awful. Hoping that it improves with curing time.

 

[Tx246]

The other thing that also was a little unexpected on the racing optics. Install was the liquid they give you. In my head, I thought it was going to be far easier to work with. It dries on the glass fairly quickly, which I expected it would be easier to work with for more than a couple of minutes, but that wasn’t the case

 

[RobS]

The other thing that also was a little unexpected on the racing optics. Install was the liquid they give you. In my head, I thought it was going to be far easier to work with. It dries on the glass fairly quickly, which I expected it would be easier to work with for more than a couple of minutes, but that wasn’t the case

Exactly. That’s why I’m not sure a heat gun would help. I think it would cause hazing much the same way the sunlight did.

 

[CrazyOldMan]

I’ve had Exoshield installed since about June - no wrinkles, no air bubbles. Slight rainbow effect when I’m wearing polarized sunglasses but nothing that really bothers me or I even notice. Exoshield (they’re based in Ontario) said an installer could also do a custom installation of Ultrashield, which is thicker material for more protection- but that self-install kits weren’t in the plans.

 

[PNW_IG]

Glad the dealer didn't have glass in stock. Todays rock was much bigger. Scared the crap out of me.

 

[parb]

I talked to race optics yesterday. Nice folks. They think they may have shipped me the wrong product. I'm in Moab but once I get home I'll send them pics of whatever remains of the installation material. The where quick to refund me the cost of the product, just a few hours after they talked to tint world.

The exoshield looks amazing. Hard to tell it's there. Had a few rocks come at it from a truck and nothing. So far so good, but I'm impressed.

 

[Tenac]

I talked to race optics yesterday. Nice folks. They think they may have shipped me the wrong product. I'm in Moab but once I get home I'll send them pics of whatever remains of the installation material. The where quick to refund me the cost of the product, just a few hours after they talked to tint world.

The exoshield looks amazing. Hard to tell it's there. Had a few rocks come at it from a truck and nothing. So far so good, but I'm impressed.

I've not received my Grenadier yet but already scheduled for tint and ExoShield Windshield Protective Film. I have that stuff on all my cars and even on my track cars. You can't beat it, plus their warranty is great too, though I hear it differs slightly from installer to installer. Let's face it all new windshields are just as hard but half the thickness due to modern safety systems and "weight savings" lol.

 

[Tx246]

A bit of an update after a week of the Racing Optics screen installation.

Almost all the haziness is gone, you really have to try to look forward to see it, which I would think is a reasonable result. No complaints there. The microscopic dust particles that came from me installing outside, you can still see those, but as I said before, I can’t really fault the product for that. I would almost think to do this right you need to be inside of a paint booth or someplace without unfiltered air flowing around. I’m not taking pictures of those because I don’t think it’s fair to the product.

Areas around the edges, never really adhered properly, and I attribute that to the difficulties in the squeegee process. I definitely agree that they probably need to tweak the design pattern just a little bit.

All in all, I really don’t think this is a bad product. I definitely think the professional installation method is the way to go. For a couple hundred dollars, it’ll give you the right to complain about any of the subtle nuances.

I can’t say definitively that this matters, but I did hear a ping yesterday and no crack on either product, the windshield or the application. That gets a vote in my book for working but time will tell.

Overall, I would not hesitate to buy this again. Once these peeled off layers are done, but I will definitely spring for the professional installation.

 

[Tx246]

Glad the dealer didn't have glass in stock. Today’s rock was much bigger. Scared the crap out of me.
View attachment 7872551

HOLY CR*P!

 

[terdrocket]

I have the local Tint World set up to install the Racing Optics on my 3rd windshield once it's installed next week. 1st windshield lasted 9+ months, 2nd lasted less than 2 weeks. Both due to a small pebble kicked up at highway speeds. Local installer has to go to the dealer that is 3.5hrs away to pick up and bring back the windshield to install = $4200+ paid by insurance. Crazy. Thankfully, Florida is a $0 deductible windshield state.