The MY06 wagon has the antenna for the radio built into the rear window. Its up near the top bewteen lines of the defroster. I heard that metallic-based window tint film applied to the rear window can interfere with radio signal reception. Is there any truth to this, and has anyone had any negative experience with these kinds of tints? Also, if there is a legitimate reason to avoid metallic-based tints, what are the brand/generic names for those tints to be avoided? Thanks -Matt
I have heard that also. Don't have any experience to back it up, but have heard it from several people.
So I was thinking about this the other day and I'm not sure I believe it. Tint goes on the inside of the window. Thus the window and any components in it would still be unobstructed from the outside. Maybe these signals have to pass through the car or something? Otherwise I think it's bunk.
Glass is a dielectric (insulator)... As soon as you put glass in the car, it will develop a charge (the car is in motion). Maybe, once it charges up, it never discharges. You could try discharging it when the car is sitting still and see if it clears up the static. Inside the glass, there is a conductor (antenna wiring). By applying metal on the inside of the car, we've now placed something adjacent to the wires back there is another potential conductor. It can take a charge. The film itself could create a small frequency of its own and thus creating additional noise / interference. Two conductors, with a dielectric between it can become a capacitor and thus charge and discharge producing a current (interference in your antenna). The solution, use non-metallic tinting next to the glass. Personally, tinters should know better, I'd take it back and get it exchanged for a non-metallic based film.
I didn't get it tinted yet for that reason. How do I know that it is a metallic based film? What are brands/ names to avoid? When I get it tinted I will make sure to ask the tinter what fil he is using. But if he just says a brand name, I would like to know if its metallic or what. Now hopefully the person doing the tint will know what he is doing. I just don't want to get fooled and the tinter says "sure its ceramic film" but it ends up being something else.