Many cars being manufactured today are built with radio, GPS or television aerials mounted in rear screen or cargo windows.

This is most commonly encountered when tinting prestige cars, such as Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, VW, Maserati and many other brands. In these instances alone, it is necessary to use a non-metal product. This is where it is important to use a quality film, as cheaper ‘aerial-safe, non-metallic’ films simply do not stand the test of time. Sometimes aerials are located in rear windscreens, some in side cargo windows. We can tell you exactly where the aerials are, and our 16+ years of knowledge will help you to find the best solution for your car.

Further to the above, in such brands as Porsche, you can find the radio antenna in the front windscreen, which means you can take the film of your choice. This is why it is important to speak to industry professionals so we can do this thinking for you!

At Solartint Brookvale we use only the top shelf variety of films covered by Nationwide Manufacturer’s Lifetime Warranty. Our installers are able to tell you whether this is necessary upon inspection, to ensure no interference to devices, whether it is GPS, mobile phone, or internal digital TV antennae.

Guide to finding aerials in car windows/windscreens

What are metalised films? Why are they still better?

The answer is quite simple: metalised films have more than 100 years of production technology behind them. They have been refined over time to be a cost effective solution to solar heat control in cars (and also homes) whilst being optically clear, durable, UV stable, non fading, and the list goes on. Metalised films perform – in most cases – as well as newer generation “ceramic” films, although the high end metalised films are a much lower cost than ceramic film.

Metalised films are perfectly safe to use on any car – provided it is not used on a window with an aerial in it. It has become a popular myth that metal films will stop your radio, your GPS, and even your mobile phone from working! This is untrue, and given that your car is made from steel, we’d suggest there may be more metal in your roof, than in your window film. These rumours are generally passed on from companies that will not stock metal films, to keep costs down, and so that they do not have to double inventory.

With close to 20 years experience in tinting of luxury European and Japanese cars, we will happily provide advice as to which film is best suited to your vehicle.

Ceramic films are of the latest generation of window films. There are many different variants of ceramic film on the market. Typically they are marketed as “spectrally selective” film, or InfraRed reducing film. The main aim being to reduce the greatest amount of heat, with the least amount of visible light lost.

For example, there are films available that will reduce the infrared heat entering through glass by up to 92% – whilst being nearly clear. These films are available in regular darkest legal shades also.

We are lucky enough to have access to the Wincos brand, and also the SunGard Premium IR film. These films are slightly less forgiving on installation, and aren’t for DIY’ers. At Solartint Brookvale we are the best equipped, and of the most experienced, since the start of IR window films’ introduction nearly ten years ago.

Our Wincos range is suited to those spending long hours driving where heat, UV, and glare reduction is of absolute importance.