Window Film Blog

The 2011 SEMA show concluded last week. Car enthusiast blogs as well as professional trade magazines like Window Film Mag are catching up and getting their thoughts and opinions posted. One series of videos that were especially helpful were these from the “FILM’d” series hosted by editor Katie Hodge which highlights the thoughts of many industry players from manufacturers to dealers with their thoughts on window film product lines to general comments about surviving in this economy.

More Videos available

This year’s SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show continues to be chock full of products, companies, and ideas that tickle the fancy of automotive enthusiasts and modders of all stripes and colors. Window film companies have traditionally attended this sprawling even in Las Vegas. From domestic companies reaching out to their base to foreign companies entering the US market with their products, we usually see a wide variety of window film products represented at the show.

We have

It is worth reminding during winter season that drafts from windows and doors are some of the biggest enemies of winter energy efficiency. There are many plastic window film products that are dummy-proof to install are window insulation kits. Here is a great video that demonstrates the installation process:

These plastic insulating film products are available at your local hardware store or from online vendors like SnapTint at their Winter Window Films product section.

One of our readers shared this story with us of a girl with a rare genetic condition called Xeroderma Pigmentosum that occurs in 1 in 1 million people. When exposed to UV light, her skin quickly burns. A brief 2 minute exposure to the sun would result in third degree burns. With conditions like this, it becomes quite hard to have a normal life. Car, Home, and even clothing need to contain window tint to shield

From Solutia earnings conference call for Q3 2011. On this call were Jeff Quinn, Solutia’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; Mike Donnelly, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; and Jim Sullivan, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Quick summary is that domestic window film sales are mostly flat. Growth driven by adoption of window films in high end markets in China. Solutia sees SouthWall acquisition as important step to continue this market development.

Here are

Japan’s leading diversified materials manufacturer Nitto Denko Corporation developed a novel transparent window film featuring the industry’s highest-level thermal insulation along with solar heat rejection, which allows users to achieve energy savings year-round, the company announced today. When applied to glass windows, this film product rejects approximately 40% of solar heat as well as 99% of UV, so that cooling load would be greatly reduced in summer. Moreover, the product’s unique feature is that it can reduce heat flow

Potomac News – 0000-00-00 -

A letter about window tints by Victoria Neal that we printed last week sparked a few comments in reply.

Victoria said she’s uneasy when she’s driving near cars with tint too dark to see inside. "Drivers who have very dark windows are frequently the same ones who would stick a gun out the window," she wrote.

A few readers with tint responded to defend their choice in window transparency.

Dear Lane Ranger:

I came across your article regarding window tints

CNN Money – 0000-00-00 – Byron Kennard

Consider this: if all 19,700 members of the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) reduced their energy consumption by just 10 percent, they would save approximately $193 million in energy costs and eliminate more than one million tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year.

This is now underway. Early this year, nearly 500 auto dealers made a pledge to cut back as part of the NADA Energy Stewardship Initiative (www.nada.org/energystar), launched in collaboration with EPA’s Energy

Contra Vision, a product and solutions provider of perforated and non-perforated window films, announced winners of their prestigious 3rd International Wrap Artists Competition at the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association Expo. For those of you that are not familiar with this sister-industry of solar control window films, film wraps are used in not only commercial storefronts but also to decorate entire vehicles from small cars to large trucks and buses with a branding message for companies, movies,

Kudos for for the educational marketing campaign by Evolution Window Films of Welland, Canada.  The owner installed window film for free for a class of Grade 3 students at a local elementary school.  In one stroke, he is protecting kids from heat and UV coming in from western-facing windows.

The education for the kids doesn’t stop here!  Evolution Films supplied students with thermometers prior to installation to measure temperatures on surfaces in the room.  Now the students can compare the