Ceramic vs Carbon Tint for Trucks

The carbon or ceramic question is a little different on a truck than on a car. A pickup starts with different glass, lives a different life, and has a cab that is mostly windows. Here is how we talk customers through it at the shop.

Start with what the truck already has

Most pickups leave the factory with privacy glass behind the front doors and bare glass on the front doors. Privacy glass looks tinted because it is dyed glass. It gives you privacy, but it stops far less heat than film does. So a stock truck has two problems: the front doors do not match the back, and the whole cab still gets hot.

That is why truck jobs usually come in three pieces: a front-door match, film over the rear glass for heat, and a sun strip across the top of the windshield.

Carbon on a truck

Carbon film gets its color from carbon particles, not dye, so it does not fade purple. It blocks a solid share of infrared heat and it is the lower price on the sheet: $250 for a 2-door truck, $350 for a 4-door, $100 for the front two windows.

Carbon is a good fit for a truck that is garaged, a second vehicle, or a front-door match where the main goal is making the glass look even.

Ceramic on a truck

Ceramic film uses ceramic particles that reject more infrared heat at the same darkness, and it blocks 99% of UV at any shade. On the sheet it runs $350 for a 2-door truck, $450 for a 4-door, and $150 for the front two.

The trucks that get the most out of ceramic are the ones that sit in the sun: work trucks on job sites, ranch trucks out in Chino Valley, and daily drivers parked on an open lot for eight hours. The darker you are not allowed to go, the more the film type matters, and the front doors are exactly where Arizona limits darkness.

Where the money goes furthest

• Tight budget: ceramic on the front two and a sun strip. That is the glass the driver sits next to, and the glass the law keeps light.
• Full fix: ceramic all the way around, including over the privacy glass. The rear glass stops being a heat leak.
• Looks first: carbon all the way around. Even color front to back at the lower price.

What the shades look like on a truck

Film reads darker over privacy glass than the number on the box, because the glass under it is already dark. The shade pages show each percentage on real vehicles, and the vehicle pages group jobs by truck, so you can look at an F-150, a Silverado, a Ram, or a Tacoma with the exact shades listed.

Getting a number for your truck

Send the quote form with the year, the cab style, and which film you are leaning toward. If the truck already has old film on it, say so, because removal is quoted per vehicle.

928 Tint is a window tinting shop in Prescott Valley serving Prescott and the rest of Yavapai County, with pickup or mobile service if you cannot get to the shop. Send a quote request or call (928) 447-8698.