Why does window tint bubble?

We’ve all seen it, a car driving down the road with big nasty bubbles in the back window.  

Not only does it look bad, large bubbles in your tint can make it nearly impossible to see out of the glass, putting you at risk for an accident.  So bubbling is bad, but why does it happen?  There are a few main reasons you might be experiencing bubbling in your window tint which stem from: the quality of the film, improper installation, and age.  

Unfortunately, there are many installers out there using poor products that are not designed to last.  These may look good at first and are often cheap to get installed.   But between 1 to 3 years, more often than not you’re going to start seeing problems.  A few signs that your window tint may not be high quality are changes in colour (purple), fading, and the tint looking hazy or blurry. 

There a few different types of bubbles you may see when inspecting a car’s window tint.  

Air bubbles, water bubbles, and trash bubbles.  Large air bubbles are the ones I just mentioned {seen in the picture above}, they are usually an inch or more in diameter and are caused by tint/adhesive failure. Small air bubbles (¼ inch or less) can be caused by an improper installation, but are pretty uncommon.  Water bubbles are difficult to see and should only exist after the first few days/weeks of an installation, as water will evaporate.  Trash bubbles are the most common to find in a low-quality install.  They are extremely small and are caused by tiny pieces of dust/debris being caught between the tint and the glass.  Any good window tinter knows how to properly clean your glass to avoid these annoying little trash bubbles.  However it’s not uncommon to see a piece of dust here and there, even in the best window tinters work.

When it comes to air bubbles where the window film adhesive is breaking down allowing air to come in between the liner it would be a re-do, where the entire film has to be removed and re-installed. 

Other issues can be fixed once the installation is complete and we do are window tint checks.