3 Things You Don't Know About Ceramic Window Film

Hey, this is Ralph with Flexfilm, and I want to go over with you in this video the three things that you did not know about ceramic window film that you need to know before you buy it. The first thing you did not know about ceramic window film is that the transmission data alone will not tell you the whole story and I'm going to show you that in this video. You see, I'm going to demonstrate to window films. The one in my right hand is a ceramic product and the one on my left hand is just... let's call it an IR product. Okay? There are both IR products, that means they will absorb infrared radiation. What we're going to do in this video, is the first thing we're going to do is we're going to put each film on this meter to show you what the transmission numbers are.

And by this meter alone, which is a very well-regarded meter and a very accurate meter, we can determine which one is supposed to be the best by the numbers. Okay? Then what we're going to do, which should surprise you, is we're going to go to the heat lamp demonstration and we're going to put the films in front of the heat lamp to see how well they manage the energy that they absorb. And I have a little heat sheet here only because I can't put your hand in front of this heat box. It is sensitive to heat and when there is heat present, it will change colors, and it will just simply give you the same representation of what you would feel if you could put your hand here. So, this is how we're going to make the video work.

That's where we are. We're going to get the transmission data first, and then we're going to get the actual results of what we feel second and see where we come out. Okay. Now for phase one of this experiment, we are going to start off with the ceramic film. This film is an IR film with a ceramic coating and it meters at 20% visible light transmission. So, let's see how much infrared radiation is being transmitted through this and figure out how much is being blocked by taking the difference. Okay, here's how we're going to do this. This meter is going to show that it is going to allow... It's the top number we're looking for. It is going to show, then it allows 33% of the infrared radiation to pass through. 32 now. So, let's just go ahead and say there's a difference of 68% that's not making it through. So, this film we can determine by the number that is going to be a 68% IR film blockage, okay?

This next film is a 5%. It's very dark and it does not have a ceramic coating technology in it whatsoever. And we're going to drop it in and see how much infrared radiation passes through it. We're looking for the top number. It's a 20. Okay. The difference is 80. Okay. So, we can determine that this blocks 80% of the IR, because it only allows 20% to pass through. Now, we got 68% here, and we've got 80% blockage here. We can conclusively determine by the transmission data that this film is superior to this film in terms of how much performance that it's going to give you and that it should make you feel better when you put it on your car. Now, let's see what happens in the next test.

Now this is test number two. We're going to use the old heat box demonstration with an IR bulb, okay? I like this test. It's definitely the crowd favorite and I believe the reason it's the crowd favorite is because it's an emotional way to demonstrate your window film. People can put their hand in front of this and they can just feel what's happening. When you can stop the heat with a window film, it's convincing. People understand that, okay? But when you're trying to sell a window film or demonstrate window film just using transmission data, it can get a little confusing and obviously misleading. Okay. Back to the subjects her. The subject films. We have these two films. And again, I want to recap, this is the 68% IR performance. This is the 80% IR performance. This is a darker film. It's 5% visible light transmission. This is around 20% visible light transmission, okay? Again, this was a clear winner. This one's going to block out 80%. This was going to block out 68%. Most people would just end it at that, but we're going to go a little further with this test.

We're going to put this film in this heat box. We're going to wait for this little heat sheet to change colors, and we're going to time it. And we're going to see which one of these two films is going to do better in this test. Here we go. I'm going to drop it in. 3, 2, 1 go. The timer has started. We're waiting for this heat sheet to change colors because that's when the heat will make it from here to there. Boom. You'll see what's happening in real time. And right now the ceramic... Okay, that just happened. Okay. I don't know what the time is, but let's just keep note of that. Let's do the same thing with this other IR product and let's see what we get on the timer. I'm going to drop it. 3, 2, 1, go. There it goes. The timer has started. It shouldn't... Look at that. I mean, it was clearly not the winner. Okay. The ceramic film slowed down the heat much better than the product that we thought would win. And in the next scene, I'm going to explain why.

Hopefully, I've got your attention because you saw what just happened, okay? You probably are ready for an explanation on this. This is real simple. Transmission data alone will not tell the whole story. Even though these wonderful meters can be very accurate and let us know how much energy is being absorbed into the product. They won't tell us some data that we also need too, to make the determination. How does it manage the heat? And we're talking about conduction, convection and how energy reradiate from the glass. And fortunately, our hand can tell us that. A meter can't sometimes, but our hand can. A meter can tell us other important things by how much energy is being absorbed into the glass. You see, I don't really care if the sun... If I hold this up to the sun, I don't care how much or how the energy gets here. I don't care if I blast it with a bulb in a box, but all I care about is once it gets here, what's it going to do with it?

That's where the old hand comes in. Because I can put my hand here and I can tell. You see, some of these window film technologies absorb energy, but they don't manage it well. While others like ceramic can not only absorb it, but also manage it. And that's the difference. The second thing you may not know about ceramic film is that performance is not always the number one reason to buy ceramic film. It seems like the more performance you see in a ceramic film, you're also going to see something else. They say there's always something... When something's good, there's always going to be something bad. There's always that trade-off, okay? What's the trade-off with ceramic film? That trade off is low angle haze. A lot of window films that have a lot of performance usually have what they call low angle haze.

And low angle haze is simply a cloudiness in the film that you may see at certain low sun conditions, usually in the morning or in the evening. The window film's going to have sort of a glow to it, okay? It may even have a bluish hue to it or even another color, depending on where the technology originates from. But a low angle haze is not something to fear. Could be something to embrace just like in between the t-shirt and a bulletproof vest, you would expect the bulletproof vest to feel different than the t-shirt because it's got something in it that stops bullets. Well, the ceramic film literally has something in it to stop more bad stuff from the sun, and you're going to see it and notice it.

Now, some manufacturers do better with their ceramics than others. Some have more low angle haze than others and look better. So, pay attention to the performance and the low angle haze in sort of a ratio. Who makes the best ceramic film? The one that has the highest performance and the least amount of low angle haze. So, these are things you need to consider when shopping for ceramic film. The number three thing that you need to know about ceramic window film is will it last on your car. You see, one would consider that it might be a better film because it costs more money, but that's absolutely 100% not necessarily true. You see, there are two things about window films, even if it's ceramic, that we need to know. Number one is, will it fade and change colors? A lot of times we can tell if it's going to fade or change colors by the construction of the film. Does it have dye in it? If it has dye in it, it's subject to fading. It could even change colors.

If it has something like carbon in it, it's probably not going to fade or change colors. But just because it has carbon in it, could have an additional additive pigment or dye. If it does, then it is subject to fade. You have to ask these kinds of questions because fading can happen no matter how great or expensive the film is. Now, people should know whether their film's going to fade or change colors because see, we can test them in this industry and as little as 500 hours in an accelerator [inaudible 00:09:10] testing machine and determine that. But I don't know if they'll disclose that to you or not if they know, but that is something that we do know in this industry.

Here's the second situation that we need to consider, is the adhesive in the film. We're talking about the mounting glue, what sticks to the glass, and the laminate glue, what's gluing the multiple plys together. These two layers of glue are very subject to failing. Now, there's no testing that we have in our industry that's going to conclusively give us the data to let us know whether our film's going to fade or not before we sell it or take it to market. So, the question is, how do you know if it's going to last? Especially in respect to glue. It's pretty simple question, in my opinion, with a simple answer.

I'm going to take the common sense approach, and this is my opinion. I think if the film's been in the market... and this is my opinion. Five years. Has been in the market five years and you can see that it's been sold in all 50 states and we haven't been... You can go back and look at the history. We haven't seen any warranty claims or issues with the film. Then I'm going to start warming up to it. Then I'm going to be real comfortable putting it on my car or selling it. Now, if your threshold is lower and you want to go by three years or two years, that's your business. But I just wanted to point out that most ceramic window films are pretty good, but they haven't been on the market for five years.

A lot of people are trying to get in the game, put their ceramic films in the market. There's still time that needs to go by before we can conclusively decide if their films are going to last. So, I hope these things help you in making a decision on what ceramic film to buy and what's going to be the best choice for you. So, here's what I've got. I have two really good ceramic films at Flexfilm. I have the Panaflex and the NanoFlex. Here's what this film is going to do for you, and I want to explain a few benefits. First of all, it'll manage the heat really well. The energy that comes from the sun will absorb into this film and you see how long it holds it and keeps it from going inside your car. Our films are really, really good at doing that. I don't really worry about the transmission data, because I know when the film absorbs the heat, it holds it right there.

Also, if you're worried about fading color change, you don't have to worry about this film because there's no dye in it. This is a carbon based film. Carbon will not fade or change colors unlike dye can do. Also, our film will stay on the glass. The reason we know this is we've been selling this film for over seven years and we have a really good track record, we're not dealing with warranty claims. We're also backed by a Global 500 company that manufactures this product. Here's what I want you to do next. I want you to go to flefilmstore.com. You can buy this product right now. We will sell to anybody. You don't have to have a special license or be in a special group.

And if you have an interest in putting this on your own car, we suggest that you locate a dealer, somebody you trust that you know will do a good job, and either encourage them to buy the film from us on our website, or buy it yourself and bring it to them. Either way, we want you to enjoy this film. When you get it, put it on your car, and stay cool. Hey, before you go, don't forget to like, and subscribe and give this video a big thumbs up if you enjoyed this video. Thank you.