What did you do with your Thunderbird Today?

[Little Ice-Cable]

I was trying to get my Turbo Coupe tinted all summer, but the guy kept blowing me off.

Most tinters I talk to hate doing tint on 90’s tbirds due to the curve in the rear window, I think they think my 88 is just as bad and that’s why I kept getting blown off.

They charged extra for it because they had done one before and had issues.

 

[XR7-4.6]

The Tbird rear window has been notorious for tint work as long as I can remember, the problem IIRC is the glass goes from concave to convex right at the tight corners at the bottom.

 

[Irv]

The guy who did my tint nearly a decade ago didn't do a very good job with it and for years, the tint on the bottom corners of the rear window has lifted. It doesn't really have anywhere to go, so it's not obvious until you see how far it lifts away from the dot matrix pattern at the bottom corner versus the side edges.

I keep putting off a new tint appointment with another installer because first I need to have the existing tint removed, then repair defrost grid lines #2 counting up from the bottom for continuity and also #1 and #4 for paint smoothness from the repair I did a decade ago, sand them down smooth as much as possible so the tint will go around the lines evenly, retest continuity, and finally have the new tint put on. It'll take at least two days to do everything between myself and the tinter who would need to make two trips.

Mostly, I'm just dreading doing the grid repair because it requires more precision than I have patience for while contorted.

 

[White Lincoln]

The Tbird rear window has been notorious for tint work as long as I can remember, the problem IIRC is the glass goes from concave to convex right at the tight corners at the bottom.

I bought my Cougar with tinted windows. When I went to have them redone, the shop said they won't do the rear because of the defrost lines. Whoever did the rear did a great job because it has held up for 29 years. No fading, not cracks or chips.

 

[XR7-4.6]

I bought my Cougar with tinted windows. When I went to have them redone, the shop said they won't do the rear because of the defrost lines. Whoever did the rear did a great job because it has held up for 29 years. No fading, not cracks or chips.

What the hell, does the shop only tint side windows?

 

[CDsDontBurn]

I did the oil change and replaced the front sway bar bushings as well on Gold Bird. I didn't have a chance to do the rear sway bar bushings for a couple reasons, but when I looked at them, the ones I got seemed to be the wrong type?

I got the Delphi TD5103W units from RA. Those come with the bushing bracket, but after looking at the bracket that's on the car vs the bracket supplied by Delphi, the bracket doesn't seem to work on our cars? That's another reason why I didn't put them on. On our cars, the bushing brackets seem to clip in place on one side and bolt in on the other end of the bracket. The supplied brackets are both bolt in from both ends.

Am I missing something here? Or are these brackets just it the right type at all like I seem to think?

 

[White Lincoln]

What the hell, does the shop only tint side windows?

Yep and the won't fix scratchs, chips, etc. You have redo the whole window.

 

[White Lincoln]

I did the oil change and replaced the front sway bar bushings as well on Gold Bird. I didn't have a chance to do the rear sway bar bushings for a couple reasons, but when I looked at them, the ones I got seemed to be the wrong type?

I got the Delphi TD5103W units from RA. Those come with the bushing bracket, but after looking at the bracket that's on the car vs the bracket supplied by Delphi, the bracket doesn't seem to work on our cars? That's another reason why I didn't put them on. On our cars, the bushing brackets seem to clip in place on one side and bolt in on the other end of the bracket. The supplied brackets are both bolt in from both ends.

Am I missing something here? Or are these brackets just it the right type at all like I seem to think?

Joing the club of many others that think they are getting a part that will fit their car from RockAuto. You probably need to measure your old one's before buying new ones. I got two different ones before when I orderd 2 of the same product. I believe the wrote back to me once saying they take the word of the vendor that sells the parts to them, (or they buy the part from). They don't verify what they are stocking. I still buy from them, but I try to make sure what I am buying will fit. For thier prices, its crap shoot.

 

[Grog6]

Seems like that's an improvement, I've ripped one off the rear. Straightened the tab end, bolt held.

 

[3_97_Sports]

All three of my birds have tint, and they cut a couple of the defrost lines on each one. Different tint guy for each one.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

All three of my birds have tint, and they cut a couple of the defrost lines on each one. Different tint guy for each one.

Yup. Had my rear window tinted twice. First time I got lucky, second time they cut one of the defrost lines. The guy did ask for extra payment considering the difficulty of tinting that back window. I gladly paid him like an extra $20. He did a good job. It's still on the car to this day.

 

[Grog6]

This is what I used to repair cut lines with.

https://www.jameco.com/z/22-023-GC-Electronics-Silver-Print-for-PC-Repair-or-Add-On-Circuit-Traces_616331.html?CID=GOOG&utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=&utm_term=&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17336645193&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7IDEktCakgMVcTcIBR3K5DJ3EAQYBCABEgKVPfD_BwE