[rishio]

Hi everyone,

Recently I've been thinking about designing a custom curtain for my element but haven't come up with a good solution yet. I'm living in my E and the 10 minutes it takes to put up/take down the honda made curtains everyday is a little bit of a drag. They also don't hold up very well in general.

I was thinking of maybe getting an extra tint on my rear windows (5 rear windows that are already a little tinted). Does anyone know if it's possible to get windows tinted dark enough that nobody can easily see in easily but still retains the ability to see out from? It needs to be safe to drive and legal as well! I don't need them for the front 3 windows - the front Honda curtain works fine for that.

If this is not possible, does anyone have a custom designed curtain solution for the E? I'd love to hear some ideas...

Simply Rishi

 

[jetblast10]

i remember reading your thread a long time ago about living in your E. Before you lived in your E. But I lost track of that thread and wanted to see how things were going for you. Now I will look back and hopefully you've updated that thread. Best of good luck wishes to you.

Here's what I use for privacy. At your local home improvement shop they'll have aluminum bubble wrap. It's just rigid enough to stay in place by friction alone. Using construction paper I made a template, transferred it to the bubble wrap and using common scissors made them for all the windows.

Here's a picture of the material I'm talking about.

 

[Gaily]

It's called Reflextix. Just cut at least 1/4" larger. Several of us have found after a while they shrink.

Gaily

 

[Snuffleupagus]

Tint darkness is going to be dependent on your state's window tint law. I believe some states allow as low as 20% visible light transmission percentage. Here in Mass. the law only allows 35% vlt%.

My five rear windows have 35% and my front sides have 50%. At night, I cannot see into the 35% without shining a bright flashlight through the window. Similarly, it is hard for people tailgating me to see me give them the finger unless there are some lights ahead of me shining through the windshield and the rear window, and even then they only see my silhouette.

Re: privacy curtains
Fellow member HeliosHelix brought up the idea of installing snaps on the curtains to help with putting them up and keeping them up. Perhaps that's an idea you can look into as well.

http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55622&highlight=curtains+snaps

 

[EG2E]

Tint/WIndow Curtains

Hi everyone,

Recently I've been thinking about designing a custom curtain for my element but haven't come up with a good solution yet. I'm living in my E and the 10 minutes it takes to put up/take down the honda made curtains everyday is a little bit of a drag. They also don't hold up very well in general.

I was thinking of maybe getting an extra tint on my rear windows (5 rear windows that are already a little tinted). Does anyone know if it's possible to get windows tinted dark enough that nobody can easily see in easily but still retains the ability to see out from? It needs to be safe to drive and legal as well! I don't need them for the front 3 windows - the front Honda curtain works fine for that.

If this is not possible, does anyone have a custom designed curtain solution for the E? I'd love to hear some ideas...

Simply Rishi

Hi Rishi,

I also have the same needs/concern.

I have considered tinting as well (5 rear windows)and have spoken to several tint places and this is what I have been told:

-factory tint is 15 %
-adding a 15 % tint would make it difficult to see in without making it difficult to see out at night when backing up

-adding 5% tint (limo) would make it difficult to see out when backing up at night but no one would be able to look into your E

I will probably go with the 15%, plus tint or cover my sunroof to further reduce light/visibility


In terms of curtains I have made my own like EShens and have also used the Reflectix (sp) as described above

I found the reflectix to take more time to set up than my homemade curtains and also took up more space to store when not in use

I would like to have a closer look at this option which might work for your needs best as it looks like it could be deployed very quickly

http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54821

 

[rishio]

Hey Jetblast,

I did post a message in one of the threads about living in the E - but that was a while back as well!

Here is basically my one blog post about it:

http://www.rishio.com/blog/2008/06/in-my-element-bed-platform.html

I didn't follow up much on it because I've felt like keeping low key about it for a while..


I have tried the aluminum bubble wrap solution a while back. I cut the bubblewrap to exactly fit my rear 5 windows. I didn't like the solution.

- I felt the bubble wrap would lose it's hold over time.
- Since it wasn't black, was so close to the window and had a bubbly surface, it was obvious that there was something covering the window. The very first day I used this solution was the first and only day a cop woke me up at 4am and caught me living in my element. It was the only day because I didn't use the bubble wrap after that. The nice thing about the honda element curtain is that it's black and sit's a little distance from the window so that it makes the window look simply tinted black from the outside. You can't tell easily there is something covering the window.
- popping in and out the bubble wrap was a little time consuming and I didn't have a good place to put the bubblewrap that didn't damage the bubble wrap itself.

So that's why I gave up on the bubblewrap. My ideal solution would be a regular curtain that I can just slide out to cover my windows and compress when i want to uncurtain and drive away. I've seen these type of curtains in VW buses but I am not sure how I'd design it in the element...

i remember reading your thread a long time ago about living in your E. Before you lived in your E. But I lost track of that thread and wanted to see how things were going for you. Now I will look back and hopefully you've updated that thread. Best of good luck wishes to you.

Here's what I use for privacy. At your local home improvement shop they'll have aluminum bubble wrap. It's just rigid enough to stay in place by friction alone. Using construction paper I made a template, transferred it to the bubble wrap and using common scissors made them for all the windows.

Here's a picture of the material I'm talking about.

 

[rishio]

Hey EG2E,

Thanks for the useful info!

Adding 15% tint seems like the direction I would go as well...

I really like the curtain thread you pointed me to. I emailed Martin about it. Any idea of where he got the curtain or how he built it. It's pretty much what I've been looking for..

Hi Rishi,

I also have the same needs/concern.

I have considered tinting as well (5 rear windows)and have spoken to several tint places and this is what I have been told:

-factory tint is 15 %
-adding a 15 % tint would make it difficult to see in without making it difficult to see out at night when backing up

-adding 5% tint (limo) would make it difficult to see out when backing up at night but no one would be able to look into your E

I will probably go with the 15%, plus tint or cover my sunroof to further reduce light/visibility


In terms of curtains I have made my own like EShens and have also used the Reflectix (sp) as described above

I found the reflectix to take more time to set up than my homemade curtains and also took up more space to store when not in use

I would like to have a closer look at this option which might work for your needs best as it looks like it could be deployed very quickly

http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54821

 

[hiker chick]

To better guard what's in the E I've considered cutting some "pleather" to size and using velcro to secure it to the two driver side tinted windows.

Haven't gotten around to getting the pleather (plastic/fake leather) but it should be a doable project.

 

[TheTimeTravelers]

Hey EG2E,
Adding 15% tint seems like the direction I would go as well...

I really like the curtain thread you pointed me to. I emailed Martin about it. Any idea of where he got the curtain or how he built it. It's pretty much what I've been looking for..

But if a cop DID shine a flashlight into the car, would the extra tint really work? I still like the full curtain idea, knowing there's no way anyone can see inside.

How about using pieces of Industrial-Strength Velcro attached to the car and to the curtain. You could quickly put up the curtain and not worry about the plastic tabs falling down. I would also hand-stitch the Velcro tabs onto the curtain to make sure it sticks.

The old VW van curtains used to roll up/tie up. Maybe there's a way to get a Honda curtain to do this.

 

[f1sh3r]

you could probably get some tension rods and paint them black, and then some black curtains and just move them when not in use. should sorta blend in behind the tinting. you could slide them out of the way or even just pull them down when not in use. one rod each top and bottom should work good.

i think you can get those at lowes or home depot or probably a bed & bath type store.

 

[troutman]

magic pop open window shades

I would be nice if there were a set of those that were exactly the right size.

I did find one that fit the sunroof perfectly but have never seen such for the rear and sides.

 

[rishio]

In my haste I started a new thread when I should have posted it here..

Anyway - here is my curtain solution for the front 3 windows which will be used in combination with tinted windows in the rear:

http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58005