Installer Report

The Business Intelligence Layer for the Automotive Restyling Industry

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IndustryIowa’s 50% Front-Side Tint Law Is Live: The Shop Quoting Playbook After HF 766 AcquisitionsAmerican Window Film Buys A Better Tint: Phoenix Consolidation Comes for Local Dealers EventsTINT BATTLES VI: The Los Angeles Operator Playbook for August 15–16, 2026 EventsWFCT 2026 Late-August Playbook: San Antonio, Tint-Offs, and What to Book Before August 15 PPFWhen a PPF Handoff Fails, the Install Is No Longer the Story TintThe Dealer Tint Receipt Should Name the Film IndustryThe Windshield Warranty Claim Nobody Can Audit Market$45 an Hour Is Becoming a Real PPF Installer Number OperationsA 4.9-Star Tint Shop Can Still Deliver a Bad Window SoftwareBuzz Is Here: Why Tint Shops Should Start Using Jack Dorsey’s Agent Workspace Now TintNew York’s 50% VLT Shift: What Tint Installers Need to Know PPFPPF Doesn’t End at Installation: The Removal Bill Owners Forget TintHow Much Contamination Is Acceptable in a Window Tint Installation?PeopleKado Serri-Charette Raised $6,500+ From 30 Tint Brands — Tint Wiz Head of Brand and Growth Led the Push PeopleRespect Over Rivalry: ByeongYeol Park Clarifies WFR Controversy and Defends Fellow Champion PeopleBarry Atkins Is Running Point on WFCT 2026 — Meet the President Selling the Floor PeopleTint Wiz’s Erik Devash Enters the Window Film Hall of Fame — Why Software Just Became Ceremony IndustryWho’s Actually on the WFCT 2026 Floor: The Operator Guide to Sponsors and Booth Gravity ShopsWFCT’s Family Film Day Is a Labor Strategy Dressed as a Soft Feature TintWFCT Meets Auto Glass Week: Why Tint Shops Can’t Ignore ADAS Anymore IndustryXPEL’s San Antonio Fortress Story: Tariffs, Manufacturing, and Installer Gravity IndustryWFCT 2026: San Antonio Becomes the Industry’s Week of Record TintSummer 2026 Tint Reality Check: Ceramic, EVs, and ADAS Are Table Stakes PPFAvery Dennison PrismaPro Puts Color PPF on a Dry-Apply Clock WrapColored PPF vs Vinyl Wrap: The Sales Script Shops Need Right Now ToolsOnyx Coating’s Vunyx Cut Bets on One Precut Stack for Tint and PPF IndustryXPEL Is Quietly Building Control Over the Installer Network ProductsPPF Is No Longer Invisible — It’s Becoming a Style Product MarketTruck and Off-Road Builds Are Becoming PPF’s Biggest Revenue Driver AcquisitionsWhat Tint Wiz Joining Fullsteam Means for the Industry SoftwareThe Rise of AI Receptionists in Tint Shops MarketingWhy PPF Shops Are Becoming Media Companies ShopsThe Installer Shortage Nobody Wants to Talk About MarketingThe New Playbook for Local Service Ads ShopsFrom Installer to Operator: The Business Shift Happening Now IndustryIowa’s 50% Front-Side Tint Law Is Live: The Shop Quoting Playbook After HF 766 AcquisitionsAmerican Window Film Buys A Better Tint: Phoenix Consolidation Comes for Local Dealers EventsTINT BATTLES VI: The Los Angeles Operator Playbook for August 15–16, 2026 EventsWFCT 2026 Late-August Playbook: San Antonio, Tint-Offs, and What to Book Before August 15 PPFWhen a PPF Handoff Fails, the Install Is No Longer the Story TintThe Dealer Tint Receipt Should Name the Film IndustryThe Windshield Warranty Claim Nobody Can Audit Market$45 an Hour Is Becoming a Real PPF Installer Number OperationsA 4.9-Star Tint Shop Can Still Deliver a Bad Window SoftwareBuzz Is Here: Why Tint Shops Should Start Using Jack Dorsey’s Agent Workspace Now TintNew York’s 50% VLT Shift: What Tint Installers Need to Know PPFPPF Doesn’t End at Installation: The Removal Bill Owners Forget TintHow Much Contamination Is Acceptable in a Window Tint Installation?PeopleKado Serri-Charette Raised $6,500+ From 30 Tint Brands — Tint Wiz Head of Brand and Growth Led the Push PeopleRespect Over Rivalry: ByeongYeol Park Clarifies WFR Controversy and Defends Fellow Champion PeopleBarry Atkins Is Running Point on WFCT 2026 — Meet the President Selling the Floor PeopleTint Wiz’s Erik Devash Enters the Window Film Hall of Fame — Why Software Just Became Ceremony IndustryWho’s Actually on the WFCT 2026 Floor: The Operator Guide to Sponsors and Booth Gravity ShopsWFCT’s Family Film Day Is a Labor Strategy Dressed as a Soft Feature TintWFCT Meets Auto Glass Week: Why Tint Shops Can’t Ignore ADAS Anymore IndustryXPEL’s San Antonio Fortress Story: Tariffs, Manufacturing, and Installer Gravity IndustryWFCT 2026: San Antonio Becomes the Industry’s Week of Record TintSummer 2026 Tint Reality Check: Ceramic, EVs, and ADAS Are Table Stakes PPFAvery Dennison PrismaPro Puts Color PPF on a Dry-Apply Clock WrapColored PPF vs Vinyl Wrap: The Sales Script Shops Need Right Now ToolsOnyx Coating’s Vunyx Cut Bets on One Precut Stack for Tint and PPF IndustryXPEL Is Quietly Building Control Over the Installer Network ProductsPPF Is No Longer Invisible — It’s Becoming a Style Product MarketTruck and Off-Road Builds Are Becoming PPF’s Biggest Revenue Driver AcquisitionsWhat Tint Wiz Joining Fullsteam Means for the Industry SoftwareThe Rise of AI Receptionists in Tint Shops MarketingWhy PPF Shops Are Becoming Media Companies ShopsThe Installer Shortage Nobody Wants to Talk About MarketingThe New Playbook for Local Service Ads ShopsFrom Installer to Operator: The Business Shift Happening Now

Featured story

The lead report worth your Monday attention.

Long-form analysis and sourcing—built for owners, lead techs, and distributors who need the full picture.

Iowa’s 50% Front-Side Tint Law Is Live: The Shop Quoting Playbook After HF 766

Featured storyGlobal

Industry

Iowa’s 50% Front-Side Tint Law Is Live: The Shop Quoting Playbook After HF 766

House File 766 dropped Iowa’s front-side VLT floor from ~70% to 50% on July 1, 2026. Windshield stays 70%. Here’s how Des Moines-to-Davenport shops should quote, meter, and sell without getting customers ticketed.

Installer Report·August 7, 2026·7 min read

Read story →

Latest reports

Signals from the field.

Four highlights from the archive—load two more at a time, or open the full list anytime.

IndustryGlobal

Iowa’s 50% Front-Side Tint Law Is Live: The Shop Quoting Playbook After HF 766

Installer Report·August 7, 2026·7 min read

AcquisitionsGlobal

American Window Film Buys A Better Tint: Phoenix Consolidation Comes for Local Dealers

AWF closed the purchase of Chandler’s A Better Tint on July 20, 2026, folding a 35-year 3M dealer into its Phoenix branch. Chandler closes; customers move to AWF. Here’s what the roll-up means for independents.

Installer Report·August 7, 2026·6 min read

EventsGlobal

TINT BATTLES VI: The Los Angeles Operator Playbook for August 15–16, 2026

Tintertainment’s sixth TINT BATTLES lands in LA with bracket eliminations, heat-shrink battles, PPF seminars, and streaming—here is how owners, techs, and brands should plan the weekend for ROI, not just hype.

Installer Report·August 5, 2026·7 min read

EventsGlobal

WFCT 2026 Late-August Playbook: San Antonio, Tint-Offs, and What to Book Before August 15

WFCT lands August 27–29, 2026 at Henry B. González Convention Center—co-located with Auto Glass Week. Early pricing ends August 15. Here is the operator schedule, competition map, and Barry Atkins briefing for shops that cannot afford to wing it.

Installer Report·August 5, 2026·8 min read

Industry signals

What we are tracking this month.

A condensed read on the forces moving budgets, hires, and vendor roadmaps.

Submit a field signal →Browse source database →

Acquisitions

14tracked

Platform + distributor moves this quarter.

New Tools

38vetted

Software and hardware entering serious shops.

Shop Growth

22%YoY

Operator-led expansion in top metros.

Software

6categories

Where budgets consolidated in 2026.

Marketing Trends

LSAfocus

Proof + speed beating creative-only plays.

Operator utility

Check the pulse. Then ship the week.

Demand indexes, color heat, and top IR tool scores—habits that beat another article grid.

Open Terminal →Get the Brief →

Tint Demand Index

▲ +4

PPF Demand Index

▼ -2

Wrap Demand Index

▲ +3

Installer Sentiment

▼ -1

Color of the month

Gloss Nardo Gray

Demand 88 · +14% MoM · Tesla / BMW / Audi

Top IR tool scores

Scoreboard →

New — the Installer Library

Free books, playbooks & checklists for shops.

Read them online or download the PDF in one click. Pricing playbooks, launch guides, delivery checklists — and a coloring book for the shop fridge.

Browse the Library →

PlaybookNEW

WFCT 101

The exhibitor & team playbook — a for-dummies guide to San Antonio

32 pages · 941 KBFree

Knowledge

842317

Tint to Win

How to build a $10K/month window tint business from scratch

Free for 15 days$49.99

…left

73 pages · 1.4 MBFree

Playbook

614241

The Shop Pricing Playbook

Price for profit: tint, PPF, wrap & coating menus that close

5 pages · 230 KBFree

The First 90 Days of a Tint Shop — cover

Knowledge

521198

The First 90 Days of a Tint Shop

From empty bay to booked calendar

5 pages · 212 KBFree

Featured tool · Jack Dorsey / Block

Buzz — where your team and AI agents share one workspace

Open-source Slack-style chat with native agents, Git, and workflows. Tint shops should pilot now—not wait for CRM vendors to catch up.

Read the operator brief →IR Scorecard →

AI & automation

Buzz

4.5

IR Score

Block’s open-source Slack-style workspace where humans and AI agents share channels, Git, and workflows—built on Nostr with portable cryptographic identities.

Quality82

Value92

Sentiment84

BudgetAgent workspace

“Slack-meets-GitHub with agents in-channel—early, but the open-source pitch lands with technical owners.”
— Block launch coverage / TechCrunch

Open scorecard

Tools & software radar

What serious shops evaluate, buy, and actually adopt.

Software, ads platforms, and field tools—profile pages include best-fit guidance.

Full directory →

AI & automation

Buzz

4.5

IR Score

Block’s open-source Slack-style workspace where humans and AI agents share channels, Git, and workflows—built on Nostr with portable cryptographic identities.

Quality82

Value92

Sentiment84

BudgetAgent workspace

“Slack-meets-GitHub with agents in-channel—early, but the open-source pitch lands with technical owners.”
— Block launch coverage / TechCrunch

Open scorecard

Shop CRM & scheduling

Tint Wiz

4.5

IR Score

Film-native shop software for proposals, deposits, scheduling, inventory, and review follow-through—widely adopted in tint and PPF bays.

“Still the default shortlist when shops want proposals → deposits → jobs without a generic FSM feel.”
— Owner forums / Fullsteam chapter chatter

Open scorecard

Shop CRM & scheduling

OrbisX

4.5

IR Score

CRM built by operators for tinters, detailers, and flat-glass shops—booking, estimates, roll inventory, warranties, and AI-assisted follow-up.

“Roll inventory + tint-aware booking is the pitch that lands against Jobber clones.”
— OrbisX operator reviews

Open scorecard

Shop CRM & scheduling

Urable

4.5

IR Score

All-in-one automotive service CRM for tint, PPF, wrap, ceramic coating, and detailing—quoting, scheduling, payments, routing, and an optional 3D visualizer.

“400+ five-star reviews and a 3D visualizer that can sell a PPF job worth more than a year of software.”
— urable.com / shop testimonials

Open scorecard

Shop CRM & scheduling

Jobber

4.0

IR Score

Field-service CRM for quoting, scheduling, and client messaging—common with mobile and hybrid tint models.

“Great for mobile routing — you will still invent film inventory elsewhere.”
— Mobile tint operators

Open scorecard

Plotter & pattern cutting

XPEL DAP

4.0

IR Score

Industry-leading pattern access program for XPEL film—massive library spanning PPF and window film with dealer ecosystem lock-in.

“Biggest library / fastest updates — lock-in is the tax everyone debates.”
— PPF dealer forums

Open scorecard

Film supplier brands

Film brands serious shops spec, stock, and stand behind.

PPF, tint, and wrap lines—profile pages include distributor fit and field sentiment.

Full supplier directory →

Paint protection film

XPEL

4.5

IR Score

Category-defining PPF with DAP cut software, installer certification, and a premium warranty story shops use to sell full-front packages.

“Customers walk in asking for XPEL by name—that alone changes the close rate on full-front.”
— PPF shop owners / forums

Open scorecard

Paint protection film

STEK Automotive

4.5

IR Score

Korean-origin PPF and window film with aggressive R&D cadence, color PPF options, and a growing certified-installer network.

Quality91

Value74

Sentiment90

PremiumChallenger pick

“Color PPF and Dynoshield talk is everywhere—shops like the film feel vs. their old line.”
— Restyling groups

Open scorecard

Multi-line portfolios

3M Automotive Films

4.0

IR Score

Legacy automotive film portfolio—Scotchgard PPF, Crystalline tint, and wrap films—backed by 3M science brand trust and corporate training.

“Crystalline still wins skeptics who only trust names they see at Home Depot.”
— Dealer tint lanes

Open scorecard

Window film & ceramic IR

LLumar

4.5

IR Score

Eastman-owned tint and PPF brand with deep dealer penetration, IRX/ceramic stacks, and FormulaOne retail positioning.

“Eastman supply is boring in a good way—rolls are consistent and warranty cards are familiar.”
— Multi-bay tint ops

Open scorecard

Window film & ceramic IR

SunTek

4.5

IR Score

Eastman tint and PPF line with Carbon XP / CIR ceramic positioning and strong overlap with LLumar in distributor catalogs.

“Carbon XP demos well against older carbon; good upsell without Crystalline pricing.”
— Tint trainers

Open scorecard

Multi-line portfolios

UVRON (TintX)

4.5

IR Score

Maryland-based factory-direct tint and PPF supplier—formerly TintX, now UVRON®—with nano carbon/ceramic rolls, Terra Guard PPF, pre-cut kits, and Tint Slime install chemistry.

“Been on their nano ceramic six years—film shrinks clean and the roll economics beat my old distributor line.”
— Trustpilot / pro reviewers

Open scorecard

Weekly Brief

Get the weekly briefing installers actually want to read.

Acquisitions, tools, pricing pressure, and operator playbooks—sharp, sourced, and built for the bay.

The Business Intelligence Layer for the Automotive Restyling Industry

The lead report worth your Monday attention.

Iowa’s 50% Front-Side Tint Law Is Live: The Shop Quoting Playbook After HF 766

Signals from the field.

Iowa’s 50% Front-Side Tint Law Is Live: The Shop Quoting Playbook After HF 766

American Window Film Buys A Better Tint: Phoenix Consolidation Comes for Local Dealers

TINT BATTLES VI: The Los Angeles Operator Playbook for August 15–16, 2026

WFCT 2026 Late-August Playbook: San Antonio, Tint-Offs, and What to Book Before August 15

What we are tracking this month.

Check the pulse. Then ship the week.

Free books, playbooks & checklists for shops.

WFCT 101

Tint to Win

The Shop Pricing Playbook

The First 90 Days of a Tint Shop

Buzz — where your team and AI agents share one workspace

Buzz

What serious shops evaluate, buy, and actually adopt.

Buzz

Tint Wiz

OrbisX

Urable

Jobber

XPEL DAP

Film brands serious shops spec, stock, and stand behind.

XPEL

STEK Automotive

3M Automotive Films

LLumar

SunTek

UVRON (TintX)

Get the weekly briefing installers actually want to read.

Get the Weekly Brief

Iowa’s 50% Front-Side Tint Law Is Live: The Shop Quoting Playbook After HF 766

American Window Film Buys A Better Tint: Phoenix Consolidation Comes for Local Dealers

TINT BATTLES VI: The Los Angeles Operator Playbook for August 15–16, 2026

WFCT 2026 Late-August Playbook: San Antonio, Tint-Offs, and What to Book Before August 15

Check the pulse. Then ship the week.

WFCT 101

Tint to Win

The Shop Pricing Playbook

The First 90 Days of a Tint Shop

Buzz

Buzz

Tint Wiz

OrbisX

Urable

Jobber

XPEL DAP

XPEL

STEK Automotive

3M Automotive Films

LLumar

SunTek

UVRON (TintX)

Get the weekly briefing installers actually want to read.

Get the Weekly Brief