What is “Tesla tint” in Canada?
It’s a program rather than a Tesla-made film. XPEL runs a Canadian page for Tesla owners where you buy XPEL window film online, and a participating XPEL dealer near you installs it.
XPEL’s Tesla page for Canada lists the Model Y, Model 3, Cybertruck, Model S and Model X, and two window films: PRIME XR, described as single-layer nano-ceramic, and PRIME XR PLUS, dual-layer nano-ceramic at a higher price tier. The same page sells XPEL paint protection film. Each online purchase includes a pre-installation consultation with the XPEL dealer, the price covers any shade XPEL offers, and you pick the shade at the install. XPEL puts the whole process at one to four business days depending on what you buy, and says loaner cars aren’t provided.
“Aftermarket tint” is everything else: you choose the shop, the film brand and the shade, and you deal with that shop for warranty. At Brookswood Tint that means LLumar film cut on a plotter for your model and fitted by hand.
How do Tesla’s program and an independent shop compare?
The films are close cousins; the differences are in who installs, how you buy, and one Tesla-backed perk. This is how the two routes line up for a Tesla owner in the Lower Mainland.
| Tesla program (XPEL) | Aftermarket at Brookswood Tint | |
|---|---|---|
| Film | XPEL PRIME XR or XR PLUS, nano-ceramic | LLumar ATC dyed, IRX nano-ceramic or AIR clear ceramic |
| Where you buy | Online, then a consultation | Quote from the shop for your model |
| Who installs | A participating XPEL dealer | The shop, in its Langley bay |
| How film is cut | Ask the XPEL dealer | Computerized plotter, no blade on the glass |
| Shade choice | Any XPEL shade, chosen at install | ATC and IRX in 5, 15, 35 or 50%; AIR in 70, 80 or 90% |
| Time | 1 to 4 business days, per XPEL | Most cars the same day |
| Glass replaced under Tesla’s warranty | Tesla pays to re-tint the new pane | Re-tinting the new pane is your cost |
| Film warranty | XPEL’s PRIME warranty | LLumar’s lifetime limited cover for the film; Brookswood’s own lifetime cover for the labour |
| How you pay | Online, through the program | Posted rear packages $220 to $260 in ATC; Tesla rear glass quoted from the model |
How do XPEL PRIME and LLumar ceramic films compare on paper?
Closely enough that the install matters more than the logo. The headline numbers on the Tesla program page, “up to 85%” and “up to 96%” infrared heat rejection, are single-wavelength figures, so they don’t line up with LLumar’s.
XPEL’s own data sheets say its IR rejection “is reported at a singular wavelength of 1025nm”. Measured as IRER, which covers the whole 780–2,500 nm band including heat the film absorbs, the PRIME XR sheet lists 55 to 64% and the XR PLUS sheet 67 to 70%. LLumar’s performance data sheet gives IRX 59 to 61% IRER and AIR 80 60%.
| Film | IRER, 780–2,500 nm | Total solar energy rejected | Tested on |
|---|---|---|---|
| XPEL PRIME XR | 55–64% | 42–66% | 3 mm glass, EN 410 |
| XPEL PRIME XR PLUS | 67–70% | 52–71% | 3 mm glass, EN 410 |
| LLumar IRX | 59–61% | 50–62% | 6 mm clear glass, NFRC methods |
| LLumar AIR 80 | 60% | 43% | 6 mm clear glass, NFRC methods |
XPEL measures on thinner glass under a European method and LLumar on thicker glass under NFRC rules, so read the rows as a guide rather than a contest. Shade-by-shade numbers, and the warranty wording side by side, are on LLumar vs XPEL window tint.
What happens to your tint if Tesla replaces a window?
Through the program, Tesla pays for new film. XPEL’s FAQ says that when you buy tint through its Tesla site, “Tesla will cover the cost to replace the film if any glass is replaced under their New Vehicle Limited Warranty”, and that tint bought from installers anywhere else “is not eligible for this added coverage”.
Read that next to Tesla’s own New Vehicle Limited Warranty for North America, which excludes “Windshield or window glass that is broken, chipped, scratched, or cracked, other than as a result of a defect in material or workmanship”. So the perk applies when Tesla replaces a pane for a defect. A window smashed in a break-in or cracked by a stone falls outside this perk, whichever route your tint came from.
With aftermarket tint, a pane Tesla replaces under warranty comes back clear, and you book the re-tint of that window yourself. LLumar’s lifetime limited warranty covers the film, not the glass under it.
Does aftermarket tint affect a Tesla’s warranty?
Neither Tesla’s warranty nor XPEL’s page says aftermarket film voids the car’s warranty as a whole. What Tesla’s warranty does is leave non-Tesla accessories, and damage they cause, outside its cover.
The North American warranty, effective September 1, 2026, excludes “Non-genuine Tesla parts or accessories or their installation, or any damage directly or indirectly caused by” them. In plain terms, film that isn’t a genuine Tesla accessory, and any damage it or its installation causes, sit outside Tesla’s cover. XPEL, for its part, says program installs “won’t impact your Tesla warranty”.
What that means in practice is to choose an installer whose work you trust, keep the invoice naming the film and shade, and know that the film’s own warranty runs through whoever sold it. At Brookswood Tint that’s LLumar’s lifetime limited warranty plus the shop’s lifetime warranty on workmanship.
Which Tesla windows can be tinted in BC?
Who sold the film makes no difference. BC’s tint rule, MVAR s. 7.05(8), lets a Tesla’s side windows behind the driver take any shade, allows the back glass too provided the car has a mirror outside on each side, and limits the windshield to its top 75 mm band.
The driver’s and front passenger’s door glass is the exception: no film is road-legal there in BC, however light, and that includes clear ceramic. XPEL’s program page says its installers can advise on local regulations, and being able to order a shade doesn’t make it legal to drive with. Film there can earn a ticket that, according to the Mission RCMP traffic services FAQ, “typically carries a fine of $109”; a Notice & Order is the other route, and under one the film has to come off before the car passes a full inspection. Front-door film is something the shop fits only at a customer’s request, and only once those consequences have been explained. The full rule, with its exceptions, is on front window tint rules in BC.
Glass roofs are their own question. XPEL’s program offers roof tint from 55% to 70% visible light; how roof film works at this shop is covered on sunroof and panoramic roof tint.
Leased Teslas
XPEL warns that on a leased car, a shade darker than the local rules allow may bring a removal fee when the car goes back to Tesla. That wording is written around US state limits; BC has no legal shade at all for the front side windows, so on a lease the simple course is to keep film to the glass behind the driver.
Tesla program or independent shop: which should you choose?
Choose the program if Tesla paying to re-tint warranty glass matters to you, or you want XPEL film specifically. Choose an independent shop if you want to pick the film line yourself, have it plotter-cut and done in a day, and deal with the installer directly.
At Brookswood Tint, a Tesla is tinted like any car: plotter-cut LLumar, with heat-shrinking and fitting by hand on the large single-piece rear glass. The posted ATC rear-glass prices start at $220 for coupes and reach $260 for full-size SUVs, but Tesla back glass is larger than most, so it’s priced from the model, with IRX or AIR as a per-package upgrade. Model-by-model notes are on Model Y window tint and Model 3 window tint, and the broader EV picture is on EV window tint. Put the model, year and the panes you’d like filmed on the tint quote form, and leave the glass rolled up for three to five days after pickup.
