Tint Impressions: 3M IM Ceramic vs Xfilms vs Vkool
Just today had 3M IM Ceramic installed in my Dongfeng Nammi Box EV. Had mine installed in HPM Tints and Accessories QC. Not bad na PHP 9,500 excluding tint removal (+500) and right now very happy even with the 3M IM dark wraparound + medium windshield tint with 5 years warranty.
I had to do my relatively lengthy research in Reddit, and as a small way of giving back to the community which helped me decide, will share my own experience.
Quick review of HPM the tint installer: We went to their branch in QC around 12pm, kami lang yung nakasalang at the time and their shop can accommodate about two at a time. Super bilis ng installation! Other shops would normally take 4 hours, sa kanila installation only took 2 hours or even less. Each window had a dedicated person to work on it, they had 6 people working on the car at a time! Grabe effort actually haha. Sa receipt nila they even listed who installed which tint on which piece of glass, very professional. I also appreciated that they had the Infrared / Heat rejection specs of the 3M and Vkool tints listed on their sliding door at the showfloor to show you what you'll get, even sample swatches to show what you'll see. Very accommodating and responsive staff even on Facebook mabilis magreply.
A little background: I was very apprehensive to have 3M IM Ceramic installed because of my experience with the "Casa 3M" tints on some of our previous cars. You would think that the 3M brand would carry more weight, pero the stock one that casa uses isn't up to par talaga lalo na with the heat of the country. I've heard many good things and seen vKool firsthand on GreenGSM taxis which I frequent, so vkool was actually top of mind at first. I also had preferential pricing for xfilms premium tint at PHP 6,000 for a full wraparound at R&R Makati since I already had our coolray tinted at the same shop before. It was cheap for sure, and it was my safe bet in case I wanted to cheap out or wanted something tried and tested. The xfilms premium peformed well and the interior of our coolray was always cool and rejected heat noticeably well, the main drawback was the brown tint and noticeably dark VLT for both their medium and superdark tints. The superdark tint I actually had trouble looking at my rear view mirror due to it being too dark on the sides., so I wanted something dark, but not dark as the superdark of xfilms
The crossroads and the choice: Then I checked the prices, vkool k-series was priced the same as 3M IM ceramic, I compared the two, vkool was a metallic / reflective shade with a bluish tint while 3M IM has a blacker and darker appearance overall. Relatively dark VLT isn't an issue to me as I'm used to driving at pitch black provincial roads without needing to use excessive high beams / ultra bright aftermarket headlights. After a bit of thinking, and checking the specs on the 3M datasheet website here. What convinced me was 3M's honest numbers, but also surprisingly high VLT for their dark shade. They claim to have a 7.1% VLT for the dark shade which was surprisingly high! While also claiming to block 99.8% of UV light and 65% Total solar energy rejected. These sounded like perfectly reasonable and high-performing numbers for me, so this is what prompted me to choose 3M. I also preferred the darker shade versus vkool's metallic and slightly lighter and bluish appearance.
The impression: Versus our xfilms medium / dark, ang ganda talaga ng visibility. I was amazed at the dark and the medium shades, highly visible pa rin ang roads and cars kahit gabi! Heat rejection is also quite good, much much much better than casa tint, and I have yet to do an extended test on it over the week. The exterior darkness is also good, I think it isn't as dark as xfilms eiher, but it's an excellent balance between visibility and privacy. The visibility is actually higher than I need or am used to, so this is a generally good tint for those who want a good visibility tint without sacrificing privacy. If I could go back, honestly I would choose the dark shade for the windshield as well knowing how good the visibility is, but I digress, so far satisfied with the performance.
So yun, this is my short journey of choosing which tint to get. Would be nice to know if may impressions rin kayo with 3M IM ceramic / IR ceramic / and other contenders at this price range of about ~10k. Hope I can help others make a decision too.
Posted Feb 28, 2026, 1:13 PM UTC