A mirror for heat. The most solar energy any Spectrum film turns away, and a finish nothing else in the range gives you.
Steel is built by sputtering — metal vaporised in a vacuum and laid onto polyester in layers a fraction of the thickness of a human hair. Those layers behave like a mirror tuned to infrared. Where the rest of our films absorb the sun's heat energy inside the film, Steel turns it around and sends it back outside before the glass can warm up.
That is why it posts the highest numbers we make: up to 93% infrared rejection and 77% total solar energy rejection. It also gives the car a bright reflective finish no other construction can, and the metal makes the film noticeably tougher. There is one real trade-off, and it's below — along with the full performance data.
Up to 93% infrared rejection and 77% total solar energy rejection — no other Spectrum film comes close. Reflecting heat is simply more efficient than absorbing it.
Carbon and ceramic films take heat into the film and shed some of it inward. Steel's metal layers turn infrared around at the outer surface, so the glass never warms in the first place.
The reflective sheen is unique to this construction. In daylight the glass reads as a bright mirror from outside while the view from the driver's seat stays open.
Metal layers make the film more rigid and the most scratch-resistant thing we make. There is no dye in it, so there is nothing for the sun to break down.
Steel comes in 3 shades, from 40 at 27% VLT through to 80 at 10%. The reflective finish runs through all three; what changes is how much light gets past it and how strong the mirror reads from the kerb.
Worth knowing before you choose: infrared rejection climbs steadily with darkness, but total solar energy rejection does not. Steel 40 and Steel 80 both land on 77% TSER by different routes. If overall heat is what you care about, the lightest shade is doing as much work as the darkest.
Metal reflects radio waves as well as heat. On a fully wrapped car, Steel can weaken phone reception, GPS accuracy, keyless entry, toll transponders and radar-based driver assistance. How much depends on how many windows are covered and how strong the signal was to begin with.
Two ways round it. Put Steel on the rear and rear-side glass and leave the front doors and windshield to a non-metallic film — you keep most of the heat rejection where the sun actually lands. Or choose nano carbon, which is non-conductive and does nothing to signals at all. Any Spectrum installer will walk you through both.
We publish the numbers for every shade so you can compare them yourself. Download the sheet, or take it straight to an installer.
Values are measured on the film and calculated for single-pane, nominal 3 mm clear glass. Figures are taken from representative product samples and are subject to normal manufacturing variance; actual performance on your vehicle varies with the glass it is applied to.
The reflective finish is the thing people most want to see before committing. Put each shade on the glass, look at it from both sides, then take the result to an installer.
Performance figures are laboratory values for the film itself; results on your vehicle depend on the glass. Some tint levels are restricted on windshields and front windows — ask a Spectrum installer about the rules where you drive.
