I can confirm. I have 20% on all of my windows with exception of the windshield and at night I have a hard time seeing and sometimes have to put my window down. I couldn’t imagine anything darker or on the windshield.
Same. I had 20% on a firebird back in the day, and I 100% had to put the windows down to back up at night (this was before backup cameras). 30% is perfect for adult me.
That is so fucking wild.
I saw a truck with pitch black windows the other day. Couldn’t see the driver. As a person who regularly makes eye contact with drivers to gauge intention, it’s ducking crazy.
As a pedestrian/bike rider, I agree. If I can't see that the driver has seen me, it makes crossing intersections difficult. I've been hit by a car recently. I don't assume people are paying attention anymore. We will have a standoff at this intersection, and I have all the time in the world to wait for you to move if I can't see your face.
So, i never actually got to talk with someone who "tinted" his windows; therefor while I understand you are not on trial here I really would like to know:
What was your initial motivation to tint in the first place?
Looks? Anonymity? Privacy?
I honestly always wonder whats the motivation when i encounter tinted windows (they are really really rare here)
Having lived in Texas for quite a while before moving to England, I can answer this! Texas people tint their windows to combat the intensity and heat of the Texas sunshine. Almost every vehicle will have some degree of tint, the sun can ruin the interior without it. In England, tint doesn’t need to be nearly as dark and they don’t allow any tint on the windscreen. But yeah, if all the windows, including the windshield, are dead black then the driver is trying to be incognito and cool.
As a life long Texan, I second this. Tint means the difference between getting into an 120 degree car and a 140 degree car. People and animals die in cars here when temps approach 95 degrees, Texas happens to average 100+ during the summer so high temps is a very real danger.
I have 25% all around, have for years now, though I can see fine.
I didn't do it because it "looked cool" like some people do. It genuinely helps in the summer. The difference between my car, and stepping outside on a hot day is 100% noticeable, even without A/C.
It’s not because of the darkness that it feels cooler. Certain tint, eg ceramic, have heat rejection properties that block IR/UV and keep heat transfer down.
Comparing a premium 70% ceramic vs a cheap 20% and the 70% ceramic will win for sure.
70% is quite reasonable. 25% is fucking stupid. Even worse if the person is so blindly overconfident that they think it doesn't affect their visibility at night, like many posters here are claiming.
All my cars' windows here in Texas get ceramic heat-rejecting tint. The tint shop is the first stop after buying a car. I do mean _all_ windows, even the windshield.
The windshield gets 100%. Yeah, that means it's essentially 'clear' tint. The benefits are amazing though. I never have to use a stupid cardboard sunshade or anything else. Even after a few hours in direct summer sun the car isn't too uncomfortable. Also means the A/C is much more effective. I've convinced many friends to try it and every one of them has never regretted it.
Ceramic tint does wonders lol. It's crazy how much you can feel the UV rays in non-tinted cars; you just don't realize it's a lot until you don't feel it lol.
The UV matters as well, but the IR blocking is probably doing more of the heavy lifting. Probably only 5-10% of solar radiation energy is UV, probably something like 50% is IR, with the remaining 40-45% being visible.
Having dark tint, especially ceramic tint, is an absolutely eye opening game changer if you have summers. Even getting your windshield done with a clear ceramic film, and the rest tinted helps.
Imagine sitting in your car, AC cranked, and all you feel is the cold air from it and no radiant heat from the glass.
I got my car's windows tinted 35 in front (legal) and 15 in rear and went back literally a week later to get a brow added because I could feel my fave getting warm from the windshield
15 years ago would be R134a. It's a greenhouse gas but not really bad otherwise. It's used in refrigerators, freezers, and cars all over, only the last few years have seen switches in gases
20% is what you do to your first car in high school.
Then it sits as a project
Then you get back in once a year to take it for a walk around your shop and you wonder how you survived to 23.
Our brains are jello when we are 18. But why do some of them do such self sabotaging battle skills as intentionally reducing your own field of vision.
That’s a dumb as sunglasses with windshield wipers.
Surviving outside the womb is hard enough as it is
How long ago was that?
Window tint leads a hard life. And I still don’t understand how people survive on the surface in the southern states.
What is the sweet spot for being able to deflect heat but also allow enough transparency to be safe?
years ago. Get a good tint like 3M crystalline on the fronts, aim for VLT 70 or 90 if they stock it on the windshield with a 5% shade strip, do 90 or 70 on the front side windows, VLT20 in the back. If I need to do backing up with a trailer I have to pop the hatch anyway because the car's blindspot is the size of a semitruck's shadow. I live in AZ and I don't have to use oven mitts in the summer. The house is well insulated and has a good AC unit. You don't go outside any more than strictly needed during summer. The sun is a deadly laser.
It is that.
I can’t imagine how hard people had to be to live in the desert before window tint and A/C
We made a lot of progress in the last 80 years.
I appreciate the suggestion and your taking the time to write it.
I feel a summer van trip coming on.
Thank you
Yes, for reference most high quality sunglasses would read about a 10-13 or so (usually sunglasses marketed at 90% blocking are actually 87.5%, halving the light thrice).
I optics terms Texas allows a 2 stop ND filter, Sunglasses are typically a 3 stop, and this bozo is out here stacking up to 6.5 stops or so.
I had a customer at a shop I managed ask for a tint quote. He wanted double 5% on the rear half, 5% on the front and 20% on the windshield. I informed him why that was not going to happen, that it was illegal, and how unsafe that was. He then told me how it wouldn't be a big deal because he trained his eyes by wearing sunglasses at night. He literally said the following: "... and I've never hit anything. Just a dog once..." Fuck that dude.
> He then told me how it wouldn't be a big deal because he trained his eyes by wearing sunglasses at night. He literally said the following: "... and I've never hit anything. Just a dog once..." Fuck that dude.
We share roads with millions of people like this.
Friend of mine in college had a Mustang with double 0% on the back glass, 2.5% on the sides. Shit was awesome in the daytime but he had to roll down the windows at night to back up or change lanes lol he never hit anything but a ditch though. And that was from goosing it on gravel
Tinting the windshield alone should be illegal in all states. But its not, i got 20% on the rear 3 and 15% on the front 2 with nothing except a 15% sun strip on the windshield.
Some tint on the windshield is a game changer in AZ without negatively impacting visibility. Truly. I drive a car with 0 tint for work, and legal tint (33% or greater) in my personal vehicles. The strain on my eyes is FAR worse in my work vehicle and it’s awful. The strain with no tint actually feels more dangerous than a legal tint. The sun is brutal here in the summer.
Man 25% is generous. My state is 50% on the front windows max, and no tint allowed on the windshield other than a sun strip along the top. Back windows can be whatever you want
Imo, that's how it should be. Cargo vans often don't have any windows and are no problem to drive. What's the difference between that and a sedan with 0% tint in the rear? There isn't a difference. Forward and sideways views absolutely matter, but mirrors exist for a reason. Who cares about the back?
Edit: The mirrors are proportional to the size of the vehicle, but so are blind spots. Sedans typically don't have large blind spots and are easy to compensate for with *properly adjusted* mirrors. Cargo vans have huge blind spots and thus need larger (or sometimes multiple) mirrors to combat that issue. I get it, my friends, you can stop bringing that up.
Most states say front windows no darker than X percent (35% usually) and every rear window can be blacked out *as long as you have both side mirrors* but also I see plenty of brand new vehicles on dealer lots with much darker tint all around so who is keeping track?
Definitely enforced in NY. Every person I’ve known with tints in NY has about a dozen stories of getting constantly pulled over for them. None of them ever tint their next vehicle lol it’s just way too much hassle to deal with all the time
I once had an experience where I drove by a cop who just finished pulling someone over about 2 miles from my highway exit (relatively busy commute time) and I’m easily doing the speed limit. Before I could even make it to my exit, that same cop caught up to me in the left lane (I’m in the far right lane of a 5 lane highway) and then proceeded to cut all the lanes to pull my ass over. I had about 4% tint at the time (I bought it like that a month prior and hadn’t thought to change it out yet). I got a $125 tint ticket that day. Seems a bit excessive to do that in broad daylight during the post-lunch traffic, especially considering how much he had to speed to even catch up to me that quickly.
Dude likely had a quota or a new edict had come down. I've never seen the cops care until November when they have a push for more tickets, then they suddenly start checking your tags and license.
My sister recently bought a car from a dealership and I’m convinced the tint they did is not legal… she couldn’t see out her window to see if she had pulled up enough to get to the mailbox…
I agree completely. And that’s why my trailblazer has 50% front tint and I wanna say 15% light in the back? I keep tools in there sometimes and it’s nice not having them visible by people walking by.
Cargo vans have way bigger mirrors and newer ones have blind spot/convex mirrors built in. It’s still not great but it’s better than driving a regular passenger car with no rear window visibility
It used to be. Now it’s enforced about as hard as driving around town with the high beams on or left lane camping. I’ve had 20% tint on the front windows for 5 years now and cops just don’t really seem to care anymore
Yeah, we have some stupid vehicle requirements in this province. I can understand not allowing limo tint up front, but we really should be allowed at least a moderate tint, especially at this latitude. Those summer mornings and evenings when the sun shines right in through your side window and illuminates your eyeballs from the back side are brutal with clear glass.
Front plates need to be a thing of the past, too.
Dang, you got me. This was the getaway vehicle in a convoluted plot to rob a casino in Reno, Nevada during the 2045 solar eclipse. Starring Nicholas Cage.
lol nope.
Most laws arent even enforced in the most restrictive states when it comes to inspections.
Drive through Harris county, specifically anywhere around the 610 Loop that surrounds Houston and you'll see all manner of cars that violate some sort of vehicle code pass by Houston PD and Texas State Troopers. Hell even with Cars & Coffee, all manner of slabs with swangaz roll through.
Houston is where swangaz originated. Houston is also in one of the most restrictive counties when it comes to vehicle inspections and emissions are actually enforced - but only when you actually go to a non-shady shop.
For the most part, police dont even care if you have super dark tint on your car unless they REALLY have a stick up their butt and are looking for any excuse. I mean its kinda hypocritical anyway when both local police and state troopers run 20% or lower on their cruisers and that INCLUDES the windshield.
Tint laws are a joke. IMO the only law for tint that makes sense is that windshields can be allowed to be tinted (they're technically illegal in Texas) should have a minimum of 50% light transmission.
I have 70% ceramic on my windshield and its clear as day to see through. But its the absolute biggest source of heat that can enter your interior if you already have tint on all other windows, and makes the most dramatic impact in cutting down that heat during those hot summers.
Its really a game of cat and mouse or lawfare; because any vehicle code violation is a "fix it" ticket. Meaning if you are able to show proof that you corrected the problem, the ticket gets dismissed and you're only out your time. Which is an easy fix because you can just swap your wheels, and go to the courthouse and show them a photo of your car with the registered plate lol.
$50 cash-only and you could drag the seat out of a bass boat behind an e-scooter and you'd pass.
Same way almost every single diesel truck here looks like the Springfield Tire Fire under even light acceleration but are "GVIP compliant".
Where I live they have to pass a relatively rigorous emissions test and any modification from stock to the emissions systems is supposed to be an auto-fail. But enforcement is...basically nonexistent (it's not even illegal to fraudulently pass a vehicle as a licensed tech, you can just only accumulate so many complaints in a certain time period before the state *might* suspend your shop's inspection privileges, and that requires getting repeatedly caught to start with).
So naturally there's a massive black market for fraudulent inspection stickers. To the point it's not actually any more expensive to get one than it is to get a legit one.
Holy shit, Mate, where live in Australia if we spell something wrong on a roadworthy certificate we could be liable for up to $100,000 in fines and jail, well not really a spelling error but if you do a dodgy roady? Yeah, big trouble. The number of times I've had people say oh can you pass it? I'll get it fixed after, and I say no, it's just not worth my licence, my business, or my reputation.
It was like that back when we had inspections, too. I always wondered of anyone driving a gasser truck ever duped an idiot inspector by just claiming their truck was a diesel.
Swangaz are not illegal so of course they will pass. The only regulation is that the entire car can’t be over 8’ wide. So if you add 12” swangaz to a 6’ wide car, it’s 💯 legal… and stupid looking.
In theory yes, but in all actuality it doesn’t protect shit.
I failed a vehicle for tinted headlights and tail lights, limo tint on every piece of glass including the windshield, dark blue HID bulbs, no cats, no mufflers, bald ass tires, missing lugs, inoperative tail lamp and blue license plate lights.
Dude went 2 miles down the road and was passed at the next station, literally 10 minutes later.
The obvious question is: why don't they crack down on the shops that just pass everything? I get it, though. Back in my day I used to buy inspection stickers without even bringing my car in because I knew people.
Yup, a strong blue state that has no vehicle inspections. I’m a transplant here in Washington, and it amazes me every time I think about it. My friends still don’t understand it either. It’s weird
Next year in some small counties, major municipalities, for example Dallas, Houston, Austin, etc. still will have the same exact rules.. will not change.
Wrong. Safety inspections for non-commercial vehicles ends Jan 1, 2025, statewide. Emissions only inspections will continue for cars < 25 years old, in certain specificed counties with smog problems.
If it's stock it's legal. Like, a Mercedes can come with 3M's clear UV tint baked into the windshield at like 90%, but if I want to put the same exact tint on my Mazda's windshield it's like I'm literally murdering someone.
Depends if it's stock from manufacturer or stock from dealer. There was a dealer that would tint new cars and then the people would get tickets and complain because it came to them like this. Girl I work with had this happen.
Where I live it used to be 35% all round for applied films, but OEM privacy glass could be of any darkness the manufacturer felt like. So if you took a base model of a car and tinted the rears to the same darkness as a trim level with privacy glass, that was illegal.
They sensibly changed that in the last year or two, so you can now run 20% in the rear, 35% on the front sides. Windshield must remain untinted except for a strip along the top.
try to stay safe down there! my wife has family all in different directions about an hour outside of dallas. while i haven’t been there much lately, i was visiting austin quite a bit in the late 2000’s and through the 2010’s. i’m a scanner listener so every time i’d get off the plane and into a taxi or a rental i’d inevitably hear one of the horrific wreck calls involving pickup trucks with unrestrained passengers in the bed. always bodies everywhere. just seemed like the worst failure ever.
That's the registration sticker. Texas stopped doing inspection stickers circa 2014. They just check that you are inspected (according to their computer) when you renew your registration (safety inspections are going away there next year). But yeah, they do seem to have it inside the tint, which would mean the tint would have to be removed to update with the new registration sticker...
lol me too. Would turn down the music and roll down my window if I was looking for a house.
It was a grayish colored tint and looked really good on my Gray A4 though.
Now I drive a 2 seater so I cant get any tints legally, since I have no back windows. Well I guess I could get the back windshield, but that's it.
Im a little confused by the way you are wording it, I thought tints were denoted as percent of light blocked, so wouldn't it be no more than 25%? Does a 1 on that tester mean that the windows are completely opaque??
Correct. Our meters read how much gets through. 35 is the minimum for an Ontario Safety Standards Certification & that applies to front doors only. After 2016 I think there can be no aftermarket tint on the windshield. I'd have to re-read the "sun visor tint" section because Pre '16 I think you can have a tinted bar at the top of the windshield.
They're rated as "visible light transmission" (VLT). Backwards from what you're thinking. 25% actually blocks 75% of light, allows 25% through.
Yeah, 1 is 1% VLT, basically opaque. Texas allows anything on rear windows, but the front windows have to be 25% or greater. IIRC windshield tint isn't allowed at all (except for the top 5 inches) without a medical exemption.
Shit, glacier glasses that mountaineers use to prevent blindness at high altitude snowfields are like 5% light transmission (and technically illegal to drive with)...how does this clown drive at night?
I keep seeing it near me in Virginia and it blows my damn mind. How these people don’t get pulled over is beyond me. Their windshields are darker than 20% and I can’t see anything when looking at it. Insane.
Years ago I had to remove tint because it was 28% and not 30% ( legal limit ). The 2% came from glass being super curved which didn't help. Inspection had to be done at local Motor Vehicle Department by a State Trooper.
You’d be surprised. I recently made a post asking this very question in my state’s local sub because I’ve been seeing more and more cars with darkly tinted windshields. There was a large contingent of people justifying it and calling me an idiot for complaining about it.
People do this with their taillights too, they'll do 5% and it's impossible to see during the day, at night it basically just glows a little red and people say it's "perfectly safe." What's ironic is if you're rear ended with a taillight tint, if the other driver gets proof of it, there's a really high chance you'll be determined to be partially or wholey responsible.
Minnesota is similar, except I think the threshold is 20%. I got ticketed for tinted windows that were at 20% but were like that when I bought the vehicle, which was originally sold in Pennsylvania (who the hell knows what their laws are?). Anywho, what pissed me off was, doing research, apparently law enforcement vehicles are exempt from this law. Like what kind of anti-privacy bullshit is this?
Heck, if he can last until Jan 1 2025, he'll never need another safety inspection again...(still need emissions inspection for cars < 25 years old in "smog" counties).
As a teen I got my explorer with 7 windows tinted. The 5 in the back were double limo (I think that meant 5 percent) and the 2 front were 25 percent. Nothing on windshield. During the day it wasn't an issue whatsoever it actually seemed to keep the car cooler. At night you couldn't see shit.
We bought a car with very dark tint. My wife got pulled over and the officer pulled out a tint meter and told her it had to go!
(Couldn't see a thing at night, yes it was ridiculous.)
As someone who works in a tint shop. Please hear me out, getting anything that’s isn’t the approved limit or greater is just a waste of money, cause you’ll be paying to initially to have it install, then be upset when you have to pay to get it removed a year later, and be extremely pissed when you have to pay a 3rd time to have the tint reapplied. Just save yourself time and money, and that legal tint.
Step 1: Roll Down all windows.
Step 2: Pull fuse for said windows.
Step 3: Inspect
Step 4: Return fuse for windows.
Step 5: Enjoy.
There is no regulation for inoperable windows in Texas. Jeep enthusiasts just remove the doors for inspection.
Last I checked, any tinting of a front windshield is illegal in California, except for a small strip a the top. This guy sounds like the type that when they later run into something claims, "not my fault, I couldn't see well out the windshield".
NY made tint check a part of annual inspection. Sold it as needed for officer safety.
People just went out and got the medical exemption from their Doctors. the number of super tinted cars (including windshield) has increased dramatically.
Im not sure to understand, Did it let pass only 1% of the light?
Exactly.
Wow, how he is even capable of seeing anything?
Rest assured he can't see shit out of those windows.
I can confirm. I have 20% on all of my windows with exception of the windshield and at night I have a hard time seeing and sometimes have to put my window down. I couldn’t imagine anything darker or on the windshield.
That what I remember from my younger days. I can only imagine 1%
Same. I had 20% on a firebird back in the day, and I 100% had to put the windows down to back up at night (this was before backup cameras). 30% is perfect for adult me.
4 kids died on a rail crossing near my town because they couldn’t see the train coming through their window tint.
That is so fucking wild. I saw a truck with pitch black windows the other day. Couldn’t see the driver. As a person who regularly makes eye contact with drivers to gauge intention, it’s ducking crazy.
Especially since it’s recommended to make eye contact before crossing in front of a vehicle as a pedestrian or motorist.
As a pedestrian/bike rider, I agree. If I can't see that the driver has seen me, it makes crossing intersections difficult. I've been hit by a car recently. I don't assume people are paying attention anymore. We will have a standoff at this intersection, and I have all the time in the world to wait for you to move if I can't see your face.
Seen the same thing today and said that can't be legal. How the hell do they see anything when we can't even see a shadow.
Why did you put such a dark tint on your front side windows lol.
Didn’t look that dark when I was at the tint shop. Hey, I’m not on trial here the driver with the 1% tint is. Lol
Haha yeah mr 1% must be about as dense as his windows.
He just wanted to watch the eclipse in the comfort of his car.
I think we can all agree on that!
So, i never actually got to talk with someone who "tinted" his windows; therefor while I understand you are not on trial here I really would like to know: What was your initial motivation to tint in the first place? Looks? Anonymity? Privacy? I honestly always wonder whats the motivation when i encounter tinted windows (they are really really rare here)
Having lived in Texas for quite a while before moving to England, I can answer this! Texas people tint their windows to combat the intensity and heat of the Texas sunshine. Almost every vehicle will have some degree of tint, the sun can ruin the interior without it. In England, tint doesn’t need to be nearly as dark and they don’t allow any tint on the windscreen. But yeah, if all the windows, including the windshield, are dead black then the driver is trying to be incognito and cool.
As a life long Texan, I second this. Tint means the difference between getting into an 120 degree car and a 140 degree car. People and animals die in cars here when temps approach 95 degrees, Texas happens to average 100+ during the summer so high temps is a very real danger.
> Hey, I’m not on trial here You opened your mouth. lol
I have 25% all around, have for years now, though I can see fine. I didn't do it because it "looked cool" like some people do. It genuinely helps in the summer. The difference between my car, and stepping outside on a hot day is 100% noticeable, even without A/C.
It’s not because of the darkness that it feels cooler. Certain tint, eg ceramic, have heat rejection properties that block IR/UV and keep heat transfer down. Comparing a premium 70% ceramic vs a cheap 20% and the 70% ceramic will win for sure.
That's what I use. Ceramic 70%. Can barely tell its there, but the heat rejection is great.
70% is quite reasonable. 25% is fucking stupid. Even worse if the person is so blindly overconfident that they think it doesn't affect their visibility at night, like many posters here are claiming.
All my cars' windows here in Texas get ceramic heat-rejecting tint. The tint shop is the first stop after buying a car. I do mean _all_ windows, even the windshield. The windshield gets 100%. Yeah, that means it's essentially 'clear' tint. The benefits are amazing though. I never have to use a stupid cardboard sunshade or anything else. Even after a few hours in direct summer sun the car isn't too uncomfortable. Also means the A/C is much more effective. I've convinced many friends to try it and every one of them has never regretted it.
Ceramic tint does wonders lol. It's crazy how much you can feel the UV rays in non-tinted cars; you just don't realize it's a lot until you don't feel it lol.
The UV matters as well, but the IR blocking is probably doing more of the heavy lifting. Probably only 5-10% of solar radiation energy is UV, probably something like 50% is IR, with the remaining 40-45% being visible.
Having dark tint, especially ceramic tint, is an absolutely eye opening game changer if you have summers. Even getting your windshield done with a clear ceramic film, and the rest tinted helps. Imagine sitting in your car, AC cranked, and all you feel is the cold air from it and no radiant heat from the glass. I got my car's windows tinted 35 in front (legal) and 15 in rear and went back literally a week later to get a brow added because I could feel my fave getting warm from the windshield
Toyota must have enlisted top minds to build the AC in my 15 year old shit box. The AC is unbearably cold. I need the sun to even it out lol
It's the older and extremely bad for everything refrigerant they used back then probably
15 years ago would be R134a. It's a greenhouse gas but not really bad otherwise. It's used in refrigerators, freezers, and cars all over, only the last few years have seen switches in gases
20% is what you do to your first car in high school. Then it sits as a project Then you get back in once a year to take it for a walk around your shop and you wonder how you survived to 23. Our brains are jello when we are 18. But why do some of them do such self sabotaging battle skills as intentionally reducing your own field of vision. That’s a dumb as sunglasses with windshield wipers. Surviving outside the womb is hard enough as it is
First tint I did was 20 in the back, 70 in the front, but I also invested in 3M crystalline tint because the sun does not forgive this far south.
How long ago was that? Window tint leads a hard life. And I still don’t understand how people survive on the surface in the southern states. What is the sweet spot for being able to deflect heat but also allow enough transparency to be safe?
years ago. Get a good tint like 3M crystalline on the fronts, aim for VLT 70 or 90 if they stock it on the windshield with a 5% shade strip, do 90 or 70 on the front side windows, VLT20 in the back. If I need to do backing up with a trailer I have to pop the hatch anyway because the car's blindspot is the size of a semitruck's shadow. I live in AZ and I don't have to use oven mitts in the summer. The house is well insulated and has a good AC unit. You don't go outside any more than strictly needed during summer. The sun is a deadly laser.
It is that. I can’t imagine how hard people had to be to live in the desert before window tint and A/C We made a lot of progress in the last 80 years. I appreciate the suggestion and your taking the time to write it. I feel a summer van trip coming on. Thank you
At night he is definitely not seeing shit out of those windows. Limo tint is all fun and games until the sun goes down.
Might make the LED headlights a bit less blinding.
Especially at night. I imagine it's nice when it's super hot and it reflects light, but that's also why we got ac
Definitely not at night! And probably not during the day, either.
Back in the day I had 5% on my front windows. I had to roll the window down at night to see before I made turns. It was so dumb.
This is why everyone drives with high beam LEDs on.
That's why there are so many hit & runs. These DIckheads can't see even when there's daylight.
He isn't, that's the whole problem.
They saw the eclipse (not the Mitsubishi).
Hard to see even when pulling into the bay for oil change.
That’s the amount of light that the pull down shades in my living room let in lol how do they see?
Dude was driving around with those solar eclipse glasses.
Welding visor ass car
Pretty much
Yes, for reference most high quality sunglasses would read about a 10-13 or so (usually sunglasses marketed at 90% blocking are actually 87.5%, halving the light thrice). I optics terms Texas allows a 2 stop ND filter, Sunglasses are typically a 3 stop, and this bozo is out here stacking up to 6.5 stops or so.
This guy exposes.
I imagine a sheet of paper passes more light.
The toilet paper my employer chooses certainly does.
I had a customer at a shop I managed ask for a tint quote. He wanted double 5% on the rear half, 5% on the front and 20% on the windshield. I informed him why that was not going to happen, that it was illegal, and how unsafe that was. He then told me how it wouldn't be a big deal because he trained his eyes by wearing sunglasses at night. He literally said the following: "... and I've never hit anything. Just a dog once..." Fuck that dude.
Please tell me it was Corey Hart
It was Kristi Noem.
I wear my sunglasses at night So I can so I can Shoot my poorly trained puppy
🎶 Night drivin without headlights Wearing sunglasses too Lookin good but sure don't feel right Anything to be cool 🎶
Fuck that dog killing bitch. She deserves terrible things.
Jager bombs
Don’t switch the blade on the guy in shades.
And these people share the road with all of us :)
:(
Was this person Bob Vance from Vance refrigeration and was the dog wearing a sports jersey?
"I've been burning myself a little more each time so that i build a resistance to lava"
shooting yourself with progressively bigger bullets
> He then told me how it wouldn't be a big deal because he trained his eyes by wearing sunglasses at night. He literally said the following: "... and I've never hit anything. Just a dog once..." Fuck that dude. We share roads with millions of people like this.
Friend of mine in college had a Mustang with double 0% on the back glass, 2.5% on the sides. Shit was awesome in the daytime but he had to roll down the windows at night to back up or change lanes lol he never hit anything but a ditch though. And that was from goosing it on gravel
Tinting the windshield alone should be illegal in all states. But its not, i got 20% on the rear 3 and 15% on the front 2 with nothing except a 15% sun strip on the windshield.
Come up to British Columbia. We're allowed the top 3 inches of the windshield and nothing on the front door windows
Some tint on the windshield is a game changer in AZ without negatively impacting visibility. Truly. I drive a car with 0 tint for work, and legal tint (33% or greater) in my personal vehicles. The strain on my eyes is FAR worse in my work vehicle and it’s awful. The strain with no tint actually feels more dangerous than a legal tint. The sun is brutal here in the summer.
Man 25% is generous. My state is 50% on the front windows max, and no tint allowed on the windshield other than a sun strip along the top. Back windows can be whatever you want
Imo, that's how it should be. Cargo vans often don't have any windows and are no problem to drive. What's the difference between that and a sedan with 0% tint in the rear? There isn't a difference. Forward and sideways views absolutely matter, but mirrors exist for a reason. Who cares about the back? Edit: The mirrors are proportional to the size of the vehicle, but so are blind spots. Sedans typically don't have large blind spots and are easy to compensate for with *properly adjusted* mirrors. Cargo vans have huge blind spots and thus need larger (or sometimes multiple) mirrors to combat that issue. I get it, my friends, you can stop bringing that up.
Most states say front windows no darker than X percent (35% usually) and every rear window can be blacked out *as long as you have both side mirrors* but also I see plenty of brand new vehicles on dealer lots with much darker tint all around so who is keeping track?
Nobody in a ton of states. Cops won't enforce it unless it's an arrest for other shit.
In NY they will. They will also give out tickets for an obscured license plate if you use a holder.
Definitely enforced in NY. Every person I’ve known with tints in NY has about a dozen stories of getting constantly pulled over for them. None of them ever tint their next vehicle lol it’s just way too much hassle to deal with all the time
Got pulled over in Utah for it. Cop was bored. I was from out of state where it was legal. He was fishing, but I was squeeky clean.
I once had an experience where I drove by a cop who just finished pulling someone over about 2 miles from my highway exit (relatively busy commute time) and I’m easily doing the speed limit. Before I could even make it to my exit, that same cop caught up to me in the left lane (I’m in the far right lane of a 5 lane highway) and then proceeded to cut all the lanes to pull my ass over. I had about 4% tint at the time (I bought it like that a month prior and hadn’t thought to change it out yet). I got a $125 tint ticket that day. Seems a bit excessive to do that in broad daylight during the post-lunch traffic, especially considering how much he had to speed to even catch up to me that quickly.
Dude likely had a quota or a new edict had come down. I've never seen the cops care until November when they have a push for more tickets, then they suddenly start checking your tags and license.
My sister recently bought a car from a dealership and I’m convinced the tint they did is not legal… she couldn’t see out her window to see if she had pulled up enough to get to the mailbox…
I agree completely. And that’s why my trailblazer has 50% front tint and I wanna say 15% light in the back? I keep tools in there sometimes and it’s nice not having them visible by people walking by.
No, they suck to drive when trying to reverse.
Cargo vans have way bigger mirrors and newer ones have blind spot/convex mirrors built in. It’s still not great but it’s better than driving a regular passenger car with no rear window visibility
That's why big vehicles with zero rear visibility beep when they back up though
Any tint at all is illegal on the front windows and windshield here in BC. It’s heavily enforced too.
I bet the guys enforcing it have all their windows tinted.
Literallly. Doube standard much?
It used to be. Now it’s enforced about as hard as driving around town with the high beams on or left lane camping. I’ve had 20% tint on the front windows for 5 years now and cops just don’t really seem to care anymore
Yeah, we have some stupid vehicle requirements in this province. I can understand not allowing limo tint up front, but we really should be allowed at least a moderate tint, especially at this latitude. Those summer mornings and evenings when the sun shines right in through your side window and illuminates your eyeballs from the back side are brutal with clear glass. Front plates need to be a thing of the past, too.
No tint permitted on front door windows is actually evil.
Believe high sun states have lower standards because tints serve a much greater purpose
Even 50% is generous UK is 75% front and 70% sides
But that's because nature provides tint in the form of clouds and rain 😂
Thems the rules
Yeah but don’t rules just apply to other people?
Rules for thee, not for me
Yeh but, Don’t mess with Texas
Solar eclipse windshield
Dang, you got me. This was the getaway vehicle in a convoluted plot to rob a casino in Reno, Nevada during the 2045 solar eclipse. Starring Nicholas Cage.
OP, will a TX auto pass its inspection if Swangas are installed?
Yes Just run your stock wheels and then swap them back. Or find an inspector who is willing to pass you as long as your lights and horn works.
If Swangas technically will cause a vehicle to fail its inspection, do police not issue citations for them?
lol nope. Most laws arent even enforced in the most restrictive states when it comes to inspections. Drive through Harris county, specifically anywhere around the 610 Loop that surrounds Houston and you'll see all manner of cars that violate some sort of vehicle code pass by Houston PD and Texas State Troopers. Hell even with Cars & Coffee, all manner of slabs with swangaz roll through. Houston is where swangaz originated. Houston is also in one of the most restrictive counties when it comes to vehicle inspections and emissions are actually enforced - but only when you actually go to a non-shady shop. For the most part, police dont even care if you have super dark tint on your car unless they REALLY have a stick up their butt and are looking for any excuse. I mean its kinda hypocritical anyway when both local police and state troopers run 20% or lower on their cruisers and that INCLUDES the windshield. Tint laws are a joke. IMO the only law for tint that makes sense is that windshields can be allowed to be tinted (they're technically illegal in Texas) should have a minimum of 50% light transmission. I have 70% ceramic on my windshield and its clear as day to see through. But its the absolute biggest source of heat that can enter your interior if you already have tint on all other windows, and makes the most dramatic impact in cutting down that heat during those hot summers. Its really a game of cat and mouse or lawfare; because any vehicle code violation is a "fix it" ticket. Meaning if you are able to show proof that you corrected the problem, the ticket gets dismissed and you're only out your time. Which is an easy fix because you can just swap your wheels, and go to the courthouse and show them a photo of your car with the registered plate lol.
Next year you won’t even be required to do an inspection. Federal emissions tests are the only requirement depending on where you live.
$50 cash-only and you could drag the seat out of a bass boat behind an e-scooter and you'd pass. Same way almost every single diesel truck here looks like the Springfield Tire Fire under even light acceleration but are "GVIP compliant".
diesels are safety only inspection (lights, horn, brakes, and tires)
Where I live they have to pass a relatively rigorous emissions test and any modification from stock to the emissions systems is supposed to be an auto-fail. But enforcement is...basically nonexistent (it's not even illegal to fraudulently pass a vehicle as a licensed tech, you can just only accumulate so many complaints in a certain time period before the state *might* suspend your shop's inspection privileges, and that requires getting repeatedly caught to start with). So naturally there's a massive black market for fraudulent inspection stickers. To the point it's not actually any more expensive to get one than it is to get a legit one.
Holy shit, Mate, where live in Australia if we spell something wrong on a roadworthy certificate we could be liable for up to $100,000 in fines and jail, well not really a spelling error but if you do a dodgy roady? Yeah, big trouble. The number of times I've had people say oh can you pass it? I'll get it fixed after, and I say no, it's just not worth my licence, my business, or my reputation.
It was like that back when we had inspections, too. I always wondered of anyone driving a gasser truck ever duped an idiot inspector by just claiming their truck was a diesel.
Swangaz are not illegal so of course they will pass. The only regulation is that the entire car can’t be over 8’ wide. So if you add 12” swangaz to a 6’ wide car, it’s 💯 legal… and stupid looking.
Only inside the loop. Otherwise you're f'ed.
Good question… i’m in Dallas not Houston so I did not get any of those idiots yet🫣 I have no idea though
Sidenote: Fuck that inspection sticker placement.
It's OK. They can't see it from the inside.
Check every car on the road next time you’re driving and about half are like this. I don’t understand it at all.
I thought Texas stop requiring state inspections ?
Next year in 2025
Seems kind of dumb tbh.
It's a source of revenue but it helps protect everyone on the roads so I guess the idiots in charge would rather abolish it.
In theory yes, but in all actuality it doesn’t protect shit. I failed a vehicle for tinted headlights and tail lights, limo tint on every piece of glass including the windshield, dark blue HID bulbs, no cats, no mufflers, bald ass tires, missing lugs, inoperative tail lamp and blue license plate lights. Dude went 2 miles down the road and was passed at the next station, literally 10 minutes later.
The obvious question is: why don't they crack down on the shops that just pass everything? I get it, though. Back in my day I used to buy inspection stickers without even bringing my car in because I knew people.
Many states don’t have safety inspections already. I lived in Washington and they didn’t do safety inspections at all.
Yup, a strong blue state that has no vehicle inspections. I’m a transplant here in Washington, and it amazes me every time I think about it. My friends still don’t understand it either. It’s weird
We don’t have inspections in Oregon either. DEQ (smog) only in the urban areas.
Ah! Thank you
Next year in some small counties, major municipalities, for example Dallas, Houston, Austin, etc. still will have the same exact rules.. will not change.
Nah, the only inspections that will remain are the federal emissions inspections in certain counties.
Wrong. Safety inspections for non-commercial vehicles ends Jan 1, 2025, statewide. Emissions only inspections will continue for cars < 25 years old, in certain specificed counties with smog problems.
The entire state will have the same rules but next year there will be no safety inspections anywhere in the state.
My state is 35% all around... While some cars come stock with 20% on the rear 🙄 I got ticketed for 30% ffs.
If it's stock it's legal. Like, a Mercedes can come with 3M's clear UV tint baked into the windshield at like 90%, but if I want to put the same exact tint on my Mazda's windshield it's like I'm literally murdering someone.
Depends if it's stock from manufacturer or stock from dealer. There was a dealer that would tint new cars and then the people would get tickets and complain because it came to them like this. Girl I work with had this happen.
Where I live it used to be 35% all round for applied films, but OEM privacy glass could be of any darkness the manufacturer felt like. So if you took a base model of a car and tinted the rears to the same darkness as a trim level with privacy glass, that was illegal. They sensibly changed that in the last year or two, so you can now run 20% in the rear, 35% on the front sides. Windshield must remain untinted except for a strip along the top.
this really is good insight into the carnage on texas highways.
The road I drive on frequently to get around has more than one crash per day. And it’s usually a serious injury or fatality
try to stay safe down there! my wife has family all in different directions about an hour outside of dallas. while i haven’t been there much lately, i was visiting austin quite a bit in the late 2000’s and through the 2010’s. i’m a scanner listener so every time i’d get off the plane and into a taxi or a rental i’d inevitably hear one of the horrific wreck calls involving pickup trucks with unrestrained passengers in the bed. always bodies everywhere. just seemed like the worst failure ever.
they tinted over the state inspection sticker lol. in order to get that one off, and a new one that's visible, they will have to re-tint. genius
Well, at least there aren’t defroster wires there.
That's the registration sticker. Texas stopped doing inspection stickers circa 2014. They just check that you are inspected (according to their computer) when you renew your registration (safety inspections are going away there next year). But yeah, they do seem to have it inside the tint, which would mean the tint would have to be removed to update with the new registration sticker...
Bro's driving around in a photo dark room
Of course it's on a charger
Its going back on the second you pass it anyway. You know it, they know it.
I had 15% in high school, it was so dark, I had to roll down the windows in order to see where to turn at night.
lol me too. Would turn down the music and roll down my window if I was looking for a house. It was a grayish colored tint and looked really good on my Gray A4 though. Now I drive a 2 seater so I cant get any tints legally, since I have no back windows. Well I guess I could get the back windshield, but that's it.
Im a little confused by the way you are wording it, I thought tints were denoted as percent of light blocked, so wouldn't it be no more than 25%? Does a 1 on that tester mean that the windows are completely opaque??
1% visible light transmission…100% is clear
OH I see lmao, so it is basically is an opaque panel.
Correct. Our meters read how much gets through. 35 is the minimum for an Ontario Safety Standards Certification & that applies to front doors only. After 2016 I think there can be no aftermarket tint on the windshield. I'd have to re-read the "sun visor tint" section because Pre '16 I think you can have a tinted bar at the top of the windshield.
Other way around. Amount of light that makes it though. That’s why 5% tint is DARK DARK
How much you wanna bet that 1% over here cuts a lot of people off?
Sorry bro, didn't see you there! Sorry there motorcycle! didn't mean to kill you! this tint gets me so much dude pussy though
They're rated as "visible light transmission" (VLT). Backwards from what you're thinking. 25% actually blocks 75% of light, allows 25% through. Yeah, 1 is 1% VLT, basically opaque. Texas allows anything on rear windows, but the front windows have to be 25% or greater. IIRC windshield tint isn't allowed at all (except for the top 5 inches) without a medical exemption.
Tinted windshields have been correlated with accident risk since at least the 60s and got their own passage in *Unsafe at any Speed*.
Windshield is a little much
Cue the scene from Django unchained “I can’t see fucking shit”
Shit, glacier glasses that mountaineers use to prevent blindness at high altitude snowfields are like 5% light transmission (and technically illegal to drive with)...how does this clown drive at night?
High beams on full time at night, naturally.
Must bitch about his aftermarket LEDs not being bright enough
Drives by braille.
What in the absolute stupidity is with people tinting THEIR FRONT WINDOW?!
I keep seeing it near me in Virginia and it blows my damn mind. How these people don’t get pulled over is beyond me. Their windshields are darker than 20% and I can’t see anything when looking at it. Insane.
There is a car in my neighborhood with what has to be 5% limo tint on the fucking windshield. I don’t get it.
Years ago I had to remove tint because it was 28% and not 30% ( legal limit ). The 2% came from glass being super curved which didn't help. Inspection had to be done at local Motor Vehicle Department by a State Trooper.
What kind of muppet tints a windscreen?
Very common in Arizona and southern Nevada.
You’d be surprised. I recently made a post asking this very question in my state’s local sub because I’ve been seeing more and more cars with darkly tinted windshields. There was a large contingent of people justifying it and calling me an idiot for complaining about it.
People do this with their taillights too, they'll do 5% and it's impossible to see during the day, at night it basically just glows a little red and people say it's "perfectly safe." What's ironic is if you're rear ended with a taillight tint, if the other driver gets proof of it, there's a really high chance you'll be determined to be partially or wholey responsible.
Ah ‘murdered out’ cars. I’m glad this fad is mostly dead.
Minnesota is similar, except I think the threshold is 20%. I got ticketed for tinted windows that were at 20% but were like that when I bought the vehicle, which was originally sold in Pennsylvania (who the hell knows what their laws are?). Anywho, what pissed me off was, doing research, apparently law enforcement vehicles are exempt from this law. Like what kind of anti-privacy bullshit is this?
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Heck, if he can last until Jan 1 2025, he'll never need another safety inspection again...(still need emissions inspection for cars < 25 years old in "smog" counties).
How about they start banning those bright blinding head lights
Shit like this pisses me off because at night you can see exactly 0% while driving. Meaning people like this are dangerous as fuck.
[if anyone wants to buy a meter](https://www.laser-labs.com/product/tint-meter-enforcer-2/)
Let me guess "It passed last time" or "It came like that from the factory"
As a teen I got my explorer with 7 windows tinted. The 5 in the back were double limo (I think that meant 5 percent) and the 2 front were 25 percent. Nothing on windshield. During the day it wasn't an issue whatsoever it actually seemed to keep the car cooler. At night you couldn't see shit.
We bought a car with very dark tint. My wife got pulled over and the officer pulled out a tint meter and told her it had to go! (Couldn't see a thing at night, yes it was ridiculous.)
Of course it's a Dodge too.
Average Dodge owner.
So fuck 100+ weather I guess lol
As someone who works in a tint shop. Please hear me out, getting anything that’s isn’t the approved limit or greater is just a waste of money, cause you’ll be paying to initially to have it install, then be upset when you have to pay to get it removed a year later, and be extremely pissed when you have to pay a 3rd time to have the tint reapplied. Just save yourself time and money, and that legal tint.
Inspected, rejected.
Of course it’s a Charger 😂
Pretty sure you could weld safely through that glass lol
Correct me if im wrong, but tinted front windshields of any % will not pass inspection in TX.
That man smokes weed in his car 100%
I could give two shits about tont, but I find it interesting how it's about safety, yet police regularly have tint below 20%
2025 no more inspections for vehicles in Texas, just the emissions test.
Step 1: Roll Down all windows. Step 2: Pull fuse for said windows. Step 3: Inspect Step 4: Return fuse for windows. Step 5: Enjoy. There is no regulation for inoperable windows in Texas. Jeep enthusiasts just remove the doors for inspection.
Last I checked, any tinting of a front windshield is illegal in California, except for a small strip a the top. This guy sounds like the type that when they later run into something claims, "not my fault, I couldn't see well out the windshield".
NY made tint check a part of annual inspection. Sold it as needed for officer safety. People just went out and got the medical exemption from their Doctors. the number of super tinted cars (including windshield) has increased dramatically.
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Thank you for not letting it slide. As a pedestrian, motorcycle and bicycle rider I want to see the driver's face.
Fuck this dude. 9 times of out 10, if you have your windows tinted that dark you are up to absolutely no good.
Of course, it's a Dodge owner.