Aftermarket window tint questions

[JotaDe]

Hey folks,

I've got an appointment lined up this week to get my windows tinted. I've always liked the look of tinted windows on land rovers, and figured it's a good time to get mine done. I plan to do 1 of 2 things.

1) Tint only the front passenger windows to match the rear
2) Increase the rear tint and get the front passenger windows to match so they're at the legal limit

I'd like to hear your experiences if you've done any aftermarket window tinting before.

- Is the factory tint level 20% in the rear windows?
- I believe California law is 30% max for front passenger windows, I guess I could add 10% to the rears and bump the front windows to 30%.
- Does anyone have ever go really dark in the rears, but keep the fronts at the legal limit?
This sounds like it'd look off kilter, but I'm curious if folks like it.

Most of the tint threads I see on here are 2-3 years old, figured I'd start a new one to see if anyone has any new related experiences.

 

[Surfrider77]

The only thing I will say is to be mindful of some of these high tech tints. I went with a high end brand ( http://v-kool-usa.com/auto/ ). My tint has some nano blah blah, which to be fair noticeably works, but has the massive downside of blocking GPS signals to my phone.

I think the LR4 nav is a piece of crap, so often have to resort to using Google Maps on my phone. More often than not, I have to open the sunroof and/or other windows to maintain reliable signal.

Just FYI.

 

[tlt]

I did tint on my sun roofs, lighter tint on the front seat windows, and dark tint all the way around on the rest of it. It makes a huge difference on how hard the AC has to work. The last time through I went with SunTek and am happy with that. I think there are three options, I used #1 lightest for driver/passenger front window, and the darkest for the rest. If you like it bright in your car use #1 or #2 on the sun roof.

Window tinting is job #1 for me on a vehicle in Texas.

No problems on GPS, or phones, etc. for me. Feel free to drop me a pm w/e-mail and I'll send you a picture of what it looks like.

 

[JotaDe]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

So how dark do you go on the back, not limo tint I take it?
I like the look and privacy of tinting, but am trying to find the fine area between that and safe visuals for the driver.

 

[tlt]

I would consider the wrap around, 2nd row back to be limo tint, but it is dark looking in, visibility has never been an issue looking out, ie: glancing over your shoulder to check for traffic, watching tailgaters, etc.

Many places restrict how dark you can go on the driver row windows, so I just did the basic on that.

Don't forget that sun roof!!

 

[toddjb122]

On my LR3 I had the front windows tinted to match the back. It's a nice look as from the outside everything is consistent.

When you do this the front windows are now above the legal limit, but I haven't had an issue. When/if you get pulled over just roll down both front windows and be polite.

You may notice a slight color difference from inside the vehicle when looking out (between front and rears) but it is a non-issue for me as, you quickly don't notice it and, it looks great from outside.

Oh yeah, inspect the work. If you see bubbles, make them redo it. And clean the inside of your doors as some places leave a mess of residue behind afterwards. I did not clean mine right away and had stains on their for a long time. (combination of dried glue and soap I suspect)

 

[andyboy]

I had mine tinted recently and the tint guy said that the rears were 20%. So I had them tint the fronts to match..20%. It's illegal in my state for that percentage. I think you might be a little confused. If the rears are 20% and you add a 10% tint you are making it darker in which it's way above your states legal limit. 20% tint is darker than 30% tint. The lower the percentage the darker the tint is.

When I had my Range Rover Sport tinted the tint guys tinted the fronts at 15%. That's double the legal limit in VA. But I never got pulled over in the 3 years I had the RRS. I don't think cops are going to go after you for an illegal tint job if you drive a Land Rover. They mostly go after illegal tint jobs on souped up honda civic or something in that nature.

 

[JotaDe]

Ahh, thanks for the tint % clarification andy (wasn't just a little confused, I was bassackwards). Are you saying increasing the tint level of the rears puts me past the state legal limit? From what I can tell there is no legal limit for rear windows in Ca, only front passenger and windshield.

At this point I need to see in person what the legal limit for front windows looks like, I don't know if it's darker or lighter than what my rears are.

+1 on the cop thing (not to jinx myself), I feel I'm almost ignored on the road by the police.

 

[andyboy]

Ahh, thanks for the tint % clarification andy (wasn't just a little confused, I was bassackwards). Are you saying increasing the tint level of the rears puts me past the state legal limit? From what I can tell there is no legal limit for rear windows in Ca, only front passenger and windshield.

At this point I need to see in person what the legal limit for front windows looks like, I don't know if it's darker or lighter than what my rears are.

+1 on the cop thing (not to jinx myself), I feel I'm almost ignored on the road by the police.

I'm not sure what the legal limit is for CA but if you say there's not limit for the rears then I wouldn't tint the rears unless you want them darker. but if the legal limit for the front is 30% I would just match the front windows with the rears. but that's all up to you.

 

[JotaDe]

Well I got it done, I had 15% done on the front passenger windows and 32% added to the rear in effort to have the window tint levels match front and back.

I may have gotten snowed as I don't know if the rears needed additional tint to match the new fronts. Either way I like the result, it's been two weeks and the install still seems solid.

Apparently I'm illegal now as any passenger window tint level darker than 70% is against the law in Ca. Still, as in most states I imagine, plenty of folks do it and it's a rare occurrence to get a ticket. Other than a fix-it ticket, my only concern is nighttime visibility, so far that hasn't been an issue.