what is the best percentage for front side and rear? and still good for driving and not too hard ot see when parking.

thanks or show me some picture of your car of your tint

 

Your best bet is to look up the law in California. Since your state is so notorious for "fix-it" tickets over every small infraction, it'd be better to find out what's legal than to waste your money just to have to strip it.

 

20% always looks good IMO

 

http://www.tintlaws.com

this website has the legal tint precentage for every state.

 

In California, the only windows legal to tint (without a doctors sign off) is the rear side and back windows. With a doctors sign off for a reason such as sun hypersensitivity, you can have the front sides done. However, if you must tint the front sides, the best rule to follow is go for a very light tint so cops can clearly see you through them.

Side note. If you get a fix it for front sides, you don't need to remove the tint to get it signed off. I just remove the side windows entirely as there is no law that says you have to have side windows. After sign off, I just put them back in unchanged.

 

i have 20% on my sti... its not bad once you get used to it.

 

what is a ideal factory tint, maybe i just get one of those. like you know van out there they are all pre tint in factory

 

35% Is a good number, i use 35% all around on my BMW and 50% on the windshield, it reflect the heat but still able to see at night.

 

oh, alright, i wasn't plannning to do 35% maybe 55% for side and maybe all around or 40% in the back

 

You guys that are talking about "factory tint" and bubbles and whatnot, here is your answer.

No, the FD did NOT come with "factory tint." Any tinting you have is an aftermarket film, unless you or someone spent an ungodly amount of money and had a custom made privacy glass (tinted) made and installed in your car. Because of state laws, the only vehicels that come with factory tinted windows are suvs, pickups, wagons, vans. All 2 and 4 door cars fall under a differnt law. "FACTORY" tinting, like what the back half of your tahoe or pickup had from the factory, is equivalent to a 15%-20% tint. I use an 18% film when I match up factory glass on a customers vehicle so it's right on every time.

NOW, some "clear" glass will appear to have some sort of tinting to it from the factory, usually looks slighly greenish on most cars, and the high end cars will have a blueish hue but that is rarely seen on your every day rig. This is NOT a film, this is the actual coloring of the glass and is not removable, but once tinted makes no difference.

The "bubbles" you are seeing is due to an adhesive failure in the film and it is releasing from the glass, usually due to the film just being old or of low quality and it's life expentancy has come and gone and needs to be removed. Sometimes, the window film will fade out to the point that all the "tint" or coloring of the film is gone and leaves a virtually clear film behind. That is why alot of people buy a car, and later when it starts to bubble they don't understand why, well the tint was basically invisiable but hadn't started to peel or bubble so you just didn't notice it was there is all. Again, just needs to be removed as it will only get worse.

Rollups windows only require some single edge razor blades and glass cleaner to remove. Change blades frequently to keep a dull blade from scratching glass.

For windows with defroster lines, you will need:

1 large black plastic garbage bag, cheapo ones are the best because they are slightly transparent (reason stated below)

1 bottle 409 (regular formula, comes in, I believe, and white and purple bottle)

1 stainless steal olfa/hobby knife

1 shop light of some sort, fluroscent is what I use to keep it low heat

Cut the edges of the bag until it will just fold out into one large sheet and lay it over the outside of the back window.

Place shop light in rear hatch and close (be careful as to what light you are using as some can get very hot and melt/start fires Gently close hatch as to not damage extension cord.

Cut around the edges of the bag using the black ceramic boarder on the edges of the glass as a guide, maybe 1/4 over but it's okay if the cut is sloppy. Just so it will cover all the tint on the inside. The shop light will allow you to see through the bag will enough to see this edge easily.

Stainless steel is less likely to scratch glass, but not a guarrantee. Be careful and only push as hard as is neccessary to cut through the plastic bag and you will be fine, I do it all day long.

Now, place bag over the top of the rear gargo area so it's in place to just lift up and stick to the glass. Now wet the glass liberally with the 409 and spray down the bag as well. It's alittle messy, but won't hurt your fabric, just wipe off any runoff and over spray as you go along.

Once glass is wet with 409 and bag as well, place bag on the rear glass, covering all tinted area and smooth out the best you can all the air bubbles. It will hold in place from suction.


Now park your car with the rear window facing the sun on a warm to hot sunny day, and wait 30-45 minutes. Now go see if you can peel the tint off AND have ALL the glue coming off with it....if not, respray the bag and give it another 30-45 minutes. Check small areas as to not mess up large portions because you will have to scruib them off by hand, it sucks and can be time consuming.

After an hour or two, it should all be coming off pretty easily and not leaving much behind to scrub up later. If there still is alot of glue left behind, this is okay as sometimes, depending on film type and age, that is all you can do. At the very least, the sweating/409 process has severley weakened the adhesive and will be MUCH easier to scrub off, but will still require some effort.

After all tint has been removed, glass cleaner and a white or blue scrubbie pad (not green or red, they scratch glass!!!) should easily clean up any residue/adhesive still on the window.

The longer you let you bubbled up window tint stay on the car, over time the harder it will be to remove, so keep that in mind.




here are a few pics of just what i have on this computer with tinted rigs....all these films are actually pretty dark films, but like the angle I took the pickup picture at makes it look pretty light. from looking directly from the side instead of through the windshield like I took the pic, it is pretty difficult to see inside the vehicle. time of day, over cast/sunny, angles, etc all play a huge factor when taking pictures of tinted windows as they can be deceiving.

challenger, 25%



My 7, 20%



My truck, 18%



51 Nash, 15% (see how the angle makes these look basically blacked out compared to my truck which is only 3% lighter)




If you live in California and you tint your front 2 rollups and dont have some sort of medical exemption, expect to get pulled over eventually. The ****'s that patrol that state have nothing better to do than bust peoples ***** on the freeways for equipment violations so be careful and if you do want something on the front drops for heat protection, get something pretty light, like in the 35-50% range and hope they don't notice. V-Cool makes a film that is at a 70% light transmitance (virtually clear) but blocks as much heat as some of your 35% films, so maybe check on that, but it is expensive.

 

it preference and depends on your state law.. i prefer 25%... anything dark sucks to drive at night....

 

Im getting 20 on the back and 35 on the sides .. they cant measure the rear window anyways so ..

 

Like hell they can't, I have 2 meters that can measure any window, regardless of shape or size (as long as the window is atleast as big as the meter that is). The two piece meters are much more expensive than what most police and inspection stations are provided with, which is a box with a cutout in the middle to slide over the top of a rollup window, these can't be used on a fixed window like the rear hatch glass on the 7. If all else fails, they also have the little business card sized thing with printing on it, and if they hold it behind your tinted window and can't read the printing on the card through the tint (must be done during the day, at night with a flashlight is a **** poor way of doing it and gives fales readings, usually not in your favor) then they can cite you based on the card, but usually still requires you getting them metered the proper with a meter at some point or another.