Front Window Tinting Advice.

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As others have said, essentially no additional tint can be applied to the front windows as they already have a factory tint. You could try a very light tint but I suspect that it would fall foul of the regulations.

Furthermore, most insurers wont cover a vehicle (assuming you tell them) with aftermarket / additional non-factory tint foreward of the B pillar.
 
Not sure, I see your point though on the starting of how tinted they currently are.

The current factory tint will already cut the amount of visible light that is transmitted, so any additional tint is 'additive'.
 
Well the front tint law is for the police to saw what you are up to, i.e on the phone, eating a sandwich, holding a gun etc.

No it's not.

The 70% light transmittance rule was enforced after a woman killed a motorcyclist because she couldn't see him when she pulled out.
 
developer215 said:
Thanks for that - Will's point is also a valid one - it will be hard to establish the starting point of the original windows, unless a reliable light meter is used.

Traffic police often have a purpose light meter to measure this, and will issue a ticket for you to have a tint removed if it fails.
 
I have to say that I really don't like tints. I think they make a car look quite 'cheap', if you know what I mean. But each to their own. Yours look very dark! Are your rear seat occupants albino? :p

What I would suggest is approaching this from the opposite direction. Someone out there, likely many someones, will want those blackout tints of yours for their own S211. Why not advertise them for a straight swap with normal blue ones, and then apply a lighter tint to those if you still feel the need for darker rear windows?
 
I remember in my younger days, I had a light tint on my front side windows. Police pulled me over and produced a machine to test the strength of the tints. They gave me a ticket and told me: "We have to issue you a penalty fine, but you dont have to remove the tint if you dont want to" (whatever that means?)..

In the 5 years I had that car with the tints, that was the only time I got pulled for the windows..

Recently i was in West End London and almost every other car i saw had front tints..
 
The reason is that my car can look a little, er, van like, in some circumstances

I'm struggling to come up with a circumstance that makes your car look like a van - ever.

It's a beautiful car.

If anything, it needs a grey tint rather than a blue one.
 
...:wallbash:
 
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I remember in my younger days, I had a light tint on my front side windows. Police pulled me over and produced a machine to test the strength of the tints. They gave me a ticket and told me: "We have to issue you a penalty fine, but you dont have to remove the tint if you dont want to" (whatever that means?)..

In the 5 years I had that car with the tints, that was the only time I got pulled for the windows..

Recently i was in West End London and almost every other car i saw had front tints..

The 'machine' is called a TINTMAN which is a photoptic window tintmeter designed to measure the amount of actual visible light passing through a given medium. This amount is expressed as a percentage and is used by law enforcement agencies to assess the degree of tint applied to windows fitted to vehicles or visors fitted to safety helmets.

Tinting front windows may look 'cool' to some but bear in mind if you are unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident, not only will you more than likely be prosecuted but your insurance company 'may' decide to reduce your cover in the event of a payout because your vehicle isn't legal.

The choice is yours.
 
The other option would be to remove the dark glass from the rest of the car and put standard glass back in .

A trawl around a few specialist breakers may come up with a set of glass from a donor car .

You can then put the dark glass on eBay and possibly recoup more than the standard glass cost .
 
Any members on here with an s211 and no tints want to do a glass swap with you for the cost of an Autoglass type man for the day?

I don't like tints at all, I think your car would be improved enourmously with normal glass.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys.

I did make it clear (no pun intended) that it had to be legal, however, I hadn't considered the insurance issue.
Strangely, when I considered chipping my previous car I didn't do it because of the insurance impications so I don't know why I hadn't thought this through properly :cool:.

For this reason I'l leave the fronts alone, even though I feel a light grey would have helped, and while changng the backs is an option, in reality it's not something I'd want to get involved in.
 
I'm struggling to come up with a circumstance that makes your car look like a van - ever.

vanlook.jpg
 

I love his window tints. Front ones would set it off
 
It is a lovely car, with a great spec. But every time I look at it I think "Private Ambulance".

I really don't like blacked out windows.

I did once enjoy the benefits of them driving from Las Vegas to Santa Monica (which is a toilet - don't ever go there), but I as I don't live in Nevada or California, the benefits are largely lost on me.
 
Well at least you are the Boss black van man.:D
 
Hi, For my sedan, I did 30% ceramic film all around and I love it. However, for a SUV(RX350), I'm thinking of getting just 2 front windows tinted as rear windows are already quite dark and people rarely sit in the back seats. I'm mainly interested in heat/UV protection, rather than the look/privacy. Do people get 40 or 50% tint for front windows? or is 30% the go-to percentage?

Holy thread revival, Batman!

This is primarily a UK forum, and by law the maximum tint you can have here is 25% on the windscreen and 30% on the driver & passenger side windows. The large majority of factory tints are based on that, so adding any kind of aftermarket film on top will potentially get you into trouble (you can do what you like to the rear windows, hence factory 'privacy glass' options).
 
Factory tints on side front windows are no where near 30% are they?.....seems unlikely that they block 30% of visible light.....you can hardly notice factory tint at all.
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