California tint law sucks! bye bye tints >_<

Hi Gilbert,
Take a look at this site. According to it, CA allows tinting up to 30% on the front side windows. Are yours tinted darker than this?

Welcome to TintLaws.com

 

The driver's window is the main window they target for tint. They want to be able to see the driver when approaching the vehicle for their own safety. It makes sense. Go to an Optomotrist and get a script for light sensitivity and you can keep your tint. Always get the driver's window rolled down before they get to you and have the script laminated to show them.

 

I think you read the wrong state. California state law limits you to 70% (must transmit 70% of visible light) on either side of the driver and any % behind the driver. Tint must not be reflective nor can it have a red hue.

According to most CHP, ANY tint that did not come on the car from the factory is illegal. Obviously this doesn't jive with the vehicle code but if you've read the code you'll know how difficult to understand the exact law is.

Basic rule of thumb is no more than 73% on the front windows if you have light colored interior. With dark interior you are taking chances IMO. I do tint at my stereo shop job so I sell A LOT of tint.

 

It is generally a $10 administrative fee.

If you get unlucky you will simply get a ticket and fine instead of the correctable violation like you got. My buddy had the windows done on his C6 Corvette and got a fine within a week. I got two tickets like yours in the span of 3 months after having tint for almost 3yrs..... CHP make me angry sometimes (even though one of my best friends is one). I get all my info from him or my roomate who is a local officer.

 

No, it says CA 70% meaning 70% light transmission. I think you will find if you use a tint meter that the light transmission of the glass is about 70 to 80% therefore you can apply a clear UV protection film but any real colour is going to push you under 70%.

Tint is always rated by light transmission.

What I find amazing is if you want you can put solid black vinyl over the back windows, there is no limit.

If anyone finds my tint meter can you let me know please? It was stolen from my unlocked work car at a farmers field day on Kangaroo Island.

 

No, I didn't read the wrong state. I interrepted the information wrong. Per the site it says this for CA:

Front Side WindowsMust allow more than 70% of light in.

I apologize for any confusion.

 

Yeah. I'm with Leslie. I've always thought the tint notation was backwards. If a window is 30% tinted, it would seem to me that it blocks 30% of the light. So, "30% tint" seems like it should refer to something blocking 30% of the light.

It certainly tripped me up the first couple times I heard it. Isn't one of the points of notation that it should be clear?

 

There are reasons behind the law... Primarily (from what I understand) it is for the safety of the police when they pull you over. Which I can understand. I would not want to be an officer in some of the areas of California.

Personally, I would prefer that the law was if you get pulled over & have tint, all windows in the car must be rolled down. Otherwise you get the ticket. But that is unfortunately not the case.

 

If you want to make your car cooler than get a 100% metallic tint from llumar. The darkness of the tint has nothing to do with how well it blocks heat from entering the car. The tint (edit: I should say dye) is ONLY there to block the visible part of the spectrum. llumar has a tint (100% metallic) that is perfectly clear but it blocks 100% of heat from entering the car. It sounds like this is the best stuff to use in CA (for the front windows anyway).

 

Them not rolling down their windows might imply they were bad boys, thus increasing the risk of an altercation..

If I were a cop I would probably shoot the windows out before approaching

 

Just be lucky you are not in Illinois or another state that does not even allow the front side windows to be tinted. At least Cali allows some tint on the front sides,, We are not supposed to do that here, but my husband did the other day,, he got 20% on his front sides and wow is that tint dark,, I am just waiting for him to get pulled over,,, and he got 5% the limo type on the back window. I am not one to mess with the law, so I am rethinking the front side windows now, the tint shop has a 35% tint, but I want to see how it looks before I do this, if I think I might get a problem with it, then I might look into getting the front sides done with that Llumaar stuff that is 100% metallic and will not make the windows actually look as if they are tinted.. I'll probably pay extra at another shop to find that stuff..

But, you have to be willing to take the heat from the cops when you knowingly do something that is not legal. If they say it is too dark, and you have proof that it is not according to Cali law, then you should still have the receipts from the tint shop to back you up. But if you knowingly put something on the windows that was not legal, then you are stuck with the fact you will get stopped.

I was shocked when my husband came home the other day with his front sides so dark, and I am even more shocked that the tint shop did this, knowing they are violating the law,, but after that, I have now seen so many full tinted windows all over and I am left wondering do the cops even care here in Illinois?,

However, I am not willing to do something to my front sides if it is going to look so apparent that they are tinted and end up getting pulled over for it. I have never been pulled over in my entire life before, never had 1 ticket in my entire time of driving, and I am just not willing to risk it with the window tint business..

For the person that posted about the 100% metallic tint from Llumaar (sp?) do you have this on yours?? How do you like it??? It is way more expensive than the other kind of shaded tinting??

I was thinking about getting the back side windows and the rear hatchback tinted with the darkest possible, 5% is what the tint shop has, and do the front sides now with the 100% metallic stuff that will not show a shaded color at all. I'm not trying to hide from anyone, I just want to keep the sun out.

 

When I got my car tinted (last week) the guy at the shop showed me all the tints he had and asked what I wanted. In FL we can go pretty dark so I choose the darkest tint (it had 60% heat block instead of 100% that the clear metallic had). I choose darkness over the heat blocking ablilty because I have my daughter in the car all the time and wanted the darkness over the heat blocking ability. She does not like to wear sunglasses and the bright sun bothers her eyes.

 

I'm surprised tint places are still putting darker than legal tint in cars. I've seen a few cases where really dark tint was put onto a car. Then the drivers have an accident at night because they can't see other cars and pull out in front of them. The tinting companies loose their shirts after they are sued.

 

Sorry I forgot to answer about prices. The prices may very greatly by state but for here the 100% metallic clear tint was $199 installed on the Prius (edit: which was the most expensive tint they carried) . I think we may have cheaper prices here though since there is a tint company on every street about every couple miles.

 

Thanks for all this info,, I think I am going to look for another tint shop.. one that has the 100% metallic non-colored so they can do my front sides with this, and then I will get the dark stuff for the back windows and the hatchback. I'm not risking getting pulled over with colored tint on my front sides..

 

No worries, most people assume that the lower the tint percentage the lighter the tint. It's actually the other way around. 5% tint is considered pretty darn dark whereas the 73% film I have on my front windows now looks questionable as to whether I even tinted the window.

 

Just make sure the 100% metallic tint doesn't significantly increase the reflectivity of the windows or you'll likely get another ticket.

HOW REFLECTIVE CAN THE TINT BE IN CALIFORNIA?
Similar to sunglass lenses, some tinting film contain metallic elements that help in reflecting incoming light and reducing the glare and heat generated by visible light.
• Front Side WindowsMust not be more reflective than a standard window. • Back Side WindowsMust not be more reflective than a standard window.