What should I know / consider about window tinting? Going to have this done to my car soon

What should I know / consider about window tinting? Going to have this done to my car soon.

My state law says tint "must allow greater than 20% light". I get the feeling I can't just request 21% VLT tint. Am I wrong?

>my law says i cant have more than 20%
>do you think i can have 21%

I figure it comes in discrete increments, right? 25% maybe?

You mean you can't get less than 20%

See that's where the verbiage is tricky. From the resources I've found online, it reads "Must allow more than 20% of light in.". I'm looking for the actual legal text right now.

Right. 5% let's 5% of light in, that's why 20% isn't as dark as 5%.

Do whatever you want, undercover cops have 3% tint and so do I. I got pulled over once for my tint and I told the cop I can't even see in your front windshield and you're telling me my tint is illegal? Got off with a warning.

OK, found the actual legal text. It says "shall have a light transmission of not less than twenty percent".

So those online resources that claim to have details of the law are reading it wrong. Looks like I can indeed get tint rated at 20% VLT.

Are there benefits / downsides to getting a more transparent tint?

So then what's the beneft other than style? Seems like 20% should keep fairly private and keep heat down.

>benefits
lets in more light so you can see
>downsides
lets in more light making it hotter

Go with any tint you want, it's not like cops carry spectrometers on them. 20%, is pretty light go with ℅15

I may be interested in that. Does it actually make seeing difficult though?

it sure as hell does at night. its literally like wearing sunglasses.

fyi my last car had 32% tint and it was nice during the day, bit dark on moonless nights outside of the city.

Falsetto.

OP read up on tints before you pick one. You can have 5% VT tint and it can allow in just as much heat as if you had no tint at all.

Too much of a lack of knowledge around here. 10min on Google and you will understand more about tint and ir heat and uv waves.

Interesting, I should keep that in mind when deciding. Then again windshield can't have tint so at least I can see in front.

I have 5% all around with 30% on the windshield. NJ law says all forms of tint are illegal. It's been 2 years and I have never been harrassed. It must be because I live in an area where pulling people over for window tint is pretty far down on the list.

truth, it does make it somewhat difficult to drive around at night sometimes making turns and backing up. that is why there are legal limits on tint levels. don't listen to the morons on here who will tell you its so cops can see you. thats fucking asinine.

my current car has no tint and I love it during the day and night but it does suck now that summer is coming and it gets to be 100F during the day. thankfully its a convertible so I just drop to top and it cools pretty quickly.

Here is my last car with 32%, pretty dark. 38% otoh is pretty light. you're going to find trouble finding someone who will put illegal tint on your car anyway and I doubt it will come with a warranty if so

If I was going to do illegal tint I would do it myself, obviously. But I'm not interested in that anyway. No even because of the legality, but because of night blindness. I'd be fine with 20%, or even 30% or something. I'd have to find some real world examples before I decide on something though.

in that case just get the darkest you can legally get, it will be fine.
>apply myself
I really don't think that is very easy to do? I've put that stuff on just flat home windows and it was a pita. i couldn't image a curved rear window

Probably not easy, no. But I figure you could buy 3 or 4 kits for the cost of a professional job, an hopefully by then you get it right. In which case you've earned a skill!

Everywhere I read says "must be higher than 20%", but the actual legislation says "Can't be lower than 20%". I wonder if auto shops actually know this.

Interestingly though, my neighboring states have much higher percentage requirements.

>it's not like cops carry spectrometers on them
Do they not in your area? Around here they have a little tool that slips over the glass and shoots light through, measuring how much goes through. Pretty sure every cop car has one, it's a fairly small device

Haha haha what's it like living in a Communist state

Actually my state, Kansas, is generally very laid back in terms of vehicle regulations. We have no annual inspections, smog checks or.. anything really. Most cops don't actually give a shit about tint if it's done tastefully on good cars. It's only shitty cadillac's on chrome 22's that actually get checked. You can get away with almost anything on your car if you're white and cool to the cop.

My truck has ~7% one warning and one ticket for five shekels no fucks given