Tinting your vehicle’s windows will reduce heat and light inside, which can make for a comfortable ride, and doing it yourself will save a ton of cash
I have a red 2009 Coupe. I need help deciding on 35 or 20% tint. 35% is legal but can you tell if there is tint even? Is it hard to see out of 20%? Post pics please! Since the other tint auto shop said Suntek Carbon doesn't make 20% only 18% and 35% and when customer ask for 20% shops usually give them the suntek carbon 18% One thing is the guy that does the actual tinting seemed disturbed when I talked to him and avoided talking to me when I picked up the car. Something is fishy. As we mentioned throughout our site, window tint darkness is measured by the percent of light that passes through your windows, which is called VLT — visible light transmission. Your window tint darkness doesn’t have to be under 50% to be effective. Even if your tint film allows 90% or 80% of light it can still have a huge impact on your. In my state, legal is 35%, however you can get an exemption if you are sensitive to light for 20%. The lower the number the darker it is. It's the percent of visible light transmission. I love it overall. More security for leaving things in your car, more privacy, less heat.
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Your vehicle’s windows let you see what’s happening outside, but there’s a dark side that comes along with that very obvious benefit. Well, it’s probably more appropriate to call it a light side, as where there’s light, there’s heat, which can damage the vehicle’s interior, melt that large Slurpee you just picked up, and generally make the vehicle uncomfortable until the air conditioner can do its job.
Thankfully, the automotive world has a solution, and no, it’s not that fold-out foil window shade your grandma used in her ‘93 Buick LeSabre. Window tinting has been around for decades now and can seriously reduce the amount of light and heat that enters a vehicle. Many tint jobs involve darkening all windows except for the windshield, and many automakers offer a factory tint option for the rearmost windows.
Having a professional install window tint is easy and not very time consuming, but it can be an expensive undertaking. Thankfully, the process to tint windows at home is not terribly difficult, but there are some things to keep in mind along the way. Stick with us on this step-by-step guide to tint your windows like the pros.
20 Percent Tint On Top Of 35%
What Are Tinted Windows
30% Tint Vs 35% Tint
Limousines use the darkest window tints allowed on the roads.
Car window tint is a method, either integral or retro-fitted, of blocking light from outside the vehicle to its interior. Integral tint is installed as a component of the glass during manufacture; retro-fitted tint is applied to the glass as a film after manufacture. Even clear glass blocks some light transmission, so a calibration of retrofitted tints must measure the resistance of the glass plus the film. The measurement is described in percentages.
Percentages
Window tints percentages are described with the lower numbers representing the darkest tints. Confusingly, this scale results in a 100-percent tinted window having no tint at all; it lets in 100 percent of the external light. For all its faults, this graduation is universally accepted. “Limo tint,” for all practicable purposes the darkest on the market, is a 5-percent tint, allowing only 5 percent of exterior light levels to enter the vehicle.
Visible Light Transmission
The apparent misnomer makes marginally more sense when referred to by its proper name, visible light transmission, or VLT. A 60 percent VLT tint blocks 40 percent of visible light transmission; a 20 percent VLT blocks 80 percent of visible light transmission.
Industry Standards
While not mandated by any regulatory authority, a sliding scale of tint percentages is accepted by the automotive industry. As noted, 5 percent is considered a limo tint; 20 percent is considered dark; 35 percent is considered medium; 50 percent is considered a light tint.
Legal Issues
There is no federally mandated regulation governing tint, but many states have placed legal restrictions on the maximum allowable percentages for road-use vehicles. Purported to be a safety precaution, the restrictions also make it easier for law enforcement officers to monitor activities inside vehicles. Typically the laws allow for the rear screen to be tinted as dark as the owner wishes but limit the percentages on side windows and the amount of the windshield that can be tinted, usually measured downward from the top. Side window regulations may be relaxed for limousines and medical transport.
Factory Fit
Most cars are manufactured with a certain amount of tint already in their windows. This serves the tandem purposes of minimizing road glare and slowing the rate at which a vehicle interior heats up in direct sunlight. Most are delivered with around a 90 percent tint, and — to ensure legal compliance — this must be factored into the calculation when adding more tints.