I think it is 15%. I had my truck tinted and told them to keep it legal and 15% was the max. that was 7 years ago. My nephew got a cobolt last year and had it tinted real dark and got a ticket. Robert
It's 35% here in TN.While dark tint looks cool,rolling down a window to see if anything is coming on a cold winter night really sucks.And it also gives the cops another reason to say an accident was your fault.A dark interior color will make 35% look darker than a lighter color too.You can legally do the windshield down to the rearview mirror,BUT if it has a factory tint strip up top and has that little white slash(usually on the right side)on the glass,you cannot go below that.Can you tell a good friend of mine has run a tint shop for 27 years?
I think 'legal' is 35 here as well, but normally the police dont say anything to you abotu your tint unless you give them a reason to. on old cars, i dont like it as dark as i do on new cars. like on my daily drivers and such, i usually have 4% put on them but my maverick will prolly have 25 or so. nothing too dark, just something that marks it look good and keep some sun out.
mirrored is the only way to go... lol! but IMO 35% is a nice classic look. all my everyday drivers all have 35% all the way around. not to dark, not to light. enough to block the sun plus bright headlights out the rear window and light enough to see out at night. on the other hand my mirrored windows are a total bust... good for 2 differant violations! and at night all you can see is yourself since it refects in the inside as well.... lol! it teaches you how to drive real careful. oh yeah and some tracks they won't allow tint where you can't see in... not to sure what the rule is but a friend and i were at the track and had 5% on his and they wouldn't let him run.
My wife's Mustang has 35% side windows and 20% on all glass behind the doors. This is legal in FL and does a good job at keeping the heat out. With the big back window this car was very hot before the tint. 20% is pretty dark at night. Also, I used to sell tint. Going from 35% to 20% only rejects something like 8% more heat even though it is almost twice as dark. The gains in heat rejection taper off pretty fast. I can not see ever using 5% tint on a car unless you just do not want people looking in. It would have to be terrible to drive at night. Also, as stated above, reflective film on cars is illegal everywhere as far as I know, and at night you will have to roll the side window down to see. With it up, all you will see is your reflection. Been there as a teenager ... won't ever do it again.
Since somebody sent this floating back up to the top, I'll provide an update. I started to do 20% on the back and quarters, 35% on the sides. But for now I have a new appreciation for the factory tint and i think I'm going to leave it alone. Turns out either this stuff is harder to do than I remembered, or it's just harder to do on a Maverick than it looks. I did one side and one quarter, hated it, and gave up. Tip: If you are considering tint and have ever even SEEN a mammal of the canine or feline variety in or near your home, give up now and save yourself the time and money. There will be ONE HAIR dead center of your window every time, no matter what.
As far as certain tint being illegal..... i dont that pertains to classic cars. I know my hubby has really dark tint on his windows on his comet and i think he told me multiple times that since we Antique tags on our cars it doesnt have any rules nor do we have to do inspections or emissions. But if your going to tint. Go Dark!
Age of the vehicle has no bearing on the tint laws in Florida. What is illegal on a 2008 car is still illegal on an old car. If a cop stops you, you can get a ticket. I was cited for having a tint strip across the lower windsheild ( about 4 inches high). I was trying to save my darned-perfect dash pad. BTW, cops hate dark window tint. If they are approaching a car with windows that they can not see in, they are taught that they can be shot through them, so most will approach the car ready to pull a gun. Looking down the barrel of a pistol is no fun. I still maintain that going darker than 35% on your side window is a bad idea for night driving, especially when going almost twice as dark (20%) only gets you 8% more heat rejection. If you have 20% on the back and rear side windows, the 35% front side windows will look darker than if the whole car was done in 35% because it isn't being backlit as much.
Yeah, very true. When I get pulled over, I roll the window down, shut off the engine (mainly so they don't hear my exhaust and start asking questions - old habit from various cars that should've had converters and didn't) and when the cop walks up to the window I've got one hand in plain sight on the steering wheel and the other handing him my license. Cops seem to appreciate that sort of thing. My reasoning behind going lighter on the back and darker on the sides was just that if a cop was deciding whether to pull me over and tint was a factor, he'd probably be looing at the back... At this point I think if I do it I'll go 35% everywhere, but I probably won't.
Hey, sorry to put this up top again, but I found a site with state laws rewarding window tints. It will also tell you the legality of mirroring, colors, and other requirements. it is http://www.tintcenter.com/laws/TN/ That link will take you to the state law for Tennessee, if you want to look at a different state just change those last two letters in the URL to your own state abbreviation. As a judge once said to me before throwing me in jail "Not knowing the law is no excuse for breaking the law."
Well, since it came up again... I ended up going 20% on everything but the windshield. Glad I did it, looks great, and the cops haven't bothered me yet.
