i want have my widows tinted by next summer, 35% is the legal limit here in nc. will that shade of tint cut back on the heat inside my car? its like riding around in an oven during the summer
Any amount of tint is better than none when it comes to the heat factor. Do all the windows, and have the biggest eyebrow you can get done legally
Black interior in mine so I know what you mean! Where are you located in NC? I plan to have mine tinted in Winston-Salem and have seen some cars done by a company there. I can get more info about them if you need me to! Scott
i live on the coast, the albermarle area. it gets real muggy during the summer here and the heat index is crazy
Couple of tips: Even if the law limits you to 35%, that usually only applies to specific windows. Often, and I don't know about NC anymore, the rear side glass, vent windows, and even rear glass is allowed a darker or unlimited tint. So even if you are limited on the front side glass and windshield, you can mix in darker tint elsewhere to help. I used to live in Charlotte and was an inspector, but that was several years ago, things may have changed. Anyway, I only remember focusing on front side glass and visor tint. I know that technically we could fail someone for "double tint" if their glass was factory A/C tint and they put on aftermarket. Our NC appointed inspections supervisor was really tough and would come down on us for allowing aftermarket tint on the windshield visor if the glass was already tinted at the visor! I digress... Check on which glass the law covers, and get the max. Then if the law doesn't cover some of the non-essential glass, go even darker on those. Get the best tint you can. The best UV stuff though, does have a high metal content. That will block radar detectors from working and make your car more 'visible' to police radar/laser. A trade off for the coolest interior possible and UV protection for your classic interior upolstry. Another tip on keeping the car cooler, is leave the vents open, or the climate control knobs in the 'vent' position when the car is left parked. To close the vents, or leave the knobs in A/C or Off position allows the interior air to heat up much more because it is trapped and stagnant. I know this tip is odd and may not be doable, but painting your car a light color, or painting the roof a light color as in two-tone or vinyl top look, will keep the inside cooler. Same with converting your interior to a lighter color. Not very practical on a whim, but something to think about if you are planning a future repaint or interior redo for your car. Thought of something else when it comes to tint inspection. NC used to only inspect by looking at the required label under the tint on applicable glass. If that is still the case, you might be able to cheat if you can get 35% labels installed on darker tint... In theory. I would never suggest actually breaking the law. When we inspected a car would pass or fail based solely on the labels or lack of. We didn't use any sort of light meter to check the accuracy of the labels. If this is still the case, the system has an obvious flaw. You can also tint to legal, then get a set of static cling tint sheets cut custom for your glass, and static the tint during the summer. If you get pulled over for it, you can just strip the static tint in front of the officer.
Food for thought ... Even though 20% film is almost twice as dark as 35%, it only rejects about 8% more heat. With 35% you still have good visibility. 20% can get kind of dark at night. Still with the big almost-horizontal rear window, you might want 20% there, and keep the side windows 35%. We did that mix on my wife's 07 Mustang. I like it,... and she thinks it is kind of dark. I can see in the dark better than she can, so it probably becomes a personal thing at that level.
