Ok my co-worker was pulled over twice two days ago on the 241 going to RSM and both times the CHP officers cited him for the tint on his car, along with other things. He got his new Civic coupe tinted at the same place I got mine tinted along with the same level, 30 in the front and 15 in the rear. One cop said the front tints were too dark and the second said no tint is allowed at all on the two front windows. Yesterday, after he got both, he went to the local police station to talk to them about it. They confirmed that no tint is allowed on the front two windows.

Ok now here comes the fuzzy part.. www.tintlaws.com says that 70% is ok on the front two while any level is accepted on the rear windows. We've both looked online to find the real answer and have come up with both!

So what is the REAL law about the front tints? This is so confusing to find the real answer especially when different sources say different things. Also his car is black so it looks darker than it really is, could that be a contributing factor of them writing tint on the ticket?

well 70% is barely any tint... TC comes with 88%... so that means 30% is WAY too dark

Thanks but that doesn't help with finding the answer lol. I know, 30% is pretty dark especially with darker paint. Doesn't look too dark on my car since its silver though.

oh sorry my bad.. lol well... it doesnt matter if it looks dark or not, its what they post.. and if 70% is what they posted then u cant have more than 70%... regardless of how light it looks... i got a ticket and it hurts lol...

http://www.tintcenter.com/laws/CA/

check that out

Ok so basically the cop who said that you're not allowed to have any tint on the front two windows is wrong, as well as the police station he visted.

I think you mean less than 70% instead of more. Though I could be wrong, too much is going on to think straight. :(

lol nothing lower than 70%

Well i got my car fixed where a lot of people go in even cops go in there once in a while and when one cop was there i asked and he also told me no tint is allowed on the front windows

I have been told CA law is no tint on front windows . tint that comes from a dealership is ok because they have to abide by law which is like 70% so basically if you have your front windows tinted it is illegal !!!

the stock "tint" on scions are ~70% so anything on top of that is not legal. all windows have tint to a certain degree so what no tint means, i'd assume, is no aftermarket tinting

heres an interesting question, at 70% would you even be able to tell that its tinted?
the one thing that everyone does know is that any tint worth paying for ( <35% light transmittance) is illegal.

i actually got a ticket for my tint last thursday which is 20%. what i am gonna do is find someone who knows a REAL cop and not a TRAFFIC cop to sign it off for me so i dont have to take it off. then put it back on again

I'm a few years removed from auto tinting but I'll try to clear this up. In the past, NO tint was allowed on your front passenger and drivers side windows period. As long as the car had a passenger side mirror, you can put any lightness/darkness on all the rear windows.

Now from talking to my friends who still tint cars, you can tint the front drivers and passengers windows. But no darker than a 70% shade like someone else said in previous posts. 70% is practically clear so what's the point of tinting the front windows if your want heat rejection or privacy? It will block over 99% of UV rays but does anyone here care?

So for those who still want to tint your front drivers and passenger side windows, roll the dice and take your chances. If you get a ticket, just remember it was your choice to get it done.

I have been told CA law is no tint on front windows . tint that comes from a dealership is ok because they have to abide by law which is like 70% so basically if you have your front windows tinted it is illegal !!!


seems like you're on the dot. if it's stock, then that's fine but otherwise, no aftermarket tinting. some cops would tell you NO TINT WHATSOEVER but that means they're being D**KS. but if they tell you that it's too dark, then they tried to help as much as possible but it's too dark to pass through.

If the law does say no tint on the front windows then why do so many websites related to state tint laws say 70% or higher is legal?

I got pulled over in my Solara and he said that as long as you can see through the tint that someone is in the car(even at night), it's fine. I had 5% ALL the way around. They just want to make sure they can see exactly what you're doing in the car...smoking, drinking, having sex whatever.It's not illegal to have tint in the front, just not so dark.Oh, my car was black so I don't think color had anything to do with it.

70% is practically clear so what's the point of tinting the front windows if your want heat rejection or privacy? It will block over 99% of UV rays but does anyone here care?


If the law does say no tint on the front windows then why do so many websites related to state tint laws say 70% or higher is legal?

Look at what he just said, 70% is basically clear, so if its any darker than CLEAR, its illigal. So the cop is basically right, if there is any tint on the window its going to be illigal unless you get 70% which would be just putting a clear sheet onto the window, it probably wouldn't be tint either.

The definitive law in CA is that any aftermarket tint on the front windows as well as the windshield is illegal... there's no ifs ands or buts about it... its a different story if the glass is itself tinted from the factory... that's 100 legal and you have grounds to contest a fix it ticket should you get one... other than that i say dont bother with the hassle and drive worry free... happy driving all its raining in SD

ummmm i think what everyones ^^^ tryin to say is that




california laws suck...

^ besides that... You CANT have tint in the front. It's illegal. Some Cops will tell you no tint in the front, some 70% (which is like having no tint cause it looks like the glass anyway). So just pay the $25 fine to get it fixed, and remove the tint. Done and done.

Done and done.
x2

Uh I know what 70% tint looks like, please don't assume I don't. Tint on the windshield is illegal unless its less than 4in at the top of it. Also yes I know the tint I have right now is illegal as well, but this isn't about my car k? It's about a co-workers car and his run-in with two cops.

All that was said that there was confusion if you were allowed 70%+ tint or NONE at all.

Geez try to straighten something out and people get all ____y.

I have tinted windows for 25 years.
Here’s the low down. Back when the DOT was started safety glass was allot thicker then it is now the DOT decided due to the thickness, distortion, and color of the glass and laminates, that a 70% light transmission was all they would allow for a clear view. This mandated that all factory "clear glass have a 70% light transmission or less" the current quality of safety glass is allot better and thinner however the highway patrol has one of the single largest lobbies in the state and you would have to change the manufacturers law at a federal level for it to make any diff and then you would have to petition the state and so on.
In Cali you cannot legally put anything on the front 3 windows. you can even get a ticket for a visor strip depending on how the cop interprets the law it was amended to allow a strip but if the cop only looks at the first paragraph of his cheat sheet you will get a ticket for that too.
Visor law: is measured with the driver’s seat all the way back, you measure 5" from the back rest of the seat towards the steering wheel then you measure 28" up. Anything above 28" is fair game. There is no 6” or 8” rule. That’s the average size they come out to.

BTW the “%” on tint is the amount of light it lets in

On a side note 10 or 15 years ago the univ of Illinois did a test on film and discovered that a 35% film was the safest due to the amount of glare it reduced and didn’t impede the driver’s ability to see at night.

The funny thing about the tint law is that cops are trained to look thru the back window to see what you’re doing before they walk up to the car and you can black these babies out.

Hope this helps

SemaXD: :love:

SemaXD, that pretty much sums that up, good write up!

when you get pulled over, just roll the windows down and say it's hot. haha

when you get pulled over, just roll the windows down and say it's hot. haha

Out here that wont work . He will tell you to roll up your windows so he can see if they are tinted .