Another reason I'm happy to live in Washington state...

"As of January 2009, Washington State Law for window tinting is as follows... You may tint your vehicle to 24% VLT for the front doors of any SUV. The back half can be any darkness you prefer. As for passenger vehicles, you may tint up to 24% on all windows except the windshield."

 

You can probably get away with it from cops, but when it's time for your safety inspection I'm sure they have ways to check. Why make that part of the law if they couldn't check it?

 

Hmm, yeah I never really thought about inspections but its never been an issue, its hardly noticeable, just enough to even out the window colors. I've just always thought mismatched window tint looked tacky.

 

Each state is different. TintLaws.com is a great place to look. Still hesitant, consult your DMV.

 

Yeah that's why I tint all my windows with the same % lol

 

Here is what 35% with 20% backs and rear look like on white with black interior for your reference. I live in downtown Chicago and I have never had a problem. Depending on where you live, the police could give you some trouble. In the suburbs where the cops are bored especially, ha. Where I live, the police have plenty of other things to worry about than tinted windows.

 

I also have a coupe with 35% front and 20% rear tint in the Chicago area. No issues. 3M Colorstable

 

I had 35% tint all around and recently changed mine to 20% all around last week and I live in New Jersey. I have not been pulled over in 6 years and low and behold I got pulled over the very next day after getting my tints done darker! I could not believe it! But luckily I have a gold card from the captain of my county's sheriff's dept and I was let go whewww. I've realized after vinyl wrapping my entire exterior in a satin black vinyl wrap it gives the car a much more aggressive look but definitely catches the eyes of cops a lot more then when it was Ivory pearl white. But my crazy driving days are way long gone behind me so really they never have any reason to pull me over except they're bored and pull me over for tinted windows.

 

Love the Chicago input. I spend half my time in Chicago and half in the suburbs 20 mins north of Chicago.

So I'm definitely doing 35 on the fronts just because it gives me arguing ammo if i do get stopped. I just have to decide if I go 25 or 20 on the baby windows/rear. Going to be a last minute call at the shop.

 

So your telling me now that your car is done Kenny it is a cop magnet My favorite part of your new build is the turquoise fogs btw.

 

I used to have 20% on 4 windows and limo in the rear when I had my IS350 a few years ago. When I got overnight tickets parking at my girls place I would just use this letter below and get out of the ticket each time. If you want the files for the law statutes just PM me. It won't let me send .pdf attachments on here. Chicago loves giving unwarranted tickets, it provides great income for them. And about 85% of the population either is unaware of their rights, or just plain lazy to refute the ticket. So when I presented this to the judge via mail, my 3 tickets got thrown out. Once again showing where the priorities of the judicial system is here in Chicago.

(Your name)
(Your contact info)

(Date of your appeal)

Dear Judge:
I am writing to contest ticket number (Type your ticket #). Effective October 30, 2009, Illinois House Bill 3325 amended Public Act 096-0815 to allow “nonreflective tinted film that does not allow less than 35% light transmittance” on the front windows of vehicles.

Chicago cannot enforce violations coded 09-76-220(b) as it pertains to equipment, of which Chicago does not have Home Rule jurisdiction. IL Motor Vehicle Code allows certain combinations of tint including front tint and cannot be overridden by Home Rule in accordance to the IL Municipal Code (65 ILCS 5/1-2.1-2).

You will find enclosed:
1) A photocopy of my ticket
2) A photograph of my vehicle demonstrating compliance with HB3325
3) A copy of HB 3325 with the relevant changes highlighted
4) A copy of the Illinois General Assembly’s Bill Status website highlighting the effective date of HB 3325

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

 

You, sir, are a BOSS.

 

Thanks man I freaking love the front of my car lol as for the rears definitely go 20% man its only the fronts you need to worry about

 

I'm not sure why it's obvious that you would prefer 20% all around. Some might, but I can tell you it's harder to see out at night, especially when turning left onto a dark street. You simply can't see through the driver's window. Leaning your head over the dashboard to see through the front windshield gets old.

I bought my new '09 G37 with a dealer applied tint. I always felt it was pretty dark, and hard to see out of at night. Backing up into darkness is never good.

It passed inspection each year until 2014 when they failed it because the tint read 18%. I went back to the dealer to ask why they applied an illegal tint (25% max in Texas, except for rear window). What they said was that the factory tint combined with the 25% film caused it to read 18%. They also agreed to my request to replace the front-side tint film with 35%, and it passed inspection. I left the original 25% tint on the rear glass.

Honestly I like it a LOT better. I can now see much more clearly at night when looking out the side windows. And I'll add that I have nothing to hide behind a dark tint - EXCEPT when it comes to security.

We just picked up a new QX50 and now I need to pick a tint for it. It has a light interior and it's real easy to see things inside the car.

Considerations:

1) This is Texas and it's hot, so blocking a lot of UV will make the car feel cooler. Darker is better here.

2) With the light Wheat interior color of the QX50, it's easy to see things inside the car when looking in through the factory-tinted windows. This is a security issue considering that the QX50 has little "hide away" space inside the car, and no trunk. A dark tint can hide valuables on the floorboard or back seat. For example, when looking in from the outside, I cannot see things on the back seat of my G37 through the 25% tint.

3) A dark tint is hard to see through at night. When it's dark out and there are no street lights, I can see very little out of my G37 with 25% rear tint. I can see much better through the 35% front-side windows, but it's still pretty dark at night. In bright sunlight, it's all good. There have been times we've driven around in the G37 looking at houses or holiday decorations and we've had to roll down the window to see. This is not good when it's 20 degrees outside.

4) Legalities - the closer you get to the maximum tint, the more likely you are to fail an inspection, or get pulled over.

So bottom line, nothing is obvious, pick what works for you. I personally would not want to go darker than 35% film on the front-side windows. 40% would be better at night, with darker for the rear, up to the legal limit - 35% in your case.

 

I appreciate the above post because someone is finally discussing the problem of poor night vision rather than being caught by the cops or not. In reality, it’s a safety issue, which seems to be of less importance around here.