(Skip to the bottom in the bold for my questions if you don't feel like reading my story.)

Ok, so yesterday I got pulled over for the first time in my Z. It was for my 5% tints.

I was driving behind a cop, with my windows up about 2 cars back in the lane next to him. We get to a red light, I saw him looking in his side view mirror, I figured he was running my plates, whatever.

This is where I decided to put my windows down, just in case.

About a half a mile later he slows down gets behind me and pulls me over. At this point, I'm a little confused, considering I didn't think he saw my tints from the angle he was at before I had put the windows down.

He pulls me over and this is basically what went down:

Cop: License, Registration, and Insurance card please.
[I give it to him.]

Cop: Can you do me a favor, and roll your window up?
[I roll the passenger side window up a little bit.]

Cop: That's what I thought.

Me: Is that what I'm getting pulled over for?

Cop: Yup, any tints on your front windows are illegal, is this your first time
getting pulled over for this?

Me: Yeah, most cops don't give me any issues with them, I've had them on since I got the car.

Cop: Okay, give me one second.
[Goes to his car.]

(At this point he's running me through the system, and making sure I really have never got pulled over for them before.)
[He comes back.]

Cop: Ok, since you were honest with me I'm going to let you off with a warning but next time you probably wont get a warning, so I suggest you get them removed. Have a nice day.

Now here's my questions.

1. Did he apply a warning to my record, meaning that next time I get pulled over for tints the cop will see the warning on my record, and most likely give me a ticket?

2. If I did get a ticket for tints, what is the price of the ticket here in NJ? (I feel like it's probably gonna happen one day, I'm not taking these tints off.)

 

He put a warning in the system, so anytime your plates are run the warning will come up. So the next time you get pulled over or your plates run, you will definitely get a ticket. I got pulled over twice for having a 35% tint on my front windows and got off both times. Once with a warning and once with a pba card. The third time I got pulled over I just took them off because it wasnt worth it to me anymore. I went to court with a picture that my tints were removed so I only paid $35 for court fees. So I never found out how much the actual ticket was for, but my guess $140 range, not positive.

 

Ok, that's what I thought, he applied a warning and basically next time I'm screwed.

Has anyone got this ticket before and can confirm a price, I've heard it was only like $47?

 

$55 per Tint ticket or so. Unless they went up. Nothing crazy.

 

That's not a big deal.
Having my car look sexy with tints > $55 ticket.

 

You should have asked him what law gave him the right to pull you over? I would be curious to find out what NJ statue allowed traffic stops because a LEO had a "That's what I thought" moment.

 

Yeah, I honestly didn't think you could get pulled over solely for tinted windows, especially when they were rolled down. I thought it was an offense added to moving violations?

At the time I didn't feel like causing problems and questioning his reasoning for pulling me over for a non moving violation.

The only thing that sucks now is that every time a cop runs my plate in my town, they will see a warning was applied for tints, which are going to stay on there.

I feel as if the warning justifies them pulling me over in the future, but getting pulled over for tints initially was just some BS.

 

$55 is not bad at all, I thought it was alot more. Having tints on your car is enough to get pulled over. I have been pulled over in NJ for having half of "The Garden State" on my license plate covered by my license plate frame.

 

Its 54$ plus 2$ fee when u pay online. I was ask by a COP to roll my windows up mostly times. Sometimes i use my PBA card and its actually safe me from getting bigger ticket and i get windows tint. I had my windows tint for 6 years
and probably got maybe 4 tickets in that period of time(usually by a **** cop)

 

Ok, so it's around $55. Does the price go up by offense or can you just keep getting repeated tickets for $55?

 

Both of mine were the same price. 2 different times, same town.

 

Same price, it's not a criminal offense so repeat violations have the same punishment. I know a kid who gets 2 tickets a year but doesnt care because it's worth it to him . If you ever go through south river though be ready for a ticket.

 

what town did you get pulled over in??

 

East Brunswick off of Route 18.

 

Well I finally got a tint ticket.

Cop was such a POS.
I have a mandatory court appearance, and during the appearance I have to drive the Z to the courthouse and prove the tint was removed.

So now I have to pay to get the tint removed, pay the fine, and eventually pay to get it put back on because I'm going to have tinted windows on my car in the spring regardless of this stupid law.

I even asked the cop what If I were to keep them on, can't I just pay a fine? He said in that case he was going to write me 3 more tickets, 1 for each window and 1 for altering the car after inspection.

I'm sick of these cops taking advantage of the fact that I'm young, and they feel that they can manipulate me. For everyone else it's a $55 ticket and not a big deal, but I get a mandatory court appearance where I HAVE to take the tints off? Sounds like BS to me.

 

Where is the cop from ? If you don't say anything typically you don't get the court appointment. If you want I can show you how to take them off for free or you can make a deal with a place, some will take them off for free if you pay to have them put back on.

 

Cop was from Miltown.

When he pulled me over I told him I bought the car with the tints on it and was meaning to get them removed (which I wasn't.)

He writes the ticket, and says "well since you've been meaning to get them taken off, you can take them off and bring the car to the courthouse on the day of the court appearance and you'll only have to pay court fees."

I was like, "What if I don't get them taken off". Then he was like, "well you told me you were going to, so if that's a case I'll go back and write you 3 more tickets."

As far as tint removal, how do you recommend going about it?

I've heard if you warm the car up with the heat blasting to warm up the windows, it make things a lot easier. Then you're supposed to get a hand held steam cleaner and spray it on the tint as you peel it off and it comes right off. Then you use goo-gone to get rid of the extra glue left on the window.

I actually know a guy in my neighborhood who runs a tint place and I was gonna ask him how much he would charge me to take it off, but if it's really that simple I might just do it myself.

 

Mandatory court? Does it say that on the ticket? Just because the cop tells you that, doesn't mean anything. He probably won't even be at the court house.

 

What you got was a "fix-it" ticket.. Yes that's the ticket everyone should be getting for things that would fail state inspection.. Sorry..

To remove the tint it's pretty easy, just pick a edge up and rip it off.. The glue comes off pretty easily with windex, a razer blade and some elbow grease... The ammonia cuts the glue..

 

Yes it's on the ticket, along with a date and time.

Like I said, the tint was on the car when I bought it. It was inspected with the tint on there, and passed.

I'm not asking for sympathy. Tints are illegal in NJ on the front windows, and I have such a dark percentage I'm bound to get pulled over for them. I understand I'm not above the law.

I just have a problem with how this cop handled the situation, threatening me with 3 additional tickets if I didn't show up at the court house with the tints removed just doesn't seem right to me.