I was minding my own business last night on my way home. Not in the commute lane or any thing like that. Only doing 55 (in pace with traffic).

But the CHP pulled me over. Had to go thru the motions with the license and all that. Ended with a verbal warning about my glass being too dark.

How dark is too dark? What's the rule? Do they issue fix it tickets? Are there recommendations on actions I should take? (I didn't install the tint, was that way when I bought the car - not in CA).

I like the tint the way it is. But what's involved in changing it? How does that stuff come off?

Tom S.

 

in CA, it's illegal to have ANY tint on windows beside or in front of the driver. Therefore you can't tint your front side windows and/or your windshield.

 

Wow, so supposedly he pulled you over for dark tint even though it was night time and it is difficult to see tinted windows. That's pretty messed up. I bet he was trying to look for other illegal modifications or something. From my understanding, you cannot have any tint on your front windows and they do issue fix it tickets I believe. If you wanna be safe, you should take off the tint totally by a tint shop. It's not hard, they pretty much just peel the tint off. If you realy like the tint, just try to have your windows down most of the time and when the windows are up watch out for cops. Hope this helps

 

the procedure for fix it ticket is you take it off or have a shop do it for you. then you show a cop and have him or her sign it off. then you mail in the ticket and its 10 bucks. then you go back to the tinting shop and have your car retinted and hopefully next time you will lower your windows when your driving near a cop so you dont get caught.

 

http://home.pcisys.net/~bpc/auto_law/tint/

 

actually it is illegal to have the front windows tinted except for the top 2 inches. quarter panel windows should be fine to tint.

 

I've never heard of the top 2 inches rule, where did you get that from?

I'm tinted 20% in the front and I havn't been pulled in years, even in the small town of Napa.

When I see cops, I roll my windows down, even in the cold. When I got pulled over about 6 months ago for speeding, I made sure I rolled both front windows down before the officer approached my car so to make sure he did not see my tint.

At the end of the day, at least you got a warning instead of a fixit ticket

 

Thanks for the link to the Tint Law web page. That's really helpful information.

While the CA rules seem pretty strict, there is a good reason for the restriction.
The officer (a lady) explained they need to be able to see into the car. That some officer was killed just a few weeks ago just doing a traffic stop. So that rule does make sense to me. Too bad though cause I like the look. - Too bad the states don't have some uniform position. It seems really strange that they might cite you if you are from another state with different rules.

I think what I will do is have the dark tint removed and install some less dramatic tint on the doors. That's my compromise. I had that type of tint on my Porsche and was never bothered by the CHP.

Tom S.

 

How dark is your tint right now? I'm running 20% and it looks pitch black at night :X

 

I haven't measured the light loss but it's really difficult to see inside the car in bright sunlight.

The car stays cool in the summer and looks cool 365 days a year.

One other reason to make a change is that looking to the side (left or right) at night obstacles are difficult to see. I frequently lean forward to peer thru the windshield when making a turn into a driveway in a low light situation.

And I just don't want to give the police a reason to stop me. If I'm driving 5 or 10 over and for the cop making the stop is a marginal decision, I don't want the glass to tip the decision against me.

Tom S.

 

cali law is 70% or 75% which is samething as not having a tint. u can have it on top of front windshild but only 6inches or less

 

With my last car I had 30% in the front and 20% in the back. Even when it was very bright outside during the day time it was very hard to see in. At night however all I had to do was turn on the interior lights and you could see in pretty well.

First thing I did when I was stopped was roll front windows down and immediately turn on all the dome lights. He could see in just fine even with the 20% tint.

 

I'm pretty sure you can't tint the front windows period. I know the windshield has an exception for the tint bars though, that's about it.

 

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

70% for front sides is the limit which is esentially OEM. rear can be as dark as you want. strip on winshield has to be 4 inches

I am running 20% sides/5% rear. was pulled over couple years ago for speeding and CHP didn't even notice.

3 ways to avoid the fix it ticket:

1) don't tint
2) roll down your windows
3) LUCK

 

Option 2&3 FTW

 

+1 FTW!!!

 

I'm just happy she didn't write me a fix it ticket or walk round front and discover I didn't install the front plate. Yeah, I always carry the plate in the car but don't want to ever drill the holes for the mount.

Maybe I'll risk the fix it if people get by for years with the dark tint.

Tom S.

 

Yeah you should be ok, I would just take your luck and run with it. I carry my front plate with me in the car as well

 

All my windows are tinted and I dont kow where my front plate is.

 

Maybe the lady in your avatar knows some people who can pull some strings?