Well, there really aren't many cars here with front windows limo tint (5%). But plenty with 20% or 35%. To be pulled over on the freeway for 50% tint... there got to be something else or maybe a Prius just hitted the highway patrol's personal car or something. You don't happened to have any sport team flag or stickers on your Prius right?
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Well, there really aren't many cars here with front windows limo tint (5%). But plenty with 20% or 35%. To be pulled over on the freeway for 50% tint... there got to be something else or maybe a Prius just hitted the highway patrol's personal car or something. You don't happened to have any sport team flag or stickers on your Prius right?
I have tints on headlights and windows all around at 20%. Looks sick but if a cop is near I just roll those windows down real quick. 20% is nice with a black car. I get more trouble for no front plate than tints after I've always had cars with tints and no front plates.
GPinzone
Member
In NY, your car must be checked for tint during each inspection. If it fails, you cannot receive an inspection sticker. The dealership for my old car wouldn't even attempt to perform an inspection if you had tint on your vehicle. The regulation for side windows under NY law pretty much prohibit any useful tinting. However, the rear glass can essentially be completely blacked-out as long as your vehicle has side-mirrors.
Here in California the legal limit of tint is 70% for drier and passenger front, the rest you could put on any shade you desire. Having said that per our customers request we do 35% all around including the front two doors and no one has been pulled over so far.
ℬête Noire
Active Member
The Internet says NY limit is 70% transparency on the sides (same as on the windshield). A film rated 75% transparency or higher should be able to pass that (it'll be close to 70% when combined with the glass, as window glass isn't perfectly transparent). You can get decent heat blocking at that level, if you spend the money. Two options I know of are Spectra Photosync 75 and 3M Crystaline 90 (the Photosync actually blocks roughly as much heat as 50% Crystaline, but is more expensive). If it is for esthetic reasons, not so much of course.
Full law text. (Search down to "12-a"). I don't see an out of state vehicle exemption there like the one mentioned for MI above.
P.S. The good news is there is a loophole. You just need to be carrying a corpse to a cemetery!
devilmountain
Member
CVC 26708 - 26708.5 basically states you cannot have anything on the front windows. Tint must be in good condition too, can't be all bubbled up. Odds are you won't get pulled over but it gives the cops PC to pull you over. Even a license plate frame that touches the letters is enough to get you pulled over. You just need to be a in a locale were they are looking for this or where the cops are being proactive.
ℬête Noire
Active Member
The exemption: "(2) the glass is installed in a location permitted by those standards for the particular type of glass used."
That suggests to me that out-of-state cars are OK in CA?
devilmountain
Member
That's not actually true, but it's close enough to true. For example, in New York State, they can ticket you for tint that breaks their laws, unless you're from out of state, in which case they can *issue you a ticket in New York for violating New York law based on the fact that your windows are illegal in your home state*.
New York Consolidated Laws, Vehicle and Traffic Law - VAT § 250 | FindLaw
Many states have similar such statutes. In theory, though, their laws can say anything.
I've not been pulled over in my 16 years in CA, until I was on a roadtrip with 35% tint all the way around (70% is max legal in CA). I got pulled over in Utah, totally perplexed as to what he was stopping me for, until he started asking about the windows. I played dumb; Utah law allows down to 40% but they measured at 28% (tint+window is why it came out lower than 35). He asked what the law was in CA, and I said I was pretty sure it was legal and had never had an issue.
15 mins later, he came back with a WRITTEN WARNING for violating Utah tint laws. They have no such provision, from what I could tell, for out of state vehicles.
Of course, I've STILL never had an issue in CA.
In a truck, then. Laws are different for the rear of trucks/SUVs, but most of them are tinted at 20%, so it's REALLY DARK; I'm not surprised you got popped for front sides that dark.
Agreed, it's unlikely to be an issue. I had a coworker with a blue STI with gold wheels and a loud stereo, he's the only person I know of who ever got a tint ticket in CA. Try not to break too many laws at the same time.
Dumping on the CHP is pretty much something you hear exclusively from folks who have only ever lived in CA and haven't seen what it's like in other states.
Spent some time in Illinois and never had an issue even with tint that exceeded the legal limit. Citation for tint in many locales isn't just about statues, it's very selectively enforced. I am sure there are some areas around Chicago you'll get cited but most of the state simply doesn't care.
I do not think you really have to worry about being pulled over for excessive tint unless they had other reasons.
The real issue would be inspection sticker issue/renewal. TX for example has to be less tint then what OK allows. So if you move from OK to TX you might not be able to get a TX inspection sticker (required to get a license plate) unless you remove the tint that is too dark for TX.
The real issue would be inspection sticker issue/renewal. TX for example has to be less tint then what OK allows. So if you move from OK to TX you might not be able to get a TX inspection sticker (required to get a license plate) unless you remove the tint that is too dark for TX.
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