I hate to be the stick-in-the-mud on this thread, but I think for completeness of information for anyone reading, we need to talk about window tint laws.
Yes, there are laws stating what's legal and what's not in every state. I know a lot of people treat window tint laws like they do speed limits -- i.e. as a recommendation instead of a requirement. I'm not your dad, so do whatever you want, but there's more to it than just a few extra dollars for a ticket.
In Texas, the maximum amount of visible light transmission allowed on the front side windows is 25%. That's total VLT with tint + glass. The glass itself blocks about 7%, so to be >25% VLT your tint needs to be 35% or higher to be legal. As shown in one of the pictures above, the meters that are used to measure this are pocket-sized and some cops here in Texas do carry them. They will test your tint on a traffic stop and issue a citation for anything that's out of regulation.
Also in Texas, rear window tint is restricted on cars that don't have dual side mirrors. Now, that's almost every car these days, but if you have one that doesn't have a factory passenger side mirror, you can only tint the rear window to 25% VLT. With dual side mirrors, the rear window and rear side windows are unrestricted.
Windshields in Texas cannot have any tint on them at all that's below the AS1 line without a medical exemption.
I know everyone basically ignores these laws, but you can easily set yourself up for disaster. If you have a collision at night and the word gets out that your tint was darker than allowed by law, consider the following:
- Your insurance may not cover the medical expenses if you hurt someone. They may not cover property damage to your vehicle or someone else's vehicle.
- You're at risk of getting sued for any damages that your insurance did not pay.
People are sue-happy, and juries love to pass judgment, As soon as a judge or jury hears that you were in violation, they're going to rule in the other party's favor, whether you saw the other car through the tint or not, or whether the accident was unavoidable or not.
In that situation, one of the things that can save you is if you can show that your tint was legal -- i.e. you did nothing wrong.
Like I said, I don't tell you what to do -- we're all big boys and girls here and can make our own decisions. Just keep in mind that illegal window tint is not about a cop pulling you over and giving you a ticket -- that's pocket change by comparison to the risk you might be taking.