I’ll admit, this wasn’t my first choice for an Autopian Asks question. I was wrestling with picking between What Car Fluid Would You Most Like To Soak In or maybe something like If You Could Have Any Car, Why The Hell Would You Pick An Oldsmobile Omega? I ran these by the rest of the team in our Slack channel, and while they praised them as being “depressingly inane” and appreciated them for being “criminally and woefully insipid,” they nevertheless felt they’d rather see a different question. About window tint. Window tint! They all want to know what you think about window tint!
Personally, I’ve never really cared for much window tint. I like my windows like I like my Scientologists: clear. If I’m worried about too much sun I’ll just do what any good driver should do when sun-blinded, clench my eyes shut, stomp the gas, hold down the horn, and hope for the best.
But I do understand that lots of people appreciate window tint; there’s an aesthetic justification, as some cars just look better with dark windows, and, for those of us doomed to be homely, tinted windows do shield the rest of the world, innocent as they are, from our ugliness, which I’m sure is appreciated.
There’s also the privacy angle, and I understand that as well. Being inside your car often imparts the illusion of privacy, even though you’re essentially in a glass house. What if you want to eat a whole mess of ribs in your car without the shaming eyes of passers-by? What if you want to give your nose a really good, deep picking, doing some intense nostril spelunking? Or have a relaxing wank in the back seat? You really can’t – or shouldn’t – do any of these things unless you have well-tinted windows, right?
So, I’m open here. Do we like tinted windows? What about when it’s poorly done, and you have to somehow pull off that awful, bubbling, peeling film from a used heap you just bought? Does that ruin it for you?
Anyway, window tint, your thoughts, your feelings. I want to hear them all. Let’s do it.
I would tint any daily driven vehicle, I have had it on all my cars to the point I feel exposed in a non tinted vehicle.
I had a old Mazda B2200 “showcar” and that had clear windows and it looked much cleaner than when it was tinted
Exposed? God forbid you had a convertible. Asocial personalities may indeed be a factor behind this trend.
Fair point
I’ve always disliked it, back from when I was a kid in the 80’s. Thought it made cars look generally worse. I don’t mind light tint or those funky colored tints they used in so many 90’s concept cars, but heavy tint or reflective tint is just bad.
I live in Texas. Window tint helps make the summers survivable. It’s not a fashion choice, it’s a comfort and longevity choice. My comfort, and my car’s interior materials longevity.
Solid, high quality window tint at like 25% is not hard to see out of, keeps the car cooler, and looks good. I usually carry a bunch of tools with me in the back of my car (sequoia) and I do not want prying eyes looking in. Bonus if you live in a sunny state with intense sun like Colorado, it protects the interior and makes it safer IMO during bright conditions. Modern tints last way longer and don’t turn purple and bubble like the back glass on a 1998 Honda Accord.
You do know that your sun visor pivots to the side…doesn’t it?
funny. Naw I’m too stupid to understand how the car go and stop sun. You should do standup.
I can’t stand it on my own cars. I know it just looks right on some vehicles, but having to actually drive with it sucks, ruins the visibility especially at night. The only car we have with it is my wife’s Volvo XC60 and I can’t see shit at night. I’m all about window treatments that help with blocking UV for interior material protection, but I would prefer it to have as little tint as possible.
Also if you don’t get top-tier material and pro installation (or factory OEM installation) it looks like complete ass after enough years have gone by, no thanks!
At first I thought you were asking about window taint, (which I wouldn’t like at all), but then I realized that’s probably not a thing, so never mind.
Oh, I guarantee it’s actually a thing: I’m certainly not going to Google it!
Apparently you have not been in enough cars.
I’m a big believer in 20% rear, 35% front. I like the “staggered” look, and 20% is too dark to see out of drivers windows at night. Plus, 20% is illegal on front windows in some states.
https://www.clubwrx.net/media/35-tint-front-20-back.267426/full
Here’s the thing, I lived in Bullhead City Arizona, we had 12 days in a row that got above 130 degrees, we were often hotter than death valley. We were on the Colorado River and people started putting their boats away when the temperatures got in the 90s because it was too fucking cold. Well in BHC if I am getting 2nd degree burns and legal tint and a solar fan kept me from needing burn ointment, and it did I had it installed and it was great.
Tint is great so long as it’s not a window I’m looking out of regularly.
My cars already have enough built-in advantages to deploy in their ongoing attempts to kill me without handing them any additional tools for reducing my ability to see my surroundings.
Privacy and heat control. Cheap aftermarket tints are the sucks usually, but factory laminated glass? mmm yeah.
I love the 35 percent tint on my 325i, although it’s starting to show its age. Suntek Infinity is mighty tempting as a replacement, but $$$. I will say, I’d never tint the windows in a cabriolet, because it looks dreadful with the top down and the windows up.
Into tint, Tonto?
Scout go without.
Dark Silver, Kemosabe?
Hi Ho, but no.
I get all our cars’ windows tinted (that aren’t already) purely for the UV protection and summer temperature reduction benefits. Yes, even here in MN. Of course I’m only doing the legal 50% tint. A side benefit is that I think it looks better* but that’s not why I do it.
* Murdered out windows are the exception: I don’t care at all for that look, and it’s about as practical as folks who black out their head and tail light covers.
Yes, I’m in Michigan and appreciate the cars with tinted windows for the same reason.
I have all my cars tinted as dark as California allows for two reasons: 1) it can get to 110 where I live in the summer; 2) car break-ins are out of control in the Bay Area and I want to hide what’s inside.
Tint might make it look like you do have valuables inside. Thieves can’t look in and see that you have nothing there.
My GT86 had professionally fitted legal tints when I bought it. I tried to like it, but not being able to see out the back as well as I could the front really bugged me, so I had them professionally removed. I’m so much happier without them.
My other car has OEM tinted rear, which I hate, but not as much as the tints on the 86. There is no alternative so I’m stuck.
I don’t care about tints on other peoples’ cars, as long as they can see out.
It’s a tricky question. Tinted windows don’t mean nothin’. They know who’s inside.
Seriously, though. I live in Arizona. Both of my cars have leather seats, one of them black. You’re damn right I have tint, as do the vast majority of my fellow residents.
I had to drive my grandparents Acura TLX for a few weeks while my jeep was getting fixed. My jeep has decent tint,I don’t remember what %age but they’re dark. I felt so exposed in the zero tint Acura. I couldn’t stare at people as easily and laugh and the faces they make while driving. I couldn’t jackhammer my nose without feeling vulnerable and seen. I had to own up to staring at people like they were from Mars instead of avoiding that in tinted privacy. My chick fil a food felt a lot more like I was in public and not in a private cocoon. My god how do people go throughout life without having tint?
On a side note. Sedans are far superior in every way except for transporting larger goods or towing a small mountain.
You need professional help.
Perhaps I have a reactive mind, but must express extreme displeasure with “to serve and protect” vehicles that are downright sinister blackout tint. I want to see smiling Andy&Barney.
Give me a clue, is it all is right with the world, or get ready to duck.
The irony is that they use these same vehicles to hassle and ticket civilian drivers for suspected tint violations. Where I live they use tint as a reason to pull you over, which almost always leads to a shit experience, even if no citations are issued. A few people of color have mentioned they go with out tint despite the extreme temps here because the cops seem way too eager to stop them. And drag them out at gun point.
That sucks. We, as a society really need to tone down the confrontational tendencies.
No Limo tint. I use my windows for seeing, and you can’t see through that crap in anything but the brightest day. I think 35% is what I have on the rear of my current DD, and its pretty good. I have something like 48% on the front and I’ve used that a lot (state doesn’t allow darker on front windows and thats not a battle I’ve ever cared to fight). Its a good dim the bright but still see out.
Great on my car, bad on everybody else’s.
I live in Florida, where it is hot and sunny. As such, I am very pro window tint. My last two daily drivers I had tinted. I am reluctant to tint the windows in my RX-7, but am considering having it done with the one that is ever so tinted blue and lets 80% of light pass through. The FC already has blueish tinted glass from factory.
I will always have it professionally done. Anytime I see a window with bubbles all over the place, I cringe.
35% fronts/20% rears, max. (Limo tint is fine on a limo or bus) Anything darker than 20% is dumb.
yes to window tint on newer cars – post ~1995
pay a professional to do it correctly
no to blackout or super dark tint
no to self-applied bubbling tint
no to purple tint
Exactly one can in our fleet has tinted windows, and it is highly coveted. Most say it looks cooler (more style and/or less sun), but a few have expressed that they feel better walking away from a car full of gear. There is zero evidence that it has actually protected any city assets.