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 don’t care for it. I have to scrape it off my “new” ’98 Honda because it’s illegally tinted. If you like, good for you, just make sure nobody has to scrape it off once your done with the car.
The 1st thing I had done to my BRZ is tint removal. On the 3 hour drive home I noticed a considerable downgrade in my vision out of the car in dusk and darkness. This is in addition to the fact that the level of tint would have had me pulled over and ticketed in no time.
I’m going to go with what some states approve of, and what most OEM’s do: rear windows and passenger windows (behind the B pillar) are always better functioning and working with some decently dark tint on them. Front windows and windshields should be 100% clear, other than the sunshade portion above the rear view mirror.
Good sun visors are important, but I need to see where I’m going…
It’s been a gamechanger on our two DD’s, which are parked out in the driveway, in the sun, at all times – especially my Volt, given how enormous the back window is.
I went a good bit darker on my Volt versus my wife’s Cruze (20% on the front windows, 15% on the rear side windows and hatch; she has 35/20 – neither of us have windshield tint as we have custom-fit covercraft sunshades that do an excellent job there), and it definitely makes it more difficult to see out of at night, but it also keeps the car that much cooler in the driveway since it tends to go less places.
It also looks better (especially on a white car), and I sometimes wish that I went with the same tint on the (black) Cruze – but from a functionality standpoint, I didn’t want her to have to deal with as dark of tint at night.
Either way: it’s been a huge plus. Some people take it to extremes, but moderate tint is definitely nice.
Another plus: being blinded less in the side mirrors by headlights of any vehicle taller than ours – so all of them.
Love them
My daily has a pretty dark tinted rear. I keep expensive stuff back there and it makes it way harder to see.
Otherwise I really don’t care, would rather have the visibility.
I hate tint. Eye contact matters sometimes; i.e. when I want to see you seeing me before I proceed through an intersection. Also, I hate seeing the morons weaving through traffic, hiding behind tint… at least have the cojones to show your face while you show off your room temperature IQ
I especially like the tinted windows in the summer. I don’t care about esthetics, but I do like to drive without shades on my eyes and it seems like the inside stays cooler.
Hate it with a passion. Especially with the rear-only approach we have in Europe, it just ruins the lines of almost any car.
Factory tint is so common that a lack of tinted windows makes me do a double-take…it just looks odd on a modern car. (I think the first tinted window vehicle in the family was Dad’s ’90 Suburban; I remember the tinted window option being a really big deal.) I didn’t realize the super dark front window tint on Teslas was a factory option…scary! I like being able to at least see an outline of whoever is in the vehicle.