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5% Tint


AR-Fiesta
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got 5% tint on back 3 windows at the weekend,

Does anyone else find it quite hard to see out the back window through your mirror ? (especially at night)

Maybe it takes time to get used to?

but form the outside the tints look really good, they set the car off :)

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Takes a bit of getting used to - works great at night for people with stupidly high beams behind you, means you don't get blinded in the mirror anymore :)

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5% doesn't seem much I had 80% done on mine they look almost blacked out but you can still see through it is a bit tricky reversing up my drive on a night though

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I thought 5% is the darkest you can get ?

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You can have the back 3 as dark as you like, limousine tint is 100% - cannot see through them at all from the outside in but can see out of them. It is illegal to have the front ones tinted though

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I am getting the back 3 tinted on my fiesta at the end of the month, first thing I am doing on my new car. I hope visibility isn't as bad as you say - I'm a woman driver after all :unsure:

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I had limo black in my last Focus which was 95% dark (or 5% clear, whichever you prefer). I could manage OK reversing under street lights but absolutely no chance if there werent any lights. I ended up fitting a reversing camera with night vision.

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Back windows can be as dark as you want but front and windscreen are factory tinted to 30% as standard- that is as dark as you can legally go.

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Takes a bit of getting used to - works great at night for people with stupidly high beams behind you, means you don't get blinded in the mirror anymore :)

You need to get the mirror from the Titanium ;) Auto dims when light hits it

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You need to get the mirror from the Titanium ;) Auto dims when light hits it

Umm....but I don't though as I've got tints :P I've got all the toys I want from a Titanium already!

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its amazing how many people i have seen with all of the windows tinted so dark you cannot see there faces.

Where are the police these days

my foci has privacy glass at the rear. what percentage of light is this letting through.

Surely i can have the front side windows tinted so they let 70% light through

Jamie

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It all depends on what kind of day the policeman who pulls you over is having. They could punish you with it or just make you rip them off there and then and as you say so many people do it and drive around with ridiculously bright head lights in the day as well and stupid personalised number plates etc.... Yet they always get away with it

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I thought it was always based on how much light it let through (heavy limo/5% light let through up to 70%'ish fairly clear).

Anyhoo, if it's too dark round the front the worst case scenario - they can measure it and order the car off the road until it's removed. As Jamie said though, there are plenty of folks driving about who've not been pulled for excessive front tints, blue sidelights, iffy plates or talking on mobiles etc.

I went for 35% a couple of months back (level VW and Beemer use) on the rear three and it suits pretty well (dark interior, dark paint and small windows make it look darker than it is. Just enough privacy to prevent nosey gits but not so dark as to cause offence etc). I can see out the back and it takes the edge of following headlights without needing to dip the mirror but I'd love 70/75% round the front too just to balance it a little down the length of the sides. I always think it looks a little unbalanced when it's tinted round the rear and untinted on the bigger glass of the front doors. I've had really dark and you get used to it but reversing was occasionally more hit than miss :blink:

Just looking it up and HM Gov decided the limit for the front is 70% at the sides and 75 for the windscreen: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/AdviceOnKeepingYourVehicle/DG_181016

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repository/Tinted%20Windows%20Oct%202008.pdf

I found from a mate and his Mini (sorry, I'm a little drunk and probably rambling now :P) that half the problem if you want to tint the fronts and stay legal is any existing factory tint and finding a film to go on top that won't push you over the limit. He has a modest standard factory tint (not privacy glass) all round and had the back three done to 35% which is more like 28-30% because of the existing tint. He wants to do the front sides like me and the tinters are saying they'll do it but he might like an extra letter/signed invoice for the glove-box to prove be brought 70/75% should he get pulled, and even then he might be told to rip it off.

Seems daft though that it's deemed illegal if it's too dark but they don't include it in MOT's. The manufacturers are slowly getting darker anyway (some like Fiat are lower than 70% now) so Her Maj's Government's are probably fighting a lost cause anyway.

Anyone else tinted recently or planning to? Wouldn't mind knowing folks' thoughts on front-side tints.

Phil.

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Wouldn't mind knowing folks' thoughts on front-side tints.

Any Police patrol suspecting a tint of being excessive can call for a Traffic unit that carries a Tintmaster device to read tint levels.

If the tint is found to be above the legal levels then the driver will be ordered to remove the tint film there and then.

Police will not remove it themselves so as to avoid claims for damages etc.

If the tints cannot be removed or the vehicle owner refuses then the vehicle will be towed and stored at the owners cost.

At the end of the day, it's not just us looking for an excuse to annoy drivers but a legal requirement to ensure that cars are safe to be on the road.

Any company fitting illegal tints doesn't care as it's not them paying the fine, towing or storage costs and are likely to get the soft beggars heading back to them to get the tints reapplied.

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I don't think I'd be too happy with myself if I ended up picking my tints off at the side of the road. It's also a rap over the knuckles nobody wants,

not to mention potentially wasted money. The laws and law and it defines the limits clearly and for a reason. I'd love to tint the front side and only within the legal limit - but then that level as expected is modest and you can't help but question if its worth it, that's where I am now. You'd expect to eventually go home in an ambulance if you did an illegal tint level so you don't but that'll not stop everyone. If I didn't do my homework and went that bit too far with an aftermarket tint then I'd expect to be pulled over for being a clot, and deservedly so. A tint within the law is one thing but anything heavier is another. I will say on a separate note that getting the rears tinted was a great move and well recommended.

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