Window Tinting - Good Idea or Not?

When I bought my D2a, I had the "darkest legal tint" applied here in SA.

3 months later, and some imported cop with a bee in his bonnet pulls me over & ran his meter over the windows.

The tint failed, and he defected the car. I contacted the dealer, who got hold of the tint company, and they removed the old film, and replaced it with a lighter one.

Off to the cop shop, and despite the disbelief of the station cops, they had to tell me that it was still too dark.

So, with them watching me, I ripped the tinting off the windows. Another check of the meter showed that the factory glass was 1% outside the range of being legal.

Now, this copper understood what was happening, and was happy to pass it, as there was no tint applied, and this is how the car was delivered to Oz from the factory.

So, check to see if the windows are carrying any level of tint first, or it could be an expensive option...

Afternoon all,

I bought my D3 last June - as one of the deals LR were doing prior to the release of the D4, they had a deal on the Motorone's Fifth Dimension car care pack. Included amongst other things were a range of tint options; I opted for the Titanium, in part due to the recommendation of the dealer (Austral Motors, Brisbane). The Titanium claims to have 99% UV protection and 60% heat rejection - a good thing for Queensland!

Fifth Dimension also do a couple of Cancer Council options - however, these turn out to have a greenish tinge to them. With the Titanium, it's barely noticeable - I have the Zermatt silver paint and it blends well (and apparently is as good as or better than the CC option for UV protection). No problem manouvering at night with internal/ wing mirrors etc. Does a good job reducing heat - I have to park in the sun, so good thing.

The Street legal option (very dark) is a bit too 'CSI Miami' for my liking! Others I'm sure will disagree!

Check it out - motorone.com.au.

Cheers,

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Originally Posted by Basil135

When I bought my D2a, I had the "darkest legal tint" applied here in SA.

3 months later, and some imported cop with a bee in his bonnet pulls me over & ran his meter over the windows.

The tint failed, and he defected the car. I contacted the dealer, who got hold of the tint company, and they removed the old film, and replaced it with a lighter one.

Off to the cop shop, and despite the disbelief of the station cops, they had to tell me that it was still too dark.

So, with them watching me, I ripped the tinting off the windows. Another check of the meter showed that the factory glass was 1% outside the range of being legal.

Now, this copper understood what was happening, and was happy to pass it, as there was no tint applied, and this is how the car was delivered to Oz from the factory.

So, check to see if the windows are carrying any level of tint first, or it could be an expensive option...

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This is an important issue.

Almost all cars come from the factory with some level of tint to the glass.

The "Maximum Legal Tint" must have a visible light transmission (VLT) of 35% or more (so blocks 65% of visible light).

When I had my car done, the tinter had 35%, 25% 15% and 5% (so only one legal tint). He said it was virtually impossible to buy film lighter than 35%. The 35% film is really quite light (i.e. fairly easy to see through).

This would mean that practically all tinted cars would fail if tested.

However - I could never go back to a non-tinted vehicle. I also opted for 5% on the alpine windows and the side windows of the cargo area... (hopefully the powers that be won't care about those)

Hi Ron,

The car colour is Ipanema Sand with Almond interior. The car colour was the only disagreement I had with the wife in the entire car purchase activity. Amazing! My good lady insisted we don't get another silver car. What can I say but I like silver. But a happy wife is a happy life so no silver. Also no white for me. White fourbys take me back to UN vehicles in East Timor, Bosnia and other places like that so not white either. Black is to me too 'Godfather' and way too trendy so Ipanema Sand seems to be a good compromise.

I wanted a lighter coloured car and interior because my house is on the Gold Coast and when I finally get there i.e. retirement I figure a lighter option (and window tinting) would be better for the Queensland climate.

Bugger me but I didn't realise that window tinting could be so complex. I have never had after-market window tinting on any of my cars but I thought it was a good idea at the time. I guess I'll just wait and see. I'm not naive to think that I will avoid paying a premium going through a dealer but they seem to be very professional and doing a good job fitting my extras e.g brake controllers, power cables, caravan cameras etc So I'm not complaining.

Cheers

George

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Originally Posted by GeorgeK

Hi Ron,

The car colour is Ipanema Sand with Almond interior. The car colour was the only disagreement I had with the wife in the entire car purchase activity. Amazing! My good lady insisted we don't get another silver car. What can I say but I like silver. But a happy wife is a happy life so no silver. Also no white for me. White fourbys take me back to UN vehicles in East Timor, Bosnia and other places like that so not white either. Black is to me too 'Godfather' and way too trendy so Ipanema Sand seems to be a good compromise.

I wanted a lighter coloured car and interior because my house is on the Gold Coast and when I finally get there i.e. retirement I figure a lighter option (and window tinting) would be better for the Queensland climate.

Bugger me but I didn't realise that window tinting could be so complex. I have never had after-market window tinting on any of my cars but I thought it was a good idea at the time. I guess I'll just wait and see. I'm not naive to think that I will avoid paying a premium going through a dealer but they seem to be very professional and doing a good job fitting my extras e.g brake controllers, power cables, caravan cameras etc So I'm not complaining.

Cheers

George

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Nice colour choice George - I'd have to say I agree with your missus. There are too many silver cars out there.

You're right about keeping in the good books with SWMBO. My missus and I couldn't agree on our initial colour choice. When I first ordered the vehicle it too was with Ipanema Sand (we compromised on this one) and the salesman appeared puzzled for a moment, then responded with "Ipanema Sand? Oh you mean Champagne, yeah we can do that". Any confidence I had in my dealer dissapated - they don't even know their own colours??? I've got to stop bagging my dealer - it's almost becoming an obsession.

However, my wife and I have had white cars for yonks so we felt out of our comfort zone and reverted back to a colour we could both agree on and feel comfortable with. So mine's now a whitey with the almond interior (I've never been in the services so the white doesn't have any reminders for me).

To be honest we also felt $1,800 for metallic colours was a bit steep. My missus was getting a bit tired of white but since its the only solid colour on offer we went for it. I'm so glad LR don't have exotics like lime green or canary yellow because I know what my missus would have opted for... I'd be so embarrased rocking up to my first caravan park in a canary yellow D4!:thumbsdown:

I've decided on tinting not so much to keep things cooler (hey, my missus made me opt for the cold climate pack - I've got absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with a heated steering wheel!) but because of security. I once had a Landcruiser broken into and ransacked and it left an unpleasant feeling. I figure if they can't see in they'd be less inclined to go for an opportunistic grab.

And, if my dealer offered great (nah, maybe even "normal") service I'd be inclined to let them do things too. When I asked about a brake controller it was like pulling teeth... oops (note to myself: stop bagging).

Trust you're having sleepness nights now in joyful anticipation of the new arrival...

Regards, Ron

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Originally Posted by Watpub

Hi all,

I've noticed that many of you have had the windows tinted in your Discos. As my Disco is now imminent I'm weighing up the pros and cons - I reckon that they do look cool (pardon the pun) with windows tinted.

However, motoring bodies such as the RACV are bagging tinting: e.g.

RACV position

• RACV does not encourage motorists to have their vehicle's windows tinted. Window tinting can reduce a driver's visibility in certain driving environments and this has the potential to decrease road safety.
• As an alternative to window tinting, RACV recommends drivers and passengers wear sunglasses as an equally effective means of reducing excessive glare.
• RACV believes there is a lack of evidence that tinting provides any significant benefits in keeping a car cool. Features such as air conditioning will do this job more effectively.
• RACV does not support a change to the current required minimum levels of light transmittance through vehicle windows, as currently prescribed by Victorian roadworthy regulations. As yet, no solid evidence exists to show that this would reduce the number of crashes on the road.
• RACV calls on window tinting businesses to ensure their work complies with roadworthy requirements. RACV also advises consumers who choose to have tinting applied to their vehicle to seek assurances their vehicle will remain in a roadworthy state as a result of the tinting.

I've never had a car with tinted windows so I thought I'd throw it out there. What do youse (as my daughter would say) guys think? Interested to hear your views...

Regards,

Ron

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Hi Ron,

I live in Brisbane and just about every car I see has tinting. Every car I've owned has had tinting. I can't comment on the legal aspects as I've never been pulled over for the tinting or heard of anybody who has....maybe the police are more tolerant here or the law is different??!! Having read all the other responses I didn't realise that it was so complex.

I agree with all the positive comments, cooling, looks, security etc. I always get the darkest legal....My D4 came from Cairns and being a demo, was already tinted. It's quite dark but even with me wearing sunglasses there are no issues.

The stated night time reversing downsides are definately true but with all seven black leather seats up (headrests), and the pillars of the D4, visability out the rear and rear sides, isn't too flash anyway when going backwards....but then neither was my Berlina either. I roll down the glass and use my parking sensors. If off road.....I get out and have a look....I think I'd be doing that regardless of the colour of my glass.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

As with several others I have never owned a car without tinting and wouldn't for all the same reasons.

The Land Rover has a reasonable reversing light so I have never experienced night time reversing issues with it, My Peugeot on the other hand its reversing light emits a feeble glow that a firefly would be ashamed of and with its tinting you can't see a damn thing out the back at night, you just have to close your eyes and hope for the best, luckily it has rear reversing sensors.

Just saw this today (for those in Vic):

Crackdown on tinted windows

Hmm... must admit I know the Defender is sitting there with tint that's too dark (just went and bought the darkest stuff from Autobahn, which of course, despite being legally sold, is illegal to use on the road)... Wondering whether I should risk it or probably will end up stripping it and redoing with something lighter.

Although given they're checking cars in Carlton, they're probably more after the boy-racers than a 10 year old Defender....

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Originally Posted by eddiec

Just saw this today (for those in Vic):

Crackdown on tinted windows

Hmm... must admit I know the Defender is sitting there with tint that's too dark (just went and bought the darkest stuff from Autobahn, which of course, despite being legally sold, is illegal to use on the road)... Wondering whether I should risk it or probably will end up stripping it and redoing with something lighter.

Although given they're checking cars in Carlton, they're probably more after the boy-racers than a 10 year old Defender....

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Thanks Eddiec,

I've got a mate who's a copper so I'll see what the go is...

I wish they'd also crack down on those gawd-awful thumpa-thumpa boom box stereo systems around Carlton! Or maybe I'm just slipping into old age gracelessly...

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Originally Posted by brad72

I also got mine tinted with the darkest legal 3m tint just after purchasing it to avoid luxury car tax

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Interesting statement. How is this connected with luxury car tax?