tinted windows

That's because as a driver you must be able to see "clearly" out of the windows in all light conditions. Legally the windscreen must let in 75% of the light and drivers side windows 70%

There may/will be a problem medium to long term when winding down the windows and the film pulling off, scratching or creasing. Excessive heat when the car is parked in the sun may also affect an applied plastic film.

I strongly suspect you have had tinted windows - most car glass has been tinted since the '80s, with higher-end stuff for a good while longer.

What you're thinking of is "privacy glass". Pimptint.

Yep, to both.

Your average chavchariot will have tint film applied to the glass. It's easy to do. It's hard to do well. It can be removed again later. I'm about to find out how easily, since the tailgate on the newly acquired Shogun has VERY badly applied film. I rather suspect that it's going to be an arse of a job, and leave the heated element mullered.

But new cars with privglass - that's just a much darker tint applied to the glass in manufacture. You could still apply film to it, but can't remove the tint.

Yes, and not by applying it...

Whilst there's darkness limits for windscreen and front side windows, anything goes as far as darkness behind the driver's head. Vans, after all, often have solid steel.

Speaking of which - anybody have any ideas of how to get a rough idea of the tint level? The Shogun's got dark tint front door glass. I suspect it's illegal - and it's not a film. Ideally, I'd replace the windows, but I can't be arsed unless it actually is.

I was thinking of just getting the side (rear) windows done, just to keep the sun's glare off the children. I think I could leave the rear window alone and that way avoid damage to the demister. I was going to get quotes for applying the film though some of those disadvantages are making me think twice! Thanks

you need tint that blocks uv light, if you just have plain tint it is like using cheap sunglasses, your irises open up to compensate and uv floods into the eye and damages the eye (especially bad news for kids)

Keep the "passenger window lock" control locked.

No, a tinted film on glass is not the same as a single filter with worse ratio of UV filter to visible.

Almost ALL glass filters UV. UVB 100%. Clear float glass passes 70% UVA (filters 30%) and unless you buy special glass all other glass has lower UVA transmission. Tinted glass blocks more UV than clear glass.

Laminated glass blocks close to 100% of both UVA and UVB. So depending on direction of sun you may not be getting any UV at all. Adding a tinted plastic film to plain or lightly tinted glass will improve the UV filtration. If it's 50% tint for a side glass then it only needs to have 71% UV transmission to bring the overall UV transmission down to the same as the visible tint 100 x 50/70 = 71%. (max film UV transmission % = 100 x film visible tint % / clear glass UV transmission %) Proportion of UV your eye gets to visible is (71 x 70) x

100 / 50 = 99.4% so it wouldn't increase UV to eye.

Lens in ZZtop's cheap sunglasses are a whole different issue they are not a film on a UV filter. If that has a 50% tint and 70% UV transmission you get 100 x 70/50 = 140% so 40% more UV in the eyes.

Don't use greenhouse glass from Dupont for vehicles. That lets all UV though so plants are happy.

A lux meter. Comparison test daylight and through the tint.

Coo... Blast from past...

It turned out to be pimptint film, and removed fairly easily.

My rule of thumb is that if you can tell a front window's tinted, then it's too dark. OEM glass is often tinted as dark as allowable while being barely discernable.

I don't get tinting. Yes, it looks quite good from the outside, but from the inside it must be a nightmare. Got a mate with a 530i estate that gained a modestly tinted rear glass when we replaced it. My initial reaction as I squint into the rear view mirror when trying to reverse it is that the self-dipping mechanism has gone wrong.

How people cope with these properly heavy tints I don't know. Must be like driving about at night half the time, and like driving in a thick fog at night. Even just the legal B-pillar back ones must be like driving a van.

Yep, that sounds about right.

There were certainly quite a few times when I opened the window to increase visibility.

Not far wrong.

The worst was the tailgate - it wasn't just film, it was incredibly badly applied film. The interior mirror was effectively useless, because it was like trying to look through a sheet of dark grey bubble-wrap. Covered in a layer of dried dog slobber. As I peeled the film off, the slobber was flaking off it...

It all came off fairly easily, with the help of a hot air gun to keep the film warm at the point of peel. I tried one front door cold, but it left much more of the adhesive on the glass. A petrol-soaked rag dealt with the adhesive fairly easily, together with a paint-scraper for the stubborn bits and to get the film started.

The tailgate film took a fair bit of the demisting with it, though - there's precisely three working elements now...

I might not get round to the rear door glasses and rear body side glass - ther trouble is, that's four panes per side between the two, with the fixed door glass quite heavily recessed, and a biggish overlap between the two sliding body panes per side. Considering the MOT this year was probably the last, it barely seems worth the effort.

I'm now on my 3rd car with OEM tints on the rear passenger and rear windows.

Sometimes it hampers visibility, but they're not as dark from the inside as they are from the outside.

But you're right about the looks - valencia orange pearlescent paint with dark tints from the B pillar back looks fantastic :)

I've never seen that, once, on any car with factory priv glass. It always looks unbalanced, unless you do the front door windows too.