Advise on window tint for the BRZ?
 

I have never tinted my windows on any on the cars that i have owned in the past. But i would like to tint the windows of my BRZ. Basically i like to have a light dark tint (i want to still be able to have a good view at night).

Definitely, im not looking to have a very dark tint because i have heard that having a dark tint makes it difficult to see/drive at night.

Can anybody show some pics of their BRZ with the level of tint and how your night driving visibility is affected?

Jesus people. Do some searching. Do you think your the first person to ask this question

They might have answered it here :suicide:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17459

What you really need to be worried about is your local law. There is probably a limit as to how dark you can go, so my recommendation is to go as dark as legally allowed, or just enough over to where you can get by.

You don't want to go so dark that you get pulled over every day, but going too light isn't worth the money. Check your local tint law first before anything else.

Mine is 35%, I wish it were a bit darker.

Yes it does, dramatically.
I had 2.5% tint on my last car and you cant see out of the windows at night, you literally have to roll them down when your at a stop sign or light to see oncoming traffic. and when your parking its a nightmare

Well.. as I said, I have 35% and I have never noticed any difficulty seeing out.. maybe there are different types/methods of tinting. I was just sitting in my car and did notice that the glass looks a bit darker from the inside, so my apologies if I'm just flat out wrong. I just have never heard of this being an issue, and has never been an issue for my tinted cars. Idk what % my RX8 was, but I got a ticket for it, and I never even noticed they were tinted.

why would you get darker than limo tint on a car?

OP i have 30% tint put on the car and with its light tinting from the factory comes out to 25% and it looks great and isn't too dark. i have 20% on my P5 and its a tad dark at night but not terrible.

Shows how much I know.. I thought the higher the %, the darker the tint.. I'll just turn around and quietly leave the room now...

Well i got 5% but when i got pulled over once they measured it and it came out to 2.5%. there really isn't a difference between 5% and 2.5%.
but thanks for your concern :thumbsup:

nope, the % number is the amount of light the tint allows through. :)

ah gotcha, i was asking because A, i wasn't aware you could go darker than 5% (makes sense if you add 5% and it comes out to less) and B was curious as to why someone would opt to go so dark on a front window where they would need to lower the window to see traffic.

yea that was something i learned after doing so. ill probably never go that dark again, unless the car isnt my daily

:w00t: well there's something the OP can take home, don't get 5% added lol. and thanks for sharing the tint post for the op. not everyone can figure out how to use google. :thumbsup:

thankx

stock tint is 75%, so anything you put on it is multiplied.
I got 55% suntek cxp which is 53% x 75%= 39.75% effective
Its on the light side but I drive at night a lot and I am very happy. It is rated at 48% heat rejection.
Heat rejection=effectiveness
Darkness=looks and privacy but also cops and tickets

I drive with 35% and never had any issues with it. I had a car with 20% before, and it was great.

Your profile shows you in New Jersey. It is against the law to put tint on your door windows in New Jersey unless you have a medical exemption.

Strangely, you can put tint as dark as you want on the back window and on the little triangular back seat windows. But no tint is allowed on the windows in the doors. Stupid nanny states.

I'm from NJ and have 35 percent tint all the way around and never been pulled over in NJ for it. 35 looks dark during the night and when its cloudy, during the day its not so dark that it draws attention from the police. For visibility its fine when driving on the highway at night the only thing is you might need to roll your windows down if you need to parallel park.

A good tint guy should have no problems.

Some people mod the door jam button to prevent the window from rolling down. It doesn't really interfere with opening/closing. My installer didn't like that idea, so I think he heated the edges more? Not sure, but perfectly fine.

Some believe the window rolls to alleviate cabin pressure when closing the door. I think the real answer is the stress put on the frameless window during a door slam, or combo of the two.

I had 15% on my last car. I have 35% now, and thought it was too light for a few days, but now I think it's perfect. Too dark starts to draw attention when you start modding the rest of the car out.

I gave always had 20% on every car I've owned and never had an issue.

I don't really have good pictures of the tints on my car at the moment but here are some pictures I found. I took these photos for other reasons so it doesn't really center on the tints but...hopefully it gives you an idea?

I'll take some more pictures if you wish but take a look at these for now.

I have Formula One pinnacle series ceramic tints installed at 15%. I was told that they're slightly lighter than regular tints so it's basically 20% versus the other stuff. Supposedly cuts UV rays and keeps the interior from getting hot but honestly I got it for looks and privacy while driving (My sister got tons of stares from other drivers when she took my car for a spin....she egged me on to get this lol).

I wouldn't recommend anything darker or else you wouldn't be able to see jack. Also when I wear my sunglasses polarized or not...it makes seeing the lights through the side windows while waiting at a stop pretty difficult at times.

http://imageshack.com/a/img633/1998/ERTj9H.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img537/5827/TVf7xQ.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img540/3011/uWCDJT.jpg


At 15% it is totally illegal here in my city but I've never had any issues about tinting with police. I think the only people that I know that have received warnings or tickets for it were friends of mine that did stupid things and got this tagged ontop of whatever ticket they got by the police officer lol

Hope it gives you an idea?

Cheers,
J.

Awesome, that looks like something i would want on my BRZ. I will be looking about tint shops on my area to get this done sometime before the spring!.

Thanks

Must be nice to have 15%. I have to have 25% on my door windows here in Texas but I have 5% everywhere else. Now I need the reverse light kit from diode dynamics so I can see when backing up lol.

Yeah I had the same worry when I got my tints as well since the windows roll down. The guy that installed it for me said that it was generally okay. I went to a pretty well known shop so I wasn't worried about it too much after he assured me. Besides my tints came with a warranty lol. He just told me to keep the door opening to a minimum if possible.

The tints took 5 days max to dry out etc and be fixed in place and during the whole time I still drove around as per usual. I didn't roll down the windows at all during that period.

On average I used the door maybe 12 times a day? Mine turned out fine. Though I guess that largely in part depends on the shop. I've had friends go to some cheaper places and their tints start bubbling etc.

I just drove around at night and I have to say it was pretty hard to see the floor earlier while reversing out lol. I was in a very poorly lit area though. Didn't have issues in the city normally. My street lights just decided to die on me for some reason lol (like 3 at once outside my house). So if you decide to do 15% I hope you live in a decently lit place at night lol.

The folks that did my tint said the small amount of movement opening the door wouldn't be a problem. The only time they run into an issue he said was on some model BMW's. Something about the seals being pretty tight on the door. I have had mine (35%) since about november and don't notice any difficulty seeing out them at night. Any darker than that is illegal in Illinois, although my last car had 25% and never got a ticket :iono: Just try to find an installer that gives lifetime warranties on the tint. Any bubbles/tears I get, they replace no charge as long as I own the car.

TLDR; 25% definitely makes it harder to see at night. Check local laws. 75% max in Iowa

25% does make it harder to see at night but not much. the only time it adversely affects me is in places with NO light. Anywhere that has reasonable lighting it just fine.

I love the looks of my "25%" and it does not affect visibility much at all during the day.

I think im going to look around for a shop near north jersey that does tint. They might have sample of how it would/can look. So far, based on what i have read, im thinking on going with 25%-35% of tint.

get 35%

When I got my G35 Coupe windows tinted (they have the same auto open/close functionality when you open/close the door), I didn't have any visible issues with the tint peeling. When I had to replace my window motor a year later, I could see where the window brushes had peel back small amounts on the bottom of the window, but when the door panel is on you can't see it.

Not sure if that's norm

I have 20% and I have not had any problems seeing at night. I think the darker tint works better with my darker paint color.

How much did you guys got your tints for? I just got a quote from 2 difference places. The first one wants $230. The second place wants $120 to tint. Its a decent different in prices, so just want to see how much you guys pay.

Thanks.

I had mine done at the dealership, put 35% all the way around, was surprised how dark it turned out. In my opinion I wouldn't go any darker than that, still great visibility at night time and can barely see unless completely creeping in the day.

IME that large of a gap is likely due to quality of tint used. name brand 3m vs generic (that may be more likely to purple or bubble after time). mine was tinted by previous owner so no idea what cost was. but I believe im running slightly darker than 35%.

I just sprayed my windows with plasti-dip. Easier than tint to remove if I do get in trouble. It is opaque, so no one can see in. Its like I drive a mini, red, limo.

I can't see out of the windows either. Hoping the JDM rearview mirror comes in from Japan soon, so I can see.

Ok i spoke to the guy that does the tint and he said they use a window tint called "spectrum". I have been trying to look for reviews about the tint but can't find none.

So in conclusion, $120 full window tint using "sprectrum" tint. Does that sound good?

Also i have been trying to find reviews about that place but cant find none. They have been around for 5 years and my friends tells me that they have a lot of clients coming for tints and audio system installs. This place is located in Passaic, NJ.

the price seems reasonable considering other vehicles ive had tinted in the past (250+ for a sedan). i cant vouch for the name of that brand tho (positive or negative). id shoot to find some that has metalic properties as it will help with heat rejection.

Do some more searching online for that brand. For some reason, i'm not sure what that is.