Tinting for a 2011 Prius

Are you in socal or norcal?

When I was in orange county during vacation, it seemed like 75%+ of the cars I saw had 35% or darker on the front windows. Here on the central coast, those cars wouldn't last an hour.

I'd say llumar Air Blue 80 or Premier's Diamond Cut IR 73 are the only films that are truly safe for the front windows. Anything else is a crapshoot. For the rears I would not go darker than 30% due to nighttime visibility.

MB860 ?

 

Legally, you can't tint the front side windows any further because the factory glass is already near the limit. In practice, however, you can get away with 50% tint on front side windows (for an aggregate of ~37.5%) if you're in socal. I had 35% on a previous car for 10 years without getting ticketed. Any darkness can be used on the other windows other than windshield.

The lower rear hatch is factory-tinted 29% in the glass.

 

Factory tint is ~75%, therefore you'll want a 30% film for an aggregate of ~23% (~75% x 0.30 = ~22.5%). On the lower rear hatch which is 29%, you can leave it alone or black it out even more using the same film if you like the blacked out look there.

 

i got my car tinted at 20% all around. you can check it out if you want i think it looks great. also if you want a good shop you can contact me for the info.

 

Yes, the glass on the top half of the hatch is factory tinted 74% so it'll be around 23% when you apply a 30% tint.

 

You'll need to tint the bottom glass as well, if you want the glass to have the same color from the inside.

 

No, it's still going to be slightly different because lower hatch glass is tinted dark gray whereas the rest of the windows are green. Putting the same film over them may mask the color difference slightly but they still won't be the exact same color.

 

True, but it will be relatively close-- and much better than no film at all.

However, Huper Optik matches the factory tint perfectly.

 

Elementary school math. Divide 0.23 by 0.29 (as the lower hatch is factory-tinted 29%) and the result is 0.79 or 79%, so you'll need a 80% film to match. However, unless you get the Air Blue 80 all around I'd just go with the lightest % film of the brand you're getting for 30% film so the color is consistent. It might be slightly darker but shouldn't be that noticeable.

 

I live in Socal, Los Angeles Area to be exact. I had my hatch windows tinted to 90% which is near Limo and my 8 door windows tinted to 50% all around. I've had them for about 6 months and i haven't got into any trouble with the popo. If i see a police coming my way or waiting around, i just roll down my two front windows.

I'll post up pictures if you would like.


Anyways, GOOD LUCK!

 

Also, any color difference is mainly going to be visible from the inside, not outside. From the outside, as long as the shade you choose is "in the ballpark," you will not be able to notice the difference.

If you go with Huper, I can say that tinting the back windows with Huper Optik 30 and using Huper Optik 40 on the privacy glass piece will result in a near perfect match, imo.

 

The heat rejection of window tint is not always dependent on the darkness. For instance, Llumar's Air Blue 80 has a TSER rating in the 50 range (IIRC) and is an 80% film.

Ceramic films will deliver far superior heat rejection at much lighter shades. However, most ceramic films I've seen have a more brownish, rather than deep black appearance. Not sure if appearance is the top priority here. If it is, then I think Suntek Carbon XP is a good film to consider since it has that deep black appearance yet has very good heat rejection for a dyed/carbon film.

http://www.suntekfilms.com/common/files/SunTek-Window-Films-automotive-specsheet.pdf

 

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