To Tint or Not to Tint

He's wrong. It is under the dash.

 

Hi--I also have a white Prius - just bought a used '05. I live in the Palm Springs area and am concerned about excessive heat -- also, I've noticed I feel like I'm sitting in the sun a lot of the time as the top of car doesn't 'cover' the driver much and given the angle of the sun, you just get a lot of sun on you. I am not a sun person at all.

Also, white causes glare.

What percentage are you considering going? I definitely would do the windshield, but I believe it's the windshield and side front windows that are regulated. Just wondered what you're siding with given all the suggestions. I, too, want it to look nice--also don't want the car 'dark', or hard to see out.

If anyone else has suggestions re tinting a white Prius in the desert, I'm all ears.......thank you and loooove this forum.

 

Not sure about your state, but this would be illegal in Oklahoma.

You probably won't ever get stopped for having your tint too dark, especially if it is border line.

If you were to ever get in a wreck and either a lot of damaged happened or someone was killed or seriously injured. Even though you may not be at fault you can bet the police and lawers would see your tint as illegal and then you could face a nasty lawsuit or worse.

An example: It is late and someone pulls out from the side, you hit and kill them. The police then notice your tint is too dark and test it with a meter. Sure enough, you are too dark and get a ticket. Next thing you know your facing a lawsuit alleging the reason you couldn't see was because of the illegal tint. See where I am going with this?

 

Looks like we lost many of the tinting articles and pictures. I hope loosing articles doesn't happen again for a 3rd time?

So let's break it down: depending on tint darkness and color, the look could improve (eye of the beholder). Some people think extremely dark tint makes a car look cheap. I think it's worse when only the rears are dark tinted. I tinted primarily for heat reduction, so I picked Hüper Optik ceramic: 45% rear, 60% front.

It only very little cuts down night vision in the back if you were trying id cops following you in the dark, and there's a little reflection glare from the defroster lines and the tint film (you can see sorta see the lines now). Focus on low reflectivity tint (metallic isn't, ceramic/dye is) which doesn't make it a mirror room inside at night.

Tint only really affects night-time visibility in how much light the tint itself is designed to cut down. 35% in the back means 35% of the light you would normally see so judge for yourself. Ask for samples so you could lay it on your windows, walk around, and see what you can live with.

The GPS dish is behind the MFD display so as long as you don't metallic tint the front window, GPS is not affected. If you metallic tint the rears, celphone reception in the passenger seats is reduced in strength.

Find somebody who will not do the initial cutting of the film inside the car because they could scratch something inside. Computer precut is nice, but since it's still placed by hand, there's inside trimming involved so moot on an advantage.

 

What is comfortable? Many of the tint films list their solar energy reduction vs how dark the tint. You should be able to estimate something from that.

Most gangsta style darkness is around 35-30% or lower.

 

Seventeen years ago, I bought a used Accord that had tinted windows but the tinting had bubbled and looked poor. Is that still ever an issue or has the technology improved since then?

If I want to tint my Prius, should I get it from the dealer or some other place? I'll ask some friends for local recommendations, but is there some national chain (Maaco maybe?) that does tinting?

How much should I expect to pay?

Thanks in advance.

 

I got the dealer tinting done (if you're a Costco member you can get a Costco price) and it looks very nice. No bubbling or anything whatsoever.

 

Has anyone in the Willamette Valley (Oregon) or Vancouver, Washington had their windows tinted? My dealer in Eugene does not offer that, but has referred me to a private shop that will charge $325. That seems a bit steep, and I'd like to have another option, or at least feel like I'm not being ripped off.

Help? Anyone?

 

I'd love to tint, but I am concerned about the laws. A very light tint all around, might be nice, less than what it shown on the Toyota sites, but it seems that any tinting of the windshield is illegal almost everywhere. Oh, well. So maybe I will do the darker tint on the back windows to make up for it, in accordance with most state laws. Looks a little silly I think, but I suppose it might come in handy sometime.

 

I live in the SF bay area. I had my windows tinted in Oakland at Professional Film Installations (510) 839-2430. Jim Oakes is the owner and does excellent work...this is the 7th car I've had him tinted! I had the passenger front windows tinted light ON35 and all the rest 1 under the darkest ON20. He even applied a lighter tint on the bottom back small window to match the top window. He charged me $240. for all and $190. if he didn't tint the front. The tint did not effect the Navigation system or cell phone at all. Peace

Are You Experienced Michael J

 

Where did you have it done and how much. Also what are the limits in CA?

 

I just got mine done. 35% on all windows. $180. Lifetime warranty. It only took them 45 minutes! I'm very impressed with their work.

 

I found this old thread on window tinting from last Oct in the Appearance Mods forum. Here in AZ a good tint job is essential for summer survival, and we're lining up a shop to do our new 2006 Driftwood. I don't want to make the wrong choice on metallic vs "carbon" type film and screw up GPS reception for the NAV system.

We will do the side and hatchback windows, but not the windshield. I'm wondering if that small rubberized mat on top of the MFD housing could be the embedded antenna?? Does anybody have any experience with films that caused reception issues for GPS or cell phone? Looking thru the past threads, there seemed to be a few responses that both carbon and metallic films worked OK. Any body have a bad experience with either of these?

Thanks,

Infidel

 

Has anyone with Tire Pressure Monitors run into a problem with metalized tint? According to the owner's manual it recommends against using tints with metal. I'm tinting my windows this week and was going to go with metal tint, but don't want to make the sensors useless.

 

Check your local laws. Ohio prohibits after market tinting to exceed 70% light transmission in front and 50% sides.

 

I have a question about tinting. Will it always cause those spots to show up that I can see with my polarized sunglasses? I wouldn't want something that looks crappy anytime I put on my sunglasses. Is there any kind of tint I should be looking for or to avoid, if this is a big concern?

 

To start Palm Springs is very nice, just spent the weekend there and I know exactly where you are coming from with the tinting desires.

To add some information for you, California does say that your windshield can not be tinted at all. The drivers side windows I believe should not be tinted however many manufacturers and I believe even law permits up to a 30% tint. (That means 30% of light is blocked and 70% permitted) Now in California assuming you have both side view mirrors and a rear view you can tint all rear windows including rear windshield as much as you like.

For both my Prius and my Mazda 3 that I used to have I went with a 50% front, 95% back. So very black backs and half/half fronts. I haven't been pulled over for it however I also havent been pulled over at all. There is always a chance that if you get pulled over for speeding or whatever they may give you a warning on the violation but give you a fixit for the tinting (in my case with 50%). Best thing I can suggest is be polite, dont lie, and roll down both front windows before the officer approaches. Granted that could cause suspicion especially if its oh say raining or whatnot.

Either way im willing to risk a fix it for the ammount of time I spend on the CA highways. The damn sun here is too bright for me, plus my eyes have slower than usual muscles which makes going from very bright to dark harder on me. Granted ive not yet asked for a Dr's note but that would permit front window tinting.

Okay im done rambling.

 

Its possible. If you are concerned then go with Huber Optick or a similar ceramic tint. I tinted with V-Kool 75 and love it because of the high IR rejection but I didn't have a NAV when it was done. SInce then I bought an after market SatNav and I'm noticing that it will have problems acquiring the signal once in a while. Especially on cloudy days. I'm going to add an external antenna as soon as I figure out how to route the cable without tearing the interior apart.

 

I have an 06 Barcalona Red with Package 8. I don't know much about how tinting is done, other than I wanted it done when I purchased the car. My dealer charged me $190, and said that they had a local shop do it. All windows were tinted with maximum allowed except for the front windshield and the peice below the spoiler, which were left alone. I don't see that it has affected either cell phone, GPS, or the tire monitor thing. Attached are some photos

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