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Old Feb 5, 2009 | 08:48 AM
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Default B8 Window Tint

I really want to put some tint on my car, but I'm not sure what to do. I live in NJ, so the odds of me not getting a ticket are slim to none. In any event, I'll prolly wind up doing it anyway. The problem I'm having is deciding what percentage tint to go with. Obviously, the darker I go, the more likely I am to draw attention from the police. Has anyone else here tinted their B8 yet? If so, how much tint? Also, please post pics if you have any. I'm thinking 35% would be a nice, moderate tint. The car is brilliant black which would prolly make the tinr look lighter in comparison to a lighter car. I dunno, I'm overthinking this I think, lol. Anyone have any input?
 
Old Feb 5, 2009 | 05:41 PM
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I tinted my Ibis white B8 35% all around. I went to a guy who I really did not trust, but all my friends said they did their tint with him and he does an excellent job and would charge only $135. I wanted to go to the pros like Al&Eds here in South California. They told me it would cost $250. I had bad experience doing my tint at private shops, and was overthinking it just like you. Thank god I listened to my friends and did my tint with the private shop. He told me a couple things that are rather obvious, but most people don't think about.

You have to ask yourself, what kind of color is the interior of your B8. If its black, your 35% will look a lot darker. I was actually thinking about going 20% all around, but he told me that it would look dark enough with my black interior.

Another HUGE thing I ran into...take a look at your rear brake lights. The one on top of your rear windshield. He had to cut the tint out around that, or he said he could have charged me an extra $150 to take off the roof lining (interior rear ceiling) if I wanted to tint the entire rear window. My friend has an 09 G35 with the brake light in the rear windshield as well, except he has an inch of space between the windshield and the brake light allowing for room for the tint. In Audi's they don't leave that room, so you really have to consider if you want to cut the tint around the tail light. Trust me, it looks really nice with it cut out.

In California, the legal tint allowed is 35% on the front 2 windows. I don't know how it is in NJ, but I would go with 35% all around.
 
Old Feb 5, 2009 | 06:59 PM
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Originally Posted by pazo
I tinted my Ibis white B8 35% all around. I went to a guy who I really did not trust, but all my friends said they did their tint with him and he does an excellent job and would charge only $135. I wanted to go to the pros like Al&Eds here in South California. They told me it would cost $250. I had bad experience doing my tint at private shops, and was overthinking it just like you. Thank god I listened to my friends and did my tint with the private shop. He told me a couple things that are rather obvious, but most people don't think about.

You have to ask yourself, what kind of color is the interior of your B8. If its black, your 35% will look a lot darker. I was actually thinking about going 20% all around, but he told me that it would look dark enough with my black interior.

Another HUGE thing I ran into...take a look at your rear brake lights. The one on top of your rear windshield. He had to cut the tint out around that, or he said he could have charged me an extra $150 to take off the roof lining (interior rear ceiling) if I wanted to tint the entire rear window. My friend has an 09 G35 with the brake light in the rear windshield as well, except he has an inch of space between the windshield and the brake light allowing for room for the tint. In Audi's they don't leave that room, so you really have to consider if you want to cut the tint around the tail light. Trust me, it looks really nice with it cut out.

In California, the legal tint allowed is 35% on the front 2 windows. I don't know how it is in NJ, but I would go with 35% all around.
pazo, thanks so much for your feedback! That's exactly the kind of input I was looking for. I would have to see a car with and without the brake light cut out, but I assume that if I had to choose sight-unseen, I would have him cut it out, too. NJ law actually prohibits front windows from being tinted at all, but I refuse to tint the rear and rear passenger windows and not the front. One of my friends "know a guy" who will do it for $150. I think I might just go for it and take my chances with the police.
 
Old Feb 5, 2009 | 07:09 PM
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Originally Posted by ThePiombino
pazo, thanks so much for your feedback! That's exactly the kind of input I was looking for. I would have to see a car with and without the brake light cut out, but I assume that if I had to choose sight-unseen, I would have him cut it out, too. NJ law actually prohibits front windows from being tinted at all, but I refuse to tint the rear and rear passenger windows and not the front. One of my friends "know a guy" who will do it for $150. I think I might just go for it and take my chances with the police.
Well, My car is 5% all around, 50% on the windshield. My rationale behind everything was if I'm going to get pulled over for 35% (and you will) you're going to get pulled over for 5% as well, the price of the ticket doesn't change either. If you're looking for privacy, in the daytime nothing gets the job done quite like 5%, but at night if you don't live in a well lit area and are turning the corner you would have to look out the windshield to check for pedestrians. To avoid tickets from tints you need to apply to have tints on your car at the DMV in NJ it's the MVC now, this is a paper that an eye doctor needs to fill out and basically qualify you to put tints all over your vehicles, this includes 3 layers of 5% all over the car, it doesn't matter once you have this card so you may want to look into that. Take a look in my signature the pictures there really show just how dark the tints look to the outside. Good Luck!

EDIT: btw, it would cost you a lot of money to get them and not like them so this is a tough decision, look at the differences between films which is usually the difference between prices from store to store, the metallic being reflective and the dye not. Check out http://www.tintcenter.com/ for everything you need to know about tints!
 

Last edited by stathound; Feb 5, 2009 at 07:13 PM. Reason: edit
Old Feb 6, 2009 | 10:37 AM
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Sorry for the confusion when I said 35% all around. I meant including the front 2 windows, but not the windshield. The windshield tint is illegal in California. The 2 front were illegal as well, up until a couple years ago, when they started to allow 35% on the front.

Also, I had experience with 5% tint on all windows except the front windshield. I am not doing that again. It does give you a lot of privacy during the day and during the night, but I almost killed a couple of pedestrians. Its like driving blind. Parking at night is a nightmare with 5% tint. Thank god my new Audi has a reverse camera.
 
Old Feb 6, 2009 | 12:49 PM
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Got the dealer tint i would of loved a Dark tint on the White.. but dealer didnt do it for me.. some time the car gets some shade and it looks deadly. Just get warranty on the tint and dont get no cheap chinese film either.
 
Old Feb 7, 2009 | 10:54 AM
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Thank you all so much for your replies. I am going to try to go the eye doctor route for sure. I have been shot down by 1 doctor so far, saying that he would have problem writing a script, but that when he's done so for similar issues in the past, it has been rejected everytime. I just gotta keep trying I guess, lol.
 
Old Feb 12, 2009 | 01:25 PM
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Originally Posted by kavan
Got the dealer tint i would of loved a Dark tint on the White.. but dealer didnt do it for me.. some time the car gets some shade and it looks deadly. Just get warranty on the tint and dont get no cheap chinese film either.
HAHAH "cheap chinese film"

I'm chinese and i know most stuff that comes from China is crap too~

i didn't tint my B8, but the dealer had one in their lot that they tinted w/ 20%. looks pretty good, but i prefer the clear windows (easy viewing)
 
Old Feb 12, 2009 | 07:11 PM
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im also looking to get tints but i was reading something about taking the color of the interior into account also...i have the black interior and im thinking of geting 15% all around cause sometimes i feel like 20% would look too light haha...can someone express their opinion...appreciate it
 
Old Feb 13, 2009 | 11:39 AM
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I started to dislike dark tint. I had very bad experience driving with 5% tint. It was just hell at night, and don't even get me started on the parking. I realize 15% is lighter than 5%, but still. IMO, I would not get 35% tint is a little too light, but with a black interior like mine, it looks rather dark. I would go a step down, which I believe is 20%. That will be pretty dark with a black interior. 15% just sounds too dark, and makes it difficult to drive at night.
 



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