How dark should I go on my windows?

[Th1r1ee]

Im gonna get my windows tinted on my black 98 explorer but need some help. I want a tint that I can still see pretty good at night, but I dont want anyone to see in during the day because I have a head unit tv(alpine cva 1003) and two kenwood 12"s in the back and my ps2. How dark should I go? I drove my brothers car which had 5% and I couldnt see anything at night. Is 20% dark enough to where no one will beable to see my stuff and still have good visibility at night?

Also, my rear windows have stock tint on them. Is this pressed in the glass or just tint over the windows? If its pressed in the glass how dark should I go over that to equal 20%?

 

[tbomb]

the tint on the trunk windows is 20% and its in the glass, you cant remove it. i had my front windows tinted to match, and the place used 20%, and its a perfect match. its dark enough to where i have good visibility out of it, but people looking in will have a hard time (they can walk right up and look in if they want, but its not like looking through a clear window, obviously.) if you click the link in my sig, and poke around the pics in "phase 3" on my website, those pics should have tinted windows, in case you wanna see what they look like. anything more than 20% is gonna draw attention from cops.

 

[Th1r1ee]

If my stock tint is already 20% then I dont think that is dark enough. Cause I can see right into the back at my 12s. I dont want anyone to beable to see what I have in my ride. The thing I'm most worried about is my head unit. Do any companies make a fake face plate that I can put over my head unit to make it look stock? If I can get one of those then I'll go 20%, but if not I might have to go darker.

 

[jimbo74]

make your own cover..... and if you want dark and dont like the factory tint...oh well, what i mean is for darker you are goiing to get less visibility out of it... glass is two way...you cant just make it appear darker on the outside without it being darker on the inside....

on the flipside, you could put on those exterior stickers with the holes in them... they dont allow viewing through the pics but dont hinder inside looking out too much...the bad thing is they will attract attention from people including the fuzz

 

[tbomb]

well, alec actually took his stock HU apart and used the face as a decoy over his new HU. theres an idea.

darker than 20 is gonna draw attention from cops and youre gonna get harassed. my windows you really cant see in, unless you go up, put your hand up, and look in - otherwise you really cant tell whats in there.

 

[LStoudenmire]

Window Tint

My XSport also has the factory rear tint, but I installed 20% on all side windows and rear. The installed tint did not change the reflectiveness of the rear, only made it so someone can't see in. And night vision is not impaired. I second TBOMB's opinion on the more than 20%, it will attract the officers.

 

[rustytr]

I wouldn't go more than 20%.

 

[TSTONE]

do you have a tendancy to attract cops?

if you do i recommend that you find out whats legal for your area and only exceed it by appx 10%, have the tint shop write your order for the legal %age(old dealer trick we use for customers who want darker tint), if you get stopped you can produce the bill to the cop and he can't do anything(much more than 10% and it will stand out bad), i know up here it's real common for cops to issue tickets and then you wind up having to yank out tint all together, good luck
todd

p.s. i've had some customers go with limo tint on the rears, and then if they do go heavier than 10% over in the front it doesn't stand out as bad, still a gamble and most tint shops won't bogafie a receipt at that point.