I've been hesitant about pulling the trigger on a window tint job for my Wagon, but the 90 plus degree weather that past week or so hastened my decision.
I originally was going to only tint from the B-pillar back, but I said "Screw it!" and tinted the front driver's & passenger side windows as well. (Keep in mind in Pa. where I live, it's illegal to install window tint on your car even though it will pass a state safety inspection....GO FIGURE...)
I've had cars with tinted windows in the past, so to protect my Wagon's pristine interior from fading, to keep the interior heat down when the car is parked in the sun, any mostly because it looks cool as heck, here are some pics of my newly tinted Wagon:
I had 85% tint from the B-pillar back and 35% tint on the front two - I must admit, I am stoked with the results !
~ Mike ~
Oh, and if anybody noticed, the tinter boogered up the mount job on the passenger side front ventshade, but fortunately didn't destroy it. I'll reinstall it in the next couple of days..
~ Mike ~
Looks great!
PRND321 Till I DIE
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Wow -that looks tough. You should be very happy with the end result - it looks great.
Kinda makes me want to tint the bird...
You will benefit a lot from your Tinting investment & it looks Great too boot!!
I've enjoyed tint as well. This old Wagon was tinted even before we became friends back in '02. Although the tint has seen better days it still does the job. I found I can keep it freshened up enough to see well out of by using one of those composite headlight cleaning heads for the drill, with some Carnauba wax on it and polishing the tint inside ( Preferably Not on a hot day!!LoL). You are right about benefiting the interior as the darker blue heats up so much from the sunlight. This Wagon's interior is in pretty good condition for the age - it hasn't tried to turn to powder like the 'Bird I have is trying to do.
Oh yeah......Be a little careful backing up now that you are on the darker side. Not that I'm admitting anything....
Damn Mike , you really need to put that Wagon in a time capsule. There aren't many in this good a condition anymore. I know.....You can't use it and keep it bottled up all the time.....LoL
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I just tinted my 3rd gen Saturday with 20%. my 2nd gen had 2.5% before I took it off and wrapped the windows in vinyl.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
Looks nice, almost makes the car look longer....... Mike, how do you like the vent shades? Was thinking of putting them on my Saturn VUE. Is it better to go with the inside channel set or the stick ons?
Really, really nice wagon!
84conv wrote:Looks nice, almost makes the car look longer....... Mike, how do you like the vent shades? Was thinking of putting them on my Saturn VUE. Is it better to go with the inside channel set or the stick ons?
Look around for different ones. My two 2nd gens had different styles when I bought them. Same with my 3rd gen. I ordered a set from advanced and they were kind of cheap looking but were wider making them mor functional. The ones I just bought for my other 3rd gen were from autozone and have a more sporty look but are about 1/3 narrower and not as functional. Depends on what you need them for. My 1st set I could leave the weird open a good 2-3 inches and the ran would not come in during an hurricane but the 2nd set I can only open an inch or so without getting rain in and I will not leave the windows cracked overnight with them. So check out different brands and do not go by the default pictures online. Even for bug shields the lie.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
Looks like a nice compliment to the overall car to me.I have tint on my mazda truck and have for years.Only thing is after a couple of years it has to be redone due to well the sun getting the best of it.No big deal though and I do my own tinting and use limo tint side quarter windows and back and 32% on door which NC requires no darker than this.Keep in mind use a glass cleaner like invisible glass window cleaner from most auto stores and walmart (the cheapest) and windex is a do not use bc over time the ammonia will make it turn purple.Looks good.I will never tint my cavs glass just for a stock thing plus stays garaged mostly and covered.
Something changed in the PA rule in the last 20 years, but I remember the PA rule was all windows may be tinted except the front three and the back glass; unless the vehicle is a cargo vehicle, then the back glass is OK (at that point, not sure about the front three).
Because you have a wagon, you have a cargo vehicle, so back glass is fine to tint.
I had illegal tinting on my original Hawk, never got stopped for it. I just didn't like the change in depth perception, especially at night.
that wagon looks legit. I like.
All windows can be tinted or made so they cannot be seen through behind the from two windows. As far as the drivers and passenger state law says they cannot instruct someone from seeing in or out so I always installed 20% tint on them. The front window can only be tinted till the AES makes and that's about 4 inches from the top of the window. If its not there then I belive it's 3.5 inches. You can get them all tinted as dark as you want if you are a welder or other person that may have issues seeing during the day with a doctors diagnosis to get them. But you need a note for the doctor. Also none of this applies to hotrods , historical cars, show cars, etc.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
84conv wrote:Looks nice, almost makes the car look longer....... Mike, how do you like the vent shades? Was thinking of putting them on my Saturn VUE. Is it better to go with the inside channel set or the stick ons?
I don't really *love* the Ventshades on my wagon because I think the car looks cleaner without them, but they are a necessary evil because they work well in venting extreme heat from the interior on hot, sunny days.
I'd had rather found an old-school, polished stainless set, but I'm not sure they were even made for the car.
The inside/ outside mounting question is a little more complicated. I prefer the inside mounting type - some are easy to install, but others are difficult bordering on the impossible to install like the ones I put on my wagon. I've installed the inside mounting type on a '95 Taurus I owned, and the '07 Accord I currently own and both set went on easily. The wagon on the other hand, were tight, poor fitting and had to be altered to fit properly. I even partially tore the corner of my driver's side rubber window seal during the installation !
I don't really care for the outside mounting ones, as they tend to become loose after time because the mounting tape drys out from the sun and elements. I have that type of Ventshades on my wife's Equinox and I've had to re-tape the leading edges on the front ones several times over the years. I also don't care for the idea of taping anything to a painted outside surface of a car.
The outside ones are easier to mount for sure and in some cases (like my wife's car) they are the only type you can get.
A little long winded, but I hope that helps !
~ Mike ~
Rob Dotterer wrote:All windows can be tinted or made so they cannot be seen through behind the from two windows. As far as the drivers and passenger state law says they cannot instruct someone from seeing in or out so I always installed 20% tint on them. The front window can only be tinted till the AES makes and that's about 4 inches from the top of the window. If its not there then I belive it's 3.5 inches. You can get them all tinted as dark as you want if you are a welder or other person that may have issues seeing during the day with a doctors diagnosis to get them. But you need a note for the doctor. Also none of this applies to hotrods , historical cars, show cars, etc.
My best friend is a policeman and the law is that NO add on tint whatsoever is allowed on any window on any vehicle other than those with a medical exemption. Factory tint is the only tint allowed in the state of Pa. - in fact, only things that are allowed to be stuck on a vehicle windows on cars in the state of Pa. are state inspection stickers and stickers of the bottom three inches of the rear windows (college and university alumni stickers), and that's it.
Police and Magistrates all over the state interpret the law in about a million different ways, but the general rule of thumb is that trucks, suvs, vans and station wagons can get away with tint on the rear windows as long as the front two aren't tinted, but that isn't what the letter of the law dictates. My best friend claims that tinting the front two exposes me to a better chance of being pinched for the tint........I may scrape it off one day.....but maybe not....
~ Mike ~
TITLE 75 Section 4524 (e)(1) of the Pennsylvania Common Statutes states that
(1) No person shall drive any motor vehicle with any sun screening device or other material which does not permit a person to see or view the inside of the vehicle through the windshield, side wing or side window of the vehicle.
Note that the law only prohibits tinting which prevents a person from seeing or viewing the inside of the vehicle. It does not prohibit all tinting or tinting below 70%.
The Law therefore implicitly permits any tinting which does not prevent a person from seeing or viewing the inside of the vehicle.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
Rob Dotterer wrote:TITLE 75 Section 4524 (e)(1) of the Pennsylvania Common Statutes states that
(1) No person shall drive any motor vehicle with any sun screening device or other material which does not permit a person to see or view the inside of the vehicle through the windshield, side wing or side window of the vehicle.
Note that the law only prohibits tinting which prevents a person from seeing or viewing the inside of the vehicle. It does not prohibit all tinting or tinting below 70%.
The Law therefore implicitly permits any tinting which does not prevent a person from seeing or viewing the inside of the vehicle.
Upon further review, you are sorta right and sorta wrong.
The Pa. law is based upon how old the vehicle is and what type of vehicle it is:
http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/pdotforms/fact_sheets/fs-sun.pdf
That law is from April 2013.
My car doesn't qualify as a "multi-purpose" vehicle because is isn't built on a truck chassis and isn't designed for occasional off-road use.
You can only use 70% legally on all windows, 70% is practically NOTHING:
I can't even find a picture depicting 70% tint because it's so slight, it's practically undetectable !
I have 15% on my back seven which is illegal and you can't see ANYTHING through it, and my front two are at 35% which is illegal and is the same level as factory tinted SUVs of today.
Sorry about my mistake, but I was going on what my friend had told me in the past..
~ Mike ~
It clearly states that all tinting is legal if you can see in. My one car has 2.5% and my others are 20%. The only area you cannot tint is the front window below the aes mark.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
Tint laws only apply to the front and drivers side and messenger side door windows. The other can even be painted solid or eliminated.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
Mike, It does and I want them for the same reason. Venting in hot weather, I drive the car from account to account for work and I like the venting if I KNOW it's not going to rain. The Vue is black and it will probably look OK with the stick ons. The channnels on the Vue are really tight and it does not look like it would be easy to install the channel type.
http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/067/chapter175/s175.67.html
There is the PA laws. I would not trust the DMV website as there information always seems to change and is not always accurate. Alls I know is I just went over my state inspection booklet a few weeks ago and the information I just told you was still in there. I do not see how cops can I force a law the is not given to their state inspectors, since the state police are in charge of inspection garages.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
In the graph I personally think ALOT of people drive around as if they have the 5% on the windshield from top to bottom in normal daily driving.To poke fun at the fact so many see nothing,hear nothing,too busy text messaging and eating,doing a puzzle,writing a book.In short driving and there the only 1 on the road.Granted totally off topic but the graph just made me think this being I drive a tractor trailer and found some humor in it.
I decided to quit driving for a living when during a HUGE construction project that squeezed the highway lanes, the guy next to me was shaving and reading the newspaper.
Rob Dotterer wrote:http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/067/chapter175/s175.67.html
There is the PA laws. I would not trust the DMV website as there information always seems to change and is not always accurate. Alls I know is I just went over my state inspection booklet a few weeks ago and the information I just told you was still in there. I do not see how cops can I force a law the is not given to their state inspectors, since the state police are in charge of inspection garages.
That is not the entire law as far as vehicular tint is concerned.
Navigate your way through this code as far as window tinting in Pa. is concerned:
http://www.pabulletin.com/secure/data/vol26/26-39/1631.html Nightmare, huh?
From what I figure and from what heard/ seen/ researched, there is no real consensus amongst citizens, police, magistrates, politicians or lawyers in regards to what is legal and what is not legal in regards to vehicular window tinting.
I may be right, you may be right or we BOTH may be wrong..
All I can concern myself with is what most of my local law enforcement agencies feel is legal and is not and what I believe it to be is that most will allow the rear windows to be tinted and most will not allow front windows to be tinted.
(Keep in mind if you believe that 70% on the fronts is legal and you put 70% tint on, your car is STILL ILLEGAL because factory tint is usually 93 to 95% tinted anyway)
Isn't it awesome living in Pennsylvania???
~ Mike ~
I think that what goes on in your locality might be the norm for you.I too have been warned by a few folks my tint is too dark, yet I've never had any trouble from Law Inforcement - this going on 11 years now. Now and then I'll drive to Roanoke but most my Driving is local. Unless you get a new Hot head Officer with a Name to make for him/herself I'm guessing if you don't see trouble around your area, you ought to be alright with what you have. There are simply so many laws on the books it is practically impossible to be a true Law Abiding Citizen anymore.
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