Just got pulled over for having tinted windows. The CHP must not have had anything else to do. He was actually on the streets in Emeryville getting onto the freeway when he turned around and pulled me over in at my works parking lot. He also got me for no front license plate. Bought the car in Texas with the windows tinted already. He said I could only have the windows so dark on the sides. He had me roll up the window half way and he put a devise to I think he said mine was 30% and I could only have the windows tinted to let 60% of the light in? Not sure. Can anyone tell me what the legal tint percentage is? What a way to start the morning…
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Pulled over for Tinted Windows
- Thread starter rednsx2
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Sorry to hear about your fix-it ticket. To the best of my knowledge, there is no after-market tint allowed on the front roll-downs at all unless they recently changed the law. Aside from that CA has always req'd a front plate. I have never been stopped for not having one though.
Did you do anything to catch the eye of the CHP? For him to begin to get on a freeway on-ramp and turn around to come after you is kind of extreme -what caught his eye or ear?
As an aside, I am in the East Bay and if you need to borrow a front license plate mounting bracket to install the plate and get the ticket signed off, let me know. I believe there is also a $75 fee for the ticket.
Did you do anything to catch the eye of the CHP? For him to begin to get on a freeway on-ramp and turn around to come after you is kind of extreme -what caught his eye or ear?
As an aside, I am in the East Bay and if you need to borrow a front license plate mounting bracket to install the plate and get the ticket signed off, let me know. I believe there is also a $75 fee for the ticket.
Cairo94507
Thanks for the offer of your license plate holder. I have one somewhere, I will have to look for it. I don't think I did anything wrong. He was making a right turn right before the on ramp. When he saw me, I was waiting for the signal to change to make a left turn, so I was not moving. When I was pulling into our parking lot, he was right behind me with his lights on.
I would hate not to have the windows tinted. It is not for the look of the car, but more for th UV.
Thanks for the offer of your license plate holder. I have one somewhere, I will have to look for it. I don't think I did anything wrong. He was making a right turn right before the on ramp. When he saw me, I was waiting for the signal to change to make a left turn, so I was not moving. When I was pulling into our parking lot, he was right behind me with his lights on.
I would hate not to have the windows tinted. It is not for the look of the car, but more for th UV.
Well what else do you expect the CHP to do? If there aren't any collisions or stranded motorists to respond to, then they spend their time writing citations.
Be happy you didn't get slammed for any moving violations.
No tint is legal, but "spirit of the law" apparently gets by at some large percentage of light getting through. It essentially translates into a very light smoke color....just enough to make the glass go from completely clear to *slightly grey* in color.
The officers consider it a safety issue because they cannot clearly see inside the car, they consider the enforcement too late if the bad guy has tinted windows and evil intent on the same day. Hence, the early enforcement and the bad guys know that if they apply tint: they will just get pulled over...that knowledge base just got re-enforced with you today. (Regrets).
Can't tell you how many times I've gotten slammed for no front plate. Just last week too. Easy probable cause to see what you are up to....and since I'm really not up to anything and nothing else is wrong I usually get a warning.
Again no biggie: get it fixed, pay your fine and forget about it. Moving violations are much worse.
And NO the CHP doesn't have anything better to do...that is what their job is. (aka "AAA with Guns")
Drew
Be happy you didn't get slammed for any moving violations.
No tint is legal, but "spirit of the law" apparently gets by at some large percentage of light getting through. It essentially translates into a very light smoke color....just enough to make the glass go from completely clear to *slightly grey* in color.
The officers consider it a safety issue because they cannot clearly see inside the car, they consider the enforcement too late if the bad guy has tinted windows and evil intent on the same day. Hence, the early enforcement and the bad guys know that if they apply tint: they will just get pulled over...that knowledge base just got re-enforced with you today. (Regrets).
Can't tell you how many times I've gotten slammed for no front plate. Just last week too. Easy probable cause to see what you are up to....and since I'm really not up to anything and nothing else is wrong I usually get a warning.
Again no biggie: get it fixed, pay your fine and forget about it. Moving violations are much worse.
And NO the CHP doesn't have anything better to do...that is what their job is. (aka "AAA with Guns")
Drew
In CA, the law is that there is no tint at all allowed on the front windscreen or the two front windows. you can paint the rest of your windows black if you want so long as you have the required mirrors.
And yes, it's legal for the cop to pull you over for the window tint, for not having a front license plate or for not wearing a seat belt. All arguably lame but that's the law in CA.
And yes, it's legal for the cop to pull you over for the window tint, for not having a front license plate or for not wearing a seat belt. All arguably lame but that's the law in CA.
The California Vehicle Code is available online, with search capabilities.rednsx2 said:
There are some exceptions (that probably don't apply in your case);
to see the relevant sections, go to this page, click the box for
Vehicle Code, and search for 26700. That will return a page with
a link to §§26700-26712.
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Sorry to hear about your mishap but I can tell you the exact law in regards to window tinting in California.
The law states that you can apply a film onto the 2 front doors of any vehicle as long as the film and glass combined allows a visible light transmittance of 70% or greater. If you can obtain a medical prescription letter from a skin or eye doctor, you can legally have as dark as 35% visible light transmittance through the film and glass but you are not allowed to drive the vehicle at night.
Most cars come with a slightly tinted glass and it usually measure around 75-80% visible light transmittance so basically only a clear film can be legally installed. The only company that makes the clear legal film is Llumar's UV Shield which has a VLT of 84% so that combined with most factory glass will yield greater than 70%.
Some older cars have a clearer glass and in some cases, can be legal to install a 70% film like the V-Kool which has a VLT of 70% and a solar energy rejection of 55%. This is the most expensive film out on the market and is actually used in aerospace technology.
You can tint the rear section of your car as dark as you'd like but you have to have the left and side mirrors in order to tint the back glass. The windshield can be tinted on the very upper section down to the AS1 line indicator which is usually about 5" from the top.
You can not have silver or mirror film on your vehicle nor can you have certain colored films.
As for CHP's, they are the ones that usually pull people over for tinted front door windows. Usually it is a fix it ticket which you will need to remove the film and then get the ticket signed off and pay a $10 processing fee but I have heard that some law enforcements will issue you a ticket with a fine which can cost upwards of $100.
The law states that you can apply a film onto the 2 front doors of any vehicle as long as the film and glass combined allows a visible light transmittance of 70% or greater. If you can obtain a medical prescription letter from a skin or eye doctor, you can legally have as dark as 35% visible light transmittance through the film and glass but you are not allowed to drive the vehicle at night.
Most cars come with a slightly tinted glass and it usually measure around 75-80% visible light transmittance so basically only a clear film can be legally installed. The only company that makes the clear legal film is Llumar's UV Shield which has a VLT of 84% so that combined with most factory glass will yield greater than 70%.
Some older cars have a clearer glass and in some cases, can be legal to install a 70% film like the V-Kool which has a VLT of 70% and a solar energy rejection of 55%. This is the most expensive film out on the market and is actually used in aerospace technology.
You can tint the rear section of your car as dark as you'd like but you have to have the left and side mirrors in order to tint the back glass. The windshield can be tinted on the very upper section down to the AS1 line indicator which is usually about 5" from the top.
You can not have silver or mirror film on your vehicle nor can you have certain colored films.
As for CHP's, they are the ones that usually pull people over for tinted front door windows. Usually it is a fix it ticket which you will need to remove the film and then get the ticket signed off and pay a $10 processing fee but I have heard that some law enforcements will issue you a ticket with a fine which can cost upwards of $100.
What a bunch of BS, man don't they have more doughnut shops so the cops can find something better to do with there time.LOL:wink:
Sorry to hear that you got pulled over for your tinted windows. I guess our cars are very easy to spot on the road. I actually got pulled over last week for no rear plates (I just bought the NSX and plates have not arrived yet) and tinted windows. He wrote me up a ticket, but there was no violation or infraction. He just wrote verbal 26708 a vc. Anyone on here knows what a verbal is and how does it effect my record? I heard verbal citation stays on your record for a certain period of time?
I had already pull out my tint this weekend. It was a messy job, but I rather be safe than sorry.
I had already pull out my tint this weekend. It was a messy job, but I rather be safe than sorry.
How hard is it to remove the tint? Mine were tinted when I bought it and I don't want to get hassled. The cops in Elk Grove are really cracking down on modded cars. Does it peel right off or do you have to use a razor blade to scrape it off?
A razor blade and ammonia base window cleaner is the only way I know how to get tint off of windows. The razor for scraping the tint material and the window cleaner to remover the adhesive that you didn't remove with the razor.
Cool, thanks! That's what I figured.
I know people that just scribble some signature to show proof of correction and pay the $25 fine for each.
Some have been doing this for decades with no problems.
Average pull over is 1 a year.
Certainly worth it if u don't want to have a trucker's tan and/or get skin cancer or look 10 years older on the left side.........
Some have been doing this for decades with no problems.
Average pull over is 1 a year.
Certainly worth it if u don't want to have a trucker's tan and/or get skin cancer or look 10 years older on the left side.........
I overheard someone talking about it at a south-east-asian coffee shop...........
Pulled the tint off my side windows at lunch today. Went a lot smoother/easier than I thought it would. Let it sit in the sun for a bit to get the windows/tint get nice and warm. Lifted up one corner with a razor and peeled away. Only left a little glue behind which cleaned right up with some windex and a razor blade. Driver's side came off in one piece, passenger side came off in 3 big pieces. Only took about 20-25 mins total for both.
Was pulled over by CHP last month, his excuse was "just want to see the car"...... LOUD exhaust, no front plate, 5% rear, 30% side and 35% tint front... Nothing was said..... He tho mention, don't make the car a POLICE head turner b/c they'll find a reason to impound the car... such as no front plate is a caused for citation and they'll find more violation then one... :smile:
At least he was cool. I have my stock exhaust back on now so as not to attract any unwanted attention. They have really cracked down around here.
I have my stock exhaust back on now so as not to attract any unwanted attention. They have really cracked down around here.
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Usually it is a fix it ticket which you will need to remove the film and then get the ticket signed off and pay a $10 processing fee but I have heard that some law enforcements will issue you a ticket with a fine which can cost upwards of $100.
See this is messed up. I had a fix-it-ticket also, (no front plate and tint). The plate is a fix-it, but not the tint.
A lot of people said that it is supposed to be a fix-it-ticket. Can I fight the ticket? The ticket is $185 assuming that I get my plate signed off.
thank you
niM
Unless you have a note from your doctor stating that you need to reduce your exposure to sunlight, you probably don't have much of a chance in fighting the ticket.
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