tint on front windows, pro-con?

[Mofus]

I just had mine done yesterday. 15% on all the back windows, and 35% on the fronts. I really like it. Makes the van way cooler. I had it done because we are leaving on vacation next week and part of the drive it will be at least 103 degrees, and I didn't want my kids to be baked potatoes in the back seat. I removed the AC. Well, most of it fell down on it's own. Luckily nobody was back there.

The tint guy had five levels of tint. I chose the second darkest for the back, and second lightest for the front.

It is illegal in California to have any non-factory tint on the front windows, but I'll deal with that if I ever get pulled over. Which probably won't be for speeding.

Oh, and at these levels I have no problem seeing out.
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'87 Syncro passenger w/ 2.2L Subaru
'10 Passat Wagon (keeps Mrs. Mofus away from my van)

[IdahoDoug]

I've only had factory tints on vehicles with one exception. We alway have SUVs an do a lot of road touring in the West, Pacific NW and Canada. One vehicle we bought was loaded and the dealership had tinted the front windows as an add-on. We both noticed immediately on the first trip that there was enough slight optical distortion, color shifting and other visual artifacts that it degraded our normal viewing of and commenting on animals and other passing scenery. Mind you this was high end film, too. Over the years we had it, it became a habit that when we pulled off to admire a view or herd of Elk, etc we rolled the window down to really see it. The contrast was astonishing and you really lose a lot. Sure, you get used to it, but its like listening to music with foam earplugs in, ya know?? So we resolved never to tint the front door windows on any vehicle. With kids in the back now, we also don't want their windows tinted.

Interestingly, this effect was most pronounced in evening low light conditions when you most often see animals on road trips.

So, your mileage may vary, but we'll always prefer minimal tints. You can get tints that filter massive UV but not as much visible light as older/cheaper films, and some that also provide privacy without darkening outward viewing.

[msinabottle]

I have never regretted for a second removing every bit of the window tinting from Winston, and it was a terrible ordeal. See here:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3330477&highlight=winston#3330477

Rather a lot of people besides yours truly were very happy to get rid of the tint.



Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[Carver Dude]

I say tint them!! For one tints on a Vanagon look so rad! Most of my cars have been tinted and it only takes a short time to adjust to night time driving. Enjoy. please post pics once it is done.
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83 Vanagon
69 Tin Top Camper
86 Vanagon
71 Westy
76 Tin Top Westy
70 Camper

[RCB]

I know of eyeglasses that automatically adjust to lighting..clear in the evening and darker during the day.

Has anyone heard of a window tint that self adjusts to the degree of lighting.

If not ;its time to put American ingenuity to work.

[Williamtaylor33]

I had the front windows tinted on my last van. And will do the same to my new one.
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89 Bostig powered syncro westy

[vwcampin]

To those with the Westy setup, how did you go about tinting the driver side rear window that is partially behind the cabinet. Remove before taking to the tint shop or?
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1986 Vanagon Syncro Westfalia Weekender

[climberjohn]

[climberjohn]

[thewump]

[McVanagon]

I got some too. Three front windows left alone.

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'69 Mike
'85 GL
'87 Wolfsburg Hardtop

[Volksaholic]

[climberjohn]

Okay friends, this is how it worked out.

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions.

I learned a few things about the tinting process, and will mention them below.

What I did was 20% tint on the rear windows, none on the front 2 , and no windshield stripe. Cost: $285, (and with another $20 off after they were 2 hours later getting done than the quoted time.)

(and yes, 20% IS legal in Oregon,and prolly in your state too, see more details below.)

Photos . . .

Before, the fishbowl, with all curtains removed:

After, the more stealth, better looking new'n'improved shaggin' wagon:

and:

A few comments. Some of these are from another tint thread I posted to, so sorry if I repeat myself a bit.

- The many websites that quote state law tint values are misleading. Eg, Oregon is supposedly 35% in all windows. Yet, my tint shop told me I can legally have 5% limo tint on all the rear windows inf I want. How can this be? It relates to many factors, like vehicle type (the Westy is an RV) and more importantly amount of light transmitted. I make no claim to understand this, but a tint shop will. So, do not be limited by what a web site says, go to a shop and ask. You can prolly get a darker tint than you might think.

- Photos of tinted cars are hard to shoot so they accurately represent the actual degree of darkening of the tint. Depending on sun angle, backlighting and a host of other factors, a light 35% tint might look like super dark 5%, and vice versa.

- Moral: Do not base your tint choice on a photo, but on recommendations from this forum like this one, and sitting in a tinted car. Most SUV's have a factory tint of about 20%. Get in one. Too dark, too light, just right? Use this for your decision, not a photo.

I feel the "right" tint depends on a few variables:

Do you have passengers in the back who like to see out of the windows when driving? I do, so i went for a tint that would allow them to see easily.

Do you plan to stealth camp a lot? I do not, but if yes, you might want the dark 5% limo tint.
(Tip: Someone mentioned here on the Samba an idea to cut out pieces of thin black vinyl sheets to fit your window, and then press these into place from the inside when stealth camping. It apparently looks just like limo tint when you put your nose up to it, yet can be easily removed for daytime driving. i though this sounded pretty crafty, sorry I can't point you to the link.)

Do you live in a sunny hot place, or a cooler rainy place? I live in Portland, so I felt a darker tint to keep the car cooler was not needed. Also, for gray soggy weather driving, I wanted to keep max visibility through the glass, so I thought a very dark tint might be slightly less safe in gray/rainy driving conditions.

Do prep work yourself! I cleaned both sides of the window with vinegar and water, and thought it was ready. Wrong. My rear window had tiny, like grains of sand tiny, bits of what the shop thought had to be welding slag/residue from a long ago welding job (before I owned it!) stuck on the inside of the glass. This did not come off with a simple wash. They chose to not scrape these off (as doing it carelessly would damage the rear window defrost wires) and applied the film over this. Now I have dozens of tiny bubbles where the tint film tried to adhere over the micro particles. Sigh . . . the rest of the body is not the greatest, and I am not a perfectionist, so I am going to live with it for a few weeks and see if it still bugs me. (They did at least offer to redo it for free if I remove the tint and remove the welding sand.)

Now, whether or not this was the correct procedure by the shop is another question, and I do not want to get into it here. But I suggest to anyone who wants to tint their windows, feel carefully over EVERY part of the inside of the glass after washing and see it you have any similar micro-boogers remaining. Scrape the off with a razor blade, and you'll have better outcome than I did.

Get a tint shop recco from your local trusted mechanic. They know the inside scoop and should steer you right, as opposed to Craigslist or Yelp.

Thanks,
-CJ
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'86 Westy, 2.5 Subaru power
Know your limits. Exceed them often.

[IdahoDoug]

For temporary stealth window coverings, try static cling vinyl - available in many colors. Black would absorb heat, but pretty much any color would give 100% privacy. Cut to size, label each piece for quick install, keep a PVC tube and cap to roll them up in for storage in the van.

DougM

[Volksaholic]

After this thread, and while I was sorting through old auto stuff in the garage, I found a roll of 20% vinyl window tint that I bought a half dozen years ago and never used. I put it on the rearmost window and rear half of the slider on the driver's side of my van... that is a pretty nice tint with curtains. I may get some 5% to play with and move the 20% over to the passenger side. That would give me dark to park sunny-side-up on the windows I can't see out of when I drive anyway and the lighter tint on the blind-spot windows for night driving. The nice think about this solution is I can play with it everywhich way until I find what I like, then consider getting it permanently done.

The more I read and think about it, I might like a dark tint at the top of the windshield, and I'm wondering about the tops of the front door windows as well. Has anyone done this? I'm concerned about visibility, but that upper section lets the early & late sun in on my eyes but doesn't really add value to backing or lane changes.

BTW: Nice job with the before and after pics... some location and about the same time of day/sun angle. That really illustrates the difference.

Paul
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1988 Wolfsburg Edition, 2001 Subaru EJ251

[SpudlyHotPotato]

I will let you know with some photos what I find in the next few days. I dropped off my Westy for A/C remodeling and it won't be back until tomorrow.

Tint was on the to-do list but we thought it was going to cost an arm or maybe a foot ... and since we were already spending a leg (all new hoses for the A/C system) we'd planned to put off the window tint until later ... Until ...

I showed up to check things out and they said they planned to just replace ALL the hoses, not just the main lines to the front and the back. And the sweet mechanic goes "I think I might just have to remove this whole rear closet to get all the access I need to the A/C hoses." And I was like, "REALLY? In that case, it sure would make it accessible to do the window tint while the closet is out!" (We also had them figure out where our 13 gallon water tank was leaking and re-seal it while they were in there).

I read this forum and others and frankly, while I can see many people saying "You can't see out the windows at the view," those people don't live in Phoenix. I drive from Phoenix to L.A. passing through horrible heat and unforgiving, merciless sunshine. My genetics suggest I should live in Ireland, and living in Phoenix is bucking the system built by my DNA. To get from Point A to Point B, we have to drive through places that are named "Devil's Canyon" and "Death Valley" and they get those names for a reason.

I just got a call from the sweet gal mechanic saying that the van came back from the tinting shop today and that it looks "really sexy." I'm psyched!

I asked them to do 5% or as close to limo tint as possible on the back windows, and to please do the front windows a bit lighter (for night vision, as others complained it was hard to see at night). So she instructed them to do 20 - 35% on the front windows ... she wasn't sure what they settled on but assured me it looks good. We also asked for a stripe across the top of the windshield (pictures I saw on here in the last few days looked pretty nice, and when we leave for CA in the afternoon, we're driving straight into the sun, and we noticed those sun visors are majorly lacking in size).

All the questions about visibility etc have inspired me to take photos not just of what it looks like from outside, but what the point of view looks like from the front seats at various times of day.

We have a pretty good camera so I'll see what we can get in terms of these P.O.V. shots at different times of day/night!
_________________
Rebuilt 2.1 in a 1985 manual Camper

"Those things are over kill and I want a set" - Jedi

"All my work explores the human desire or obsession for utopias, and the structure of all my works is the search for utopias lost and rediscovered." - Marguerite Young

www.bewilderknits.com

[Jon_slider]

> new'n'improved shaggin' wagon

congrats, nice pics
but, 20% is not shagging tint, 5% is <g>

> it looks "really sexy."

see?
Women LOVE to have sex in a limo tinted Westy, even if you dont carry a shower curtain <g>

[blakeck2]

[Volksaholic]

[GWTWTLW]

Dang! If that's all it takes to get laid in my van, I'm heading down to the tint shop tomorrow!

Nice job John! I cant wait to see it in person. Hopefully we don't scrape it all off at Mogfest as we're trying furiously to get out of the van when it ends up on it's side in the pit!
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89 Syncro Westy - GW 2.5, now with a double knob job
@gwtwtlw