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Neil and Lorna
10th June 2005, 07:10 PM
Sorry to bring this matter up again but we were stopped on Wednesday Night for a window tint test on our front side windows.

When we bought the car our dealer assured us that the tints that they put on are legal.They also reassured me a couple of weeks after purchase that they were legal after reading other threads on this matter.

Not so, the legal limit for the front side windows is 75% light penatration ours tested at only 33-34%. Less than 30% they take the car of the road Haul you, your dealer and the company who fitted the tints into court.

To say we're slightly pissed off is an understatement.:mad:

We took the car to our dealer on thursday morning and told them heres the car, remove the tints, phone me when its done I'm not driving it when its illegal.

Incedently the police tested the windscreen it had 80% penatration so the side windows can only be tinted by less than 5% to still be legal.Which in my opinion wouldn't be worth it.

Neil & Lorna


P.S Sorry Craigd we thought you were wrong in the past espescialy when we got the reassurance from our dealer.See you on the 14th.:D

Scottie
10th June 2005, 07:19 PM
sorry to hear that:(

I have just put medium tint on my cabrio knew it's illegal but I'll take my chances. I get a lot of light penatration when the roofs down:D;)

RichardV
10th June 2005, 09:22 PM
Yeah apparantly (I know a guy who knows a guy scenario) the police are seriously clamping down on this now - Did your dealer have any kind of excuse for this? Seems a pretty major oversight on their part!

Neil and Lorna
10th June 2005, 10:59 PM
quote:Originally posted by RichardV

Yeah apparantly (I know a guy who knows a guy scenario) the police are seriously clamping down on this now - Did your dealer have any kind of excuse for this? Seems a pretty major oversight on their part!


Not yet they are going to take the issue up with the company who supplied them.

I have managed to retrieve the tints that came off to test them myself.

I will let you know off my findings.

Neil:D

GAJ
10th June 2005, 11:28 PM
Sounds like you are having a total 'mare with the whole situation! I think I always thought the legal position was similar to what you thought, if that makes sense!

It's hard to believe that the standard tint only allows 80% light penetration as it seems almost clear to me, but I suppose it is difficult to quantify by simply looking at the glass.

Good luck with your dealings with the suppliers and I'm looking forward to discovering the result of your tests.

Craig
11th June 2005, 01:51 AM
Neil - no need to apologise, I have had this discussion on many an occasion and I'm just a bit bummed that you got a ticket - most (I can only speak from my own experiences) people I know have been told "get the tints off and we will say no more about it";). They are clamping down on it from the safety side of it. It has been shown that a fair number of accidents are down to not being able to see properly out of the side windows (mostly in the dark however and not in the summertime).

I would love to have my side windows tinted, but it's just not worth the hassle.

Cheers

Craig

Neil and Lorna
11th June 2005, 02:50 AM
Ok here's some fairly primative tests i've done with the light meter at the cinema.

It's a light meter we use for checking the brightness of the image on the screen so we know we have a even brightness over the screen area.

These are all clear glass.
Double glazed window 30% reduction in light penatration.
Ice cream freezer lid 15% reduction.
Popcorn machine glass lid 15% reduction.

So my opinion is even clear glass will reflect back 15% of the avaiable light.So does the tintman device the police use take into account the amount of light reflected back or not ?.

Still yet to test the tints themselves.

Cheers Neil.:D

broken_brian
11th June 2005, 04:05 AM
Even clear glass will have a certain amount of natural tint in it just down to its chemical composition if you look at the edge of broken glass it has a blue/greenish tint to it that is what your light meter will be reading. the glass that is made at my work has quite a prominent green shade to it even when it is not broken which is down to the mix of raw materials that go into it to give the properties that we need for making glass wool.

Neil and Lorna
11th June 2005, 04:20 AM
quote:Originally posted by broken_brian

Even clear glass will have a certain amount of natural tint in it just down to its chemical composition if you look at the edge of broken glass it has a blue/greenish tint to it that is what your light meter will be reading. the glass that is made at my work has quite a prominent green shade to it even when it is not broken which is down to the mix of raw materials that go into it to give the properties that we need for making glass wool.


Yeh I thought thats what it would of been.


Neil

Neil and Lorna
11th June 2005, 05:40 AM
Ok Tinted film now tested


Only allowing 40% of light penatration.

So that means i'ts tinted to 60%.:eek:

Neil