Front windshield tint

I put a ceramic clear on mine. It reduces glare and oncoming headlights at night and I don't use a sun shade any longer. The shop I use does not have issues with damage to the vehicle because they know what they're doing. Considering my eye sensitivity to glare and light is very high it works fantastic. Plus it's not nearly as hot in the truck in the sun during the summertime. We're talking southern California sun.

 

Tinting the entire front window is really not a good idea outside of a car show. A close friend of mine rear ended someone. His insurance voided coverage for the damage to his vehicle and tried to make him pay for the vehicle he rear-ended. They ultimately paid for the other vehicle but not until he hired an attorney. $0 were paid out for his car.


Front window tint can be grounds for comparative negligence if in an accident. What this means is that you could be found liable for causing an an accident that would otherwise not have been your fault. In the worst case, if there is a death, this can also be grounds for manslaughter charges.

 

^^^^ THIS! I did the ceramic tint last year on my Tacoma with 70% on the windshield, 20% on the front doors and 30% on the rear doors/rear windows (since they’re already tinted from the factory, the 30% matches pretty close to the 20% of the front door windows). It’s incredible how much IR energy is reflected by the ceramic tint. In the summer, my truck was easily 10-20 degrees cooler than the outside. The 70% doesn’t do much in the way of blocking the light but it blocks the heat. Get a nice pair of polarized sunglasses and the light won’t be a problem.

Separately, to you original question, I’ve done the 15% strip across the top of the windshield on my WRX (prior to vehicle) and on my wife’s Outback. The strips work well enough but I’d go 70% ceramic on the windshield all day over the strip. I know it doesn’t answer the mail on not wanting to use the visors but a good pair of sunglasses takes care of that for me. Plus once the sun drops below the tint strip (driving west during sunset), you’ll be using the visor anyhow.

Just some things to consider and help ya make the right choice for your needs.

 

I'm gonna tint mine yellow I think. Similar to the driving glasses you can buy.

 

Giving tickets is easy. Fighting them is hard and expensive. States know that and, for things that affect a minority of the population, they'll often take advantage of it. Virginia. Radar detectors were illegal in Virginia for many years. If stopped, they'd take it and give you a ticket for having one despite their being legal on the national level and most other states (VA is the only state I know of that it was illegal). In fact, I believe the national level rule specifically states that States cannot make them illegal. Despite that rule, I believe they still are illegal in VA. Another example, numerous states have laws about towing with two trailers that varies from state to state like you can if the 1st trailer is a 5th wheel or goose neck while others allow bumper for both and still others will write you a ticket and make you leave one trailer behind. No one fights either. It's not worth it. It's easier to lookup the laws and make sure to comply with them.

Of the Constitution, I believe you are referring to Article IV of the national level Constitution, Each State to Honor all Others. Feel free to fight that battle if you want. Easier and cheaper to just make sure your car is legal in all the states you drive in. Standing around arguing with the cop isn't going to get much. They'll just hand you the ticket, tell you to take it up with the judge, and have a nice day.

 

It's not legal in Nebraska but I had my windshield tinted top to bottom with ceramic. It's barely noticeable in the daylight. And I must be thinking wrong about percentages mentioned because my thinking 70% would be darker than 30%

 

The percentage refers to the amount of VLT (visible light transmission) that can come through the windows. Thus, the lower the percentage is, the darker the tint is. Think of it as letting 70% of light through verses 30% of light through. If you only let 30% of light through its going to be darker.

 

I got my 2 front windows tinted with ceramic right after I bought it.
I'm not sure what %. I told the shop to try to match the rear best as possible. I can attest that you can feel to difference in the hot sun if you hold your hand close to the glass you can feel the difference in heat radiation between the ceramic tinted an factory tinted.
I plan to go back and get the rest of the truck done to block the heat better soon.

I'm very sensitive to light and glare too and it helps but I don't have my windshield tint or a brow. I just prefer my prescription sunglasses with good polarized lenses, that fixes the issue in and out of the truck on sunny days.

 

Some states only allow for the top portion to be tinted to a limited degree, and you usually have to have a medical waiver or something for it.

In the 4-5 years I've had my windows tinted, I only got a ticket for it once. The only reason was because I was speeding (even though I was going with the flow of traffic (pulled me over most likely cause of the tints)). Lawyer had the tint ticket dismissed and reduced my speeding ticket to just needing to take a drivers safety course. I run 35% in the front and 20% on the sides to match the rear windows.

The positives far outweigh the negatives for me personally:
-Security. Makes it harder to see inside so would be thieves have less of an incentive to steal something inside. In fact someone tried stealing my 2020 Tacoma when I first got it and ended up giving up (I found coat hanger marks on the inside of my door).
-Safety. Protects from glare and bright LED headlights at night so that you're not completely blinded.
-Privacy. No one can see me doing bad caraoke. My fiancée has her vehicle tinted too after I encouraged her. Creeps don't stare at her now.
-Protection/comfort. As mentioned by others the heat is drastically reduced by the ceramic tints. Also protects you and the interior of the vehicle from UV rays.
-Looks. Vehicles simply look better with tints.

EDIT:
Actually in the middle of getting my new Taco tinted now. Asked one of the tint guys if they ever get cops coming in. He said all the time, and they usually go pretty dark on their tints. They told him, just roll all his windows down if he gets pulled over and most cops won't give a shit about the tints.

I wanna say most of the state troopers I've seen (the actual state trooper vehicles and not their personal's), their windows are tinted at like 5% (yes, including the front windshield). So in a sense most will have an understanding about it. If you go into certain towns where they're quiet and have nothing better to do, then you'll probably run a higher risk of getting pulled over for it.

EDIT 2:
My fiancée actually got pulled over once in her town while I was in the car with her. She lives in one of the quieter towns where they have nothing better to do. They accused her of driving and talking on the phone (she wasn't, she was talking to me and was moving her hands like most people do when they talk). Then they told her the tints were illegal. They ended up just giving her a verbal warning and leaving.

 

I did the banner on top of the windshield at the same time I tinted the windows and ill never go back its amazing! Make sure you measure it so its out of your sight line for regular driving but I absolutely love it. I'll update with a pic later

 

I always do 20% on the windows and a strip at the top.

My Tacoma already had nice ceramic tint on it when I bought it, but the windshield strip is well below the AS1 line. I'm tall and it's right in my line of sight, so I'm ready to rip it off after driving for an hour.

If I pulled it off, I'd get it re-tinted just higher up and out of my view. I'd like to get the entire windshield tinted to 70-80% to help with that huge Tacoma hood glare, but no local shop near me will do it. Totally understand though as it's illegal and could come back on them.

 

If IIRC, the guy that tinted my cars said the solution he uses plays nicely with electronics, meaning its like an alcohol mix so it dies quickly, and as long as you dont turn the car on immediately, it should all be dry by the time you use what you need to in a few hours...as least thats my best guess

 

You must not live in NYS

 

That's only if the guy tinting it is an Idiot. I've had multiple cars done at the same place and have had zero issues over the last 10 years. Never removed any glass or had electronic failures whatsoever.

 

That is because in current times any car stop is considered a felony car stop. You never know what anyone's gonna do. So they don't nit pick but if it ever calms down they'll be right back out there were their little crystals checking everybody's tent. The highway patrol has nothing better to do in California.

 

6 inch brow done with 5% tint.

 

A little late, but on my Tacoma, I have 25% tint all the way around, with 50% on the windshield since I do a considerable amount of night driving in Montana, where it gets DARK dark at night. The nice part about the 50% ceramic on the windshield is that from a distance, and when coming head-on with the truck, the windshield tint makes it so all you can see is a reflection, not what's inside the truck. I had one pull over, where the cop got me for not using my blinker when turning into my driveway off the main road(bullshit, I know) and he actually asked about my tint, since he had seen me around town a few times before, and was always curious of it because when you are up close, it doesn't seem like its that dark at all, but from a distance, you can't see a damn thing inside the truck because of the glare. Tacomas have the advantage of having a pretty steep and flat windshield, making it so there is already a considerable amount of glare/reflection on the windshield when you look at it from the outside, and with the 50% i have on my windshield, it makes it so the glare is amplified, but when you are up close to the windshield, you can see in the truck with no problems. if this seems like a ramble, my apologies, I'm running on minimal sleep right now. here's the photo from the outside of the windshield, and you can see what I mean by the reflection being amplified, making it hard as hell to see into the truck from the front, but from an angle, it's relatively transparent. it's dark enough to where it alleviates the usual glaring sun brightness, but not enough to where you can't see shit at night. the photos are in random order, but you can see what I'm talking about with the glare making it hard to see into the truck from the front.

 

I have mine tinted fairly dark and have never had issues seeing anything. Even driving at night with no street lights I haven't felt like I couldn't see. The only time I felt like I couldn't drive safely due to lack of visibility was when there was a torrential downpour. But in all fairness even if my windows weren't tinted I would've still had a hard time seeing.

 

You may not have had the actual lightest available. I had my truck done at one tint shop and it's extremely hard to tell that the windshield has any tint to it at all, just looks like normal, clear automotive glass. Then we had my wife's CRV done at a different shop and I was surprised how dark it was. Turns out the "lightest" available was different at each of the shops. So best to know the % you're looking for and look at samples before you commit.

The tint on my wife's is darker than I'd like it to be - mainly for legal reasons - but it hasn't affected our ability to see safely.

 

There are big signs when you enter Virginia that say "radar detectors are illegal". If each state honors all others then does that mean you honor the state you're driving in? For example if a state says all freeways are 75mph, this doesn't give you the right to drive that speed in another state with a 65mph limit.