tinting in New York

[namja007]

can someone recommend a good tint shop in New York. I would like to know where you fellow new yorkers went to get their bimmers tinted and your experience. A recommendation with contact info. will be appreciated. Can you also tell me what percent tint, what brand of tint, and price you paid. Thank you

[tgravo2]

I'm not from new york but I had 35% done on my 4 doors, 5% on the back glass and 5% on the moonroof. He charged me $30 extra for the moonroof, and $12 extra for the illegal tint, came out to $188 which I thought was very fair :thumbup:

[pmb1010]

Advise:

If you tint, and it's "excessive" (ie it stands out from the rest of the cars on the road) stay off the 90 interstate highway.

The NY state troopers carry transmission meters, and WILL check the tint on your windows. Local cops might not care too much, unless you get stopped for something else.

FWIW

[GJM325i]

what % is the legal limit? I didnt want my car tinted too dark anyway!:)

[pmb1010]

Try here:

http://pcisys.net/~bpc/auto_law/tint/

and here:

http://www.iwfa.com/iwfa/Law_Chart/State%20Law%20Chart.htm

and here:

http://www.autowindowtinting.com/main.cfm?action=laws

[namja007]

bump

[3seriesbimmer]

I live in NY and I'm on the NY thruway qiute a bit ...both local police AND troopers are very tough on tint here in NY:tsk:

[GJM325i]

Jeez....I like to thank pmb1010 for the link, however, I found iadded to my confusion!! LOL, in one instance one of the site reported that ALL tinting is illegal, while another gave % for side and rear windows in a format I didnt really understand.

namja007, simply stated "Bump" to which I have no idea what he means, and the Guy from upstate"cuse" informed me of how strict the copper are about tinting.
Does any of my fellow NY'er know for certain whether we can legally tint of windows or not!?
TIA

[3seriesbimmer]

YES YOU CAN....did anyone welcome you to the Fest yet?????:bareass:

[GJM325i]

Thank you!
I feel officially welcomed now!:)

[3seriesbimmer]

I am almost positive that ANY tint on both the windshield and the front two windows is illegal in the state of NY. This is what I was told after my friend had his WRX (which was tinted waaaayyyy too dark towed in the winter. If you notice NO sport utility vehicles including the X5 have privacy glass on the front side windows I would assume this is to follow certain state's DOT laws ....although the back windows on all of them seem pretty dark to me...I thought about tinting but decided I didn't need the headache of getting pulled over.

[GaryB]

Originally posted by GJM325i
namja007, simply stated "Bump" to which I have no idea what he meansFYI, namja007's "Bump" was intended merely to "bump" this thread back to the top of the list on the main page - where threads are listed in descending order from the most recent post - to try to attract more responses. Frequent visitors to the site often check only the threads with recent posts.

It's a practice which is frowned upon in some forums but usually tolerated if it only happens occasionally. :angel:

[pmb1010]

Originally posted by GJM325i
Jeez....I like to thank pmb1010 for the link, however, I found iadded to my confusion!! LOL, in one instance one of the site reported that ALL tinting is illegal, while another gave % for side and rear windows in a format I didnt really understand.

TIA


I'm not so sure either... that's why the multiple links. I think you can get away with rear door and rear window tinting, but nothing on driver/passenger sides, and the front windshield.
But, I think those cars that are tinted that way, look dumb.


My original post still stands - if you decide to tint, don't tint excessivly, maybe just tint a little, and make sure your car doesn't "stick out".

How nice it would be:

- no front license plate
- tinted the way *I* want it
- license plate covers to dull the "bright white" of NY plates on my black car

Alas, I have none of these. The last thing I need is to get stopped on a cops visual equip violation, or worse yet, those equipment roadblock checks they like to pull around here. In those, the look for EVERYTHING - stickers on front/rear windshield, crap hanging down from rear view mirror, no seatbelts, new registration sticker laying on dash because you are lazy to peel off the old one, license plate lamp out or not white in color, any colored lights other than the ones that came with the car.
All this stuff is technically illegal, and can get you a summons.


If you wish to mod your car, fine. If you do so, don't complain if you get stopped and hassled by the cops.

[bimergrin]

As soon as I can find my VandT handbook I'll get back to you on the tint.

[bimergrin]

Ok got it, little long. Section 375 sub 12-a: Every motor vehicle, except a motorcycle, when driven or operted upon a public highway, road or street shall be equipped with a front windshield in a fixed or more or less upright position constructed of safety glass as defined in subdivision fourteen of this section and required by subdivisions eleven and twelve hereof. No person shall drive any motor vehicle with any sign or other nontransparent material other than a certificate or paper required to be displayed by law upon the front windshield or the sidewings or side windows on either side forward of or adjacent to the operator's seat.
Sec. 375 sub 12 -b: no person shall operate any motor vehicle upon any public highywy, road or street:
Sec. 375 sub 12-b1: the front windshield of which is composed of, covered by or treated with any material which has a light transmittance of less than 70% unless such materials are limited to the uppermost 6 inches of the winshield.
Sec. 375 sub 12-b2: the side windows, forward or adjacent o operator's seat 70% (same as above), except the 6in part.
Sec. 375 sub 12-b4: the rear may be covered with light transm. of <70% if car has side mirrors on both sides.

Hope this helps you.

[Orient330iNYC]

IIRC, the factory tint in the glass brings you pretty close to 70%

SUVs and minivans fall under MPVs so you could technically paint all the windows behind the front seats with black paint and be legal.

on passenger cars, the only legal places you can tint aftermarket (since OE glass is already tinted slightly) is the 6" strip at the top of the windshield and the rear windshield.

It really depends on the local law enforcement. I've been driving around with 35% front, 20% rear in NYC for about two years without a ticket for the tint *knockonwood*
I'm starting to worry now with all these random "seatbelt" *cough*shakedown*cough* checkpoints around the city these days. rolled through one the other day, but all my windows were rolled down.