We did that too, even have special teems just for it. But y'all are tinting windshields to less than 25% VLT (that's two layers of 50% on a already tinted factory windshield for example), then adding brighter unapproved lighting so you can see and not caring about those you meet and near blind with them headlights above that 4-6" lift.

I worked for the state, my dept was involved in it all including the druggies. I also patrolled Interstate and the other roadways promoting highway safety. In my time on, a few of the dead and dying I met were murdered or committed suicide or died of illness or natural causes ... but by far, most were the result of motor vehicle crashes. Two lane roadways, traffic meeting traffic with a combined closing rate of 110-130 mph, one driver get's blinded by illegal or improperly aimed headlights, ain't always pretty.

Like I said in another post ..... somethings I did because it was my job and I got no pleasure out of it ... while others I did, I got more satisfaction out of. As long as I was fair in my activities my conscience is clear. Getting vehicles that were more of a menace off the road was a "good thing" in my view. Getting DUIs was a "good thing". Getting high speeders with radar detectors too was a "good thing". Getting suspended drivers was a "good thing". I drive those same roads off duty as do my wife, my mother, my sister, my friends and their families .... and you maybe.

You know, it's true that if you enjoy your job it'll never feel like work. I enjoyed the challengges, the training, the close co-workers, the satisfaction. I hated delivering death messages at any time of day or night .... to anyone .... even to the mother of a known druggie that was killed in a single vehicle crash.

I went through a phase too, I got my tickets when I was a young toad, met some great officers, I paid the fines, suffered the suspended license once for 60 days even and I never squawked 'cause I knew before I got caught that I was taking a chance. Just because I did some stupid stuff when Richard M. Nixon was still President didn't mean I should then overlook everything later when I was taking a steady paycheck after swearing to uphold and enforce fairly, the laws of my state.

I knew from those personal "adventures" that "breaks" (warnings) for intentional "violations" seldom worked to change behavior (because they didn't often do that for me when I got them, but tickets, with a fine, and maybe points .... got my attention). I'ld have given a break on a little bit of speed the first time on a local long before I'ld overlook a tinted WINDSHIELD (thread subject) ... or even the same speeder with a radar detector.

I didn't write burnt out tag lights either unless I noticed the same car night after night or unless I had already told them several times to get it fixed because anyone's tag light can burn out at any moment, even mine. But I get mine fixed ASAP. Not just anyone is likely to find a bright pink or blue neon wrap around light around the tag or blue bulbs in the tag light .... only those who intentionally added them are likely to have them.

Same with tinted license plate covers that made it damn near impossible for a convenience store clerk to get a tag number on a fuel drive off .... or that made it harder for me to read a tag when trying to call in a traffic stop at 2 am or just check a tag at 70 mph looking for a suspect vehicle. I figured they tinted it to keep me or someone from reading it like I figured the state made the letters big so I could. I worked for the state so I came down on that side.

My police cars never had tint beyond the normal tint that is in the glass of your car when you buy it new, but for various reasons dealing with undercover operations, K-nines, security, officer safety, etc ... every state that I know of exempts police cars from tint laws. My police cars never had blue license plate lights or neon lights.

And I can say that without any exception, my personally owned vehicles have been 100% legal since at least 1977 to this day.

Anyway .... no rant here, it's just a perspective that some might want to consider .... or not .... as they so choose.

Y'all take care .....


I often ignore posts that the poster never took the time or effort to at least try and write with some proper punctuation. I don't fret over mispelled words as long as I can read it, but the poster who never hits the caps or shift key once just doesn't care.

 

Well keep yours legal and i'll leave mine illegal. No since in a pissing match over the internet, obviously people will agree and disagree so keep writing tickets and i'll keep getting away with it.

 

I can't help you with any pros, even those who run it find often they can't see. Just looking cool isn't much of a "pro" in light of some "cons" .... like increased chances of an unintended crash bending your ride or waffling some innocent child.

I'ld say that the "cons" far outweigh any "pros".

Understand first that what you see depends on light reaching your eyes. Understand second that seeing, or the degree to which you can see, is a HUGE part of driving on roadways. Also understand that when you choose to bring a motor vehicle out onto a public roadway, you have certain obligations or responsibilities that you owe towards all those other users. Part of that is that you operate your vehicle within the same laws as you have every right to expect them to meaning "not DUI" for example, that you'll stop and look and yield the right of way at stop signs for another. That kind of stuff. You also are expected to maintain your vehicle in a safe manner and your are held to that expectation by LEO .... it's their job.

For example .... Lets look at a poster just below your opening post. I simply used his as his was the first to detrail the tint used to eliminate light and how he then increased light so he could see again .... and notice .... no mention of concerns as to safety or what his lights do to oncoming drivers.

If you look back at another post of mine and open a link, you'll see that on his PU truck we'ld disreguard the glasses on the rear side doors and back glass as long as he had two outside mrrors. We are only concerned with his front door side glasses and windshield.

On his sides he has 30% tint over 5% and this is on the factory 80% glass (yes, the glass is between 75 and 80% VLT). 30% is written as 0.30 .... so let's do the math for 30% of 5% of 80%. 0.30X0.05X0.80=0.012 A tint meter on that side glass will read ONE percent. That means he's recieving 1/100th of the light reflected or generated by an object or person on the outside when he's looking out from inside. When it's dusk and he pulls up to a stop sign and looks your way, if the windows are up and if you don't have lights on, good chance he can't see you. If you're a kid on a bike trying to get home or a pedestrian, he likely can't see you.

His windshield is a little lighter with 50% over 50% on the part below the brow. The windshiled isn't clear either from Ford, the glass is tinted some as are most after the '60s when AC became popular. Just the tint alone however is 0.50X0.50=0.25 ..... 25%, or 1/4 of the light hitting one side actually makes it through the tint. Throw in 0.80 on the glass, and you have 20% of the light outside the truck reaching his eyes inside the truck as he drives. In broad daylight his eyes adjust and he "can see", but as evening comes on, without vastly increasing his own vehicles lighting to put more light down the road to brighten stuff up, he can't see.

So he boosted the headlights and fog lights .... so everyone he's meeting get's blinded .... but hey, it's OK 'cause he's "fine" as he says ....

If I was to have stopped a truck registered in Va. like his, I'ld have written the ticket, removed the tags and given him a reciept for the tags that spells out how he can get them back in 15 days or less (after the 15th day passes the tags are destroyed if not corrected and officer's part of form sent in to DMV for their records) upon showing me that the hazardous glass was fixed, and since he had no tags then, called him a wrecker (likely a rollback) and that likely wouldn't be much over $100 to get him home if local. Now, if he was really smart, like some were, they took a hint and pealed the tint off the windshield before I pulled the tags and they just got the ticket.

Out of state, like say he was visting here from .... NM or Az or Tx or Canada .... I wrote one ticket, and within a few miles, I or a buddy was maybe looking again at the w-shield to see if it had been pealed so he could safely drive. If not .... well there's no law stating you can only get one ticket a day on anything except one thing .... and that's for an expired /no Va state inspection sticker on vehicles registered here which doesn't affect this fellow's truck.

I removed his name as I'm not picking on anyone, just using his tint and stated values as an example to show the downside of excessive tint on motor vehicles being used on public highways, why we have tint laws, and why some law enforcement officers (Deputies, Officers, Troopers, etc) see it as a genuine safety hazard to all users warranting some enforcement efforts.

Anyone determined to tint their windshield of all things should know ALL of the cons and surely they should consider their chances if EVERYONE did the same thing. The funeral homes would be doing a hell of a business.

 

I didn't know we was in one?

 

if a retrofit is so dangerous, why is there so many people doing it? and guess what, that 1/100th of light being seen through my sides can easily be 100/100th of light with the push of two buttons..

 

Oh dear, that is your post I used for example isn't it?

I erased the name and never actually thought about who's it was, the pics were so graphic in showing exactly what I wanted to show.

Good post then .... Thanks!

But unless you hit them buttons, it's 1/100th and say you have a hand on the wheel and a hand of your ice cream cone, you and I both know you don't drop them every time and that does nothing for the windshield (which is the thread topic after all).
Even you see how much less you see with that mess on the w-shield. You posted the pics to show it (and great pics they are too .... thank you) here and several days ago, you told another poster in another thread what it did to your forward vision. My question is how do the folk you meet on the highway compensate when they meet "the sun" coming at them?

But enough ..... you take care

 

I got 20% on the entire windshield and 6k hids and i can see fine but to each his own

 

I went 50% on the windshield and have 20% on the sides and back window. I think 50% is the darkest I'd go unless I got some HIDs.

 

35% with 50W 5000K retrofit. Is a pain to see but I'd imagine any long stretch of staring at my headlight beam without tint would ruin my retinas over time

 

ive done my whole windshield 30% on just about every truck ive owned and i love it. i tried 15% once but i wouldnt go that dark again. you would find yourself straining your eyes on dark parts of the road at night and when it rained you could forget about it lol. 30% is perfect in my opinion

 

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp...+cod+46.2-1052

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp...+cod+46.2-1053

If I were ever involved in a crash where I was struck by some "not so bright person" who added light robbing tint to his windshield thus decreasing his ability to see "me or mine" in violation of state law ...
... or who chose to operate a vehicle so equipped on a public roadway ...
... I'ld show them no mercy in civil court.

 

your so cool!

 

Haha

 

I don't blame you. I admit, the tint helps the Florida sun in the summer- but with the amount of night driving I do, I've been tempted a few times to rip it off.

 

Hey guys, I tint windows professionally for a high end shop. I'm not going to get into the legal vs. illegal issue. I'm also a full-time Firefighter/Paramedic and have seen a lot of car accidents in my time. Now Im not trying to sell anything here.
At our shop we tint windshields all of the time. However, we use a clear film (called Air 80 from Llumar) that has a 43% heat rejection rating, actually better then 50% film. The UV protection is the same as any shade of film (99.9 UV rejection). So bottom line, if you would like to lower the suns rays shooting through your windshield and not comprimise your vision. Go to a High End tint shop, not the guys tinting a whole vehicle for 99 dollars, and ask them about it. Just figured that I would throw this in here as a option.

Stay safe and keep those trucks looking right.

Busyman