Tinted windows... Any tickets yet?

I'm trying to figure out how dark I want my windows. State law is 50% and I know I am going 30% for sure, but I would like 20% on the back half and prolly just 30 on the front sides.

Anyone with 20% and have you been ticketed? How about with the 30%?

Just trying to get a feel for how hard the cops enforce this law.

 

I have 20 on the back window and 30 on the doors and limmo accross the top of the windshield

I have gotten no tickets, but my roomate with a 95 grand prix got 2 in six months with the same set up in Edina, same spot both times.

It all depends on where you are and what cop sees you on how hard they enforce the law.

 

i got one when i had my jeep, (i was 16) the guy i bought it from had it at 5% so it was really dark. but it sux when u get a ticket for something you didnt know was illeagle, or do your self. i would personally never go below 30% just because i dont wana pay another 172 dollars or w.e. it was.

 

I have 50% front four and 35% back three on both of my cars and I've never had any problem. I don't think you could tell the difference between 50 and 35 unless you measured. My old ford explorer was from texas and had like 15% all around and I never had a problem with that either in MN. But I drive pretty conservatively most of the time, that combined with having a wagon means I don't draw a lot of attention.

 

unless its Fuji's wagon! lol.

 

heh, yeah. That could be a problem since the wagon my wife drives looks just like his. Although, hers is just a tiny bit quieter...

 

I have 35% all around except the windshield. I drive past many on-duty cop cars everyday (she lives by the St. Paul jail/police station) when I make my way to my girl's place and don't get hassled or pulled over at all. Could be my luck, but it must be in my favor I guess.

 

no problems for me at 20% all around but the windshield. i never get a second look.

 

My last car was a Black SVT focus w/ black leather and when I put 28% on it was REALLY dark. I was in a small fender bender(not my fault) and the state trooper was a MAJOR dick. He told me to correct it or next time I would get a ticket.

Sorry, he had to work that day ....

 

MNDude brings up a good point. Your tint will appear darker if your interior is darker. My legacy was at 50% front and 35% rear with a grey interior...it didn't look dark at all. However, 35% rear with dark or in my case all black interior will look much darker. Consider that before you decide.

Too dark just gives the authorities a quick excuse to pull you over. If you drive safe and have no other abnormalities on the car (exhaust, etc..) then you should be fine. I do not agree with the MN law on tinting. Rec. vehicles and SUVs can go below 50% but a regular car can't!?!

I'm pondering the same issue on tinting. I have an APEXi N1 and that is loud. (Anyone wanna trade?) Combine dark tint, loud exhaust, and the fine SW police I'm sure I will get picked on. With that said, I still think I'll go with 50% front and 35% rear again.

 

Hmm, well the main reason I want to go so dark is because it will match my scoobs paint better(black). But yeah, I don't really want to pay a fine or give them that excuse to pull me over.

 

50% is the leagle limit, but if you put 50% on your window no matter what meter you use it will messure less then 50 since all cars from the factory have some level of tint in them. And if you get the wrong cop in a bad mood, hello ticket! I would go at least 35%

 

I have ~30 front and ~20 rear for 1.5 years now and haven't had any problems. Even got pulled over for speeding and the officer didn't have anything to say about the tint. As said abov, YMMV.

 

I'm not sure what I've got (some where between 20 and 30) but I've had no problems, even when getting pulled over. It seems that for the most part unless you're either 1)Driving like an idiot, or 2)Run into a crabby cop looking for an excuse, you'll be fine. You'll have to decide what you think the odds for those are.
I think 30% all around should look just fine and match up with the black and probably not get you hassled.

 

+1

I got a ticket from a cop from Red Wing last week for tint.

I have 35% all around. When he measured. it showed 31%.

 

Hmm, well I think I will go 30% up front and 20% for the rear. I still would like to be able to see out the front windows at night.

 

20% all around for 2 years, no tickets. If you go anything under the legal limit, you are just gambling that you dont get a ticket, and when you do get one... you just gotta pay to play I guess.

 

I think this is the official tint law for MN.
http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/stats/169/71.html

So, 50% +/- 3%, with a few exceptions.

I know when I had my first wagon tinted, they told me it counted as an suv/van, so I could go darker on the back windows legally. But as I read the law now, I don't think my car counts as a truck or van. Also there's supposed to be a label between the tint and glass on the driver's window, neither place I went to installed that, but I didn't know to ask them to do it either...

 

On my last two cars I got tickets on both of them. The first and most painfull ticket was the tint "fix-it" ticket. No money involved but I had to take off all the tint and get it inspected to get the ticket cleared. That sucked because I paid to get the tint put on, I took it off, and paid to get it tinted again, (lighter of course.) The next time I got a ticket coming down 100 south, a trooper was hanging out under a bridge and got me speeding. Instead of getting me for speeding he gave me a tint ticket which was like 1.5 x the price but did not go on my record. I would rather pay the fine than fix the tint any day.

Right now I have 35% all the way around except for a 20% across the windshield.

 

If you get a fix it ticket you can opt out of fixing it and pay the fine. That is what a few people I know have done.

 

Since August of 2004, no tickets for tinted windows, just speeding... Officer said nothing about my tinted windows either...

 

i have %20 on the back and %30 on the front..... havent got a ticket yet (knock on wood)

 

I just got one the other day my tint was 34% but i bought the car like that had no idea it was illegal sucks when u get a ticket for somthing u didnt do but its life

 

I got a ticket a couple of years ago for tint on a car that I had no clue was illegal.....

I was driving an 88 BMW 325is with some mods through the U of M campus on my way to Chipotle. Not loud, not crazy, not dark. No clue what tint percentage. It was like noon on a Sunday and I was just cruising with traffic minding my own business. Cop flys up on me in Dinkytown and follows right on my tail for about a mile in traffic. Finally flips the lights on right in the middle of traffic. Cars are lined down the street on the right and there is an open parking lot on the left so I just pull in. The wacko cop pulls diagonol across the street so that he blocks both directions of traffic and slams on the brakes. He proceeds to get on his megaphone! and instruct me to back out on to the street. Whicked power trip in front of all the people and cars.

I finally get out on the street and I am basically right in the middle of the road because I can't pull over due to the parked cars. Cop marches up and starts cussing me out about my tint right away. I was totally blown away. I didn't know what he was pulling me over for or why there was california redwood up his rear.

The car only had tint on the rear window and rear quarter coupe windows. So first my driver's window is down and he instructs me to bring it up half way to measure it. Well, no tint there so he tells me to crawl into my back seat and pop the akward rear quarter window for him to test. I pop it and he can't get his big clumsy meter on it.

He proceeds to tell me that he has been testing cars for a long time and he just knows what illegal cars look like. No testing he gives me a full blown ticket.

....this story is getting way too long...basically, I went to the courthouse downtown and the lady I talked to was totally blown away by the cop, didn't understand the verbage (suv, rec vehicle, yada yada) in the law herself, and voided my ticket for me.

basically, some cops just suck and it doesn't matter what tint you have! AHHH!!!

 

20% all around, all depends on how you drive and what you have on your record, cops love checking to see if you've had any violations before they pull you over for something, my dad was a cop for 18 years and all the ramsey cops know who i am and i have yet to be pulled over, for anything

 

Well, I'm tinted. 30% front 2 20% back 3. Looks great to me.

I have the prodrive springs on now. I de-badged teh Subaru off of the trunk. I'm still deciding if I want to take off the WRX part. But so far, I think it looks sharp. Definately better than stock.

 

I just got my windows tinted, 50% all around

 

I think the tint law is really screwed up, like others have mentioned. Trucks and SUVs can be dark as hell and be fine but a car gets a ticket. I'm sorry I don't see the difference.

Anyone see the dodge magnums, they come tinted really dark from the factory. Somehow dodge was able to classify it as an SUV. It's all a bunch of BS.

As long as you can see out of the front two windows fine, even at night, and a cop could see in just fine there should be no problem.