I tinted my Mustang, my first ever, because I live in a sunny place and I did not want to put Ventshades on my car. My truck has these and I leave the windows open 1/2 inch to vent the heat.
I had factory tint on the Mustang but added film to the side and rear glass to legal max in FL. 30% side 15% rear. Its been on for 2 years now, no bubbling. Yes, they scratch. My drivers side did a little.
It is easy enough to have it peeled off and re-filmed. The tint level does make rear vision at night poor, especially at the rear. It does keep the interior from melting and the car looks very cool with the dark windows. I prefer the Ventshades for function, however.
@Mustangman
Mustang! Florida! What Am I Doing Wrong? LOL
But hey, I’m running down to St. Pete Beach again in 3 weeks and I’m going to spend some time looking at real estate! I could easily switch to Ford for a Mustang. Last year there I saw a ton of Mustangs and Camaros. A friend in Clearwater said many of them are popular rental cars. CSA
Most bad tint jobs with the purple haze or the bubbles are the ones kids do at home with a roll of tint from Walmart. A good, reputable tint shop will do a fine job and will stand behind their work. They will also explain what to use to clean the windows, and more importantly what not to use.
Sometimes a moleskin liner is necessary to keep the tint from getting scratched if the bottom window seal is especially tight. Your tint shop should have this available.
I’m not going to tell you not to tint your car, but I will say to check into state laws first. In some states, even matching factory tint is illegal because it didn’t come from the factory like that. Most states have restrictions on how dark tint can be, and those restrictions get more restrictive the farther toward the front the window is. So, usually the rear window and rear side windows can be darker than the front side windows, which in turn can be darker than the windshield (which usually doesn’t allow any tint except for the sun shade strip up at the top).
Running with darker tint than allowed is usually only legally possible if you have a doctor’s note that says you need the tint due to an eye problem.
That’s about an hour and a half north of me. St Pete/Tampa/Clearwater is a great area. St Pete Beach, with its quirky little Pass-a-Grille is a great place to visit. We considered that area as well before we bought in Lee County.
On summer living here will show you the value of tinted windows. Nearly every new car on the lot has added tint film. The police cars are tinted, by my eyes, darker than the law allows but who is going to ticket them??
@Mustangman
We stayed at a nice hotel (ocean view room, gated parking, 3 pools, outdoor bars…), right on the beach last year and will probably go to the same one this time.
I was taking a look at Punta Gorda & Port Charlotte area. Lots of guys at my golf course vacation there. We will spend a couple days in Bradenton where my wife’s sister has a house.
I need to locate someplace that has bicycle trails. I do a lot of bicycling.
Back to cars and tinted windows… my Grand Prix I bought used in September, (in the picture to the left) came with really dark tinted windows (all except windshield, perfect no scratches, blemishes, etcetera). My 21 year-old daughter thought it looked really cool, but I told her that backing up in my driveway at night, the first time I did it, was quite challenging, LOL! Since then I’ve found that it just requires a little more concentration. CSA
@common sense answer Punta Gorda is nice. About 45 minutes N from me. Not sure of bicycle trails in Charlotte Co. but we have tons in Lee County. You can bike the entire island of Sanibel/Captiva as well as many trails on the mainland in Lee Co. Nearly all paved. Bike lanes are plentiful although sometimes a bit discontinuous.
Staying in Port Charlotte or Punta Gorda gives you near access to Venice, St. Pete/Sarasota/Tampa/Clearwater but also Fort Myers. Fort Myers centered gives close access to Punta Gorda/Charlotte to the north but Naples/ Marco Island to the south and Sanibel/Captiva on the Gulf.
We’re going to have a low of -9 where I am tomorrow. My black car has turned white from all the road salt, and yesterday the water whipped out of my eyes by the wind froze on my eye lashes.
You guys need to stop making it worse by reminding me that there are luxuriously warm places that I am not traveling to right now.
@shadowfax
Sorry About That!
It was -16F at my house this morning and now that the sun came out I’m all the way up to single digits on the positive side of zero! A veritable heat wave!
I’ve been shoveling and blowing snow every day, wrestled an auger belt into my 13/36 snow blower in an unheated garage with no feeling in my fingertips, and I have to make sure to clean the windows off and start my wife’s car every morning so she can go work. The snow is deep. I’ve been freezing my fingers and toes. I’m ready!
I’ll rent a car, pick my daughter up at college four hours from here and hit the road. We got back last year at the beginning of March and I set a Tropicana Orange Juice bottle down and stuck a small calendar on it. My wife and I have been religiously depositing 20 bucks each in the bottle every week. It’s full and I’m ready. I’ll do the same routine again next year, but I’m going to have to buy some property down south as soon as my young wife can retire.
Rent a car or buy some plane tickets and we’ll see you on the road or down south. Do whatever it takes. CSA
You talked about moving to Florida last year @“common sense answer” . Tick-Tock!
Makes sure you know the rules where you live, and if you plan to move, makes sure you know the rules at your new home. Our friends moved to Texas and got a deep feint on their windows. They decided to move back a couple years later, and were told by Maryland that they had to remove some of the tint. They sold the cR instead.
@jtsanders
"You talked about moving to Florida last year @common sense answer . Tick-Tock!"
I know, but it still might be a couple of years to actually move, but I could see myself picking up a condo in Florida or some such thing.
These winters are getting tougher on me even though for an old guy I’m in shape. I ride a bike 7 miles, fast, every morning in summer, run 5Ks and play golf on 3 leagues, walking (running and riding a golf bike), and go 7.5 miles fast on an Air-Dyne in winter or run a few miles on my treadmill and shovel and blow snow. I don’t enjoy snow any more. I freeze.
I’m in kind of an unusual situation. I’m a few years past full-retirement age (I have to look into S.S. one of these years), my wife is 9 years younger and working and isn’t as free to travel. My oldest child is 28 and bought a house. My youngest child is 21 and in college.
I’ve been getting ideas from all the guys at the golf course, most of whom have a winter place in Florida, owned or rented. I could see having a condo here and a condo there. I think I wouldn’t mind snow or yard work as much.
Oh, the car… my dark windows don’t attract much attention in the rural/resort area where I live. It’s a little like the wild west here and not much in the way of law enforcement. CSA
@“common sense answer” S’awright. The cold is simply making me look forward to the Caribbean in a couple of months even more.
Around here, unfortunately, getting stopped for tint tends to be based on racial criteria. I know a lot of caucasians who have never been stopped even though they have darker tint and drive in the same areas as non-caucasians I know who have been stopped multiple times.
I’m not a fan of tinting car windows. If a car has a factory tint, I’ll keep it, but otherwise, I value my ability to see at night too much to tint my windows.
Tinting can actually help you see better at night as long as you keep the tint to 35%. It reduces glare coming in from the sides, particularly from headlights behind you reflecting off your side view mirrors.
I have never tried 20% or darker, but 35% really does help.
