Window tints

The law does not specifically say that applying tinted film to a vehicle's front windows is illegal, what it says is that at least 70% of light must pass through a car front window. If a tint that is light enough is applied to a vehicle window passes a light test...and this is the important bit....AFTER it has been applied to the window, then it is perfectly legal. What people forget is that even clear glass does not even let 100% light through, and most modern cars these days will have a form of light tint to them already, so it is very easy to fail a light test on a window once even the lightest tint has been applied.

Anybody that claims it is illegal to apply a tinited film to a car window is not correct, it is perfectly legal, unless it is too dark and fails a light test once applied.
 
some cars state on the glass what % tint they are to start with,but yes your right.
 
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TAC said:
Have a friend who's a Traffic Officer who says they would stop someone with front tints and they would peel off as not allowed......
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A traffic cop with a friend???? LOL :friends:

You also get the 'visor' that covers the top of the windscreen. Basic stops you seeing where your going unless your a midget! They fail an MOT if they encroach into the sweep of the wiperblades. I think they have gone ouyt of fashion at the moment.

On the subject of moments, when on a bike, a car pulling out a junction and they haven't seen you is kinda scary. Bikers that do 60 in a 30 can't complain about this as any driver pulling out a junction will find the bike on top of them quicker that should be expected so its in their own hands...
 
Having very dark front windows is irresponsible, as it does restrict what you can see. Try wearing sunglasses when the sun goes down.
 
beanoir said:
I thought this thread was about tinted windows, not motorbikes....:think:
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A lot of us on here have A3's and motorbikes. If I'm discussing the safety of tints, despite being on an Audi forum I'm perfectly entitled to make commentse from the POV of a biker, as is everybody else.

You feel invisible on a bike at the best of times with some of the muppets on the road, reducing their visibility further is never a good thing.
 
Khufu said:
A traffic cop with a friend???? LOL :friends:
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Hmmm I know was going to put aquaintance however thats a little harsh... Always good to have a copper in your pocket... especially when they're a wpc and a fairly tasty one at that! imo.........:whistle2:
 
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V6Pete said:
A lot of us on here have A3's and motorbikes. If I'm discussing the safety of tints, despite being on an Audi forum I'm perfectly entitled to make commentse from the POV of a biker, as is everybody else.

You feel invisible on a bike at the best of times with some of the muppets on the road, reducing their visibility further is never a good thing.
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couldn't agree more, but the thread was going a bit off topic. The question of me having owned bikes before bears no relevance to window tints.
 
V6Pete said:
A lot of us on here have A3's and motorbikes. If I'm discussing the safety of tints, despite being on an Audi forum I'm perfectly entitled to make commentse from the POV of a biker, as is everybody else.

You feel invisible on a bike at the best of times with some of the muppets on the road, reducing their visibility further is never a good thing.
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Agree totally with you V6Pete its bad enough driving on 4 wheels with some of the muppets about! Love motorbikes however for that reason alone would never ride one on the road you just can't trust other people to know how to drive!!

As Top Gear put it, 'anybody who drives cars like a kia doesn't care about their car and therefore about driving....' something along those lines...
 
audi upgrades
TAC said:
Agree totally with you V6Pete its bad enough driving on 4 wheels with some of the muppets about! Love motorbikes however for that reason alone would never ride one on the road you just can't trust other people to know how to drive!!

As Top Gear put it, 'anybody who drives cars like a kia doesn't care about their car and therefore about driving....' something along those lines...
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You're dead right. I always watch out for horrible cars, as I don't trust them. Small hatches, Renault Scenics anything by Kia, Daewoo, etc. Chances are the driver is too busy shouting at a brat in the back, or thinking about what to cook Alfred for his tea, etc.
 
V6Pete said:
You're dead right. I always watch out for horrible cars, as I don't trust them. Small hatches, Renault Scenics anything by Kia, Daewoo, etc. Chances are the driver is too busy shouting at a brat in the back, or thinking about what to cook Alfred for his tea, etc.
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:applaus:
 
ghouseman said:
at last, an adult, thank you
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And who exactly isn't an adult?! :mad:


V6Pete said:
A lot of us on here have A3's and motorbikes. If I'm discussing the safety of tints, despite being on an Audi forum I'm perfectly entitled to make commentse from the POV of a biker, as is everybody else.

You feel invisible on a bike at the best of times with some of the muppets on the road, reducing their visibility further is never a good thing.
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Yep agreed.
 
I used to ride bikes, people with tinted windows are the least of your worries.. 78 year old grannies reversing back up slip lanes in a 1989 honda at 1am gave me more concern than some chick in a chelsea tractor with gloss black windows.. being on a bike is inherently dangerous, for all but a few they are 130kg rockets that are never used with any respect and 5% less light than legally allowed isn't going to make a difference when you're going three times the speed limit swallowing your tongue from the g force.. When you t-bone a moron in a car at a junction at 30mph minus reaction braking, wearing full leather and a helmet you'll be fine. I can vouch for this first hand. the bike may have been first but like all things in life, if something bigger, stronger and immovable confronts you.. get out of the way.
 
Hang on the point of this thread was to see if the quality of after sales tinting was the same as factory...

And if im honest I have never even given a second though about if a car has got its windows tinted or not when i am out on my bike! I am to busy concentrating on the surface of the road, avoiding slippy drain covers, using my psychic abilities to know that the **** at the T junction hasn't seen me and and is pulling out, oh and trying to impress the girlies!

I dont think i will be tinting the fronts any how, normally when you tint the backs it makes the car look darker and reduces the light in the front anyway.
 
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LordCor said:
I used to ride bikes, people with tinted windows are the least of your worries.. 78 year old grannies reversing back up slip lanes in a 1989 honda at 1am gave me more concern than some chick in a chelsea tractor with gloss black windows.. being on a bike is inherently dangerous, for all but a few they are 130kg rockets that are never used with any respect and 5% less light than legally allowed isn't going to make a difference when you're going three times the speed limit swallowing your tongue from the g force.. When you t-bone a moron in a car at a junction at 30mph minus reaction braking, wearing full leather and a helmet you'll be fine. I can vouch for this first hand. the bike may have been first but like all things in life, if something bigger, stronger and immovable confronts you.. get out of the way.
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Here here, well said!

Unless we're talking tinted helmet visors then I can't see what the hell motorbikes have to do with a conversation about tinted windows in a CAR forum!
 
With respect it's got everything to do with it, how is it off topic to point out that tinting your windows increases the liklihood of you not seeing something due to lack of visibility. If you killed a motorcylist because of heavily tinted windows you'd be in deep do do and it's the reason people a pulled by the boy's in blue, not because they've got nothing better to do. It niggles me because other peoples lives/health are being put at risk for the sake of styling.
 
Hmm..think I'm gonna join lol. I just don't see window tints as heavily reducing your view. Its actually not that bad and the reason people do have them in is to reduce the view looking inwards rather than looking outwards. Now as the person above mentioned the main concerns bikers have whilst riding centre more towards older people , tyre surfaces, basically crap drivers. Just think the subject of window tints shoud be taken lightly as the person who asked the question just wanted to know whether it was just as good as the factory ones so lets just answer it and not make them out to be a bikers worst enemy. Sorry Ihave no idea what came over me. Just started typing and couldn't stop. No offence intended. :)
 
beanoir said:
Here here, well said!

Unless we're talking tinted helmet visors then I can't see what the hell motorbikes have to do with a conversation about tinted windows in a CAR forum!
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But the difference is I wear a tinted visor ON SUNNY DAYS! On wet days, grey days, in the evening etc, I wear a clear visor.

If drivers remove their front tints at night or when it's overcast, and refit when the sun's out, then I'm happy.
 
well my front windows are tinted and i haven't hit a biker yet and when i check for cars and bike at junctions i tend to make sure its clear before i come out.
its down to people who cant drive properly.
My tints are illegal im sure but I can still see what's coming to a high enough ability to drive safely.
i did nearly hit a biker actually but he was doing near 120mph round the corner of the 60 zone as i pulled out but seeing him through my TINTED windows i had enough time to decide not to pull out and save his stupid life
 
It's easy to say that it's down to driving skills but it's not always the case. It's possible that you could cause an accident (not just to a biker) BECAUSE your windows are tinted. You may not have done so far, you may never do in your life, but I would attribute an amount of luck there not just driving skills.

The law says 30% max for a reason and at night that 30% makes a huge difference. If someone wants to get up to 30% tints than that just fine by me and I hope they take extra care to overcome to reduction in visibility. Anyone who goes beyond that limit deserves to be pulled and fined. Accident or not. Good driver or not.
 
LordCor said:
I used to ride bikes, people with tinted windows are the least of your worries.. 78 year old grannies reversing back up slip lanes in a 1989 honda at 1am gave me more concern than some chick in a chelsea tractor with gloss black windows.. being on a bike is inherently dangerous, for all but a few they are 130kg rockets that are never used with any respect and 5% less light than legally allowed isn't going to make a difference when you're going three times the speed limit swallowing your tongue from the g force.. When you t-bone a moron in a car at a junction at 30mph minus reaction braking, wearing full leather and a helmet you'll be fine. I can vouch for this first hand. the bike may have been first but like all things in life, if something bigger, stronger and immovable confronts you.. get out of the way.
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WTF? Seriously, how can you genaralise about all bikers having no respect? And your comments about T-Boning a car at 30mph are just plain wrong, it depends where you hit the car and all manner of other variables - trust me, I've done it and it hurt, despite full leathers etc.
 
MG said:
WTF? Seriously, how can you genaralise about all bikers having no respect? And your comments about T-Boning a car at 30mph are just plain wrong, it depends where you hit the car and all manner of other variables - trust me, I've done it and it hurt, despite full leathers etc.
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Ok i'm only speaking for the 15-20 people i've met that own bikes, who pretty much use them without any thought to anyone else.. as i did for the short time i had my bikes.. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there with more restraint and respect for the road.. but generally, twenty something guys who've just bought ducatti's or gixers don't exactly stick to speed limits..

Coming off hurts of course and i appreciate it will depend on other factors to whether or not you come off in one piece.. but if you're doing 20-25mph it's not going to make you lose much sleep over it in comparison to 50 60 +++
 
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