Tint. It is much cooler in the car with tint. Don't go above legal. I did and can't see a thing out the side windows when I turn at night. Reverse? Forget about it! I have to roll the windows down when I back up.

-Jim

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1995 S350D, Green with black leather interior.
Bought January 2008 w/ 233,xxx miles.
I did 22,000 miles during the first year of ownership.

Here's a white car (lowered, black undercoating in wheel wells, body bumper trim shaved) with very dark, legal tint. The contrast works well (IMHO). Use some brighter reverse lights if you have trouble at night. AC works a lot better, rear speakers last longer...

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Mercury is a boxer

1984 300d
1999 Prelude
Medici road bike
Klein touring bike
Klein mtn bike

Good advice. The squeegee used makes a big difference.
Here's a link to a good example. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Conquerer-Squeegee-window-tinting-tool_W0QQitemZ220159518805QQcmdZViewItem

Mercury,

I think a dark tint looks good on any color, but lighter car colors with dark tint are more striking. I did notice getting more attention from the law in lighter cars with limo tint that I've driven.

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Chad
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys

Check your local laws! NO tint is legal here in RI. Thats right, zip, zilch, nada. Some BS about cops not being able to see in for traffic stops. The old Jetta had professionally applied tint from when we were in TX. I highly recommend pro jobs with the best metalized product they have. I like 35%, no darker, as you can still see out fine to back up at night. The high quality metalized product keeps the car much cooler in summer without having to resort to limo black. That said, the truck is tinted as the inspection shop I go to is all good 'ole boys. They just backdate the sticker one day.... RT

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When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K

Has anyone ordered the pre-cut pieces before? When it's warmer I'm going to do the 4 door windows. However the curve of the rear window seems pretty rough.

I saw pre-cut pieces for just the rear once for under $30 and thought that would be worth it to make the hardest window easier to do.

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1987 300D - Frybrid - sold
1985 300SD

The dark tint eliminates seeing out the back of the car at all!! Both the wagon and the Squash were as dark as I could legally get, and it is just impossible at night.


True that! Backing up hill and out of my driveway at night is a crap shoot. I roll down the windows and watch for the shine of headlights.....
OK during the day though, but still pretty dark.

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

^^^^I do.

1. reduced visibility. Especially at night. It is like driving with sunglasses on in the dark.

2. cops hate it when they pull cars over with heavy tint. Death could be in wait for them, and they can't even see it, so they will approach ready for the worst.. That is what YOU should prepare for too, from the cops if you put them in that situation.

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

I have a diamond blue w123 with tinted rear windows and it looks perfect. I just love it. I just dont like backing up in the dark

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1981 300SD 512k OM603

yep, fading black. originally dark blue, and someone got a pretty good black paint job over that...

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85 300CD Turbo "Das Polluter" 230K sold for $3,000

98 BMW 323is

When I lived in Texas, in the 80's, tinting was all but mandatory...I mean if you wanted to be anywhere near comfortable in your car during 6 months out of the year. I'd say 95% of the cars had tinted windows then. Probably still true throughout most of the south, including Florida. I have to believe the cops in those areas are somewhat more tolerant to the tinting than in other parts of the country where it is less practical to have tinted windows.

The cops around here don't care for the tinting one bit, and frankly it has much less practical advantage up here...in fact we are not allowed to have any aftermarket tint in the front windows at all in NH.

A car will not pass state inspection with it and they can pull you over and ticket you even if you aren't local and have tinted windows up front - even if it is legal where you come from and where your car is registered. It is illegal to drive any car with aftermarket tinted front windows in NH, period. So that's the downside. I never really noticed it being that big a problem seeing out of the car with tinting, even at night...but I was a lot younger then so maybe today I'd find fault with that. It seemed to me the tint was more "one way" like it was darker looking in than looking out. Plus, I didn't opt for the higher level of tint - just to help keep the car cooler and protect the interior.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

Be sure to check local laws. Here in NJ, side and back windows behind the driver are OK, but not driver/front passenger or windshield.

It's also a cop magnet, whether legal or not. It also makes cops nervous. I don't care what the training, you don't want anyone with a gun and a possibly bad 'cop mentality' to be nervous.
I have nothing against police officers, but most (including most of them) will admit, not all cops are equal.

Depending, is it worth the hassle?

Slightly related, I can get a pulsing front light for my motorcycle, which would probably help for visibility/safety and it would be totally legal, but I'd likely get pulled over and need to pull out the federal statute allowing me to do so overriding any state law.
Is it worth the hassle? I may get written a ticket anyway for a generic "improper lighting" which could be anything such as blue lights, and have to go defend it on top of the hassle of being pulled over.

I may try it, but for now, not worth the hassle.

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85' 300D No inspection, No registration fees, Cheap insurance
"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious %$&^."

i was thinking tint on my 240. but i would HAVE to properly fix my reverse lights & add a pass. side mirror. for sure. my place in the garage has already been hit on my right side w/o tint.
ugh.
anywho.
we have the E320CDI tinted... just at FL legal limit... plus power rear sunshade & manual side shades.
the SLK is tinted WAY illegal. (18%) plus when the wind screen is on & top up. rear window is pointless unless the cop behind you has his highbeams on...
pic taken when the truck was here to take the SLK away when the harmonic balancer went while I was driving it

better yet. the GL has just been tinted 3 days ago...
WAY WAY WAY too dark. but its nice. we did 20% ontop of the factory tint! haha.
my mom is now happy she got parktronic & backup camera!
idk. its amazing to have to say the least.

idea of the day. tint glass sunroofs.

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Matthew McIvor

2016 E350 4Matic Black/Black
2007 GL450 4Matic with Off-Road Pkg Silver/Black
1995 E300 Diesel White/Gray
1994 S600 Euro Black/ Black Velour
1986 560SL Blue/Blue/Gray
1986 190E Blue/Blue 93k

I am getting my windows tinted for my birthday. I'm going to go one step into the illegal zone.. As long as I do not draw attention to myself I'll make it by.

plus.. anthacrite with dark tint is the shiz. and black interior.. I've got it going on

True. I've found that if I put the front windows down when I notice an officer anywhere near me, they don't bother with me. I think they pull over tinted cars to see if the occupants are hiding something.

Every Acura I've owned had one and I think they're great.

__________________
Chad
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys

Black on black and you never go back! That's a sharp-looking combination. I like that much better than dark-tinted windows on a light car.

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles