Window Tinting tests

Reading another thread I was reminded about something I read the other day regarding window tinting. The article was from about August this year and said that NSW coppers now have the ability to test car tinting on the side of the road to ensure that it meets the 35% rule. I believe this rule is Australia wide but haven't heard about such measuring techniques in other states.

Has anyone been given the test or heard anything about them?

Yep, portable light meters (not sure the technical name, but the ones that have a sensor and a light source - placed either side of the window) are issued to some police. Not just NSW either. If they deem the car unroadworthy due to the tint, they can (and do) issue a canary (defect) and tell you to call a tow truck. If they are in a good mood they might allow the vehicle to be driven home or directly to a repairer. But a mate of mine (traffic cop) has told me of times when dark tint has been used as a reason to tell the driver "part it and call a cab or a friend - this vehicle isn't going anywhere except under tow".

The thing I read said NSW had an $83 on the spot fine but nothing about parking it. Apart from anything tint can be ripped off on the side of the road deeming the car legal again so parking it and calling a tow truck surely can't happen often.

Not that it worries me a great deal I can't see too many people being pulled over for it specifically and if you get done whilst they are doing you for something else well chances are you knew the tint was illegal in the first place anyway.

I've got 35% on my windows and was told that they just changed the limit in NSW to allow even darker - not sure to what level, but that was the word. If they're going around with light meters, you gotta wonder ...

Years ago I went and moved to Canberra for work, and as part of that, I had to get my car pit-inspected. It was a Bitsoshitty L300 that was completely stock standard. So the guys look it over and it goes something like this:

Ben: "Hey, these windows look like they're tinted".

Bill: "I'll bring the light meter, we'll show this doof we don't like his NSWelsh-kind here"

Ben: "Excuse me sir, we think your windows are tinted and we're going to test them"

Me: "Fine, there's no tint on them, but test away."

Bill (operating the meter): "Check this out Ben"

Here, Bill shows Ben the light meter reading the light source directly without my window inbetween. He then shows Ben the light meter reading the light source THROUGH my window and passing more light than when the window wasn't there.

Mr Flower Pot Man then tried to accuse me of tampering with his equipment, his test, and warned me that I could be fined for it.

Moral of the story: light meters aren't always accurate.

Corollary: authorised representatives of government agencies will try anything to make you look bad because that's what scores points in their own books. In the long run, departmental employees are after statistics, and they won't let an obvious fact stand in the way of another number.

You're right - just whip the tint off and away you go.

From talking to my mate, the biggest problem is the "doof doof" brigade. They are usually defected for a whole range of things at the same time

Realistically, if you have no reason to be pulled over (ie sensible driving, vehicle that doesn't scream "defect me") then your chances of getting "done" are minimal for most minor technicalities. I can't and won't argue that a vehicle should be knowingly setup in contravention of the law, but obviously it does happen.

Where people get into trouble is the roadside checks by registration authorities. Just because a vehicle may have been driven in a technically unroadworthy state for years doesn't matter a hoot if the roadside check shows up an issue. People get pretty upset when they get defected for having certain modifications etc, often fitted several years ago, but until that moment they have never been stopped or had a problem with rego authorities etc. "But it's been like this for years" don't mean much in the cold light of day.

Wouldn't winding the windows down until getting to 'a repairer' do the same thing?

Matt76 said:

Wouldn't winding the windows down until getting to 'a repairer' do the same thing?

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Ha ha, quoted for truth!

That'd be too simple a fix for the fun-stoppers I reckon.

Technically its only the front driver and passenger side window not rear seat window or rear window that has to be to the limit, just look at cars that come with privacy glass standard, my misses skyline has blacker than black rear windows, its from factory like that, it passed roadworthy no problem because thats not affecting the drivers view, also my mates triton has his rear windows tinted from factory and there also almost as black as a limousine too, plus i also heard you can go one shade darker under legal tint on black coloured cars, dont know why but thats what was told to me.

The technicality bit is right, just like in SA the law is (or used to be) that cars couldn't have tint on the drivers window but for some reason when it comes to the tinting places and roads corporations talking about it they always seem to suggest it has to be all windows.

Although I've got tinting and have had it on all my cars for the last 12 years I'm still not convinced of it's worth, sure it reflects a certain amount of light but it's still a trade off because some of the heat gets trapped inside. Most of the time it can be eased a little if you can open the windows a bit but if you're parked outside all day in the heat the car can get darn hot with tinting.

A) I believe factory tint can be darker than aftermarket tint.

B) If you get a canary, tearing your tinting off or rolling down the windows may remove the defect but it doesn't remove the canary. Only the pits can remove the canary, so if you are told you park it, tearing the tint off makes no difference.

KraftyPg said:

The technicality bit is right, just like in SA the law is (or used to be) that cars couldn't have tint on the drivers window but for some reason when it comes to the tinting places and roads corporations talking about it they always seem to suggest it has to be all windows.

Although I've got tinting and have had it on all my cars for the last 12 years I'm still not convinced of it's worth, sure it reflects a certain amount of light but it's still a trade off because some of the heat gets trapped inside. Most of the time it can be eased a little if you can open the windows a bit but if you're parked outside all day in the heat the car can get darn hot with tinting.

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I love my tint i dont get sunburnt, if i drive with the window slightly down the part of the sun that is on my skin which is not through the tint starts burning. I notice it on my parents cars too, there cars are not tinted and for whatever reason if i have to use there car in summer i feel the sun real bad on my skin.
I agree with the part that it might not hold the actual heat out of the car but for me it works against sunburn.

I wouldn't trade mine either but all day in the hot sun without the windows open is a bit of a killer. It's another one of those situations where the pros out weigh the cons and given the price of tinting it's not like its an overly pricey addition that you wasted cash on only to dislike

Hey Guys,

When I first got my ST-R '04 ZD30 Nav, it had illegal tint on the fronts which looked great and was only slightly darker than legal. I had to get it pitted to get WA rego. I was told to rip it off on the spot before they would rego it.

It made a mess, but the tinting dudes took care of it and about $140 bucks later it was all sorted. The other shit thing in WA is all second hand cars must have an immobiliser fitted to be sold/re-registered. The pit officier let me go at the time but when I sold it a few months later, I had to get an immobilizer fitted for the sale.

I asked the Nissan guys about this as to why the Navara ST-R's aren't fitted with N.A.T.S. as standard or how can they sell a car without an immobilizer. Apparently, new cars don't have to have an immobilizer, but if I sell it the day after purchase, it has to be fitted. Just another shit rule!

I got my new '09 Nav ST-R factory fitted with darkest tint. Looks good and works well.

Cheers,

DJ

Some of the rules state to state are a joke which is why I never bothered re-registering my cars when I lived in NSW but I'm glad they have never brought in the immobilisers rule in Vic. Seems rather silly that they don't care if your car gets knocked off but they want to make sure the buyer of a second hand car has the security.

I've never asked for a factory tint cause I have a mate that does it for cost but with the Nav I wasn't even asked if I wanted it as an option, not sure if the dealer figured that slight tint that it came with was enough or if he forgot but it did save me telling him no. looked pretty plain with whatever tint they put in the glass though.

On a different note I got my "welcome kit" from Nissan yesterday, welcoming me to the Nissan family, not bad it's been 3 months since I got the car obviously I just wasn't welcome when I first picked it up.

I dont recommend getting nissan to tint your windows unless it gets thrown in for free or a cheap price, otherwise they are too expensive and just get the same bloke you or i would anyway to do the job but they put a little extra on top for themselves.

SOLID D22 said:

I dont recommend getting nissan to tint your windows unless it gets thrown in for free or a cheap price, otherwise they are too expensive and just get the same bloke you or i would anyway to do the job but they put a little extra on top for themselves.

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Thats true, my mate actually does the tinting for the local Nissan dealer who I wont deal with. Not sure what Nissan charge but I know he does it cheaper if you organise it yourself.

Although car salesmen speak isn't often to be listened to when I gave my local the chance to sell me a Nav he told me he'd have to take $600 off the trade in because of the cracked windscreen which he'd have to replace. I was quoted $160 for the window 3 months before from the tinting place so who knows what their mark up on a tint would be if they reckon a windscreen is worth $600 on a trade in.

1. T35 tint in QLD is all that is allowed all round, the factory glass is an exception. And what sux is if you had a base model prado with clear glass you are not allowed to tint the rear as dark as the GXL factory tint

2. I'd like to see someone try and rip off tint on the side of the road, unless it is in realy good condition normally the clear coat comes off seperatly then the colour in little pieces

3. When I was tinting we used to do the dealer tint for holden, ford, mitsubishi, toyota, BMW, Merc, hyudai, and a heap of used yards, and the stuff which had a life time warrenty was crap, we charged about $200 and the dealer sold it on for $600 - 800 better off going to your local tint dealer and paying $400 for the good stuff.

4. Darker than legal tint normaly only stops more light, there is minimal diferance in heat and no difference in UV and it looks better!!!!

Our local Toyota dealer 12 months ago was telling buyers that they only needed to tint the drivers window on his new cars because he was getting them from SA and all other windows were tinted prior to delivery. Problem he had was that whatever tint they were getting in SA wasn't the same as the tint my mate uses and it looked stupid but the dealer ok'ed it. He replaced a few drivers windows with stuff the was a closer match but there was one or two customers who managed to get the entire car re-tinted on the dealers dollar because of the way it looked.

Same dealer also kept saying to customers that if they could get a better price elsewhere he'd give them $1000 worth of fuel, one trip down to the big smoke and the prices were quite a bit better, I know 4 people he ended up given $1000 worth of fuel.

KraftyPg said:

Some of the rules state to state are a joke which is why I never bothered re-registering my cars when I lived in NSW but I'm glad they have never brought in the immobilisers rule in Vic. Seems rather silly that they don't care if your car gets knocked off but they want to make sure the buyer of a second hand car has the security.

I've never asked for a factory tint cause I have a mate that does it for cost but with the Nav I wasn't even asked if I wanted it as an option, not sure if the dealer figured that slight tint that it came with was enough or if he forgot but it did save me telling him no. looked pretty plain with whatever tint they put in the glass though.

On a different note I got my "welcome kit" from Nissan yesterday, welcoming me to the Nissan family, not bad it's been 3 months since I got the car obviously I just wasn't welcome when I first picked it up.

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Whats a welcome kit? Had mine since march & haven't heard squeek

justdrinkbeer said:

Whats a welcome kit? Had mine since march & haven't heard squeek

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Oh you missed out big time, I'd be complaining if I was you.

I got a cardboard folder with the words welcome kit on it, inside it had a lovely letter welcoming me to the Nissan Family, a pretty little card with the customer don't care number on it and a key ring that is probably pretend gold with Nissan written on it and a leather strap. Very fanciful indeed I am so honoured to be part of the group. The key ring is going straight to he pool room