This is purely cosmetics, but I was thinking of tinting the glass. Side windows front and rear and the rear window. It shouldnt blacked out, just a small touch of tint mainly to make the cage and race seats inside somewhat less obvious and also sun protection. I dont know if 20% is too little and 40% might be too much. Im not looking to blacken the windows (thats illegal here anyway). What is your oppinion on the level of tint to use? Just leave it factory? (FWIW, my car is red) John
I am sure you are not running an aircon so alight tint will for sure no be a bad idea. I remember when we had the office windows tinted that the grade of darkness didn't influence the heat reflection as much as one would imagine. It all depends on the spec of the film used.
The car looks a lot nicer without the tint, but if you want to keep people from seeing the rollbar etc. I would do a real light tint. There is even clear tint if you want to keep the OE look and just the rays out. Hope this helps Thomas
the films applied here have a metallic content that can reflect 99% UV and up to 60% heat radiation -- independent of the tint even if transparent. the company foliatec also offers a range called "securit" that prevents shattering of glass in the event of accident. It is transparent. I dont know if its FIA approved, but its mandated now for rally cars by the DMSB. Supposedly the police cars here use it on their glass. It is also interesting to people as an extra theft deterent. I cant seem to find anything as low as 20% tint. the lowest tints are already 40%. the usual tints are 80, 90 and 95% which is not what I wanted. I may be wasting my time here, but Ill contact another company on monday to see what they can offer. John
My cousin has a tint shop I can get you what ever you need. Like I said earlier they also have clear tint with metal content in it to keep the UV's out. A roll of this stuff does several cars, just get some of your buddys together and tint there cars too. Thomas
My M3 had some pretty dark tints on it (back and rear windows) when i bought it.. I have to say its looks damn nice against the Diamondswartz (hope i spelt ok).. but then again i will only keep it for security reasons. Generally i don't like tinting on classic cars. Can you have a tint shop take a pic of your M3 and then photoshop an image with different shaded tints? that would be the best way to know what it might look like before biting the bullet. Laurence.
I just finished ripping it all out of my car.. What a pain. If I were to put any back on it would be as light as possible
John, Are you sure the tint shops aren't quoting your tints the wrong way round? the tint shops here quote film tints in the % of light they let through. i.e. a 95% tint only blocks out 5% of the light. and a clear (UV only) tint would be 100%. The uk law is something like 75% of light must pass through. I didn't think you could get tints lower than about 50% (which is something like extra limo black) Don't forget the std glass has a tint in it already. you can get it tested to see how much, but I think E30 glass is something like 90-95% tint as std. Hope that helps John
When i worked in the BMW network they quoted as per john 25% tint being a very slight tint as we were not allowed to do any more than a 35% tint as per vosa guidelines.
yes, I realize some companies like folia tec quote tints as "how much light gets thru". e.g. they quote 80% transparency, which is a 20% tint. I really am looking for only for a low level tint, max 40% (60% transparency). also want to keep the UVs and heat rays out. John
SO are you going to tint the car or not ? Thomas PS the poll says tint it, at least if you add up all the votes it's 7 to 8
they all have the reflective coatings (metallic content) which is how they get the UV and heat ray protection. but I dont really like these silvery looking reflective ones and the anthracite films are all much too dark. I think I will just limit myself to putting dark films, perhaps 15-20 cm high, for the top portion of front and rear windscreens, and on the top of the rear side windows. there is still the clear "securit" type film like foliatec has, which prevents glass splittering in even of a crash. John
