I recently bought an Arctic Blue Pearl TSX and I'm looking into getting it tinted. What % should I get for the front doors, rear doors, and rear window? The local tint shop recommends that I get a medium shade for the doors and a dark for the rear to keep a classy, mercedes-ish look. Any opinions? Also, he is trying to get me to get felts installed because he says that Acura stopped putting them into the windows. He claims that if I don't have this done, the tint will scratch. Is there any truth to this?

 

Congrats on the TSX (nice color choice btw). There are a few things you might want to consider before tinting out your car. I did a quick search on google and it looks like you can have any tint on the rear side windows and rear window, but no tint on front side or windshield. Some cops don't worry about tint, others have an agenda against it. I would ask your friends in the area if they've had any problems where you plan to spend most of your time driving. Also, if you ever let anyone else drive your car, tint has a tendency to make it more difficult at night if they aren't used to it or don't know how to use mirrors.

On my old car (94 Eagle Vision TSi), I originially had it tinted with 5% rear sides and back, 20% front sides and 5% windshield strip. That lasted for a few months until I was pulled over and I had to take off everything but the rear window tint. Eventually I got it retinted lighter, and the next day I was pulled over and fined for the tint and had to remove the front and windshield tint. This was all in Pennsylvania, so YMMV.

The comment about the felt and scratching probably depends on what kind of tint you get. Most are "scratch resistant" to some extent. The kinds I have had really would only scratch if you took a sharp object like a knife to it. As long as you keep your windows clean with a non ammonia cleaner you should be ok.

Last thing I'd say say is if you have navi, there is a warning in the owners manual about metalic tint messing with the gps. I saw one person's post somewhere on here about it, which is why I am hesitant to tint my new TSX. You may way to wait/search for other TSX's that have gotten tinted for feedback if you have the navigation. Good luck and send some pics if you get it done.

 

You should check local laws to ensure that the tint you are looking to get is legal.

In Ontario, the front two windows cannot be darker than 35%. Since I wanted an even, balanced look, (no distinction between front and back door tints) I used 35% tint on all the doors and 20% on the rear windsheild. I think it looks great- and my friends do too (friend got his A4 done the same way after seeing my car).

Whatever you do, just make sure you're happy with it being dark in the car- any tint makes a significant difference with interior light availiability. Its quite stark at how dark the car gets.

Granted, now the shift knob is never boiling... so I dont complain.

J.

 

bowersan, can i see some pics by any chance? thanks!

 

Im at work now, but i'd be glad to post them up when i get home (or ill try to get them to send them over.....)

J.

 

I just tinted mine to legal in VA and it was 35 in front 50 in back. They would have put darker, but i didn't need to give smokie anohter reason to pull me over.

 

Ill have 35% 'hi-performance' installed tomorrow morning.
Ill have pics up for you

 

I have 35% sides, 20% rear. Before and after pics:

 

I have 35% on all windows.

 

hey majormojo, it kinda looks like Calgary from the background of your pictures. If you are from Calgary have you had any trouble with the tint regarding the police?

I was thinking of doing the same tint.

Thanks!

If you aren't from Calgary, sorry, my mistake.

 

speedyturtle, I'm from Edmonton. I don't know if Calgary police are any different, but I have not had any problems at all so far. As you're probably aware, the 35% up front is not actually permitted here. I spoke to a cop about it once and basically his take on it was that they want to be able to identify the driver of a vehicle and if your tint still allows that, then it's not a big deal. If you're already pulled over and you're being an ass, you can expect to get written up for the tint, but it's not normally enough to get you stopped in the first place. I think any darker than 35% would be really pushing your luck (as well as unsafe at night IMO).

 

 

Ok. So the installer wouldnt do the hi-performance today even though he said it would be ok last week. Apparently he wouldnt stand behind it incase it caused interference. I ended up with smoke tint. It came out pretty nice.

 

i have 20% smoke all around except the the windshield. my old accord had 13% which was a bit too dark at night.

 

Hey Everyone:

Thanks for all of your help. I just got my tint job done and I'm very happy. I got 35% all around and it looks clean. For photos, follow the CarDomain.com link in my signature. The entire job cost me $180 out-the-door at:

Song's Tint Masters
2464 W.Washington Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90018.
General Manager: Jae Kim

By the way, I'm a true believer in Meguire's NXT car wax. There are also pictures of my car, freshly waxed, at my CarDomain.com site. If you haven't tried it yet--try it! Thanks again all!

 

I have a followup question to those of you who have navi and tint. Have you had any problems with the navigation not getting the gps signal after you added the tint? I want to tint my TSX before the heat of summer, but I'd rather not mess up the navi. My guess is that non-metallic tint should work fine, but I want to get some other opinions from people who have already taken the plunge.

 

I actually got a metalic tint and my Navi is fine. In the manual, it says that sometimes a metalic tint on the rear window screws up the GPS. My works just fine though. Ask your tint dealer.

 

anyone kno the legal tintin limit in maryland? i think its round 35% but my friend sittin next to me thinks it is somewhere around 40%

 

according to this page of all state tint laws , it's 35% in MD, which we actually knew b/c i had to sell my Civic to someone in MD and she was concerned with compliance.

 

thanks

 

Just an FYI about tint laws, most of the laws are for net light transmittance, not the percent of the film. Factory auto glass already has a light transmittance of around 70% (lets 70% of total light through), so if you add 50% tint, you end up with around 35% light transmittance. If you multiply all the percentages, you should get a rough estimate of the net percent (70% * 50% = 35% net transmittance). Good luck with the tint.

(The only reason I know this is way too many run ins with PA tint laws.)