I am tinting the car soon but I can't decide wether I should do all the windows or just the back three, anyone in California get pulled over alot for having full tint? Anyone specifically in the San Francisco/San jose area have it and have no problems ?

 

no cops mess with you if you have a tight car! i have subs and tints and cops never harass me despite giving me mean looks

 

nah they don't do dat shit

 

no problems here and i've got 35% all around.

 

I am from SoCal and I got dark ass tint, havent had any recent problems. Used to when my car had rims and was lowered, etc. I also think alot of it has to do with being at the wrong place at the wrong time, I don't roll around at 200 in the morning in neighborhoods I should'nt be in, I go from point A to point B, usually in Cali you are safer on the freeways, CHP doesnt have the time for tint issues, its the small city cops in nice areas that love to stop the tricked out imports, and lowriders, especially with lots of heads in the car, windows down, pumping the system for all to see. You are bound to get tickets galore. I have a cousin who is a deputy for LA County Sherrif. He told me they specifically look for cars that are tricked out in areas they should'nt be in. Called stereotyping, we all know they do it, its not right, but thats how it goes. He works the Unincorporated areas of San Gabriel Valley, if he is in a nice area for instance, he said you could see a Lexus IS 300 stock chromies and all with full tint, no problems. But if they see the Civic SI, slammed with chromies, tint, stickers, colored lights, then its on. Easy pickin' he tells me, cars like that are just numerous tickets waiting to be stopped, but they usually do this when they are bored at like 1100 at night when things die down. So dont be out late at night crusing, just go to your destination and return, keep those windows up, system is for you only, not for everyone else, and nobody wants to see you rollin'. Being in SoCal, there are sooo many phat rides, its impossible to pick favorites, nobody is looking at you rollin around. I admire modest rides with modest riders. Oh Yeah, my cousin said the import racing scene is a big no no with the Sheriffs, they specifically are targeting vehicles that look like racers! Plus, you are driving around a $30,000 car, don't make look like its $9000, keep it classy! Just my .02$

 

I had a very uninteresting (mostly stock - white) 1991 Intergra LS with 20% back and like 35% on sides. Just last year (after 10+ years of ownership) I was pulled over by a BICYCLE cop (how embarassing) in Van Nuys near Costco. I was actually on my way to Costco to stock up on toilet paper! We were out. Talk about a bummer afternoon.

I was in the residential area rounding a corner and the bicycle cop stood in the road and stopped me. I thought he must have though I did a 'rolling stop', because I couldn't have been going more then 10mph, but no, he stopped me because I had no front plate.

It seems the LAPD is getting active about front plates because of the camera systems that are now installed at major intersections to catch people running red lights. The cameras depend on the fact that the picture includes the driver and the plate in the same picture.

I got a fixit ticket for the front plate and a warning about my tinting. I fixed the plate and did nothing with the tint. The front plate thing was a major pain in the ass - I had to waste a whole morning. I had never received a front plate and therefore had to go to DMV, wait at DMV, get new plate, drive to Sheriff station, pay Sheriff fee to look at car, take Sheriff reciept to court (upstairs) and pay court fees (like $10 or $15 total cost). A true pain that I wouldn't recommend to others.

The bottom line: I think if they want to pull you over for something they'll add the tint to the ticket, but they may not pull you over for the tint alone.

 

Is it illegal to tint over the thrid brake light? I'm getting the back redone this weekend, and I'm debating to yank the back seat out.

 

Heard from Scott long ago about getting ticketed in Huntington Beach for tinting. But then, his car has INK BLACK tint!

 

I am in the Bay Area.. I have 35% all around..
Haven't gotten pulled over for it..

but when I was pulled over for speeding and weaving in/out of traffic.. he did mention my tint was illegal and my front license plate was missing..

but he just gave me a warning and let me go..

My tint guy did everything cleanly.. the back window was all one peice and applied with a heat gun..

and the third brake lite was tinted over too..

 

That’s one of the FUNNIEST statements I’ve read in quite a while.

Shawn S

 

Hey bro, I'm in San Jose and I have a full tint on my TL. Cops just roll next to me to check out the car, but they haven't pulled me over yet. I got mine done at Mr. Tints on Stevens Creek.

 

I got 15% limo tint all over my black CL-S.

WATCH OUT FOR COPS IN DALY CITY/SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO!

I got pulled over 3 times in Daly City for having the limo tint and each time, I was issued a $85-$90 ticket and I had to appear in the court each time . But lucky for me, I had WA license plates and I argued to the judge that I was just passing through CA. The first time, he let me go with only a $10 court fee. The second and third times, I had to pay the ticket in full and show the court that I removed the tint. However, I convinced the judge that I was just passing through and that I shouldn't remove the tint. I think WA state doesn't have any laws against limo tint all over.

Anyway, the price I paid in tickets is now about equal to the price I paid for the tint job. But I would never remove the tint because the limo tint all over on the black CL-S that has 4 layers of Zaino just looks way too awesome.

Anyway, I moved to Hayward a couple of months ago and ever since that time, I was never stopped by cops even though many cop cars passed me by. I don't know why this is so and I won't venture a guess but I'll take this as a good sign. It appears that Daly City cops have way too much time on their hands.

I guess it all depends where you live and where you usually drive through. It may be possible that Hayward has a lot of cops who are familiar with the community and are aware of the popularity of tinting in that area. Who knows? Best of luck to you dude.

 

Huntington Beach and some coastal cities are hardcore crackdown cities. heh. They need the revenue badly.

 

if you are talkin to me not no more


finally got my 10th tint ticket and decided to say fuck it for awhile.


Most of the tint tickets i'm fine w/ and the only reason I got them was usually cause I was speeding and the cop let me off the speeding ticket and would just write me up for tint. There are a few city's you do really need to watch out for w/ tint. One of them is Huntington Beach, they are notorious for giving out tint tickets.

 

guji2 -

I believe that CA law states you have to change your registration/license/plates within 10 days of moving to CA.

If you have to appear before a judge again (ie: for a fourth time) they may get wise to you a give you a whopping fine on top of your ticket. Doesn't seem worth it (to me) to have the limo tint as a 'HEY LOOK AT ME AND JUST TRY TO GIVE ME A TICKET' sign.

 

I grew up in the Lowrider scene and then then the mini truck scene back in the late 80s and early 90s, so I have been getting tixs all my life since I could drive (tint, loud noise, hydraulics, etc) you name it. I have put together a mental list throughout the years, as I am 30 and still getting tickets, my record cant remain clean for more than a month! I would like to share that list right now with all other So Cal'rs, please feel free to add to it:

Orange County:

Hunington Beach
Buena Park
Anahiem (some parts..)
Garden Grove (they hate import racers big time)
Wesminster
Santa Ana

LA County/San Gabriel Valley/San Fernando Valley

Redondo Beach
Marina Del Rey
BURBANK/GLENDALE (Big time F&^&&kers!!!)
Pasadena/San Marino
West Covina (Certain Areas)
Pomona/Claremont

Inland Empire
Norco/Corona (Bad Areas only seem to be a problem, they follow you like a criminal for miles)
Chino
Ontario (Certain Areas)
Riverside
San Bernadino
Palm Dessert/
Palm Springs (They Hate Outsiders, so be careful!!!!!!)
Coachella Valley/Indio
Temecula/Murrietta Hot Springs (F*&*&kers)

 

no i dont think it's illegal to tint the third brake light. but DEFINATELY GET IT DONE. it looks SOOOOOOOOO ugly to not tint the brake light.

 

Hmmm... Well I printed out Shawn S's instructions on how to dismantle the back seat. Seems like a major pain in the ass!!!

 

No way Scribb, just did mine again last weekend, about a half hours worth of work, pull up rather hard on first seat, come right out, next do the other seat, then your left with the compartment in the middle, leave it right now, take out the bolts for the upper seat. two on each side two of them are right in front of you (if you are on your knees, one on each side of the center compartment, and the other two are under each seat belt bolt-on at the bottom, take these out and the seat lifts up, be careful when taking out, I scratched my compartment a little.

Then the deck is left, pull the two black tabs out gently that you see in front of you where the seat was, then lift up slightly, slides out off of tabs in the back on each side of the brake light, lift up deck, you can see them holding it in.

Once deck is off, reach under the brake light in the trunk, take off bolts holding brake light, disconnect light, you are done.

JUST BE CAREFULL, DONT BE ROUGH, you will break stuff if your impatient!!! Be EXTRA CAREFUL ONCE THE TINT IS ON,

I used a towel to cover the deck, so if you hit the window with anything, it wont scrat the tint.

GOOD LUCK

 

Oh yeah, compartment comes out once seats are out, six screws, three on each side.

 

i live in sacramento and have limo tint all around even the windsheild is tinted lightly and havent gotten pulled over yet

 

what kind of tint did Mr. Tints use? I heard people say that llumar tint is like the best or whatever, I'm deciding if I should do it at "Bay Car Stereo" in San Francisco for all your bay area people, what do you think of that place, if you've even heard of it?

i think im going to get full tint around the car, now the question would be what percentage of tint to get? I don't think I wanna go pitch black but maybe a nice smoke type affect of tint? What does the 35% tint look like?

 

I have 20% on my back three windows, and I think it's too dark. YMMV... Some people love the dark look. I'm not all that crazy about it. Especially with a black interior, it makes things look A LOT darker. After this weekend, I'll have 30% all the way around. I hope I like it better.

 

Hey azn5ucka86,

I did the Quantium tint cuz I don't have a navi or radar. If u wanna c some pics of the tint, here's two links. The TL is mine with a 37% in the front windows, 28% in the back windows, and 19% in the rear window. The CL has a 28% in the front windows and 19% in the rear window.

http://itsupport.sjsu.edu/~rbui/Cars/Hai_TL/

http://itsupport.sjsu.edu/~rbui/Cars/Richard_CL/

 

$10 fix it ticket...next time you get one...let me know...$10...and i'll hook you up.

 

I have something to share that might be helpful. Today, I was driving and I have 20% tints all around. That is about all the exterior mods I have done. There was a black altima next to me, and it had chrome rims and a drop. The tint on the altima was probably about the same as mine maybe just a little more. The cop decides to pull the altima over and I was positive it was over the tints. So it's really your call. I was so lucky it wasn't me. Hope this helps.

 

What's quantium tint? I was thinking maybe 30-40% tint on the two front windows and the back, will that give the smoked window type look? I'm not aiming for the pitch black to get pulled over, how much did Mr. Tint do the tinting for, I'm headin back to the apt in SJ soon so I might get it done in SJ rather then in SF

 

i like the tint on the front windows of the TL, but it seems darker then the back windows?

 

It really isn't that bad, just take it slow to protect everything.

 

Hey azn5ucka86,

All the tints blend in with the car, the fronts aren't darker. It was just the angle I took the pic. If you are not sure still, we can meet up and you can check out the tint for yourself before you get it done. You're in SJ right? Also, the tint has a metallic filliment so it won't fade and it cost me 3 bills. But I heard there are other places that do it cheaper. I can see if I can find a cheap place for you.

 

i live down south bay and hang out in the city.. and no probs yet with my 52% front and 37% back...



hg

 

sure, if it's not any trouble for you to help me look around, the places in the city seem like their tryin to rip people off, got any pics hougee? haha

 

I live here in San Jose, and I have 20% tint, on my back three windows, and 50% on my front windows. I think it looks tight! I had the same thing on my civic, and had no problems whatsoever. THere was one time when i got pulled over at night on 85 South, that the cop asked me to take it off and i just smiled and said ok

 

Also if you have a doctor friend or can convince a doctor to write you a note saying that your eyes are sensitive to bright light, you can actually have a darker tint that what would be considered legal. I don't know if that justifies a limo tint, but I would think you could get my tint with the doctor letter and get out of tickets easily. Personally I think limo tints are asking for it...something dark enough to protect the leather and keep most of the heat out would be nice and fine. Might as well not give cops any more reason to pull any of us over right?

 

i recently got a ticket for tint and i had to remove the tint on my front windows. driving around in my car during the day is so much hotter now... pisses me off

 

hey got any pics of your car? that sounds like a pretty good set up, maybe i can stop by and check your car out too, haha