As a lot of you may know, our TLs come with LED tailights. We also have the third LED brake light mounted on the top center of our back window. Have you ever drove behind a TL and saw how cool it looks (compared the other cars however) when braking? I don't know what it is but I just think that fast illumination and the design of our tailights along with the position of that third brake light...Our cars look sick!! Anyway, I see a lot of Acura TLs out there that have gotten the windows tinted. Some TLs had the tint cut to go around the top center brake light and I think it looks much better like that, therefore thats how I got mine done. Other TLs have the entire back window tinted, this makes your top center brake light look dimmer and may increase the chance of getting rearended.
Anyway the purpose of this thread is to get some feedback from anyone who has gotten their windows tinted and maybe from those who are planning on getting their windows tinted. How is your back window tinted? I was also wondering whether you had ever thought about this before reading this thread?

 

My rear is fully tinted, not cut out for 3rd brake light. I think it looks much cleaner.

 

I have 5% tint in the back, cutout for the light.

 

+1

 

20% on the back, cut-out for the brake light - me likes.....

 

FWIW my tint is only 35%

 

35% all around but windshield. I have the entire rear tinted, no cutout for the 3rd brake light. It's still plenty bright. Though my rear 1/4 windows are half-ass tinted.

 

5% on the rear window with no cutout. I originally had 15% with the cutout and personally i think having a cutout does not look clean at all , especially with dark tint. If you have light tint then cutout really doesnt effect the output soooooooo..........

i vote no cutout, you just have to make sure to tell the guy tinting and have to pull the plastic covering down so they can tint it.

 

I think I would agree with you, in the case you had limo tint or something i might just have it all tinted but i do have lighter tint...i think i have 32% all the way around. Cops can be jerks in my area and i really dont want another fix it ticket for window tint being too dark which is the reason i went with 32%...

 

Non cutout, LIMO (5%)

 

Planning to tint my new 08 TL this week, very dark on the back with the cutout, 35 on the sides to keep the po-po off me.

I had a grand prix 3rd light covered and I was rear-ended 3 times in 5 years. May be a coincidence...

 

+2

 

I've seen TLs with rear tint, both cut out for 3rd brake light or not. My opinion is that the car looks much cleaner without the cutout, and if done wrong the cutout can get pretty screwed up.

 

That sucks. I made special note to tell them if they eff'd those there would be no payment.

 

Well I had the stealership do them so I would not run into warranty problems, and they said that was the best the tinter could do for 180 dollars. I offered to pay more, but they didn't want to do it.

 

5% tint and much sexier than cutout

 

Honestly, with 20% on up it doesn't really matter. Those lights are blindingly bright. As a matter or preference however, I like the cut out look on mine.

Some customers prefer it to have it covered though. Tomato, tomato.

 

from what my tinter told me the quarter glass looking like that is generally a result of useing a lazer cutter, and apparently alot of cars end up with that. Mine traced mine outside the window, then put it on and just slid it up into place behind the molding.

As for the rear window, Ive had two TL's done, both 30% tint....one cutout and the new one isnt cut. IMO It looks 100% better without the cutout

 

Actually, thats incorrect. The computer plotter gives you the cut out for the entire piece of glass all the way under the rubber seal - exactly the same size as what your tinter did by hand. Unfortunately, what a lot of shops end up doing is instead of taking the time to fit the film under the seal like your guy, they work up to the seal and then cut it off out of laziness.

It's retarded because it only takes 5 minutes extra per quarter window.

 

20% all around with cut out...(hoping not to get pulled over anytime soon for illegal tint!)

 

+2

 

ok I stand corrected, only going by what I was told. As for it taking 5 minutes? I dont think it took 5 minutes to do the both quarter windows combined

 

Mine is entirely tinted with no cut out for the brake light. Looks much cleaner and more real.

 

I have 5% with the cutout for the light. Llumar high performance reflective film was also used to significantly reduce heat and headlight glare.

 

20% all around, not cutout for the light

 

20% all around as well, no cutout, single piece covering entire rear window....looks much cleaner that way IMO

 

5%, no cutout, $130. price included removal of old 20%. I was thinking of cutting out the third brake light once i get the roof spoiler put on.

 

Our local Acura recommends Formula One. The owner of the Formula One shop they sent me to explained everything to me ahead of time, and said they do the one piece rear window b/c, in his opinion, it looked cleaner. However, when I brought up the quarter windows, they said it was possible to do, but it's difficult to get the window under the gasket clean. I said I wanted them done all the way, and so they did, and they did a great job.

 

35% Pinnacle with the cut-out. You can't even tell unless you really look close. Also had them do the full quarter-panel; the place which did mine said they normally don't like to do it since it's hard to be sure the window is clean under there and it's hard to force it in, but came out great.

 

Ok guys...so why did I get pulled over for my window tint this morning. That sucks!!!!!!I got pulled over right by my house as I was heading for work this morning, I was making a right turn and the motorcycle cop drove right by me and he looked right at my car and he kept going. He stopped ahead and I had an opportunity to turn into another street and take a different route but I wasn’t smart enough to do that apparently. I have had my window tint like this for about a year now and I really did not think he was going to pull me over. Anyway I passed him later on and then he got behind me and pulled me over…He was actually nice about it (Every ticket I have gotten before the cop was a jerk)…but still I thought it was messed up that he was pulling me over ONLY for the tint. When he let me go I felt like saying, “I hope this helped you meet your quota for today!” But I didn’t say anything cause for one, he wasn’t a jerk to me and two, I really didn’t want him to follow me and then give me a ticket for speeding or something. Anyway...I think I am going to be really careful from now on when posting new threads like this and if I do I'll be knocking on wood every second of the day..LOL!

 

My back window is fully tinted 20%...it looks a lot neater than having a cut out for the light.

 

What percent is illegal in CA?

 

I have the same setup!

 

20% all around no cutout in the back... looks cleaner that way

 

when the 3rd light is cut out the tinter was lazy or didnt take a few extra mins to figure out how to remove the cover....i wouldnt even pay the guy if he cut the 3rd brake light out and installed the tint around it.....that type of work annoys me

 

i just called a local auto tint shop and they said the legal tint in OH is 50% front and any % for the rest. And i was curious, how about other states? 50% in the front is nothing. i have tinted my Subaru with 35% in the front by myself. So do u think local shop will let u go lower than 50% even though it's illegal. How about ur guys, because i know some guys here have done 5% all around. thanks for the reply

 

i have 20 on the windshield and 20 everywhere else....i dont care for the cops.... i dont drive my car a lot around these streets so theres no worry.... but its def illegal. like in NJ they dont want tint on the front windows. but the back ones no prob....the car looks half naked if u ask me....half a fishbowl

 

but did u tint ur window at the shop or u done it urself?

 

shop.....i know how to tint but i dont.... Ill let the guy whos been doing it for 25 yrs do it.

 

so even though it's illegal, they will still do it for u?