show me your tints
 

After reading about privacy glass and seeing some tint jobs I've decided to go for it. But in NY there are laws of 70% for the fronts so I'd have to do rears only and my initial thought is that it looks awkward half-done. Show me some of what you guys got whether it's fully or half tinted please and what %. Also, does anyone know what % it comes from factory with? Is it already 70%? People say 35% is a good spot but I don't want to go too dark - keep it a good shade to compliment the white.

see the door tints on this guy: http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...Picture516.jpg - is this 35% or is it lighter?

I'm thinking of Suntek Carbon (non-metallic) after getting quoted double the price for Huper Optik... $500-600 for tints is ouch plus it doesn't get terribly hot here like in Arizona.

UPDATE >> had it done a month ago and finally had a chance to snap pics... this is the Suntek Carbon 35 (non-metallic)... perfect darkness with the white imo. Sides and rear done, front windshield not touched as it is highly illegal in NY. Front sides are too but the guy said nobody should bother me about that.

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/9...2412dj2.th.jpg http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/9...2408px0.th.jpg

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/1...2414ck5.th.jpg http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/9759/img2418ry8.th.jpg

The last pic shows from the inside the difference between the tinted side window and the factory front windshield - not much difference from the inside.

those look like 20s. pitch black in the back. I live in NY as well. Actually, you are not allowed to have any tinting on the front if driving into NYC, but it is rarely enforced. the rear privacy I am told is around 50 by the dealer

darn, at first i misread the "n" in tints with "t", i was so excited to get in this thread.

Novax: trust me... you'd rather see my tints.

50% Charcoal tint all around.
It looks way better than no tint at all and definetely helps to block glare and heat.

I got new tints about 7 weeks ago for my E53. I believe the NJ laws are the same as NY, in other words NO tint allowed on the fronts. Nevertheless, I wound up getting 20% for the rears and 35% for the fronts. I love how it looks. It's a very gentle "blending" transition when you look at the front and then the rears. Not the painful-looking contrast of no tint on the front and the dark 20% on the rears. I have not gotten stopped yet, even though I'm driving 80+ miles each day. The only thing that would have looked even better is 20% tints all-around, but then I would just be begging to get stopped. This was a more conservative option. It still looks pretty dark on the fronts, but not so dark that I would get pulled over. I can post some pics later. If you don't mind crossing over to NJ, I can tell you where I had mine done. The guy used 3M tint with a life-time warranty. Top-notch job.

you will have to remove them otherwise you will fail inspection.

do they use a meter on the windows during inspection? Is that one of the to-dos on the list? I really want *something* on the fronts, to block heat for one, and so it's not a clear-to-tint transition. I like the way that 50% looks for the fronts.

rh71: you can always get the inspection done at your BMW service center. I doubt they would fail you for tinted windows especially if they did the job :)