Tinting in PA

[vsolo]

I went to a local Tinting shop in York, PA.

I guess I scared the guy :eek: , him, being a Spanish guy, running a business out of an old garage & me being an old white guy with short hair (I'm in the military) :tongue: in a modded Elantra :cool: asking questions about Tinting and the law... :D .

Actually I wanted to know about the different types films they had, I guess I went about it the wrong way :confused:, looking back I don't blame him. I will go back & reintroduce myself better & get it done ;)

Well after talking to him i went to my local Inspection place & I was told they can not fail you for tint now. Altho on the top of front windshield there is a mark & you can not have it go below it , that will fail you. Only the police can pull you over it it is too dark. :rulez: He did not know the amount of tint that was legal. .

Sooo I went to the State Police barracks & asked. Boy are they unfriendly :mad: , he wanted to know why I wanted to know. :rulez: I thought I was being interrogated :bondage: for doing something wrong..:nono: . I told him i was getting my windows tinted & I did not want to get pulled over...

In Pennsylvania. The bottom line is it has to allow 70% of the light in to be legal, so up to 30% tint is OK... now they my still pull you over but you can print this out & as the beat :hammer: you you can say well "Vsolo says" :abovelol: .

[babot]

Doesn't "30% tint" allow 30% of the incoming light?

[Keyan]

yeah bill, you got it backwards. 70% is PA law, which means NO TINT...because OEM glass is 70%

[vsolo]

Damn cops :)

[quickfingerz]

I OEM glass is around 85%. You could easily get away with 75% tint.

I'm in CA and my front side windows are illegally tinted 50% and I've never been pulled over. My rears are 20%.

[slyderdai]

70% Is For Windows In Front Only. If You Have A Four Door You Can Have All The Other Windows As Dark As You Want. As For The Windsheild The Threshold Is 7 Inches From The Top Of The Glass Down I Have Enough Of These Police Citations I Could Read You Your Rights In My Sleep.

[Whipper]

hahaha slyderdai Rules are so much different everywhere you go. Stupid tint rules. Here you are not allowed to have any tint in the front, back and rear don't matter. You can get away with it in some areas, but they can pull you over at any time, as it has happened to my buddy a few weeks back

[vsolo]

I OEM glass is around 85%. You could easily get away with 75% tint.

I'm in CA and my front side windows are illegally tinted 50% and I've never been pulled over. My rears are 20%.I'm sooo corn-fused :confused: I have to read up on this 70%, 30% ,15%, 80%. If I put 70% tinting on my car that would make it up to the 30% the State Police were talking about. ? .. I'm not trying to push the limits of the law, just get some tinting. I guess I go somewhere else where I dont scare the owner :)

70% Is For Windows In Front Only. If You Have A Four Door You Can Have All The Other Windows As Dark As You Want. As For The Windsheild The Threshold Is 7 Inches From The Top Of The Glass Down I Have Enough Of These Police Citations I Could Read You Your Rights In My Sleep. Hummmm, I'll get this straight sooner or later... But I realize right now I can't get the tinting I want, silverish down at the bottm of the the windows. & I don't want to be pulled over just to check. do you have a website with the rules in PA ? Or know where I get get something lile a phamplet

[babygogetter]

Wow, the PA laws are weird........according to what I read PA unlike other states does not put a percentage on what tint is legal. It states just that you must be able to see the person inside of the vehicle.

I htought it was kind of funny to read too that you cant even hang an air freshner from your rear view mirror.

Here is the site, I obtained this info.

http://members.aol.com/StatutesP1/75PA4524.html

[kylemorg]

I reviewed this on the web before I had my windows tinted. I do not believe it's a "law" in PA, as much as a guide or memo to the state police from the government.

What I found out from my research a while back is what Keyan said. It applies to ALL SIDE AND REAR WINDOWS. So, by the official PA stance, you can't get any of your windows tinted. However, you are correct: you can not be flunked for PA inspection any more for having your windows tinted.

That being said, I have the "light smoke" tint (think SUV tinting) on all but the windshield. I didn't ask (or pay for) having the driver and passenger windows tinted -- I only wanted the windows behind the B pillar done.

I've been pulled over twice since getting my windows tinted and not even had the tint mentioned. Of course, the tint isn't very dark to begin with.

What I do is to roll down the rear driver's side and driver's side windows before the police officer approaches the car.

One person who lived in the same apartments as me years ago had very dark tint on her car windows (including the driver's and front passenger's windows). She was pulled over and given a fix-it ticket, but only to remove the tint on the front driver and passenger side windows.

Remember, the police officer is primarily concerned with his / her safety. If they can see that there's no one hidden in the back seat with a gun, they're much more relaxed. Of course, a police officer that wants to be a dick can still give you a hard time about it.

[BColeman]

The line that cannot be crossed on the front windshield is called the AS1 line. The measurement varies by manufacturer as to how far down the windshield this line is. On my car, my window tinting is at about 7", and it's past the AS1 line, and it's also 5%. I say **** the law when it comes to blocking the sun. It's safer for me and everyone else if I can see when the sun is coming at me.

[OPZ]

I had 35% on all of my windows on my automatic, including drivers and passengers side, and was pulled over twice for that. All I did, which is what I do anytime I get pulled over, is put down all 4 windows and turn off the car.

Both times they said NOTHING about the windows, mostly because they couldn't see. And anytime they drove past...nothing!

[Ugzz]

i did some mad research before i got mine done. you can find pa laws cited around the web, some even on pa sites. the ones i read basically say there is no set number for anything, but if a police officer thinks its too dark and he cant see clearly in and see everything in your car (front and back) that you can get in trouble for it. I also read that bulletins were sent to some local pa stations saying to ticket for anything lower then 35. But that has NOTHING to do with the law. so its debatable and fightable in court. after basically reading up on the "no blackout" law and a ton of posts comments about the rears being legal or not legal i summed up all the info in thinking that 35% is the lowest you can get without getting in trouble. but thats STILL to the officers disgression! its so bull.. i went with 35 in the front and 20 in the rear and for the rear shield. I ahve been pulled over twice since and both times put all the windows down.

if you look at my car it is semi-hard to see in the back but it IS visible inside, and the front is nice and easy to see into. At night the car is very dark, but if you put the interior light on, the car lights up like a christmas tree and you can see in clear as day, even in the back. So i figure if its freezing out and i get pulled over at night ill just kick on the interors, if it warmer just wind em down.

another note, i have a friend who is a cop in training and he told me that there is an area in pa that surrounds rt 88 near where it intersects with rt 51 where the cops literally go around with tint guns and write tickets on any parked cars in the area lower then %35. (my mechanic works in that area and verified that the cops are real asses there) -the tickets are disputable, but most people wont take the time to do so.. and you still have to site the pa laws and hope the judge cares/listens to you :P

gotta love pa

[kylemorg]

A bit off the topic:

The thing I find strange is that you see PT Cruisers and Chevy HHR with dark factory tint on all of the windows except the front driver, passenger and not below the A1S line on the windshield, even in PA. I thought they were considered "passenger cars," which means that they shouldn't fall under the truck laws where you can pretty much paint your rear windows with black paint if you wanted. I know that the tint is factory (in the glass, in fact),

But why can a PT cruiser driver with only about as much cargo space as me with my Elantra GT hatchback have tinted windows in PA, while those of us with Elantras (hatchbacks, at least) are not supposed have rear window tint?

[vsolo]

Doesn't "30% tint" allow 30% of the incoming light?No it blocks 30% of the light coming in. That is where I was confused with the 70%, 30%

[babot]

No the State Police told me that it meant that 70% of the light has to come thru

Yup.. which means that you can have "down" to 70% tint. When it comes to tinting, 30% tint means 30% of light will come thru.

So 30% tint will be illegal in PA. Also, as people told above, our stock window does not pass 100% light. (If our stock window has 80% and you have applied 70% tint, then the measure will say you have 80% x 70% = 56%) Thus, 70% tint law makes it virtually impossible to have any LEGAL tint. You may apply 90% tint to have a legal tint.. but that would be just useless.