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Window Tinting in California?


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Michigan has a similar law - they do allow drivers and passenger side door window tint, but only from the top down 4".  Same for the windshield.  However, there seems to be a significant number of cars with all of their windows tinted (sans the windshield).  The only legal way to have it is if you have a doctor's prescription, and then there's a stipulation that says nobody else can drive that car.

 

So far, with the number of vehicles I see that have drivers side and passenger side windows tinted quite darkly, that number seems to keep increasing.  You can find stories of people being harassed and ticketed for it, but not many stories indicate that it is the sole reason.  It's usually a tertiary thing - they find some other more significant reason to initiate a traffic stop, and then they zing you for the window tint.  Most people seem to go to court and have the tint removed, and then just reapply it, but that gets expensive... or they just pay the fine.

 

I have an Oxford White Fusion, and that thing is super white and would look awesome with tint... and I would love to tint the windows, but like you, I think it wouldn't look very good only to have the rear doors tinted.  My reasoning for tint is to keep more heat out of the car, not so much privacy.

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Ive been digging around online and it looks like CA does NOT allow any medical exemption and they give out "fix-it" tickets so you have to have the tint removed or pay a fine, which seems to range from $150 to $200 depending on your location. I'm in hot and sunny SoCal and millions of cars appear to be illegally tinted here. Some folks say they never get pulled over, others get spanked over and over. Looks like a roll of the dice. My FFE is black/black so I mainly want to tint for heat and appearance. I think I will look for a lighter tint for the front and rear sides and maybe a medium for the rear window and take my chances. TIP: when you get pulled over, roll down the front windows ;)

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The below post on the Hybrid forum is from a member in CA who got tinting with 'Air Blue 80' - which may work for you if your purpose is heat reduction, but from reading and seeing the pics it doesn't look like it affects appearance of the windows much at all, so if your purpose is to darken the windows for the looks factor, this may not be your answer.

 

http://fordfusionhybridforum.com/topic/9237-air-blue-80-tint/

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No tint at all on the front windows? Yeah that's just crazy. In Oregon they have a "legal limit" on the front windows which is not real dark, but not bad. The dumb thing to me is that cars have to follow the same "legal tint" on the rear windows, but SUVs and trucks, etc can have blacked out windows. For my car I did legal in the front and then 1 shade darker on the rear since I have a baby in a car seat and 1 shade darker is way better then having a blocked out window shade to protect her.

 

My guess is if you have a reasonably light tint you will "get away" with it far more often then if you have a limo dark tint. The difference between trying to get some sun protection and being a 'gangsta' .

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mm, I'm in SoCal and had mine tinted 1st thing.  I went with 20% Llumar tint on the rear window and 35% on all of the side glass (even the small opera windows).  I was going to go 20% on the rear opera windows to match the rear window but the installer talked me out of it saying the look would flow better if I kept all the side glass the same tint.  Came out nice and glad I took his advice.  I then de-badged (only badging left are the front and rear Ford emblems) and added 19" Fusion "H" spoke wheels in black chrome and it looks pretty good!  I've always had tinted windows and only been hassled once about 5 years ago at LAX by one of their revenue officers...

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^^^ I second that HotLap! I'm new to the Fusion world (picking the car up tomorrow :) ) and negotiated tint into the deal. I'm in Missouri so legal is supposed to be 35% on front two windows. Curious as whether or not that'll be dark enough. Considering going 25% all around or 30% up front and 20% in back. Look forward to pics!

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I've been ticketed in CA for tinted windows on my Boss 302.  But, it's got I think 35% on the sides and 10% on the back.  Oh, and I was doing about a buck ten on I5 when I got pulled over so the professional tattle tale was really looking for stuff to write me up for.  He also wrote me up for no front plate at the time.  Luckily, I know a cop who's just corrupt enough to sign off on BS fix it tickets like that.  

 

IMO you'd have to be doing some really stupid stuff in a Fusion to be pulled over for tint.  The car just blends in too well.  My old boss swears by also tinting the windshield so there isn't as much comparative tint to grab your eye.  I'll be tinting my windows at some point, but probably not as much as the Boss 302.

 

20140415_150151_zpsbfa52da8.jpg

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love the boss. great story. been a while since I hit a buck ten but back in the day I had a vette and a grey market 5 speed 928 so I do remember the rush for sure...I also still have copies of dozens of tickets for all kinds of stuff...like you said once they got you, they look for every little thing....my favorite was disturbing the peace cuz my stereo was so loud......hell, I'm old enough to remember my friend's original boss 302 ;)

 

I see your point about the windshield, does help it blend in...

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picked up the car, looks great....in the sunlight it looks like a medium tint but in the garage or at night it looks a lot darker...glad I didn't go darker for sure...having black interior gives a darker appearance as well. I'm happy with it and the installer did a great job with all the little windows, no rough edges, looks perfect....

 

FF, the going rate around these parts seems to be $300 or more but audiolab in laguna hills does great work and only charged me $204 out the door.

 

next I have to decide what to do with my sound system...I pulled a big box with two JL 10's and a huge amp out of my last car (a caddy) and it's bigger than the whole trunk in the energi...think im gonna have a new box built and just go with one 10 in a small box. will still eat up some space but the stock system isn't doing it for me and I already own the gear so it won't cost much to add the bass and cross over the stock speakers to just do mids/highs.

Edited by musicmafia
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