Window Tint & Car Temperture

mm_202 · 07-18-2006, 07:28 PM

Does anyone know how much window tint helps keep a car cool when in sunlight? Im basically looking for a rough guide, something like x* for 35% and y* for 15%, etc.

Im also curious about how much it would help if I got my front windshield tinted, too.

Its for a black car if that helps.

Thanks in advance.

frame · 07-18-2006, 07:31 PM

Well i got 5% all around on my car, which is parked in the sun all the time, and after the getting the tint the heat in the car was noticably cool. I don't know how much in terms of temp.

hope it helps

shotgunefx · 07-18-2006, 07:39 PM

I think that's a tough one. I don't know how you could come up with a degree estimation. Even if you could, you're not tinting the front so any approximation would depend on the car being oriented a certain way at a certain time of day.

Not all heat is going to be from solar radiation either, you'd have to take into account the ambient temperature, how quick the car dissipates heat too.

So a rough guess is more is better

I've got 35% now which helps, but it still gets as hot as hell on a day like today (90F+). Where I live, that's the max for side and rear windows. So I took a different tact, I got the material they use to make the car sunshades. You can see through it, but it blocks 75% of light. I put it in the side rear windows and I'm finishing up the back tonight. Hopefully that helps a bit.

But even then, the heat reflected is still inside the car, which heats up the glass, which heats up the air in the car, etc.

ergman · 07-18-2006, 07:48 PM

I have 20% tint on my car and I didn't notice one bit of difference. It is going to be hard to tell as shotgunefx has stated above.

mm_202 · 07-19-2006, 12:40 AM

Thanks guys for the info. I knew I was asking for way too much, but on the off chance that someone actually had the figures, I would of been very impressed.

Im getting my windows tinted on Friday and am still torn on whether to get 15% or 10%, and whether to get my windowshield tinted, too.
Its hot as hell where I live and if the 10% tint would keep my car even a few degrees cooler then I'd get it. (And I know that 10/15% tint all around is illegal, but thats besides the point.)

Fallen · 07-19-2006, 12:58 AM

Good chance your gonna be cursing the 10% at night time especially when parking...

mm_202 · 07-19-2006, 01:08 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Fallen

Good chance your gonna be cursing the 10% at night time especially when parking...

lol, I had 5% (actually a cop told me it was 3%) all around on my Honda Civic, and that was a bit much. If I was backing out of a really tight spot, I would actually have to roll down my window to see. Thats why Im not going with anything lower then 10%.
But I had it for two years and never really had a single problem with it (besides being stopped 3 times for the dark tint, but never got a ticket for it

)

shotgunefx · 07-19-2006, 02:44 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by mm_202

lol, I had 5% (actually a cop told me it was 3%) all around on my Honda Civic, and that was a bit much. If I was backing out of a really tight spot, I would actually have to roll down my window to see. Thats why Im not going with anything lower then 10%.
But I had it for two years and never really had a single problem with it (besides being stopped 3 times for the dark tint, but never got a ticket for it

)

Well if your car has AC from the factory, the windows usually have a little bit of tint themselves. So while I have 35%, it's would actually should up a bit darker if they tested it with one of those gadgets.

I'd think the tint would help some, but nothing is going to make that huge of a dent in the temperature of a big block of metal sitting in the sun.

Rafster · 07-19-2006, 02:56 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by mm_202

Im also curious about how much it would help if I got my front windshield tinted, too.

I think that's about as illegal as you can get. I would not reccomend doing that...

Peace,

Rafster

Peoples · 07-19-2006, 07:46 AM

well, i have 20%.....and I park in a garage at work...and when I get out of work the car is about 105 degrees......so yeah....tint or no tint, if its hot......its hot.

proph · 07-19-2006, 08:30 AM

Your have a metal box parked in a furnace. The black car is only going to make it worst, black attracts heat. Let me tell you about it!!!

Get a metallic based tint it reflects most of the UV. Keep it legal your only going to make it worst on yourself.

ShawJohn · 07-19-2006, 09:32 AM

A dark coloured car will get hot through the metal not just the glass.

You're fighting a loosing battle I thing.

And tinting the windscreen will result in a ticket

binary.h4x · 07-19-2006, 09:39 AM

Tint works, the percentage rating reflects the amount of light that passes through the tint, so 5% will only allow 5% of the light hitting it through. Spend the extra $50 on the good stuff, (lifetime warrenty against fading, cracking, bubbles), otherwise your ride is gonna look ghetto with some purple tint...

blairellis · 07-19-2006, 10:39 AM

I had 5% on my 240 on the rear 3 windows and 20% on the front 2. I IMMEDIATELY noticed a diffrence in temperatures when parked outside. I used one of those metalic things for the windshield too though, so Im sure that helped. But here in the VA Beach area it gets HOT in the summer months and that was one of the best things I had done with the car.

I need to get my G tinted now. The leather gets HOT...ouch.

mm_202 · 07-19-2006, 11:39 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Rafster

I think that's about as illegal as you can get. I would not reccomend doing that...

Quote: Originally Posted by ShawJohn

And tinting the windscreen will result in a ticket

Quote: Originally Posted by proph

Keep it legal your only going to make it worst on yourself.

lol, why is everyone so concerned about the legality of it? I _know_ thats its illegal, but that is besides the point. Let me explain:

1) Cops will stop you for it, sure. But they do it for their own protection. Anytime I get stopped for my tint (5% all around), I always roll down both my front windows so the officer knows that Im not hiding anything. Im always nice and polite with them, and some of them will still test the tint and tell me that its too much. I go into explaining that its just so I can see my touchscreen in the day, blah blah. Most of them are totally cool about it and Ive never gotten a ticket for it.

2) If you tint the front windshield, they have no way of testing it (at least with the devices they use in MO). The device needs to slide around the glass for them to get a reading and obviously you cant do that with a windshield. If they comment on the darkness (and assuming its not too hard), just tell them that its factory

3) If you are really worried about getting a ticket for it, get an optometrist to write you a Rx for it. If you have it with you, you wont get a ticket (again, at least in MO). A few cops that stopped me actually recommended me to do that

So with legality aside, would spending an extra $70 (or whatever) on the front windshield help enough with the temperture to be noticable and worth it?