Window Tint Legality

Xpro

Hi.

Can someone tell me what is the actual legality on windows tinting in Ireland?

I briefly read on the RSA website but could not find anything in the Irish Statute Book in relation to it.

Basically I was stopped by a Gard for having front windows tinted. It was a company car.
Tinting was done by a company in Dublin which sells the product as fully compliant with shade of less then 35%, which according to NCT or RSA would fall as a fully road legal product.

Now the thing is he only looked at the window and said I will be summonsed under road traffic act, section ( I don't remember what he said) but he said I was driving in illegal vehicle and for such offence I can be brought to court.

I had to rip them off on the spot and I was issued with road caution for future offences.

I was furious the fact I haven't committed any offence,I wouldn't mind if I was driving recklessly or speeding, but without the machine or tester how could a person know the level of tint.

Thanks

bazz26

Front windscreen and front side driver and passenger windows need to leave at least 65% of light in afaik. Rear side windows and rear windscreen have no restrictions.

Gavman84

I thought it was a case of not allowed any tints on windscreen or driver or passenger windows?

aristotle25

Gavman84 wrote: »

I thought it was a case of not allowed any tints on windscreen or driver or passenger windows?

You are allowed tints on front passenger and driver sides. It most allow at least 65% of light through.

No tints allowed on windscreen.

Any level of tint allowed on back windows.

The guard seems to be have made a mistake in not measuring the tiny level before deeming them too dark. He can't just guess it.

rebel.ranter

Just remember that the window may have had a slight tint prior to getting the tint film fitted. This could potentially have pushed it under the 65% visibility.

The Garda should have measured the window with a meter.....but I'd say they only have a handful of meters across the entire force. You should have stood your ground.

bazz26

Gavman84 wrote: »

I thought it was a case of not allowed any tints on windscreen or driver or passenger windows?

My last and current car have rear side windows and back windscreen tinted privacy glass fitted from the factory, perfectly legal with no issues passing the NCT.

Black_Knight

The guys in shades.ie showed me the tint level on a standard factory car window glass. It was something like 25% or so. I know my fronts are tinted over the limit (only slightly mind you), but id certainly be looking to have them measured before tearing them off. Wouldnt like taking them off at the side of the road anyways.

Xpro

I have got some legal advice today, in relation to this issue as I feel that this type carry on was bang out of order and the alleged guard abused his powers.

I will be out of pocket for removing the fully legal window tint and I have to deal with my company over doing this.

2 points:

1. Vehicle was altered on the side of the road ( me taking the tints off on the spot)
2. No measuring devices had been used to fully establish the level of light transmission.

After speaking to some of the gardai that I know, if he thought that the car I was driving was Illegal and non roadworthy, he should have seized the vehicle and get it towed to a Garda station for further examination by a designated PSV inspector.

He hasn't done this.

The main problem here is that Gard like that are seen to be abusing their power and if nothing is done, he will do it over and over again!:(

Gumbo

Xpro wrote: »

I have got some legal advice today, in relation to this issue as I feel that this type carry on was bang out of order and the alleged guard abused his powers.

I will be out of pocket for removing the fully legal window tint and I have to deal with my company over doing this.

2 points:

1. Vehicle was altered on the side of the road ( me taking the tints off on the spot)
2. No measuring devices had been used to fully establish the level of light transmission.

After speaking to some of the gardai that I know, if he thought that the car I was driving was Illegal and non roadworthy, he should have seized the vehicle and get it towed to a Garda station for further examination by a designated PSV inspector.

He hasn't done this.

The main problem here is that Gard like that are seen to be abusing their power and if nothing is done, he will do it over and over again!:(

Shouldn't have tints fitted aftermarket on the drivers or front passenger windows, end of.

challengemaster

kceire wrote: »

Shouldn't have tints fitted aftermarket on the drivers or front passenger windows, end of.

Go away with yer shíte talk :pac: . Once it's 65% transmission it's grand.

Xpro

kceire wrote: »

Shouldn't have tints fitted aftermarket on the drivers or front passenger windows, end of.

Why not Thats ridiculous statement you just made

If the law allows it? It's like saying you shouldnt wear sunglasses while driving.

There's plenty of reasons why one could have a window tint installed, and hence the law can't forbid it.

And we're not talking here about jet black VIP tint.

Anyway, the point here is about what gard did, I couldnt give two rats about window tint otherwise. I don't have one on my car as I don't like to look of them, but when using someone elses car and taking the $hit for something that 100% legal is off the richter scale.

Gumbo

challengemaster wrote: »

Go away with yer shíte talk :pac: . Once it's 65% transmission it's grand.

I'm not on about the 65% limit. Sure the OEM glass from the factory nearly hits that as it is. If you add to that then your running a fine line between legal or not.

Xpro wrote: »

Why not Thats ridiculous statement you just made

If the law allows it? It's like saying you shouldnt wear sunglasses while driving.

There's plenty of reasons why one could have a window tint installed, and hence the law can't forbid it.

And we're not talking here about jet black VIP tint.

Anyway, the point here is about what gard did, I couldnt give two rats about window tint otherwise. I don't have one on my car as I don't like to look of them, but when using someone elses car and taking the $hit for something that 100% legal is off the richter scale.

So your saying you should be allowed to illegally tint the glass? In another thread your giving out about crew cab tax, so you can't pick and choose the laws or rules which are applicable to you.

As I said, OEM glass has a factory tint built in, if you add to this then you run the risk of being in breach of the law with regards to tints.

Xpro

kceire wrote: »

I'm not on about the 65% limit. Sure the OEM glass from the factory nearly hits that as it is. If you add to that then your running a fine line between legal or not.



So your saying you should be allowed to illegally tint the glass? In another thread your giving out about crew cab tax, so you can't pick and choose the laws or rules which are applicable to you.

As I said, OEM glass has a factory tint built in, if you add to this then you run the risk of being in breach of the law with regards to tints.

I suppose you could re-read the thread again, you might get a better picture rather them coming out with your ridiculous guff.

This has nothing to do with OEM glass, or illegal tinting.

In both threads I state the facts, so please read them again!


Not sure what you mean by I'm giving out, and choosing what laws are applicable to me or not, while so far I haven't broke not even one rule and I don't intend to in the near future.

Stating a verifiable fact and defend when you are accused of wrongdoing while 100% legit is quite different to what you are accusing me here of.

I have never said anything that should allow illegal window tinting, so not sure what part of the thread were you reading. Perhaps you could quote my posts as I cannot recall any of the things you said.

If the window tint is less the 35%, then yes, that is fully law compliant, nothing wrong. Thats hardly encouraging illegal window tinting.

I therefore attach an article from RSA/NCT to verify my statement.

In the other thread again I state the fact about what is allowed and what is not.
Clearly im not supporting any sort of fraud, hence Im ranting in this thread about something that shouldnt have happend in first place.

CLICK HERE

An extract from the RSA article

"The glass in the windscreen and front side windows will be required to have a light transmission level of not less than 65% in order to pass the NCT test. Tinting of these windows must not be greater than 35%.Unfortunately the National Car Testing Regulations do not allow for any exemptions in this regard.

Tint films tend to be quite easily removed and replaceable with a compliant film which would block UVA light and meet the requirement of not less than 65% light transmission. There is no limit on the tint level in the rear window and rear side windows.

Gumbo

The car you were driving had a tiny applied to it on top of the OEM glass. So it was always Gina be a fine line between getting caught or in your case meeting a pissed of Garda.

I've had enough cars tinted over the years and have bumped into enough Garda with grudges to know not to bother adding any tint at all.

You may have done nothing wrong per say, the cars owner had the tint applied but technically you were driving it at the time so it's you that got the short end of the stick.

Anyway, I agree that they should have tested it with the meter but I would have insisted on that, I wouldn't be tearing window film off on the side of the road unless I knew for sure it wasn't going to pass the legal test with the meter.

Xpro

kceire wrote: »

The car you were driving had a tiny applied to it on top of the OEM glass. So it was always Gina be a fine line between getting caught or in your case meeting a pissed of Garda.

I've had enough cars tinted over the years and have bumped into enough Garda with grudges to know not to bother adding any tint at all.

You may have done nothing wrong per say, the cars owner had the tint applied but technically you were driving it at the time so it's you that got the short end of the stick.

Anyway, I agree that they should have tested it with the meter but I would have insisted on that, I wouldn't be tearing window film off on the side of the road unless I knew for sure it wasn't going to pass the legal test with the meter.

Thats my point. I absolutely hate people with full window tints and I dont agree with that, but in my case this was a very very light shade thats meant to be law compliant.

But the product on my company car was sold by a well know dublin tinting crowd as road legal and very light.

In respective to front glass, the oem tint is minimal unlike some of the factory rear windows.

Just for reference, heres a photo of the same type of tint I had, so we're not talking about limosine black..

Gumbo

When I say OEM tint I mean the natural sun protection in the glass from the factory. Not the factory tint that's in the rear. The front windows have a small amount of tint built into them from the factory. Maybe that's where my crossed wires are coming from?

testicle

kceire wrote: »

When I say OEM tint I mean the natural sun protection in the glass from the factory. Not the factory tint that's in the rear. The front windows have a small amount of tint built into them from the factory. Maybe that's where my crossed wires are coming from?

Have you paid your water charges?

Jude13

Over here they have the tint laws also, when you're getting your equivolent NCT or exporting the car they have a little hand held device which measures the tint. Only then they ask you to remove the tint.

Makes a huge difference to car temperature having tinting.

Gumbo

testicle wrote: »

Have you paid your water charges?

I am registered, but haven't received my first bill yet. I can log in and see that my house is unmetered so I know it's going to be €64.

Now that your idiotic argument has been foiled, can you explain the reasoning for a smart arse Irish Water comment in a motoring thread?

Spook_ie

Xpro wrote: »

Thats my point. I absolutely hate people with full window tints and I dont agree with that, but in my case this was a very very light shade thats meant to be law compliant.

But the product on my company car was sold by a well know dublin tinting crowd as road legal and very light.

In respective to front glass, the oem tint is minimal unlike some of the factory rear windows.

Just for reference, heres a photo of the same type of tint I had, so we're not talking about limosine black..

Difficult to tell because of the reflections in your photo, but theres an idea of what different tints look like