Tinted windows illegal?

wba88

What percentage of darkness is illegal in ireland for window tinting?

Interceptor

To the best of my knowledge there isn't legislation specifically dealing with percentage tints. I've had everything from light smoke to oh-my-god-I-can't-see-out-of-this-thing and never been hassled. The cops in the UK are armed with light meters and have very clear guidelines but here is still catching up. If you plan tinting something, try not to exceed 60% or it starts to get dangerous.

'cptr

wba88

Cheers

iregk

technically anything over 10% light tint is illegal and any kind of thint on the front and rear windows is illegal but over here it is not in any way enforced. I've heard that the police are going to start clamping down on this though.

bazz26

As far as I know it is illegal to tint the front windscreen, not sure about the other windows though.

Ferror

Hmmm, it seems that the law is rather vague on this.

When i was going for my test, the 'final checks' letter said:
"The windows of the vehicle must not be unduly tinted" - Whatever Unduly means though in legal terms is beyond me. <=60% pehaps? who knows...

Hopefully someone in the know'll shed some light on this


Afaik any window may be tinted bar the windscreen in this country.

Seth Brundle

also remember that tinting may have insurance repurcussions

JungleBunny

It is illegal to have the windscreen tinted.
The rest of the windows should not exceed 35% above the manufacturerers tinting.

Seth Brundle

not doubting you junglebunny but have you an official source on this?

lazylad

Yup they illegal. You can be done for having them.

Seth Brundle

lazylad wrote:

Yup they illegal. You can be done for having them.

are you referring to just the windscreen?

Gordon

Not very interesting fact but anyway:

In Cairo (or Egypt as a whole probably) there is a tinted window tax due to the fact that criminals tend to tint their windows so the police can always have a reason to check up on people with tinted windows there.

lazylad

Im not sure but I think if you cant see in at all from the outside (applies to any window) on the car it is illegal.

Seth Brundle

lazylad wrote:

Im not sure but I think if you cant see in at all from the outside (applies to any window) on the car it is illegal.

There has to be a limit or threshold otherwise it wouldn't hold water legally.

DaveD

Before i tinted the windows on my last car i checked my a Garda who came back to me and said there is no legislation in this country whatsoever regarding tinted windows other than you can't tint the winscreen.

The only way they could get you in trouble is if you were involved in an accident and the other party said the tinted windows were a contributing factor. eg If you pulled out in front of a cyclist and didn't see him - I was in a car before with Limo black tinits on an unlit street and honestly looking out the side windows theres no way you'd see a cyclist.

Voodoo2

Yup they are illegal, my mate had a sliver tint on his car, got stopped at a check point and told him he had 5 days to remove it or he would be summonsed so he did she said anything that is over 40% tint or unable to see the driver! he was pretty ticked!!

Blut

In fairness another keypoint aside from the illegality is how stupid tinted windows look. Do you drive a 7 series or some other executive saloon? If not theyll probably look absolutely awful on your car. I cringe whenever I see a fiat punto / ford focus / other small car with completely out of place tinted windows.

UberNewb

Blut wrote:

In fairness another keypoint aside from the illegality is how stupid tinted windows look. Do you drive a 7 series or some other executive saloon? If not theyll probably look absolutely awful on your car. I cringe whenever I see a fiat punto / ford focus / other small car with completely out of place tinted windows.

lol, you have problems!

dahamsta

This is quite possibly the worst thread it's ever been my misfortune to read on Boards.ie. I've never seen so much bullshít in all my life.

ando

thats great ken, thanks for sharing that.

If anyone wants to find out for sure, ring a tinting company like shades. I'm sure they would not be selling limo black tint to the masses if it was illegal. The only place you cannot use limo tint or any tint is the windscreen... why would you anyway?

dahamsta

ando wrote:

thats great ken, thanks for sharing that.

Sorry ando, it just annoyed me. The people saying "yeah, it's illegal" are just plain liars when you get right down to it.

rabbitinlights

Is a lie a lie when the person belives it?

dahamsta

Does the pope sh*t in the woods?

layke

I used to tint windows briefly when I was 18.

You can tint the back three windows legally to total blackness if you like, although the law is a little sketchy on the front two, I have seen cars with very light factory tinting on them so I assume it's legal to a degree. However windscreen is way out.

If you are going to tint your front 2 and you want the Limo look I would suggest
Keeping the front two fairly light for two reasons:

As said above it can become questionable in an accident.
Garda. If they can't see you they pull you.

dahamsta

I found that the darkest tints can actually obscure your vision to a degree, particularly in the wet. It makes it much easier to miss things like bikes, or cars without lights on. The last car I drove with tints had limo black in the back three, slightly lighter in the front two. I'll go with the slightly lighter tints all round next time, I think it looks a bit classier (and I'm a symmetry nut).

It really does only suit some cars though; although I wouldn't agree with the assertion that it only suits big saloons. If anything, tints on big saloons are reminiscent of drug dealers. Not that I'd let it stop me. It wouldn't suit my current beamer though; wrong colour.

adam

JungleBunny

kbannon wrote:

not doubting you junglebunny but have you an official source on this?

First of all, I am not sure about the silver tinting. I know that is illegal in a lot of countries and considered dangerous.

Anyway, I got stopped a while ago and the cop was being an absolute bollox about it so I decided to call VW and ask them what the story is. They sent me a fax about their manufacturers details and told me that 35% above their tinting was considered illegal.
So I brought this to the cops and they let me away with it.
The cops did not even question the fact that this info came from Germany. Maybe I just had the most orignal excuse that day?!


But I am not sure how correct even that information is, as you can buy a lot of cars nowadays that already have fairly dark windows. So 35% above this would make them almost black and very dangerous?!?!
Hey, I'm no expert, but I got away with it.