can anyone tell me the law on tints?its just i was stopped before my m.o.t and told to remove the tint i had on my bak window and remove my front tinted visor, is this against the law or was the feds just havin a bad day?need help wit this cause i want to retint and i dont wana waste my money
you can have your back window and rears tinted to what ever degree you want Fronts cant be tinted at all unless its from factory Windscreen cant have a sunstrip more that about 10inchs. could be less (not sure on this one)
i only had rear windows tinted and bak window was limo tint, front visor was only small bout 4-5 inchs in height and front side windows werent tinted at all, did i just get a cop having a bad day or what?
yup , unless your on your "R" plates. If he cant see the "R" plate out the back then youl be told to stick it to the outside of the car as other road users cant see it
the law is cover in grey areas over this should be more threads on here about this topic. the advise i was giving by a cop when i got done for mine was the front windows have to retain 70% light transmission also be aware that every car will have pre tinted windows most common is 19-22%. front window screen can be up to 6 inches well so i was told. i asked the police could i tint the windows going by the guide lines and get them to sign saying i was legal they stopped doing it, but iirc you can still ask them till do a light test on the windows if still unsure. every cop imo has a different opinion over this hard thing to judge really.
i would hav understood if i was on my r' plates but im not, think i wil just hav to risk getting new tint fitted again
10 inchs Danny? lol more like 45mm I think, the wipers are not allowed to come in contact with an aftermarket Sunstrip, all windows from the B Pillar back can be tinted as much as you want
Yeah Marc's right ... The sunstrip must not encroach on the area covered by the original wiper blade. There's no rule saying how big or small it can be just as long as it does not come into the area of the original wiper blade. I'm not sure how they could tell if wipers have been modified in such a way as to cover a smaller area, to allow a larger sunstrip (or indeed if it is even possible to do this) but apparently the legislation states 'original wiper blade' anyway.
Ah right sorry ,wasnt too sure on the sunstrip (as said). Going by what your saying mate, you where perfectly legal, drive on and dont worry
None, but the factory tinted strip is type approved by Europe (CE mark), so is legal in the UK. Same as HID lights - factory fit ones are only legal because they're type approved by Europe. Aftermarkets are illegal because they break the type approval of the car.
Marc and Alison are 100% correct But be aware that you cannot have your driver and front passenger side windows aftermarket tinted at all - this is classed as illegal and will fail an MOT instantly
Interesting sentence, my car isn`t type approved (low-volume car makers were excempt) does this mean I can legally put HID's on the car - it was a factory option.. (when there was a factory! lol)
my car failed its mot this year because of the front sunstrip. was on the inside and was not deeper than the original factory tinted glass...
I'd go for it Jim. Police and MOT testers aren't enforcing the law anyway, so as long as the lights aren't dazzling oncoming traffic I don't see any issue. Then again, I've fitted HIDs to any car I've had that's had projector type lenses. Reflector type don't work well in my experience, even the HID bulbs that are supposed to be reflector compatible. All the cars passed MOT beam pattern tests no problems.
HID units in reflectors should really be illegal not only for looking ****e but for really dazzling traffic anywhere in it's beam.
I prefer the look of yellowish lights, especially side lights. Hids only look well on top-end motors IMO.
the front sunstrip must not be deeper than three inches and/or must not encroach the area covered by the wiper blades by more than one inch at any point. the front windows are not to be tinted at all, firstly they must allow 70% light transmission and standard windows (not even factory "tinted", im talking clear looking ones) only allow 70-80 ish transmission so you couldnt legally tint them anyway and secondly the law changed on 1 january 2004 to say that no aftermarket film is allowed to be applied to the front windows so big.ken, your sunstrip was illegal but your back window wasnt you can do what you like to it
1 - factory sunstrips are never deeper than three inches (since thats the legal depth) so arent down into the wiper area in most cases 2 - everyone who said it cant encroach onto the sunstrip is wrong, its allowed one inch. youll not find a car where the wipers go more than one inch onto the factory top tint Car makers cant break the law just cos its like that from the factory. They wouldnt get their "type approval" if it was illegal, type approval is very strict. Thats kinda what that 70% rule about windows is for, since your not allowed to aftermarket tint them anyway. No OEM glass breaks that 70% rule. As for putting HIDs in as a retro fit, the law states HID cars must have projector lenses, headlight washers and self levelling. So even tho my passat has projector lenses my retro fit HIDs are still illegal cos of no washers etc.