Our QX50 was supposed to have the windows tinted before delivery and apparently they forgot to apply it, but didn't forget to charge me for it.
The good thing is that I can now specify the tinting shades we want. What do any of you recommend for tinting shades?
I'm considering ~45% on the front-side windows, and ~35% on the rear glass. Add that to the factory tint built into the glass and it should be about 40% front, 30% rear.
In Texas we can have a maximum of 25% tinting on the side windows. The windshield can't have any tint added. The rear glass can be any tint darkness. 25% means that 25% of the light is passed through. So the lower the number, the darker the tint looks.
The way it was explained to me - the factory glass already contain some built-in tinting. If I had to guess, I'd say they block out about 5% of the available light, making them an approximate 95% tint rating. I'd like to know what the actual tint percentage is on factory glass, if anyone knows.
So if you buy the maximum tint in Texas of 25% and apply it over a window that already has 5% tint from the factory, you get a darker tint than 25%. This happened to me on my 2009 G37. After owning it for 5 years, I failed an inspection because the window tint was too dark. They said it metered at about 18%. This implies the factory glass had a 7% tint.
I called the dealer who sold it to me (new) and they said yes, they did apply 25% tint film. I decided to keep the rear glass the way they were and replace the front-side windows with a 35% film, which then passed inspection.
Considerations:
1) This is Texas and it's hot, so blocking a lot of UV will make the car feel cooler. Darker is better here.
2) With the light Wheat interior color of our QX50, it's easy to see things inside the car when looking in through the factory-tinted windows. This is a security issue considering that the QX50 has little "hide away" space inside the car. A dark tint can hide valuables. For example, I cannot see things on the back seat of my G37 through the 25% tint.
3) A dark tint is hard to see through at night. When it's dark out and there are no street lights, I can see very little out of my G37 with 25% rear tint. I can see much better through the 35% front-side windows, but it's still pretty dark. In bright sunlight, it's about right. I recall one year we were driving around at night looking at Christmas decorations. It was very cold that night, but the rear passengers could not see the Christmas garb well through the tinted glass. Rolling the windows down so they could see was not an option when it's 20 degrees outside.
4) Legalities - the closer you get to the maximum tint, the more likely you are to fail an inspection, or get pulled over.
So I know it's up to me - but just trying to hear of other's experiences here with tinting on a QX50.
The good thing is that I can now specify the tinting shades we want. What do any of you recommend for tinting shades?
I'm considering ~45% on the front-side windows, and ~35% on the rear glass. Add that to the factory tint built into the glass and it should be about 40% front, 30% rear.
In Texas we can have a maximum of 25% tinting on the side windows. The windshield can't have any tint added. The rear glass can be any tint darkness. 25% means that 25% of the light is passed through. So the lower the number, the darker the tint looks.
The way it was explained to me - the factory glass already contain some built-in tinting. If I had to guess, I'd say they block out about 5% of the available light, making them an approximate 95% tint rating. I'd like to know what the actual tint percentage is on factory glass, if anyone knows.
So if you buy the maximum tint in Texas of 25% and apply it over a window that already has 5% tint from the factory, you get a darker tint than 25%. This happened to me on my 2009 G37. After owning it for 5 years, I failed an inspection because the window tint was too dark. They said it metered at about 18%. This implies the factory glass had a 7% tint.
I called the dealer who sold it to me (new) and they said yes, they did apply 25% tint film. I decided to keep the rear glass the way they were and replace the front-side windows with a 35% film, which then passed inspection.
Considerations:
1) This is Texas and it's hot, so blocking a lot of UV will make the car feel cooler. Darker is better here.
2) With the light Wheat interior color of our QX50, it's easy to see things inside the car when looking in through the factory-tinted windows. This is a security issue considering that the QX50 has little "hide away" space inside the car. A dark tint can hide valuables. For example, I cannot see things on the back seat of my G37 through the 25% tint.
3) A dark tint is hard to see through at night. When it's dark out and there are no street lights, I can see very little out of my G37 with 25% rear tint. I can see much better through the 35% front-side windows, but it's still pretty dark. In bright sunlight, it's about right. I recall one year we were driving around at night looking at Christmas decorations. It was very cold that night, but the rear passengers could not see the Christmas garb well through the tinted glass. Rolling the windows down so they could see was not an option when it's 20 degrees outside.
4) Legalities - the closer you get to the maximum tint, the more likely you are to fail an inspection, or get pulled over.
So I know it's up to me - but just trying to hear of other's experiences here with tinting on a QX50.
