Didn't it actually become illegal in the UK around a year ago to have low transmittance glass (below a certain %) forward of the B pillar?
Oz (as was)
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Some thoughts on privacy glass now that we have had a car with in for a few months.
1. We got privacy glass because son #1 hates bright sunshine in the car and gets hot easily. So when he is not being copilot, he sits in the very back of a 7 seater with his own air con vent and control and keeps cool. Makes for very easy long distance journeys.
2. The dark section starts at the B pillar and it would have been nice to have chosen the level of darkness. It is very dark in the back and I hate being a passenger in the back especially at night. I cannot see out properly and I feel out of control. To avoid running over somebody or something we have parking radar at the back.
3. We feel more secure with young children with darkened glass (remember my recent car jacking episode) and it stops evil eyes looking at our belongings, especially when we make a long trip with lots of luggage 'en famille' and are parked up at a service station.
4. It can also be a pain in the backside, as when a person outside the car you want to speak to cannot see that you are trying to make contact with them. When a friend gets out of the back, shuts the ddoor and then waves to say 'goodbye' (s)he cannot see if you acknowledge them. Most irritating and they don't realise that they need to walk to the front door. Not their fault.
5. All privacy glass in the front windows is wrong wrong wrong. I hate it. It is usually in BMW X5s or similar and I reckon all the drivers are druggies or talking on the mobile without a hands free (Seriously, I don't know what is worse - they will both kill innocent people). Police should stop every car they see with front privacy glass and take the car off the road until it is legal.
All in all, it has its uses, but I think even the rear side windows should have a limit on transmissibility.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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>>Didn't it actually become illegal in the UK>>
See my two links provided at the beginning of the thread..:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Dear oh dear what a bunch of old washerwomen.
Here we go again - we don't like it so let's ban it.
Burn the witch etc.
What's the difference between blacked out rear windows and commercial vehicles like vans, of which there are millions of them reversing on a street near you.
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Not a I dont't like it let's ban it thread. As for security- think may increase risk of a break in. Is there something worth nicking behind the darkened glass?
Thing I find slightly ironic is lots of the cars I see with it have been customised- and shout look at me. Only for drive to hide behind darkened glass.
Have to say though, if I had an MPV or car with a large glass area I would seriously consider it on the rear side windows just to reduce effect of sunlight on passengers.
Wonder if would be that hard to make the glass photochromatic.
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have had limo black tint all round except windscreen that had light smoke and i can honestly say i never had a problem with seeing out . one drawback was the police were always stopping me just because they couldn't see in , had one copper tell me it was illegal untill i asked him to prove it he left me alone then . i only had it as it was on the car when i got it and it suited the bright yellow body but i wouldn't have it again due to the unwanted attention , everybody notices it... sometimes it's nicer to blend in...cheers...keo
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Thank you Keo for injecting some common sense into this recurrent theme. Where I live when you buy a new car you are always asked what tint you want and you slect what you prefer. The whingers don't seem to understand that being unable to see in is not the same as being unable to see out. 3M tint is expressly designed for this purpose. There are sensible security and air-con reasons why tint makes sense.
This is a classic reiteration of the Brit holier-than-thou "I don't like it, therefore why should you have it" syndrome. The guy wants Robin Cook look-alikes on his front lawn, let him. You'd be the first to say it's a free country. Get over it.
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<<... sometimes it's nicer to blend in...
All I could add to that is to change the "sometimes" to "always". Cars get enough attention from villains as it is, without deliberately making them conspicuous.
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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I believe that the police are starting to clamp down on vehicles with too dark a tint, apparently some are now equipped with equipment to measure exactly how much light passes through the tint & if it doesn't meet the law's requirement can instruct you to have it removed.
Read an article detailing exactly the new requirements - I'll post it when I can remember where I found it !!!
On a similar topic some of the "light" tint seen on vehicles now is not Privacy tint but "security" tint, been sold increasingly now due to carjackings (or the threat of them) !!
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>>I believe that the police are starting to clamp down on vehicles with too dark a tint>>
See my two links provided at the beginning of the thread..:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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>>I believe that the police are starting to clamp down onvehicles with too dark a tint See my two links provided at the beginning of the thread..:-)
My car has tints all-round except for the windscreen - it was like that when I bought it and though I would have preferred the front sides clear, it's not a big problem. The tint is fairly light and the difference between looking through the windscreen and sides is quite subtle.
However, the possibility that it may be illegal is a concern...
According to the VOSA link posted above ....it talks about 75% light transmitted ...blah blah blah ....how is this tested? It also goes on to say that you may get a ban delayed for upto 10 days which may give you time to rectify the fault and have the car re-examined which will normally require a MOT - are window tints checked during MOTs?
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UK police can use Tintman eg tinyurl.com/56oez
Difficult to compare driving/living in the UK with the Philippines, the UK is civilised ........ relatively.
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Dear oh dear what a bunch of old washerwomen. Here we go again - we don't like it so let's ban it. Burn the witch etc. What's the difference between blacked out rear windows and commercial vehicles like vans, of which there are millions of them reversing on a street near you.
Don't think it's quite that simple. Forward of the b pillar it should be a no no. Too many circs where, particularly on two wheels, you need to see where the driver is looking and preferably make eye contact. Aft the B pillar it does not give the same effect as a van, there is an impression of visbility but cues in small gradations of shade are easily missed. Van drivers are used to reversing on mirrors etc, don't think all drivers adapt.
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it talks about 75% light transmitted ...blah blah blah ....how is this tested?
How about a light meter, held steady, before and after lowering the window.
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....>> it talks about 75% light transmitted ...blah blah blah ....how isthis tested? How about a light meter, held steady, before and after lowering the window.
Yes, but unless you completely blackout the "clear" glass, the measurement isn't going to be accurate or have I missed the point?
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Wouldn't clear glass block some light transmission. To test a tinted glass by comparing it to no glass would be flawed I think. Better to test through a portion of untinted glass.
My thoughts on tinted windows. Had them on three vehicles I owned bar the current one, but that was when I lived in the Florida and it was considered almost a necessity then to reduce heat buildup. Even in the motoring sections of the newspaper there would be articles on why motorists *should* get their windows tinted, usually from the angle of fuel savings as air-conditioners would have to work less to keep a car cool. Every police patrol car in the city I lived in had tinted windows front and rear, so that gives some indication as to the acceptability of tinted windows.
Now in the UK where it doesn't get so hot, there isn't as much of a need for it, but having had tints in the past I know there is no justifiable reason to prevent anyone who wants it from having it.
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....>> it talks about 75% light transmitted ...blah blah blah ....how is >> this tested? >> >> How about a light meter, held steady, before and after lowering >> the window.
My dad's SLR camera has a "light meter" for exposure purposes which lights up a dot to the right hand side of the viewfinder. Maybe if you've got one you could do the same: lens up to the glass and also when glass isn't there :-).
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Light meters can be directional. Also, worst case figures for light loss through plain glass can be allowed for.
Having said that, only 20/25% legally allowable light loss seems to me to rule out all but the slightest of glass darkening. In other words, I guess, the glass would not be worth bothering with.
I have a Weston meter but not much of an interest.
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Similar to many new cars now, my Scenic 2 has pull up roller blinds on both back doors that can be used as and when required, usually due to heat / sun or kids watching the DVD player!
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it talks about 75% light transmitted ...blah blah blah ....how is this tested? How about a light meter, held steady, before and after lowering the window.
this is how they test it, but therein lies a problem the particular kit used by the police is expensive so they haven't got many , in fact in my area only one. so when i was stopped and informed that my windows were illegal my answer "prove it" was a pretty safe statement as the meter they use tends for some reason to be kept at weston-super-mare, might take some time to get it over to south gloucs.. they just can't be bothered...cheers...keo
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My Mitsubishi Legnum (Galant estate) VR-4 has 'privacy glass on the side windows from the B pillar back, that is not on the front side windows. UV light levels over here in New Zealand can be extreme, and even with a white car, the heat from the sun can be noticeable. The front side windows, the windscreen and the rear hatch window all have a lesser, but still noticeable, tint. The inside of the car stays much cooler than those without any tint. Visibility is safeguarded by limitations on the tint on windscreen and front side windows. Other windows are not and should not be subject to any control, as it is just the same as driving a van with solid sides, or no back windows. The vehicle inspection standards here state:
Glazing performance:
10. A windscreen visible light transmittance (VLT) must be at least 70%.
11. Front side windows VLT must be at least 35%.
12. Glazing must not have a mirrored effect sufficient to dazzle other road users.
This seems to be sufficient to prevent people harming themselves. The larger vehicle test facilities (not local garages) have light transmission meters that give a percentage as above. In doubtful cases, I'm sure our police would restrain the car and impound it, pending a test of its glazing performance. A challenge to 'prove it' would be answered by, "No, you prove it is legal in a testing facility, now give me the keys"
It hasn't yet been found necessary to ban dark visors for motorcyle helmets, as is done in the UK.
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I was once at the scene where a motorcyclist, in the UK, wearing a dark visor, at night, on a poorly lit street, ran into and killed an old chap crossing the road who had almost made it to the other side. He got away lightly!
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I have a light transmision meter sat on my desk, this is a unit designed to test glass and is made of two parts connected with a cable. One part goes on the inside of the glass, the other on the outside and measures the amount of light traveling through the glass.
It's not cheap though ~ £400
As a general rule anything over a standard tint in a car is going to cut the transmision below 75%.
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As a general rule anything over a standard tint in a car is going to cut the transmision below 75%.
....and by standard tint do you mean the slight tint that comes straight from the factory or an "industry standard" after-market tinted film?
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....and by standard tint do you mean the slight tint that comes straight from the factory or an "industry standard" after-market tinted film?
Sorry I didn't make myself very clear did I?
Standard factory tint.
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Sorry I didn't make myself very clear did I? Standard factory tint.
No problem, thanks for clearing that up. I've got aftermarket tints (probably a light smoke) including my front sides and I'm starting to get worried.....
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