Advice sought - new window tint

Hi all,

I have been thinking of getting new window tint on my silver 6mps because I don’t feel the stuff that’s already on there is dark enough (I think the previous owner had it put on from the dealer so who knows what quality and darkness % it is!). It also annoys me when I see commodores etc with such dark tint that you can't see anyone inside (including front windshield!!!). I am after something dark enough to make it slightly difficult to see the occupants, not impossible.

For those in SA I am thinking of going through D & S Auto (link is D & S Auto - Adelaide Car Window Tint) and have got a quote of $290 including removal of the old stuff. The tint is carbon and I can get it in 35% and 18% for the same price (I was looking to go 20% which I have heard is not so dark that you can’t see through it at night etc but am happy to try 18%).

Does anyone have carbon tint and had any problems with it? With the 6 having the aerial in the rear window I don’t think metallic is an option but would like to hear opinions on metallic also.

Has anyone gone to 18% tint and had any problems (eg vision, defects etc)? The lowest legal in SA is 35% but I’m hoping with a silver car it might make 18% appear less dark and not attract the cops lol. Is there much of a difference between 20% and 18%?

Any other thoughts/opinions are very welcome.

Cheers

I have the 3M Carbon Black tint. Quite happy with it. No issues what so ever :)

Dan

ive got 20% on our silver jazz and you notice between the black mps3 (35%) and jazz.

ive never seen 18% but thats what i would go with, the 20% works well on the jazz but at times i feel it should be darker

perhaps a combination of 18% in the rear and 20% up front so its not a noticeable change but hopefully keep it all dark (but enough light in the front to keep the 5 0's away)

My GF just recently got her MX-5 done in 18% and it's bloody dark, but also depends on what time of day it is and what the light conditions are like.

35% is legal so if I was to go darker I'd say 20% would be a nice compromise.

The price sounds great too since I was quotes $320 to strip the old tint and do them in 18% which I'd much rather do in 20% after seeing my Gf's car...

I'll see if I can post some photos for your so you can see what I mean, I'll also put up some of my car which is done in 35%

Oh also the color of the car wont make much difference, the actual shape of it will and most of all the distance between the front and rear window, cars like utes and roadsters get a way with it a bit more since the interior lights up more then a sedan or hatchback, this is how it was explained to us by the window tint guy we took it to, but regardless she wanted them dark, real real dark lol

Alex

my first car had 5% on it... and the windows look like there painted black.... it was fine to drive in the day, but as soon as darkness hit, it was almost impossible to see out of... you do get use to it tho, you end up teaching yourself to anticipate objects on the left and the right by seeing them through the windscreen, but then again, that works only if your driving towards it...

my second car had 15% on it, and i think it was the best compromise between look and functionality. still abit difficult to see out of at night, but alot better than the 5%

i say if your confident, get 15% or 18% but really there wouldn't even be any noticeable difference between 18 and 20%

Ok I took some photos yesterday and here is the MX-5 with 18%, from this side shot you can see how dark it is against the white wall.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...4/SDC11089.jpg

Compared to my MPS with 35% on the same white wall you can see the difference...
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...4/SDC11104.jpg

a few more of the 18%
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...4/SDC11092.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...4/SDC11091.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...4/SDC11090.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...4/SDC11095.jpg

Just needs a shorty antenna and Moar Low!!!

Hope the photos help???

Alex

Off topic

That's a nice looking MX5 there Alex. GF has good taste..... In cars anyway :p

/off topic


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Beat me too it Dan LOL

I agree with rayd.
Don't forget about the practicality of night time driving.
I too had very dark tint on a previous car, illegally dark as did dad (ironically it was a ex-cop car) we couldn't count the number of near misses we had at night that the blame could be put entirely on the tint.
Normal headlights looked like parking lights.

I just wish somebody would hurry up and make some reliable, long lasting transition tint like you get on glasses.
Dark when the uv is high, light with low uv. Would be the best of both worlds

Ditto nice looking MX5, loving the rims on it too :2thumb:

I have 20% on my gen 1 MPS 3. it's quite dark. People can barely see through. It looks good but as bd581 said, it's sometimes hard to see at night so you have to be careful. I've reversed up curbs, etc before because I couldn't see anything in my side mirrors. Reversing out of driveways at night can be a challenge too! But worth it in the end I reckon :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bd581

Beat me too it Dan LOL

I agree with rayd.
Don't forget about the practicality of night time driving.
I too had very dark tint on a previous car, illegally dark as did dad (ironically it was a ex-cop car) we couldn't count the number of near misses we had at night that the blame could be put entirely on the tint.
Normal headlights looked like parking lights.

I just wish somebody would hurry up and make some reliable, long lasting transition tint like you get on glasses.
Dark when the uv is high, light with low uv. Would be the best of both worlds

---

Hey all,

Cheers for the replies, much appreciated. Special thanks to Malicioso (Alex) for going to the trouble of taking those photos and posting them, seeing a direct comparison of the two different shades is brilliant. I love how dark the 18% is, looks like that’s what I’m going with!

Keep your eyes posted for a defect post in the future though…….:whistle:
Might have to drive with my windows down at night too by the sounds of it!

Thanks again!

Adam

Thanks for the comments guys!

Yes she does, her previous car was also an MX-5 but an SE version with Turbo, I posted it up a while back in the FS section...

+1 on the transition tint, I like them cars which have that on their rear view mirrors, would be fantastic if someone came up with that, would save a lot of hassles, though thinking about it, what if it's only sunny on one side of the car and not the other???? could look weird but I guess we will never know???

No worries Adam, I wanted to take some pics of the MX-5 since the new wheels, I love the look of the black on black, and believe it or not that was all her idea!!!

Just waiting on the Eibach springs to arrive from Protege Garage....

---------- Post added at 11:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:18 AM ----------

Oh and yes forgot to mention that driving at night is some what difficult but only when carrying out a maneuverer like mentioned above.

Does feel real enclosed and the cars behind look like they only have their parker lights, which is great with such a little car, specially when you get a big 4WD sitting behind you with bright lights shinning on the rear view mirrors.