Tints

[archermav]

Erm, from my fading memory it's 70% light passing through front windows and 75% windscreen. Can be an immediate prohibition as well. We use a certified tint tester.

Also on the spot fixed penalty notice. Very general rule of thumb is if it looks tinted, it's gonna be illegal.

[peterzs]

I dont know if different forces treat tints the same, I was shown a test bit of glass that was marked at 64 and the PC calibrated the tester to read 64, he then tested the tint on my drivers door and got an average of 29.5 over three areas.

Didnt mean much to me, till he said that below 30 was deemed to be dangerous. Take the car away, 3 points and £60, suddenly it all started to look a bit more serious.

I was stopped in Dorset by the police, who looked over the car and didnt mention the tints.

Must be something about yellow cars, was stopped in the Lakes last year, but that was one of the rear lights stopped working untill I gave it a thump.

Think we will have to take the wifes Punto on our next trip up north!!!

One thing was the state of the roads in Scotland, I know the weather is a bit harsh, but your driving with one eye on the pot holes and ruts. Up in the Trossachs there were drops of about a foot just off the edge of the road where lorries must run off the road. Around Loch Lomond some of the surfaces have broken up and it gives a real pounding to the suspension. Thinking of spending anothe £30 for a wheel alignment check up.

[Leigh_EvoIX]

It seems to be luck of the draw with tints and police attention... I've had full tints on my cars for 2 1/2 years now with no problems.... Maybe my time is still to come. I do get a little nervous when I see the old bill and sometimes flick my window down if they pull along side me...
Might get problems soon with my new reg plate....

[Ritchy]

you go over the erskine bridge pete? probably went past me house on your way to loch lomond

[Andyf]

I wrote this for a 'how to' I did for window tinting on ZSCentral which you may find useful;

Tinting and the Law

Before you tint your windows you need to think about if they will be legal (I tinted over the rear brake light as it was easier but am not sure if it is legal although I have seen many cars like this).

The windscreen needs to let in a minimum of 75% of the available light and the front side windows (between the A and B pillar) need to let in a minimum of 70% of the light. In my experience od checking window tint levels a standard factory tinted window will be tinted to let in about 70 - 75% so any level of tint you add will make them illegal.

What will the Police do if my Windows are Illegal?

Thames Valley have a 'graduated' system for dealing with illegal tints. Between 60 to 45% of light transmission through the front side windows will result in 'words of advice' about your windows.

44 - 30% will be a £30 fixed penalty ticket.

29 - 11% This will result in a £60 fine and 3 points on your licence.

10% and below will result in being reported to court for dangerous driving.

It may be that you are simply given the option to remove the tints or take the fine, that is down to the officer.

What about the Rear Windows?

The rear screen and behind the B pillar can be as dark as you like. Think of car derived / transit vans, they have solid metal behind the B pillar and sometimes no windows in the back doors.

How do the Police Check the Level?

They use a device called a 'Tintman' which is a light source and a receiver. A 'washer' is placed between the source and the receiver and the machine is adjusted until the reading is 100% (give or take 2.5% IIRC) as there is nothing but air between the two parts 100% of light is transmitted.
They then insert a piece of glass with a known tint level between the two parts and this is used to check that the machine is calibrated correctly. They then put the receiver on one side of your window and the light source on the other (it holds itself in place with magnets in the device). Three readings are taken along the centre line of the window and then the lowest reading is used. This is usually done on a cleaned window rather than leaving it dirty.

But it Passed an MOT with the Tints in

It will do as the level of tint is not checked during an MOT as they do not have the equipment to check it.

[Ritchy]

good post

[peterzs]

Yep very good, even to the bit "its passed its MOT", the only difference is that now they have a test bit of glass, marked at 64 and thats used to calibrate the tint tester.

Hi Ritchy, used Erskine bridge in and out, did have a look for silver MGZS's, only saw a couple of ZR's on the way up and a couple of ZS's around Glasgow.

We were at Wemess Bay so drove in and out along the motorway.

Guess what?? You know I always bang on about the speed cameras down here, when we got back had an envelope.

Got us at Holes bay, where the junction for Asda and Stere rd. Dual carriageway 50 mph goes down to 30 just before the junction, about 5 lanes all controlled by traffic lights.

Never saw the camera as its hidden in the center reservation among the traffic lights. My bleeper went off but I put it down to the traffic light senders. 42 mph in a 30, lucky the wife was driving the Punto!!

On the back of the form it tells you all about the cameras, I knew about the red light camera that operate if you go through on red. I didnt realise there is a green light camera that operate if you go through in excess of the limit!!!

So we had quite a week, feel like a real Glasgow hard man now.

[Ritchy]

lol, the slip road that goes off the bridge towards dumbarton literally goes right behind my house, if youd looked left at the big buncha houses you mighta seen my car in the drive, yeah i know where ya are ete, theyre trying out new cameras down there too arent they big ugly things up towards where subway n i think kwickfit maybe? seen it last time i was down, i felt like i was doing something wrong just by driving past it