Window Tint

**OpenRoad** · 05-13-2010, 12:32 AM

So I just had my car windows tinted today, using the 'moderately' expensive film. 50% front, 35% rear. The car is registered in Utah, so is legal in Utah, but I looked at California and they don't allow any tint in front side windows. I carry a California driver license. So I'm wondering how they would apply the law there, with my 'mixed' residence. Does California even bother enforcing that law?

Anyway, the other part is the tint itself. The guy said it would not interfere with electronics, RD, GPS, etc.

It makes the car look a lot better, and I don't feel like I am driving around a fish bowl. Not sure about heat reduction as it is still winter in Utah.

**ELVATO** · 05-13-2010, 12:34 AM

Cali always seems to me as one of those states where they'll stop you for pretty much anything.

**Stealth Stalker** · 05-13-2010, 12:43 AM

Yep. They use the tint as PC to stop and hassle you when they're bored. They generally won't write you if you haven't done anything else and you don't give them any attitude. But yeah, sooner or later you'll get stopped.

**voyager7** · 05-13-2010, 08:23 AM

Originally Posted by Stealth Stalker

Yep. They use the tint as PC to stop and hassle you when they're bored. They generally won't write you if you haven't done anything else and you don't give them any attitude. But yeah, sooner or later you'll get stopped.

Question.
If a car is registered in one state and legal by their tint laws how can another state ticket you for tint?
I understand the hassle thing, but a tint ticket.

This happened to my friend on base many years ago, he told them the car is registered in another state (legal by their laws) and to leave him alone.
They did. I know a military base has different laws then the state.

**ELVATO** · 05-13-2010, 12:04 PM

I think I saw that question on one of the officer forums someone linked. Some of them would ticket you regardless. Since you are driving in that state, you have to be subject to that state's laws.

Others said they wouldn't ticket them as long as they didn't pass the legal limit of the state they were registered in (I think a couple of them had a print out of what was legal in neighboring states.)

And then others didn't really care, and would just use it as a PC to make a stop.

**Chelaw** · 05-13-2010, 04:54 PM

I had a car tinted in FL. After moving to CA and changing my tags over, I was stopped around midnight one night for the tint (was doing the speed limit with nothing out of the ordinary). He was looking for DUIs and used the tint as the sole basis for the stop. After sticking his head in my window and realizing I hadn't been drinking, he let me go immediately without a ticket. Whole stop was less than 30 seconds.

**OpenRoad** · 05-13-2010, 09:38 PM

Well, my dilemma is that I am legally a resident of California (IRS filing, voting, banking, driver license, home ownership, etc) but the car I purchased new carries a Utah license plate, due to my working here and they would not allow me to register directly into California - I guess because of sales tax issues.

So if I get stopped for the tint (in California) and the cop asks for my DL, I'm not sure where that would go.

If you ever drive in Las Vegas, they have some mondo tinting going on there, almost every car is tinted with blackout. My brother claims since his car carries Nevada plates then he is exempt from other state's laws.

I once heard a cop on my scanner (a Nevada cop) and he was asking the dispatcher to look up the child car seat laws for Utah. Someone was stopped with a small child in the car, with Utah plates, and in Nevada, would require a safety seat, but Utah apparently only required booster seat.

I guess those fix-it ticket sorts of things get bypassed when in other states.

**Lucky225** · 05-13-2010, 10:57 PM

Federal law has no tint maximum and requires a minimum of 70% NET on the FSW(Front Side Windows). This is a question for the courts, generally speaking NO STATE can regulate interstate travel (commerce clause of the Constitution -- this is how SpoofCard defeated a Florida anti-Caller ID Spoofing law that prohibited Caller ID Spoofing in the State of Florida, as the State of Florida can't regulate interstate telephone calls, similarly, a State has no way of knowing if a driver of a vehicle has brought that vehicle in from another State, even if registered/licensed in State, however there may be a 'presumption of residency' based upon either document that the court could argue.) Tint laws have never been successfully challenged in a Federal court though, nor is there any State Supreme Court rulings for any of the 50 States that I'm aware of.