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Anyone with mirror tint?

2K views 18 replies 8 participants last post by  Robotech 
#1 ·
My wife wants mirror tint on her yellow Redline. Anyone have pics with this tint?
 
#2 · (Edited)
Really not sure I would recommend that for safety reasons! Which mirror do you mean (side mirrors or inside rearview)?

It's pretty easy to install an autodimming inside mirror if you want and I WOULD heartily recommend that. A number of threads around (here and Solstice forum) for that. The mirrors from a Chevy HHR are direct replacement (with map lights and OnStar + autodim and compass). Plenty available on eBay for $50 or under. You do need to supply an accessory-switched 12V line up to the mirror though, to power the autodim/compass. Other cars mirror also work, like older (00-06) Impala ones, but they don't have compass - just make sure they have map lights!

Here's a representative search: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...sop=15&_nkw=onstar+auto+dim+mirror+map+lights
 
#5 ·
Thought that stuff was outlawed? Full on mirror tint on the side windows, cops don't like that. IIRC I think a MD State trooper was shot and killed (? ) somewhere on the infamous 495 Beltway around D.C. Check your local laws before any tint is applied, varies from state to state.

On a Yellow SKY nah just IMHO would look bad. Dark amber or black( 35% >< ) the limo look. Hot weather bright sun in Tx./Fla./Ca heat related places, it does cool your interior. Keeps fading to a minimum helps the A/C.

Did this long time ago on the Firebird. Dark tint to the windows, dark tinted headlight covers, and a vented black areo shield cover over the rear window. Looked cool back in the day long before window tint was a thing like now. Be very careful of the lip of the film on the windows, coat with nail polish, some even used a thin vinyl pin strip over the edges. It can get caught in the window mech. during use. Let it set a few days ( cold/hot expansion ) before you use your pwr. window switch, ( tape over the switch ).

LAC
 
#7 ·
All depends on where you live. In Arizona it used to be (and I think it still is) that you could tint all your windows as dark as you wanted...including the front windshield. In CA, you can tint the rear window as dark as you want. Rear side windows (which we don't have) may be tinted as dark as you want so long as you have a driver's side and passenger's side rear view mirror. While uncommon today, passenger side rear view mirrors use to be an option and many cars didn't have them. The front side windows are not allowed to be tinted at all. The front window may have a strip of tint along the top edge of the window but it there are some pretty detailed measurements that dictate just how large this strip can be. I don't remember it all as it has been decades since I researched this.

+1 on checking local laws. CHiPs will absolutely ticket you for it and/or use it as an excuse to pull you over and hassle you. In a bright yellow Sky that may not be a great combo :banghead: (FYI, do not actually call a Cali Highway Patrol office a CHiP, or Ponch... they don't think it's funny)
Actually, they cannot use it as an excuse to pull you over. HOWEVER, if they cannot see in the car and they wish to pull you over, they WILL find something they can pull you over for....No front license plate is a good one, failure to indicate when changing lanes, not wearing your seat belt, doing 66 in a 65, coming to a stop past the limit line (which is technically "running" the stop sign/light)...but pulling you over specifically for tinted windows is not allowed.
 
#6 ·
Funny addition to this thread...

When we were shopping for professional tint for my wife's 5 series we were shown the difference between the dark tint and UV blocking tint. Apparently they can only do either or... IE block visible light, or block UV... but not both. The UV blocking is what REALLY keeps your vehicle cooler. We opted for a blend and the car was WAYYYY cooler. It was a dark blue car roasting in the Cali sun 9 months outta the year. I really enjoyed that car. Too bad she fell in love with the E350, lol!

Anyway... that was like 5 years ago so who knows what kind of tech they have out now. Just make sure to check the UV rating if you're tinting to reduce the heat.

+1 on checking local laws. CHiPs will absolutely ticket you for it and/or use it as an excuse to pull you over and hassle you. In a bright yellow Sky that may not be a great combo :banghead: (FYI, do not actually call a Cali Highway Patrol office a CHiP, or Ponch... they don't think it's funny)
 
#9 ·
CHiPs will absolutely ticket you for it and/or use it as an excuse to pull you over and hassle you...
Actually, they cannot use it as an excuse to pull you over. HOWEVER, if they cannot see in the car and they wish to pull you over, they WILL find something they can pull you over for....
It all depends on the laws of the specific state you live in, or are traveling through. I have always found that it is not wise to tell an officer of the law that he has stopped you illegally . . . The proper response is usually "Yes Sir". :)
DaveOC, Note Nova was referring to CHiPs...technically CHP or California Highway Patrol (of which they made a TV show in the 70s about called CHiPs...) so what I was referring to is in CA, they cannot pull you over for window tint but yes, other states may have different laws which would allow them to pull you over for that. Always check local laws.

However, totally agree that the best way of dealing with an officer when they pull you over is "Yes Sir" and "No Sir". Funny story (and total tangent...):

I got pulled over in Norco, CA once for running a stop sign. That's a big deal in Norco since it is a Horse town and people riding get hit by cars running stop signs regularly. You generally don't get out of a ticket for running a stop sign in Norco, it's a well known fact in the area. Well, because I was so polite (the officer questioned it even. I told him what reason would I have NOT to be polite?) the officer let me go with a warning. No good ever comes from arguing with law enforcement at the scene.

I have had officers tell me stories about how they'd pull a car over, go walking up to it with the intention of letting the driver go with a warning (so long as they had no warrants or the car came up stolen of course) and as they are doing so the driver would say or do something that turned a warning into a ticket. LOL
 
#13 ·
No Nova, there are certain violations they can pull you over for and one's they cannot. Unless the law has changed in CA, I know...for a fact...they cannot pull you over for window tint.

How do I know? Because I got a ticket some time ago for window tint (and no front plate and modified exhaust) that I fought in court. As part of that fight, I went to the Santa Ana Law library (seat of the California Superior court in Orange County, CA) and researched the laws I was cited for and the case law that set the precedence for those laws. 8 hours on a Saturday I spent researching them. Of the three, the front license plate charge was the ONLY one he could stop me for.

This made sense since the officer acted odd when he pulled me over. The officer who wrote me up had a little beef with me because I had reported him to his police chief for using foul language towards a minor in public (me) and had followed me for half a mile without pulling me over. It wasn't until I pulled to the side of the road in front of my house and he drove around me that he saw my missing front plate, turned back around, and asked me for my information. He was looking for a reason to pull me over and couldn't find one until he saw that missing plate. I had super dark windows in back (not illegal but he assumed my front ones were tinted...wrote me up anyway). He could hear my exhaust (modified exhaust designed to make the exhaust note of the vehicle louder. Mine were not...mine actually made the car slightly quieter by design...they had a leak which I was in the process of getting the tools to fix when he walked up to my garage), and I was lowered but he couldn't pull me over for any of that.

So believe me when I say that unless the law has changed since then (and it may have...but my officer friends still tell me that they can't pull someone over for window tint) you cannot be pulled over JUST for window tint.

Under Drag-Net, San Diego officers come to train other departments how to look out for what they believe to be tell-tale signs of illegal modification such as window tinting, large spoilers, extra gauges or racing stickers. Police say this gives them probable cause to stop and inspect a vehicle and its engine compartment.
This quote is exactly what I'm getting at. These items...the tinting, spoilers, gauges, racing stickers...none of them can you be pulled over for individually. They're saying in this quote that a couple of these things taken together may indicate further illegal modifications under the hood. Now...having a big spoiler, no law against that. Gauges? No law against that. Stickers? REALLY? Absolutely no law against that. So unless they are willing to prove in court that they ROUTINELY pull people over for these things and can prove that a large percentage of them have illegal modifications under the hood thus justifying the probable cause to pull them over, they have no right to pull you over for those items. This is an illegal search unless they can prove what I just talked about or the driver gives them permission to look.

Now most people won't fight it that hard is the first thing they're banking on. If you let them do it, they will do it. Second, they're principally looking for stolen parts, not necessarily illegal mods...which can get your car crushed here. They will write you up for illegal mods (even if they're legal) and now you have to fight the ticket. They hope this is too much of a hassle and so you will just take the parts off and stop doing whatever activity you were doing that go you noticed by them in the first place. Third, it is very hard to prove probable cause in this case unless they're pulling over everyone who has tinted windows and racing stickers...or lifted trucks...or custom paint jobs...or a 1,000 other modifications that people do that people with illegal mods also do.

For this last reason, it is FAR easier for a law enforcement officer to find something you're really doing wrong and pull you over for that then to try to prove probable cause later on. Driving 46 in a 45? You were speeding. 44 in a 45? You were hindering traffic. See how easy it is? It takes so little for them to pull you over justifiably that they don't need to worry about probable cause.

Now, once they get you pulled over and they ask (and they will ASK...Can I..., Do you mind..., Is it okay if I...etc) you to open your hood, chances are you're not going to say no (because if you do that means you're hiding something, right?) and boom, you gave consent to look under your hood. You CAN say no. Good luck them trying to convince a judge that just because you had tinted windows and were doing 46 in a 45 that they suspected you of having illegal mods under your hood. Now, the more obvious mods you have, the more you're doing something that people with illegal engine mods do on the street (wreckless driving, REALLY speeding, speed contests, etc) then the more likely they DO have probable cause to look under your hood. If you make it that easy for them, that's on you.
 
#14 · (Edited)
There are tint laws. IE, if they see you have limo black on every window (or are otherwise in violation of any modified vehicle code that they can observe) then they know they can at a minimum write you a fix it ticket.

I understand what you're saying about tint being too minor a violation to be their ONLY reason to stop you. That may be true on the books. But the anti-racer stuff has given them sooo much more leeway with stops for mods. :|

And...

They don't even NEED the laws to have probable cause. Sneeze and swerve a little...? Probable cause. Going too fast (or too slow, lol)? Probable cause. Probable cause is ALL they NEED to stop you. It's nearly impossible to "fight" their PC because the judge is pretty much always going to side with the professional (that observes people driving for a living). You'd have to have witnesses, cameras, recordings, or something like that on your side because the "he said/officer said" argument is near impossible to win.

True, if their probable cause is total weak sauce or if the PC is some minor violation (IE front plate) then they have nothing much to write a ticket on. Heck, the officer that pulled me over for the front plate didn't even write me a fix it ticket. Of course, I think he only wanted to check out the car. He was one of the officers that asked "what kind of car is this?" oh, wait, I had the registration for that stop so his comment was "this is a Saturn???" :willy: :lol:

Leads me back to my point...

The guy asked about MIRROR tint for his wife's YELLOW redline. An attention grabber like that AND tint in violation (of Cali laws) would certainly see her getting stopped/harassed in NORCAL. It probably will not matter much to her (or anyone other than us stubborn/argumentative types) that the officer is in the gray sea of PC. All she'll be busy doing is freaking out that the police are pulling her over. :eek:

My information is current as of 2013/2014 which was the last time I was in court to fight a ticket. My officer didn't show (yay me!) but I got to listen to a kid trying to defend himself for the modified vehicle he was driving. It was a hot mess. First it was supposedly not his car. Then his story changed to he was driving it because he was going to buy it. Then when the judge explained that he would have to correct all the violations he said the deal had supposedly fallen through. If I hadn't been busy trying to keep my own cool to be ready to fight my own ticket it would have been entertaining. :D :thumbs:

Anyway... my story is relevant because the officers only PC was non-ticketable stuff. He didn't find the ticketable stuff until he had the vehicle stopped (gutted cat, modified internals, lowered, yadda yadda). Oh, wait... I remember now how weak I thought his PC was. He pulled the kid over because the vehicle LOOKED like a vehicle he'd heard of that was highly modified. (I forget if he said there was a notice out or if he had personally dealt with the a similar vehicle) :surprise:

My case was up in Yuba City/Marysville. It's way worse in bigger metros like Sac (or god forbid, HUGE metro areas like LA) where they have dedicated teams devoted to street racing.

Do I think those anti-race team officers are going to come after a bright yellow Sky that's stock but has mirror tint?

Flip a coin 'cause it all depends on the officer's mood and how she's driving. :jm2c:

---

Edit: side note... I'm 100% in agreement with you about attitude. It drives my wife crazy that I've been let off with warnings for something insane like 80% of my stops. She's WAYYYY more of a people person and she can't get a warning for doing 5-7mph over the limit (ON AN INTERSTATE!!!) Shrugs. I don't know if I have a "secret". I'm respectful. I don't BS them. If I know I was speeding I tell them why (going with traffic, got carried away going downhill, etc...) I'm respectful and apologetic if was not aware. I always hand them the military ID (but my track record for warnings was like 5-1 before joining the military, lol). I make a good effort to get somewhere safe and I try to have my stuff out and ready, but don't rummage through crap while they're walking up (it makes them nervous now days).
 
#15 · (Edited)
They don't even NEED the laws to have probable cause. Sneeze and swerve a little...? Probable cause. Going too fast (or too slow, lol)? Probable cause. Probable cause is ALL they NEED to stop you. It's nearly impossible to "fight" their PC because the judge is pretty much always going to side with the professional (that observes people driving for a living). You'd have to have witnesses, cameras, recordings, or something like that on your side because the "he said/officer said" argument is near impossible to win.

True, if their probable cause is total weak sauce or if the PC is some minor violation (IE front plate) then they have nothing much to write a ticket on. Heck, the officer that pulled me over for the front plate didn't even write me a fix it ticket. Of course, I think he only wanted to check out the car. He was one of the officers that asked "what kind of car is this?" oh, wait, I had the registration for that stop so his comment was "this is a Saturn???"
That's the game in a nutshell. They want to pull you over what whatever reason they want to pull you over for but then need to find something that allows them to legally pull you over. Like you mention, it's not hard to do. As I said in my example, I got a fix it ticket for "window tint" on windows that weren't actually tinted!

I think in the OP's case, a lot will depend on how dark you go. If you go so dark that you can't see inside the car, then you are going to be more susceptible to being pulled over for the officer to investigate or to write a fix it ticket for the tint. If you go light enough to still see the driver, I think your chances of being pulled over are very slim.

Normally, if you are driving sanely (which I certainly am not always doing) and the officer can see your wife driving the car (assuming you guys are older than 30) she probably will never be hassled for it. Remember part of how officers profile has to do with who is driving the car too. (Driving while Black, driving while under the age of 30...etc.) Not saying it's right or wrong, but a 22 year old male driving the car may get pulled over when a 35 year old female would not.
 
#18 ·
I believe she's too pretty to get out of tickets. :eek: It can be a double edged trait at times. Plus she's into fashion and is pretty much always "well put together" any time she's out-n-about.

Think of Reese Witherspoon in the Legally Blonde movies. She's not blonde, but the pretty face, high end fashion, pretty makeup... it all has the same effect. :p

Me? I'm generally disheveled, car is a mess, I'm a mess, paperwork is crumpled, etc...

:dunno:
 
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