Tints on LS = bad idea

[blacked03ls]

So i put on 20 % all around about 2 weeks ago...Since then i have been pulled over twice by two state troopers in the state of NY. Once i was speeding (78 in a 65) on the thru way but he gave me a ticket for the tints. Just a week ago i was randomly driving and another trooper out of no where pulled me over for the tints. I told him i have a pending ticket and he let me go but he said to get rid of them. I have a cherokee with windows just as dark and i also have a trans am with 12% and i never get hassled. Does anyone else have the problems with getting pulled over? im thinking of taking them off even though how clean it looks

 

[DaBuDkReW]

i have this problem all the time, i have a black LS with legal tint on the front two windows and i always get stopped, it does suck but they cant do anything about it, they say my car looks suspicious but what can i do

 

[Osaín]

I feel your pain. I recently went through this. I used to have 5% tint (which is begging for a ticket) and I had to get it removed. What got me is that I had it for almost 2 years before getting pulled over for it. I even got pulled over in my little suburb! The tint came with the car, so I never changed it until getting the ticket. I changed it to 35% and I am very unhappy with it. I feel the heat from the sun constantly. I might as well have no tint at all. I am changing to 20% as soon as I can justify spending the money. F'em!!!

 

[mergner26]

i have 20% on and ive yet to get pulled over...ive gotten some looks from cops and even had one question me about my car, but ive not been pulled over.

 

[AnderbrA]

I have 20% non reflective Solar Guard Tint and I have been pulled over 2 times as well. Once as a result from speeding, the second was 8:20AM on the way to work on the interstate.....only reason he pulled me over was for tint....nothing else.

FYI both times it was measured it came out to about 16%

 

[eastcoastLS]

never had a problem with tint on the ls. got pulled once for noise violation just rolled front 2 windows down once i was pulled. got away with nothing but a warning for noise not tint

 

[T_Man]

Red car and 15% tint all around..... No tickets.

"You pay your money and you take your chances."

 

[bufordtpisser]

The real reason is.................

Most departments are finally able to buy the newer tint measuring devices that have been proven accurate. That way they can make a little money by nickel and diming us out of a little hard earned cash. I was pulled over for the tint on my Mark VIII. It has 20 on all but the front window. I left the officer measure it, and then asked him to write the ticket with all of the particulars. I asked him to write things like the make, model, and serial number of the device, as well as things like the weather conditions, GPS readings, and any other off the wall stuff that I could think of. I asked him a million questions and brought into question his technique for using the device. (did not clean my window first) He finally asked me if I was going to fight the ticket, and when I said yes, he just gave me a warning. It was actually a ten day warning meaning that I had ten days to certify that I had it removed or made legal. But he could not give me a definite answer as to what was legal. So a year and a half later the tint is still on. And the officer just waves to me now when he sees me go past. Be informed. Be persistent and by all means fight each and every ticket. Make them earn their bucks. Most cops are only allowed to go to court on their days off, and they do not want to give up a day off to be in court about a tint ticket.

 

[Fla02LS]

Be informed. Be persistent and by all means fight each and every ticket.

And by all means be immature about it. Gotta be kidding me. If you have 20% and YOU know its illegal then your just ridiculous. Be a man. You wanna cross that line then accept it when your called on it.

 

[2002OhioLSE]

Make them earn their bucks. Most cops are only allowed to go to court on their days off, and they do not want to give up a day off to be in court about a tint ticket.

Not true! Most departments will pay officers to appear in court on their off days. When they are ON duty you better believe thay are going to be there. The city figures you are on their time anyways you might as well go get their money from the a$$ thats fighting the ticket. Trust me cops are over trained on appearing in court so you better believe that if you fight a ticket and the cop shows up..........well break out the wallet cause it time to pay!

 

[NateRW21]

Not true! Most departments will pay officers to appear in court on their off days. When they are ON duty you better believe thay are going to be there. The city figures you are on their time anyways you might as well go get their money from the a$$ thats fighting the ticket. Trust me cops are over trained on appearing in court so you better believe that if you fight a ticket and the cop shows up..........well break out the wallet cause it time to pay!

This all depends entirly on the department and the juristiction. Where I'm from about 1/3-1/2 of the time the citing officer will not show up. Again, it all depends on the department and their policies. Some juristictions may require you to pay a court fee if you loose the ticket, some don't. This helps deter persons with no valid arguement from fighting tickets just on the hopes that the officer will not show up. But hey... back in the day I would fight everyone I got (we don't have court fees); it paid off.

 

[chamorro]

I've gotten a ticket for that on my LS, sucked ass!!! I had to pay a $200 fine. It was originally $450 because my lazy ass just never took it off and had an officer sign it off so I waited and waited and had to go to court and speak with a judge and she took a chunk off the payment. I heard that if you wait til the date stated on the ticket to appear and you call the court and ask them for an extension and then go to court, the officer will not appear in court, that's just what I heard and he said he hasn't tried it but he's going to since he has a ticket pending.

Anyways about the tint, here's my car with the tint on, I live in California so we have a strict law on tint. I guess my car attracts more attention because of the wheels that I have, when I didn't have the wheels I had the same tint and never got pulled over so go figure. Do you have aftermarket wheels on your ride? If so then that could be a factor on why you got your ticket.

 

[lseguy]

I suspect you have dark interior? That can give the effect tint is darker than it is. I have 35% on my sides, and 20% on the back glass. Plenty dark for me, never had a problem with cops in 4 years.

 

[2002OhioLSE]

This all depends entirly on the department and the juristiction. Where I'm from about 1/3-1/2 of the time the citing officer will not show up. Again, it all depends on the department and their policies. Some juristictions may require you to pay a court fee if you loose the ticket, some don't. This helps deter persons with no valid arguement from fighting tickets just on the hopes that the officer will not show up. But hey... back in the day I would fight everyone I got (we don't have court fees); it paid off.

Where I am from a good majority of departments show up to court. There are a lot of people that fight a ticket just to be stubborn and think they may have an actual argurment. Cops aren't going to pull you over, take the chance of risking their lives or saftey unless they have a valid reason for writing the citation. Lets face it.....if you don't want a ticket, the easy solution is don't break the law.

 

[StinkinLinkinLS01]

I've had a few tint tickets. Where I am from, Minneapolis/St. Paul, it doesn't matter if the "citing officer" shows up to court.

I've been handed 3 tint tickets in the LS. One paid. One dropped. And one that just dissapeared. The first one I ever got was a "fix-it" ticket. I never did anything about it and I never heard of it again. And yes, I did check to make sure I didn't have any outstanding charges, and I don't.

On a side note, I once went to court for seven EQUIPMENT violations with face values of more than $700, for TWO different cars!! Three in my Ls and four in my camaro, exactly one week apart from each other, at the same intersection!!! It was near a street-racing "hotspot" so cops had field days when it came to equipment violations.

I had a "no-proof" in each car, a tint in each car, a loud muffler in the camaro, an obstruction of view (radar) in the LS, and a no front license plate in the Camaro. I went to Minneapolis court and the "hearings officer" dropped 5 of the 7 tickets (I had insurance, just misplaced) and reduced the tints from $170/pc to $100/pc...and that was because I told him it would cost more to have it removed than it would to pay the ticket. I walked out paying $200 with nothing but a couple equipment violations on my record. The point is, 99% of the time the judge or whoever you chose to see in traffic court will drop/reduce your fines/charges.


Although I know many people that have, I've NEVER been pulled over for tint alone. In fact, I've been pulled over three times in the LS and all three times the cop told me that if I wasn't up to no good (speeding, wrong place wrong time etc.) he never woulda looked twice.

 

[J3FF]

I feel your pain. I recently went through this. I used to have 5% tint (which is begging for a ticket) and I had to get it removed. What got me is that I had it for almost 2 years before getting pulled over for it. I even got pulled over in my little suburb! The tint came with the car, so I never changed it until getting the ticket. I changed it to 35% and I am very unhappy with it. I feel the heat from the sun constantly. I might as well have no tint at all. I am changing to 20% as soon as I can justify spending the money. F'em!!!

20 up front, 10 in back I believe. YOu cant see anything in the back, and can barely see in the front. I have been stopped once because my car looked suspicious, but they dont enforce the tint law here. I pulled up beside an impala a couple days ago on a bright day. I looked over and could not see a thing in his car. You couldnt even see a shadow in that car. He even had his windshield tinted just as dark!! How dark would that be? It had to be darker than 5%, it looked just like black paint.

 

[rickztahone]

how dark can u go?

i have not gotten a ticket for tints but have gotten plenty of looks from officers. i have 35% up front and 2% (yes, that's 2%) in the back. the guy who installed them said they were the only ones around and i must say i can't see absolutely anything back there which makes my front tints seem darker than they really are. i usually ride with my windows down at night because i know it is too dark. but during the day it is helpful with the sun and doesn't hurt that it looks good as well. couldn't find a pik but will load one up soon

 

[highlander73]

i have not gotten a ticket for tints but have gotten plenty of looks from officers. i have 35% up front and 2% (yes, that's 2%) in the back. the guy who installed them said they were the only ones around and i must say i can't see absolutely anything back there which makes my front tints seem darker than they really are. i usually ride with my windows down at night because i know it is too dark. but during the day it is helpful with the sun and doesn't hurt that it looks good as well. couldn't find a pik but will load one up soon

2%...can't see anything out the back...what the hell are you thinking? Since when did it become "hip" to not be able to see out the windows when driving? The point is to create a good look, block some sun/heat, and provide some privacy. Not blind yourself to everything around you.

Remind me not to park behind you. Or anywhere near you.

 

[postalUT]

I think buford is actually on the right track. A lot of things can affect the way the tint is measured. For instance, if the window is hot or cold it will change its size with the temperature which will stretch or shrink the tint film, changing its darkening effect. Dark interiors will affect the reading. Cleanliness of the glass will affect it. All of these things can be argued.

I used to have 15% all the way around on my Rodeo. The one thing I always did was turn on the dome lights when I got pulled over at night. It makes the officer less nervous when coming towards the car. Some officers will appreciate this fact and let you off with a warning. Having the windows down when you get pulled over is a clever trick if you can pull it off (It worked once!). If he can't see the windows, he cant bust your tints.

As for the officer showing up for court: I know in Memphis at least, the courts are pretty bad about letting the officers know if you need the court date changed. When the officers write you a ticket, they pick the court date because often times that is a department assigned day for the officer to go to court. If an officer fills all these time slots up, he cannot attend. If you change it to a day where he cannot get his shift excused, he will not attend. But you also have to weigh your options. In many states having illegal tints is not a moving violation so it doesn't count against your insurance. Is it really worth taking a day off work, waiting in the court house, and paying a $35 court fee to get a $50 ticket taken away?

 

[lseguy]

2%...can't see anything out the back...what the hell are you thinking? Since when did it become "hip" to not be able to see out the windows when driving? The point is to create a good look, block some sun/heat, and provide some privacy. Not blind yourself to everything around you.

Remind me not to park behind you. Or anywhere near you.

Good point..but keep in mind most vehicles that are WAAAY larger than an LS...have no rear window to see out of at all. I used to drive for UPS back in the day..and using sidemirrors was the way to drive....no rear cameras back then either.

 

[bufordtpisser]

Not being immature...................

And by all means be immature about it. Gotta be kidding me. If you have 20% and YOU know its illegal then your just ridiculous. Be a man. You wanna cross that line then accept it when your called on it.

The law in my state is ambiguous at best. It cites federal standards as the basis for the law and then allows each and every jurisdiction make little changes. That has been ruled illegal on more than one occasion. We can not be required to know nor follow local rules if there is a state statute that is different. I did not cross any line, I know what the statute is, and I am well within my rights to demand that they give me a clarification of what exactly they believe I have violated. I also have a right to gather as much information from them as I wish during the discovery process by asking for certain particulars. Ridiculous is all of you morons who believe that cops can write up any ticket that they wish without having to prove their side of the story. I am innocent until proven guilty. And I have NEVER been proven guilty of violating a non existent or ambiguous code. Ridiculous is all of the people who blindly pay tickets without at least trying to fight them because they believe that there is no chance of winning. Ridiculous is believing that the only reason that cops give tickets is because you did something wrong. They can and will give tickets just because they do not like you or the color of your car, or the type of car that you drive. Now that is rediculous.

 

[bufordtpisser]

Maybe not in OHIO.............

Not true! Most departments will pay officers to appear in court on their off days. When they are ON duty you better believe thay are going to be there. The city figures you are on their time anyways you might as well go get their money from the a$$ thats fighting the ticket. Trust me cops are over trained on appearing in court so you better believe that if you fight a ticket and the cop shows up..........well break out the wallet cause it time to pay!

but in my area they will not allow an officer to take time away from patrol for vehicle violations. I come from a family of cops, and they have all always told me the same thing, fight all tickets. By law the officer has to show up for the hearing, you do not. If the officer does not show, you win automatically. And just by fighting the ticket, they can not alter the cost of the ticket. In my area the only extra that it will cost me to fight and lose is five dollars. And that is the administrative fee for booking the date.

When I get caught doing something stupid, or I blatantly break a law, I pay my fines. But I will fight every fine I get for something as ambiguous as tint. Cars come from the factory with tint darker than mine. And there is not a thing that they can do to them. And in my book that is discrimination.

 

[mholhut]

Rediculous is that I actually read this thread

 

[mharrison]

In my state, fighting a ticket is a waste of time. They are nothing but kangaroo courts.

I saw a guy who got cited for switched license plates when he had an expired license plate. When this was pointed out the judge said, "He wouldn't have written you a ticket if you weren't doing something wrong." BAM (gavel striking) "Pay at the window." "Next case."

If the cop doesn't show they just reschedule and tell you to come back. My buddy showed up for court and was told to come back 3 times because the officer didn't show. He finally just paid the ticket.

 

[mholhut]

Wow, PA and MS are almost as screwed up as MA!