Got an old Civic and want to get the windows tinted. What is the cheapest tint you have ever gotten in Houston? Looking for recommendations especially near the west loop or somewhere off the 1-10 near the west side of town.
With all the crappy tint jobs I see, tiny bubbles & uneven fading, you might be asking the wrong question. I've always wanted tint, but the fear of ending up like those, ntm what's technically legal vs. what you can get away with, or what will still get you pulled over, inconvenienced etc. I'm not sure.
Remember, you get what you pay for. You go cheap, you get a crappy tintjob that bubbles up quickly. the standards are easily accessible from the DPS website. Most reputable places will not do more than is legally allowed. edit: went and found them for ya http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/rsd/vi/consumerinfo/windowTint.htm
Agreed, generally. In this case, this car is (at best) a one or two year 'stopgap' of sorts so I am not really all that particularly worried about it being of awesome quality
Yeah I figured as much, but then do you still get pulled over if it's close to the limit, and is it a pretty foolproof/objective test, how the officer determines? Or discretion & judgment involved? Hopefully there's a pretty big range between what's just dark enough to still be effective, & the darkest legal (for equal tinting all around, I think some windows can be darker than others).
They carry light meters that accurately measure tint thickness. We used to use them when I did vehicle inspections to ensure the tint wasnt too dark. To my knowledge, I have never heard of someone getting pulled over soley for tint...tho it isnt too much of a reach to say some cops may use tint darkness as an excuse if they are suspicious of someone. You know what they say, if a cop wants to pull you over, he will find an excuse.
Yeah if they want to, they don't even need tint as an excuse. THey must not pull them over just for that, or else there wouldn't so many super dark tints out there. Then again I wonder how there are so many clunkers billowing smoke too.
To simplify this a little: The front-driver and front-passenger windows have to have at least 25% light transmission. The front windshield can be tinted up to 25% at the top, but can't be tinted at all below the AS1 line (look about 4 inches down from the top of the glass on the driver's side). The rest of the windows can be tinted however dark you want them - even mirror tint.
Oh I'm sorry, my assumption was that you were asking for someone who did quality work for a great price. You are actually looking for a cheap crap job. In this case just go to the flea market, or better yet go to autozone and pay $20 for a roll of tint and do it yourself. Both will look terrible, last a couple of months and maintain a low cost for you.
Either the cars are so old so as to not need emissions tests(over 24 yrs old), or they are buying their stickers on the downlow(no testing done, highly illegal) or the smoke is coming from a leak from the motor into the exhaust from a non-nox producing source(water/coolant/oil). The emissions test only tests for by-products of gas combustion.
^ This I have taken every single car I have ever owned to this place and never had any issues. I always get the limo tint on the back and darkest allowable by law in the front. Prices go up as you upgrade to better film / darker tint but I believe they still do $75 basic tint
I got pulled over in NY, for having tint on my driver's side front window. The cop let me go because I was only in the area for a few weeks. But he said that in NY you can't have tint on the front drivers side.
You get what you pay for. I have illegal tint on all my windows and never been pulled over Although I think you're allowed whatever on your back windows?
^ Yeah, you can have the darkest on the back window legally. Just to echo what many have already said -- with window tint don't skimp on price and get a life time warranty if you're going to keep the car for a long time. Cheap window tint doesn't last long.
That's because people are always looking for "cheap tint". The purple film garbage that starts bubbling after a year or two doesn't help. Good tint like semi-metallic/ceramic will last years. I had a Maxima for 6-7 years with no bubbling, and my current car I've had for almost 10 years and no bubbling. They both used Llumar tint and were installed by people that the dealership used to do tint jobs.
