i have the opportunity to get my windows tinted at a discounted price because of a car club im in, basically a group rate. anyway im not sure how i feel about tinted windows they look cool but im a bit touchy when it comes to visibility. i want to SEE EVERYTHING. so if i turn my head to look out the window i want to see the car in my blind spot or something to that nature. i also think they look a little silly sometimes because you cant tint the windshield.

what are tints like at night? really bad vis?

what % should i go for? in CT 35% is the max. been looking at some pics on google i think they look great but im hesitant because i dont know how much my visibility is gonna go away. what % do you think the 3rd one down is?

ex.

 

Third one down looks like 20% or darker to me. Here's mine with 35 in the front and 20 in the rear.

35 is no problem at night, but backing out of my driveway looking through the 20% rear glass at night is a bit sketchy sometimes, to be honest.

 

Any tint at night does hinder your visibility. But in the daylight not really. I have 20% all the way around. In 25+ years I have never driven a car for more then a few day before tinting them. I have driven family members cars without it during the day and I can not believe how much better it is to drive with tint on my car. No more annoying glare. At night I think it helps with the idiot who runs with his high beams on. But again at night it does make things sometime mainly IMO when backing up, bit not so much when driving.

 

wow that looks good! the fronts are 35? are the rears slightly tinted from the factory? because the rear looks darker than the front.

also do you have the little strip at the top of your windshield tinted? do you like it? (if you have it)

 

ok cool, i think you guys maybe swaying my decision to tinted windows lol

 

Here is a good side picture of mine. Like I said I have 20 percent all the way around including a windshield strip.

 

Mine are 35% on the front two, and 20% on the rear three, so yeah, darker in the back. I also have 5% on the sunroof... no windshield strip though. Tint is great, I'm really glad I did it. Probably one of my favorite mods, and it was only a few hundred bucks

I just have to be very careful backing out of my driveway late at night, but otherwise it doesn't hinder visibility in any serious way, in my opinion.

 

The day after I bought my car, was stopped because the trip permit was not visible through the tint. He put a meter on the front door glass and it read16%. (Oregon is also 35% legal)

I've since removed the tint from the front door windows, but left it on all 3 rear windows. I really liked it, but its still cool with just the back windows. I may like to redo the fonts 35% like the red MINI above.

I like that I never need to dim my rear view mirror. I feel I see out really well. I think it's always brighter outside the car than inside, even at night (at least in the city).

The photo looking out through the front door glass is with the 16% in daylight.

 

It's illegal to tint the front windows and the windshield here in BC. I've had mine done for about a year with no issues... I assume if I get pulled over for speeding they might give me a hard time about it, but so far so good. Just to be safe I usually flick the switch to roll them down when I approach roadblocks, etc.

 

Count mine as another vote for "TINT IT!". I have 20% all around (no windshield strip) and 5% on my sunroof. I'm careful when backing out of my driveway at night, looking for pedestrians or cyclists w/o headlights, but that's the rare situation where I use super-duper caution and spidey sense. In every other sitch - even at night - other vehicles with proper headlights are clearly visible. Technically my front windows are darker than legal, but I won't change it until I'm forced to.

I really appreciate the tint in the MINI. This car is lower than any other I've driven, and with the propensity of HID headlights, I've had enough of being blinded by a truck or SUV w/HIDs blazing in my rearview.

 

If you are worried about seeing out at night, a 30 or 35% will be nice enough to notice the difference during the day but not unsafe at night. I have 20% on my last 2 vehicles and it was a little dark at night on streets without street lights. I will do 20% again, but no lower.

 

I've got 50 on the front sides, double limo on the back three and limo on the moon roof and I cant see ****, lol, I plan on going down to single limo on the back three later, but I live in socal

 

this is mine with limo all around i love it but it is hard to reverse at night

 

I posted mine that I just had done.I told him I wanted to be able to see out at nite and didnt want to toto dark by our laws.I should have listened to what he applied but its not too bad to see out.Do it.I love my new look!

 

35% all around is really not that dark. It is lighter than it looks in the picture.

 

for our cars are the tints applied to the inside? or outside? my brother says that it will ruin and fall apart. look around online and most cars get it applied to the inside. is it the same for the mini? the rear windows might look funny right?

 

Inside. Never heard of tint applied to outside.

 

just curios because the above pics, the rear windows look like there on the out side. the whole thing is dark not just the inside part where the trim is. do they remove the glass in the rear to do the whole window?

 

No, glass is not removed

 

Window tint is always applied to the inside. Sometimes in one piece other times in several. It is never applied to the outside.

 

Lol thanks gabe for posting this, I was thinking the same thing. I'm gonna stick with 35% in rear 3 windows with 20% in the front side. not sure about the windshield yet though...

 

That sounds like a nice looking but pretty close to legal tint for most states. Don't mess with the windshield though.

 

The last 7 cars I've had have all had tinted windows. I'm on my third MINI (a Countryman), and they have all had 20% tint all the way around. No issues with visibility whatsoever. Makes a huge difference in South Florida during the day, and I agree that it helps when someone gets behind you with their brights on.

 

Question, is your car lowered? I just purchased a Cooper S R56. And I like the stance on your car? Also, what size rims do you have?