Easy way to check % of Window Tint?

Whappeh

Whappeh

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Joined
Aug 21, 2006
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Location
Seattle, WA
Car(s)
05 Nissan Xterra 4x4
Figured this would be general automotive. I hit the googles with no avail.

Is there any easy way to check your window tint to see if it falls into the legal limits? Like a PDF you can print that would show darkness, etc?
 
Surely the 'darkness' would change according to light conditions, making a colour chart redundant. There must be some gizmo with it's own light source out there.
 
matt2000 said:
Surely the 'darkness' would change according to light conditions, making a colour chart redundant. There must be some gizmo with it's own light source out there.
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There is. There's a calibrated meter police use.
 
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And I assume its way to expensive to grab for a onetime use?
 
Whappeh said:
Figured this would be general automotive. I hit the googles with no avail.

Is there any easy way to check your window tint to see if it falls into the legal limits? Like a PDF you can print that would show darkness, etc?
Click to expand...

No, because as others have pointed out it would change in different lighting conditions.

The only way to tell is with some kind of calibrated photometer. Which is what the police (and inspection stations) use.
 
You could use a photometer like photographers and cameramen use. Take the exposure setting inside and outside the car, calculate the difference and you got the percentage.
 
Dr_Grip said:
You could use a photometer like photographers and cameramen use. Take the exposure setting inside and outside the car, calculate the difference and you got the percentage.
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What exactly does the exposure setting tell you? Because if it's something like the intensity of the light the absorption of the glass is the difference divided by the value measured outside of the car.
 
airmenair said:
Why can't you just go to an inspection station and have them tell you if its legal or not?
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This.

Tell them that you just bought the car/whatever and want to make sure that the tint is legal. Hell, you could probably even call the local police station and ask if you could have it checked there.
 
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