Hi Guys,

I got fed up of the Greek summer UV cooking me in the car so I progressively progressed to tinting all my windows, that means every single window in the car.

Most carshops I called told me that they refuse to tint the front windshield as it is illegal, but I found 2 that have the latest generation light tints that allow up to 90% of light through, so basically look clear.

On the roof of the Fiat 500 lounge, the factory tint is more than useless, so darkened it with 30% light tints. This makes it very dark and makes you see less out of the window so slightly less airy but its amazing in the sun. I never use that useless curtain thing that made basically no difference whatsoever!
So if the curtain thing breaks for you guys, don't even bother getting it fixed, just tint the window! Cost me 50 EUR 'cash'.

I realised in the summer (June to September), a lot of the sun heat energy comes from the front window. In Greece it is completely illegal to put any tint whatsoever on the front window. In the UK, 75% of light must pass. So I put 80% see-through window tints, so I am hoping they are borderline legal. Either case, it looks completely clear from the outside, so the only way the Police would even suspect that it is below the limit would be to physically test it. In GR, they do not have this equipment, so I think I am safe. Not part of MOT testing either. To be honest i think I am just above the limit as I think natural glass is 95% see-through? Again made a huge difference in the UV protection, I drive much happier now! These light tints are the latest generation ceramic tints, so they really look identical to factory tint and driving at night it is as if there is no tint at all, I did not notice any change! 80 EUR fitted.


For the side front windows, i put 75% see through window tints. UK law states 70% see through, so again I think I am border-line here. Huge difference, and looks clear from the outside as well. 70 EUR

For the rear side windows + the rear windscreen, there is no law so you can make it as dark as you want. Not wanting to make it so dark you can't see outside of at night, I put 30% window tint. 70 EUR as well.

So I highly recommend you put tints on your car if you drive a lot in the sun, it really protects you from UV rays.
There are window tints up to 90% see through (they are quite expensive though) but these latest tints mean you are legal with the police even if they stop you and check with the machine. (I would be borderline most likely, but there are lighter tints than the one I have)

Sunshines in short supply here!

UV won't pass through glass anyway!

ahmett said:

these latest tints mean you are legal with the police even if they stop you and check with the machine.

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No, you likely won't be.

IIRC the 500 glass is already tinted from the factory to the maximum extent permitted by the regulations, so no further tinting is permissible to either the windscreen or the front side windows.

You can do as you wish with the remainder of the glass.

I recall a post some while ago now from a professional window tinting company saying that applying just a single sheet of clear clingfilm was sufficient to record a fail on their light transmissibility meter.

DO NOT TINT THE WINDSCREEN OR FRONT WINDOWS whilst it may be great in bright daylight at night you cannot see dark detail, BANG! Wtf ? Opps.

Mercky said:

UV won't pass through glass anyway!

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I'd love to know why you think that because its categorically not true.

jrkitching said:

No, you likely won't be.

IIRC the 500 glass is already tinted from the factory to the maximum extent permitted by the regulations, so no further tinting is permissible to either the windscreen or the front side windows.

You can do as you wish with the remainder of the glass.

I recall a post some while ago now from a professional window tinting company saying that applying just a single sheet of clear clingfilm was sufficient to record a fail on their light transmissibility meter.

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Yep, I've fairly sure this is accurate.

Most cars in the uk come from the factory with the windows tinted to the max.

The rest of the windows are all fair game.

Tinting the rear sides and rear screen make a huge different to how the car will warm up in the sun, I did this to my mk2 punto (myself for about £20 didn't pay someone a huge amount for some very cheap film)

Some high end cars like the Skoda Octavia Laurin Klement have polarised windscreens which deflect a lot of the light but don't in anyway significantly impair the transparency, they are easy to spot as they have a strange gold/purple reflection to them when you look at them under the sun.

Well you won't get a tan put it that way as it blocks that spectrum afaik, but to be fair it can still be damaging, I was under the impression that most car glass filtered out harmful rays but I could be wrong

Mercky said:

Well you won't get a tan put it that way as it blocks that spectrum afaik, but to be fair it can still be damaging, I was under the impression that most car glass filtered out harmful rays but I could be wrong

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Research done last year suggests that car glass uv protection is very poor at blocking UV, front screens are generally fully protected, but side windows are often very bad, blocking less than 50% of uv rays and plenty enough to cause sun burn and eye damage

AndyRKett said:

Research done last year suggests that car glass uv protection is very poor at blocking UV, front screens are generally fully protected, but side windows are often very bad, blocking less than 50% of uv rays and plenty enough to cause sun burn and eye damage

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I once got sunburn wearing a short sleeved shirt in an air conditioned car (=windows up) on a long summer journey in the UK.

I don't wear short sleeved shirts anymore.

I put the roof down and wear sun cream

John202020 said:

DO NOT TINT THE WINDSCREEN OR FRONT WINDOWS whilst it may be great in bright daylight at night you cannot see dark detail, BANG! Wtf ? Opps.

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absolutely not true. the latest crystalline tints make no difference to visibility whatsoever! i cannot notice my front window is tinted in the middle of the night! i will take a pic during the day so you will tell me if you notice or not!

my front windscreen tint allows 80% of the light through, while my front window tint allows 75%. my rear windows tint (where there is no law limiting it allows 30% of the light through)

window tint film blocks 99% of UV rays and is recommended by top skin cancer specialists. it makes a huge difference!

today there was a mini heat wave (35c) so it was proper hot under the sun and i had airconditioning between level 1 and 2 and no sunburn!
without the tints i would be cooking even with the AC on 3 or 4, with a sunburn added on top of that!

ahmett said:

absolutely not true. the latest crystalline tints make no difference to visibility whatsoever! i cannot notice my front window is tinted in the middle of the night! i will take a pic during the day so you will tell me if you notice or not!

my front windscreen tint allows 80% of the light through, while my front window tint allows 75%. my rear windows tint (where there is no law limiting it allows 30% of the light through)

window tint film blocks 99% of UV rays and is recommended by top skin cancer specialists. it makes a huge difference

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Are you talking about a tint i.e. visible light attenuating film, or a transparent UV or IR blocking film? Tints affect your vision. The only possible exception is if you are talking about photochromic films that change according to the light level. Even photochromic films are illegal on windows to the front or side of the driver in the UK. The problem is that they may not react fast enough to sudden changes such as going into a tunnel. Even when in the dark they may still not pass enough light (at the specified wavelengths) to be legal. If the photochromic film has any tint during the night it will affect your vision. You cannot tell just by looking, especially from inside the car, your eyes compensate for the tint. The only way to tell is to measure with the proper equipment.

Robert G8RPI.

g8rpi said:

Are you talking about a tint i.e. visible light attenuating film, or a transparent UV or IR blocking film? Tints affect your vision. The only possible exception is if you are talking about photochromic films that change according to the light level. Even photochromic films are illegal on windows to the front or side of the driver in the UK. The problem is that they may not react fast enough to sudden changes such as going into a tunnel. Even when in the dark they may still not pass enough light (at the specified wavelengths) to be legal. If the photochromic film has any tint during the night it will affect your vision. You cannot tell just by looking, especially from inside the car, your eyes compensate for the tint. The only way to tell is to measure with the proper equipment.

Robert G8RPI.

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this is what i have on my car. now according to those specs, it should be legal if the fiat clear glass is indeed 88%.

http://www.johnsonwindowfilms.com/automotive-products/insulatir/
I have IR 80, so according to the spec sheet 76% light transmission, just above the 75% limit.

If not, I guess if i come to the UK with my car I'll have to tear it off!

OK,
so it's a IR/UV blocking film rather than a tint. 76% transmission is barely detactable unless you are looking at the edge. It's not clear from the datasheet if the 76% transmission (24% loss) includes the 12% loss from plain glass. If it doesn't you are at 64% transmission. It's highly unlikely that 76% transmission was noticeable enough to get you stopped and checked in the UK.

Robert G8RPI.

g8rpi said:

OK,
so it's a IR/UV blocking film rather than a tint. 76% transmission is barely detactable unless you are looking at the edge. It's not clear from the datasheet if the 76% transmission (24% loss) includes the 12% loss from plain glass. If it doesn't you are at 64% transmission. It's highly unlikely that 76% transmission was noticeable enough to get you stopped and checked in the UK.

Robert G8RPI.

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Yes i'll upload pictures tomorrow. From the outside it is impossible to tell. What looks cool though is in direct sunlight when you look at the window you see rainbow colours from the reflection off the tint!

As stated above, the standard front screen will already be UV protected so the tint you've put over it will make no difference to the front screen.

Only the side windows and rear will get any benefit from tinting films

AndyRKett said:

As stated above, the standard front screen will already be UV protected so the tint you've put over it will make no difference to the front screen.

Only the side windows and rear will get any benefit from tinting films

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no front screen is not uv protected for sure

ahmett said:

no front screen is not uv protected for sure

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In which case Greek cars are fitted with different glass to the rest of the world.

As promised, here is my car with the window tints on all the windows!

ahmett said:

As promised, here is my car with the window tints on all the windows!

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Nice palace ahmett and some typical Greek parking (bumper to bumper)