R36 20% tint...any problems??

[Jayse]

Hey Jayse - Is that a 20% tint? Looks much darker in the pic than mine which was done through the dealer. I might get an independent tinter to look at mine ...

correct mate,

It's 35% for the 2 front windows and 18% for rear passengers back to boot.
Wanted 20%, but the 20% tint is a metal based tint which can affect the AM radio antenna reception which is situated in the rear side windows in the boot area.

I find it's def worth it money wise and tint % wise to go through a tint company directly.

Cheers,
Jayse.

[age7875]

Thanks heaps. Very helpful. (Car looks amazing.)

I'm also thinking of Tint a Car and Midnight Express rather than use the dealer.

Have been quoted $295 from Tint a Car for Midnight Express.

For the Sedan is 35% all round the way to go.

I think you can get away with the differentiation in colour between front and back on the wagon, but it may look a little funny on the Sedan. What does everyone think?

[Jayse]

Thanks heaps. Very helpful. (Car looks amazing.)

I'm also thinking of Tint a Car and Midnight Express rather than use the dealer.

Have been quoted $295 from Tint a Car for Midnight Express.

For the Sedan is 35% all round the way to go.

I think you can get away with the differentiation in colour between front and back on the wagon, but it may look a little funny on the Sedan. What does everyone think?

Same price i got the wagon done back in Nov '08.

I had 35% for fronts and 20% rears on the Audi and i didn't notice a great deal of difference. It was with Premier tinting and i don't remember which product it was but it was something similar to Midnight Express. The front windows will prob always be a bit lighter due to the massive light source coming in from the front windscreen though right?

I reckon you could get away with the above or even 20% all around and be ok.
Good luck with it.
Cheers,
Jayse.

[Rocket36]

You have to consider the following, potentially serious, issue with going darker than 35% (legal limit).

If you illegally modify your car (which if you get darker than 35% tint, you are doing) and make an at fault insurance claim, be prepared for it to be denied. I'd be surprised if there was an insurance company that didn't have a PDS that specified illegal modifications won't be covered. You would have to prove that the darkness of your tint did NOT contribute to incident you are claiming (an at fault claim) for. And that would be hard given that the darker the tint, the more it directly affects your visibility - especially at night.

Eg: You're in a car park at night reversing out of a spot and back into a Ferrari that you didn't see (in broad daylight I had someone I know following me in his 360 Spider and could only see the very top of his windscreen frame). Reversing = your fault no questions asked. Insurance company determines your visibility was hindered by having illegal tint and because it was an illegal modification your claim is rejected. You then have a bill to repair a Ferrari as well as any damage to your car.

Yes dark looks awesome! However you should seriously consider the risks vs the reward even if the risk is minimal - it still exists. If you reversed over a child and killed them and your illegal modification contributed, good luck not going to gaol.

I love the look of darker, but I'll only ever stick with 35%.

Cheers!

[Jayse]

Rocket is right, 35% is the legal limit....

[age7875]

Have decided to go with the dealer.

A little more coin, but for piece of mind and convenience I have gone with the dealer.

They assure me that they have used this tint on a number of black Passats and it will look good.

Legal tint all the way around.

[Treza360]

From my understanding, the 35% stipulation is only for the front side windows and also no tint for the front windscreen, aside from the right up the top (unless it came tinted from the factory like the MkIV R32 did with a very light shade of blue).

The rear of the car can have any kind of tint or covering that you want. Look at the current Lexus RX as an example.

Could be wrong though I'm not 100% sure but if people can put advertising signage that covers the entire rear windscreen on vans, utes and other work vehicles some tint can't be illegal. Prove me wrong?

Cheers,
Trent

[Jayse]

Have decided to go with the dealer.

A little more coin, but for piece of mind and convenience I have gone with the dealer.

They assure me that they have used this tint on a number of black Passats and it will look good.

Legal tint all the way around.

Thing is though, you'll be paying them extra to send it to a tint installer around the corner to do the job you'd get yourself for a cheaper price.
Don't let them guilt you into a sale. Plenty of people here on the forum have tinted through an installer directly than through the dealer.
Plus with Tint-A-Car in my case the job comes with a lifetime warranty for as long as you own the car. Can't beat that.
If you've done the deal with the dealer, so be it. I'm sure you'll be happy all the same. The one good thing going through the dealer is the convenience like you stated. But it doesn't take that long to get your car tinted somewhere else...guess it just depends on how much time you have on your hands.

I think what Trent said above has a lot of merit to it. Someone on here, sorry cant remember who exactly(i wanna say R36Dreamer but i'm not sure), who works for an insurance company stated in all his time working in the industry, they have never questioned the tint levels on the windows of the cars involved in the accidents. It's up to you, like it's up to everyone who makes a decision re modding cars to be able to live by that decision. Not trying to scare you off, but if you weigh up all the pros & cons and come to a decision, you've gotta be happy with it..no one else.
Good luck with it mate.


Cheers,
Jayse.

[R36 Dreamer]

You have to consider the following, potentially serious, issue with going darker than 35% (legal limit).

If you illegally modify your car (which if you get darker than 35% tint, you are doing) and make an at fault insurance claim, be prepared for it to be denied. I'd be surprised if there was an insurance company that didn't have a PDS that specified illegal modifications won't be covered. You would have to prove that the darkness of your tint did NOT contribute to incident you are claiming (an at fault claim) for. And that would be hard given that the darker the tint, the more it directly affects your visibility - especially at night.

Eg: You're in a car park at night reversing out of a spot and back into a Ferrari that you didn't see (in broad daylight I had someone I know following me in his 360 Spider and could only see the very top of his windscreen frame). Reversing = your fault no questions asked. Insurance company determines your visibility was hindered by having illegal tint and because it was an illegal modification your claim is rejected. You then have a bill to repair a Ferrari as well as any damage to your car.

Yes dark looks awesome! However you should seriously consider the risks vs the reward even if the risk is minimal - it still exists. If you reversed over a child and killed them and your illegal modification contributed, good luck not going to gaol.

I love the look of darker, but I'll only ever stick with 35%.

Cheers!

Rocket

Read my earlier post on this very issue.....

[evr]

Just my humble opinion but there's been a lot a "assumption" & "untrueths" on this site last few months regarding tint on Passats - in particular R36's. I don't think it is intentional from anyone but I just suppose people being a bit overly self rituous.

Anyway, some facts...

LEGAL TINT
You all know about the 35% regulations. You also are probably aware that there is already a tint on the R36's. I don't know the level of this tint but I had a 38% Tint-a-Car put on my R36 a few months ago. A couple of weeks ago, I got pulled up by an over zelous highway patrol car & he had a gizmo on board....wanted to pin me for illegal tint. I told him that it was 38% & he told me to not take him for a fool! He pulled out his gizmo, wound my window half way down & put this thing either side of the glass & took a reading. What do you think it was? 31%! He slapped an unroadworthy on me!
Moral of the story: Car is already tinted so tint compounds.

VISIBILITY
Any one who can genuinely say that anything darker than 35% isn't a safety hazard at night has got rocks in their head.
Moral of the story: If you need to wind your window down to see outside so you can park, what hope have you when a poor old man or drunk teenager crosses the road. Get real.

ASTHETICS
Sure cars can look damn good with a level of tint less than 35% but other look crap if they're too dark - don't like that 'pimp mobile' look myself but I don't think the Passat suffers that stigma no matter the tint shade. Anyway, Moral of the story: I concede it's a personal preference on tint darkness but I don't agree that the safety of other motorists or padestrians is a 'personal preference'.

REAR WINDOW ANTENNA
I was a real sucker when it came to this issue. I wanted the same tint all round & the best thing I've seen (in my opinion) was the Tint-a-Car premium product (can't remember the name right now) but it is metallic. "What to do about the rear window regarding the antenna?" I thought to myself. "Ah, I know, I'll see if the guys on the Forum know if it's in the window or not." So, many strong headed definitive comments were posted about the antennas being in the roof rather than on the window & that there was no effect on the radio reception at all by putting a metallic film on the rear window. Considering VW Australia & the dealers had no idea, I took this advice & tinted my rear with metallic. Big mistake on my behalf & I take ALL the responsibility for this although I'd like to hang in Rocket & co but that wouldn't be fare since I made my own decision!
Moral of the story: Get informed advice & there IS definitely a radio antenna in the rear window.

That's me done for now!

[G-rig]

I don't see the point of going too dark unless you're a pimp. Hard to see in badly lit carparks with 20% or less, however if you have a reversing camera it would help a lot.

The trick is to get reflective tint which doesn't let as much light or heat in, looks stunning too (i've got Eclipse from Sungard).

[Rocket36]

there IS definitely a radio antenna in the rear window.

Not in the sedan there isn't. It's under the rear roof lining strip above the rear window and DEFINITELY NOT in the window itself. As is the sat nav antenna if you have sat nav. I saw both for myself when my tinter was tinting my windows. There is no way tinting will affect either unless your tinter is a complete twat and tints over them anyway, which would be nothing more than a waste of tint.

The wagon is a different story and the side windows definitely have an antenna in them.

[evr]

Not in the sedan there isn't. It's under the rear roof lining strip above the rear window and DEFINITELY NOT in the window itself. As is the sat nav antenna if you have sat nav. I saw both for myself when my tinter was tinting my windows. There is no way tinting will affect either unless your tinter is a complete twat and tints over them anyway, which would be nothing more than a waste of tint.

The wagon is a different story and the side windows definitely have an antenna in them.

Rocket, dude, don't persist if you don't know for certain. You give out false info like this with such conviction, & suckers (like me!) on here believe you & act accordingly. Let's just stick to the FACTS when giving advise shall we.

In the roof in the rooflineris the SatNav antena & the FM antenna. In the rear window of the sedan IS the AM antenna - regardless of what anyone 'thinks'. Facts are facts.

By the way, I don't think it's my tinter whose the twat - in fact he's brilliant at his job & the best tint job I've seen. Even the cop who slapped me with the unroadworthy for the 31% illegal tint commented "too bad you have to remove that tint...it's a very clean job if I must say so..."

[G-rig]

Metallic tint is usually meant to affect AM reception, but i didn't see any difference in it.

(Note, dealer tint isn't metallic as far as i know, probably a die which could fade after many years).

[Rocket36]

AM? Pfffffffft I never said I cared about AM. People still listen to AM? I couldn't give a stuff about AM. The antennas that matter are NOT in the window and tint WON'T affect them.