So, has anyone actually seen one of the production 8s on US soil yet, and know if they've arrived with factory tinted rear windows?

The tint is the Euro spec and not US models. Although I wouldn't mind if it came tinted!

All the pics from Rotarynews' review are without tint. Plus there is no tint option for North America that I am aware of.

Originally posted by cueball1029
All the pics from Rotarynews' review are without tint. Plus there is no tint option for North America that I am aware of.

Yep... just checked RotaryNews, and those 8s have no tint.

I know this has been covered a little in other threads, but since the 8s are here now...

How do you tell a good after market tint shop from a poor one? I've never had after market tint applied. I certainly don't want to end up with one of those tint jobs you see that start bubbling up and changing colors after a couple of years. How do you tell what you're getting?

Originally posted by javahut


Yep... just checked RotaryNews, and those 8s have no tint.

I know this has been covered a little in other threads, but since the 8s are here now...

How do you tell a good after market tint shop from a poor one? I've never had after market tint applied. I certainly don't want to end up with one of those tint jobs you see that start bubbling up and changing colors after a couple of years. How do you tell what you're getting?

dont do it yourself. a lot of those bubbled ones are from people who do their own tint. make sure it is done by a company and make sure it comes with a guarantee that if you dont like it for any reason then they willl refund you. look for a place that has been around for a while and specialize in tinting. ask your dealer who they use, most dealers use an outside company to tint, they are usually really good otherwise the dealer would not use them.

well that blows. i figured the back ones would be tinted. i mean if they're push outs just like a mini-van, why wouldn't they be tinted just like a mini-van?

Ditto ibfubar's comments. Find a reputable shop and NEVER EVER do it yourself. The shop will have several quality grades of tint; go near the top end. For those dinky windows the cost difference between grades won't be much. And don't sweat that they're not already tinted. That means you can choose your shade of tint, as in how dark you want it.

I am planning on having my windows tinted.

What I am wondering is if this car is brand new, and mine is the first RX-8 they do, are they going to have to use my car to make the templates for this model of car? If so, do they disassemble any extra stuff to make them?

I don't want them ganking up my door panels or other interior trim pieces, not being familiar with how everything comes apart. I would assume that they have to take this stuff off right?

Maybe they get templates for it from Mazda, or the glass manufacturer?

I have no idea what to expect either.

I'm wondering what percent most people are going to get for their tint? Another thing I was wondering about is, if you have an illegal tint will you fail inspection or be pulled over?

Tint laws vary greatly from state to state and that is why many manufacturers don't tint or only sell cars with mild tint.

In Texas the rear window can be any shade all the way to complete black. The side window front and back are supposed to be 30-35% max tint; but the cops usually don't care about the back side windows so you can do what you want with them, but they do care about the front windows. Also you can't have any tint below the ASA line on the front windhield.

In Texas, the only thing they do at vehicle inspection time is look at the front windshield and make sure no tint is below the ASA line.

The law varies from state to state. On my 8 I plan to put 35% on the front doors and 25% on the other windows.

-Mr. Wigggles

Yeah, does anyone have any experience with the diffierent shades of tint? How they might affect driving, day & night? I guess the tint shops will be able to provide some of this info.

I'm thinking of putting pretty dark tint on the back window & back door windows. Then a lighter tint on the front door windows.

Originally posted by MrWigggles
On my 8 I plan to put 35% on the front doors and 25% on the other windows.

So you're gonna put darker tint on the front door windows and lighter on the back doors and back window?

For tint numbers the smaller percentage is darker (it is the percent of light transmission through the tint).

You can check your state law here:

http://autowindowtintings.com/main.cfm?action=laws

Originally posted by MrWigggles
Tint laws vary greatly from state to state and that is why many manufacturers don't tint or only sell cars with mild tint.
Sadly, this is true. I mean my wife's Hyundai came from the factory with the maximum legal tint for FL, so surely it can't be that hard. We provide ZIP codes at the very beginning of the order process, so it shouldn't be THAT difficult to figure out. So, I'll be looking for a good tinting shop here.

if you want to find a good tint shop find one that uses a laser plotter system. It doesn't really use lasers it's just the name. It actually a plotter that has an exacto knife on the end but it cuts within 1 mm using patterns given by the factory. Its rediculously acurate and you don't have to worry about the dude sneezing while he cuts the tint out. I got mine done at Clear Inpressions in Jacksonville, FL. They also have this stuff called V-cool that filters out all UV and 95% of infrared (heat) so that your car doesn't bake, but the V-cool doesn't come cheap...like 450 per car.

Virginia law states 45 or 50 as the tint limit. I was thinking more along the lines of 25 or 35 all around, but I'm still worried about inspection and cops. Illegal tint + no front tags haha I wonder how long I will last without getting pulled over.

VA is a bitch ass state with cops. It's one of the few states (i think only 3) where radar detectors are illegal. It seems b/c you guys are wrapped around DC that cops have more rights than you do.

15% in front and 5% in the back windows. I got pulled over once for them but i sweet talked my way out of it. I have pba cards up the a$$. A pba card is like a get out of ticket card for people that dont know what they are.

Yea, VA cops are very annoying. I really hope I don't get pulled over for the front plates. 15% seems way too extreme, I think 25% or 20% is just right.

so when people are walking by your car they dont see what you have inside.

I'm going to be at school and will have the car cover on it at all times so doesnt affect me too much haha.

with my eclipse people in my school were very pissed that i had a new car. That they slashed my tires, egged my car, keyed my car, and threw a bolder through my windsheild.So when im not driving the rx-8 that cover will be on.

Damn did that happen at high school or at college? I'm assuming it happened while you were at high school rght? I'm kind of worried about vandalism, but I honestly think most college kids are pretty mature and the ones that are not I'm hoping the car cover + car cover lock would sway them to not go through the trouble to try to vandalize my car.

my highschool is filled with jackasses. All i know is im going to be very careful with my car.

Originally posted by eclps0
so when people are walking by your car they dont see what you have inside. Be advised that alot of the punks out there will hit your car regardless, if there is a chance that there is something in there to steal. Even if you don't have anything in there, they don't know until they get into the car.

---jps

Originally posted by 91vert
I am planning on having my windows tinted.

What I am wondering is if this car is brand new, and mine is the first RX-8 they do, are they going to have to use my car to make the templates for this model of car? If so, do they disassemble any extra stuff to make them?

I don't want them ganking up my door panels or other interior trim pieces, not being familiar with how everything comes apart. I would assume that they have to take this stuff off right?

Maybe they get templates for it from Mazda, or the glass manufacturer?

I have no idea what to expect either.

they dont ake the car apart. they take a piece bigger then the window and cut to fit.

Are they going to have to use my car to make the templates for this model of car? If so, do they disassemble any extra stuff to make them?

I've had three cars tinted and have been happy every time. They don't disassemble anything and they don't use templates. They'll just hold the sheet material against the window for a rough fit, cut it, and somehow tweak it for a perfect fit. As said before, use an experienced shop that's been around a while; talk nice to the manager, make sure you get an installer who's been doing this awhile. spend time visiting shops and talking with them to learn the technology till you're comfortable with it. Once it's installed you can't roll down ur windows for a couple days; keep that in your planning.

Did anyone notice a greenish tint in the Tacoma Offload vid, or is just a plastic to protect the glass?

Originally posted by eclps0
with my eclipse people in my school were very pissed that i had a new car. That they slashed my tires, egged my car, keyed my car, and threw a bolder through my windsheild.So when im not driving the rx-8 that cover will be on.

holy &#*$. If they did this to an eclipse, one of the crappiest most common mitsi's on the road, imagine what they'd do to your 8. Man i would leave it at home. Car cover or not it'll only take them a few minutes to figure out the only 8 in the lot is the one with the cover.

Originally posted by 8_wannabe

I've had three cars tinted and have been happy every time. They don't disassemble anything and they don't use templates. They'll just hold the sheet material against the window for a rough fit, cut it, and somehow tweak it for a perfect fit. As said before, use an experienced shop that's been around a while; talk nice to the manager, make sure you get an installer who's been doing this awhile. spend time visiting shops and talking with them to learn the technology till you're comfortable with it. Once it's installed you can't roll down ur windows for a couple days; keep that in your planning.


like he said. Like i said earlier, if you go to a place with a laser plotter then the peices are cut to factory spec and you can get your car fully tinted in like 25-30 mins.