Hey guys...has anyone had trouble w the recent (last September I'm told) changes in tint laws??

i just tried to get my car inspected at 2 different places and they both denied me b/c of the tint on the front windows. I've had the tint for 6 years!!

It's hot as hell in this gd state!! I don't intend on paying $150+ to get new tint done...can anyone direct me to a place that they maybe have an "in" with or somewhere they've had success with some stuff flying under the radar??????

 

oh, canary, if you see this...let me know b/c i think you have pretty dark tint. the 2nd place i went today was that place next to gene, even talked to gene and he thought they'd pass me...the first thing that damn guy (not gene obviously!!) did was walk out and test the window tint. he also thought my front end was too low or something (idiot).

 

weird man, do you have window stickers and all that? is it the eyebrow or the doors they're griping about? I had a friend who got his done but he drove in with the windows down and they never thought to even look at it, last place that did mine was actually the dealership, I had it done at the south beasley,maybe try them or beasley on Burnet rd? Mine is 2 years overdue incidentally, so when my car gets a more stable suspension under her I'll be trying to go somewhere, hopefully it won't be a huge fiasco.

 

yeah man, crazy. i even named dropped gene!! i had one window down, the other half down. it's like they targeted it...immediately walked out and tested it. the guy barely spoke english so he didn't say much, just that they woudln't pass it. even gene was like wtf?!

maybe i could try the dealer...i liked them but the last time i went to them, they wouldn't pass me b/c my TAILS were tinted...made no mention of the window tint. so either get new window tint or get new tails...blah.

ha ha mine's over a year out too. i hardly drive it though.

edit: oh, forgot...yeah it's got stickers on it. and it's the door windows, not the windshield. so annoying.

 

next time what you should do is pull out the fuse for your windows so that they cant roll it down and test it....well if there is such a fuse for the windows I'm not sure.

 

ha ha that'd be awfully tricky

just called and dps said it DOES have to be done in the county in which it's registered...almost had a non-Austin hook-up

i actually thought about getting 2 used, non-tinted windows and switching them out, lol. would be expensive but year after year it may pay off.

if i had proof i got the tint done years ago, i'd say i should be grandfathered past this law change!

 

pretty sure there is a fuse for that, makes me wonder how they view headlight tint. I've got some brand new headlights with lamin-x on them, it makes them a slight blue color, no idea how it effects the bulb color yet as they're not mounted and I haven't seen them turned on, if it's too retarded looking I'll just pull it off anyway. The only thing holding me back from inspection is an airbag light, I've tried just about everything and it just won't go away. (grrr)

 

^ah that sucks man. i hope it's not faulty, for obvious reasons!!

yeah mazda would pass me w/ taillight tint, but these 2 places said nothing of that and only the windows. so dumb. maybe someone will chime in eventually. i feel like there's gotta be enough rotary peeps around here to know someone who knows someone...

 

well what you can do is spray paint your windows white...now they wont trip that its too dark.

 

our cars are too new to have spray painted anything, has to be at least 10-15 years old before krylon is justified

 

kinda far away down here in bryan texas but i just went to get my inspection..and i have the laminated tailights smokey color.. they made me pull them off just to pass the car.. the dude said he turns alot of people down because of tinted headlights and tailights.. glad i did not paint them...

 

i just did my inspection here in San Antonio, they measured it out at 20% and the guy said "just made it".... he said they just changed the law to where you can be darker than before

 

i have smoked out tail lights and they still passed me.

 

i guess it just depends on the shop...

 

I'd go to the dealership. Rolling the windows DOWN would be a wise move regardless. What % tint do you have?

 

exactly...i'm trying to find one in austin that someone has had success with!


15% they said. i thought i had 20% on all around (i really think i do) but the guy said it was reading 15%. said the new limit on front windows is 25%

 

I thought the new limit was darker than before but evidently not:

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/vi/misc/faq/tint.htm

I've had my car tinted for going on 7 years, and it's a very high grade, if I catch grief for mine I'll just drive around uninspected I guess, I'd have to get the whole car retinted and there's no way I'm doing that with my interior the way it is. I don't even want to think about some dude crawling around in the back of my car trying to do my back window etc., nope, not happenin'.

 

^ha ha no kidding. i didn't open that link yet, but as far as i know you can still do whatever you want to the back window...like, you can literally spray paint it solid black. it's just the front 2 windows (25%) and the windshield (no tint except stripe at top...unchanged) that is the issue. but yeah, f-that...i just will not have my tint removed. not only is it ***-hot in austin, i just prefer the "same level tint all around" look!!

 

I had mine done at SunTint with 25% all around. The difference, during last July!, was night and day. Hopefully the dealer will pass you.

 

Thank god for no inspections in Oklahoma. I have 15% all the way around 5% tint strip and painted smoke head and tail lights. Wish you the best luck man.

 

ohhhh sure, rub it in why don't ya?

 

I know a place here in Dallas, but you would need to pm me as I am not going to throw them under the bus in an open forum.

I get both my cars inspected there, all she does is in her office goes over the check list, hooks it up to smog then passes me. With my 1958 all she does is ask if anything is broken, I say nope done deal.

 

Correct me if I am wrong but I thought that in no inspection states, an officer can stop you at any time and do an ON THE SPOT inspection. Not that it happens!

 

hey man...that sounds awesome...BUT...i almost had a hook-up in a city south of me but i had heard (and called to verify) that the inspection needs to be done in your resident county........that's the tricky part, b/c it leaves me very few options!!

 

yeah, you're tied to county, otherwise you could go just anywhere, maybe even out of state, to get it done lol