Many people want to install the darkest legal tint on their car, but are unaware of the risks involved in accidently installing a darker than legal grade of film. You need to be very careful when installing the darkest legal tint, as is pointed out in this article by Brad Maguire of Precision Window Tinting Perth.
Most people who want to install window tint on a car want the darkest legal tint, but are ignorant of the risks involved in getting the job done by less than professional installers. You need to be very careful when installing the darkest legal tint, as Brad Maquire from recently explained…
In all States and Territories of Australia, the darkest legal tint legally allowed on a vehicle is one with a VLT (visible light transmission) level of 35%, on all vehicle windows (excluding the front windscreen, which is not allowed to have any window tint with the exception of the visor strip across the top). The northern Territory and Western Australia are the only exceptions. In the NT you are legally permitted a minimum VLT of 15% for windows behind the driver; and in WA you are allowed 20% VLT on windows behind the driver.
So here’s the critical point. Most cars already have a slight tint in the glass in the front windows, so this needs to be taken into consideration when adding tint to a vehicle. Here’s what I mean.
If the factory installed windows on your car already block a certain percentage of light, (e.g. 30% of light), when a film with the “darkest legal tint” of 35% is added to this glass, it will emit only 35% of light into a window that is already only emitting 70% of light, so the final VLT will be calculated by the addition of both tint ratings.
This is critical to understand because if as a driver you accidently fail to comply with tinting laws, the minimum issue you face is a fine. But worse still, if your vehicle is involved in an accident and its illegally dark windows are considered by the court to be a contributing factor to the accident, this could result in the nulling of your insurance policy, leaving you exposed to the full financial implications of the accident. And if that’s not bad enough a criminal charge could apply if property is damaged or people are injured.
To add insult to injury if the windows are deemed darker than legal, your vehicle becomes un-roadworthy, which means you can get a yellow sticker put on the car, which means you can’t drive the car again until it has been put through the pits, in which case the illegal tint will have to be removed. That’s why the combined VLT of both the glass and film really should be considered when you’re selecting the appropriate tint for your car.
So what’s the moral of this story? When it comes to window tinting, make sure you use a good quality product and that your installer has the knowledge to be able to offer you the best solution for your situation. That way you’ll end up with a range of benefits, and not a bunch of problems.
