California tint law... Cut out brakelight?

Someone who knows more about cars than me told me if you have the third brake light behind your rear glass that you have to cut out a insert for the brakelight.

Is it true that in cali that you cant cover your brakelight with tint?

I just dont wanna get pulled over for tint unless my front windows are blacked out.

Thanks experts.

Anyone know if its illegal to have your third brakelight covered with tint?


One more thing... I got my tint done by a mobile tinter (3days ago) and thers some lint trapped between glass and film causing little bubbles with what looks like wet lint trapped in them...

Do these come out with time or will the bubbles remain when the tint is completely dry?

Either way im not happy with the back window and im having him come and do it again.

no anything trapped between the tint will not disapear.

I don't know about Cali, I'm in AZ and as long as you can still see the light from behind the film, it's legal, in Texas, you have to cut it out.

CHP would be able to tell you, give em a call

BTW to the board

%&$# all chp offices are closed for MLK day. Im sure the cops are still out there but people answering questions are at home.

Much appreciation to anyone who knows the real answer.

As long as you can see the light come on from 500 feet back is my understanding of the law. Very rarely would we leave the brake light cut out.

Alright then, thats enough for me.

When the tinter comes back out to do my back window im not gonna have him cut out for the 3rd brakelight. (lint trapped, he used a cheap towell to clean) .

Hopefully its powerful enough to see from 500 ft even with 80%blocking tint. Ive seen beemers and mercedes with the brakelight covered but their 3rdbrakelight is pretty damn bright even through the tint.

Shouldn't be a problem. What kind of car is it? Many 3rd Brake lights are easily removed prior to tinting.

Its a late 90s integra. He removed the tail light last time and it took him a whole 20 seconds, but i had him cut out a hole for the tail light anyway because i thought it was the law.

Looks kinda lame, and theres some lint bubbles so im having him come back out and work with a lint free cloth this time. It will probably be even easier this time because he dosent have to take the time to cut out another pattern.

Woops.

I just hope the tail light on the integra is bright enough through the 80% tint.

if it's an 80% tint then it's clear. no problem. if you're confused on percentages and it's 20% then you're still fine. it'll show through.

you'll be aight. dont cyclops that window

haha i like the cyclops comparrison. Im actually kind glad the lint is stuck in the tint because it did kinda look ugly with the brakelight cut out.

Hopefully the guy can put it on clean this time, or i might just suck up the 100 dollars and take it elsewhere.

oh, i forgot to add. How hard is it to take that tint of a window with defrosters? Do you have to use a steam machine or should i let himdo it carefull with a razorblade.

the car's 10 years old. don't give the tinter such a hard time. maybe your car's dirty. lint happens, the world's an imperfect place.

Im not giving the tinter a hard time, but even where he did cut out the brakelight you can still see light through it, and there are about 50-100 pencil mark size holes in my tint of the rear window.

Its unnacceptable and if he dosent re-do it for 10-15 dollars im taking it to a shop, and never giving him buisness again.

has the car been wrecked? the 50-100 pencil marked size holes could be weld pits (slag). if it's not then it's worth a warranty without payment. (if the car's tinted legally that is.)

Harold, I wish I could find out for sure. Ask 2 different cops or dmv you get 3 different answers

The car has been in a minor fender bender but no there not weld pits, i can see the white pieces of lint causing bubbles.

If this guy dosent call me back im taking it to the shop down the street where they wanted to charge me 175 bucks and the one job ive seen them do looked perfect.

also if i have to take it to the shop im getting something ligher than 20% mabey 35... I dont know how you can even see out of that 5% crap. By the way dont cut out your brakelight unless you have to... It looks ugly.

Another case of a customer going to the cheapest place and then complaining it isnt perfect and then just goes to the more expensive place later to have it redone because the original hack is no where to be found......

Hopefully thats not the case, but if so... I guess im willing to spend 250-275 for a tint in the end of it all. Pretty sad spendin 250-275 for darker windows.

well to each his own right...........my bro is a cop and ive asked him about that third brake light issue.
he tells me as long as you can still see the light when the brakes are applied.
well that leads me to belive that as long as you can see (any) light come through its ok....just my in this

why should the 3rd brake light matter? many cars don't even have one? a cop that pulls someone over because they can't see a 3rd brake light is a jackass cop.

Thanks for the input, i dont think i should have any problems.

Don't ask a cop!!! Believe it or not, they RARELY know the law. Only what they are told to be enforcing that day. I'll say it AGAIN. READ THE STATUTE!!! If it's illegal to cover the brakelight, it WILL state specifically in the statute.




When the tinter comes back? Was he/she mobile? No offense to any mobile tinters out there, but unless dude had IDEAL conditions, you're gonna have to live with what you get. Also, be prepared to pay extra for rear deck removal. If they come out easy, I don't charge, but if it takes more than unclipping, I charge extra. (Only reasonable, it IS more work) As for visibility, no problem. It'll shine thru.




I tell everybody to leave it with me for the day, and to be open to the idea that it might take overnight. I NEVER guarantee the defroster under ANY circumstances.




Another poignant post from the Blade!!!




Unless you are the original owner, you cannot POSSIBLY KNOW for certain if it had slag. Even then, unless it was HORRIBLY bad, you wouldn't see it until you tinted it.
Just out of curiousity........Were you shopping for the lowest price? (I believe I already know the answer.)




Sounds like taking it to the "OTHER" more expensive shop would be the less aggravating choice. And I hope they soak ya to strip the old off! Dude, I was feeling kinda bad for you, but it would seem that you got exacty what you paid for. Deducing from the fact that the "other" shop wants to charge you 175, and you are bitching about 275 for darker windows, looks like you went for the old $99 tint job. STOOPID is as stoopid does. Going for the cheapest price and expecting premium results? Are you really that naive?
Try pricing "factory" darker windows. For your car, they don't exist. So if you want darker windows, you are stuck with tint. Dude, $275 for a GOOD tint job is NOT a shame or sad. Thats around "Middle of the road " pricing around my area. You got ALOT of ballz coming on this site asking us questions and then tell us that what we do for a living isn't worth much!! You cannot get Dom Perignon for the same price as Busch beer. Stay within your budget. A good tint job isn't too expensive, you just can't afford one.

Man, you need to get on some type of medication. You let way to much stuff get to you around here. Breath

I've been told that once or a dozen times. It does p1ss me off tho.........

KW is like a thorough bred horse, he's a bit high strung always ready to jump out of the starting gate at full throttle and give it all he's got and finish the race!!







That's high strung not well hung guys, ..............high strung, bold, spirited, gutsy, cheeky..........

Golly gee willikers, M. THANX A BUNCH for clarifying THAT!!!

Well, I couldnt speak from experience on the other thing. I only know for sure about the "high strung" part. No offense eh KW?

Oh.....and your welcome......i think........uhhhhhh....yeh! Your WELCOME!!

hijacked this one, didnt I??
I'm a widdle waskel arnt I? he, he, he!

Another case of buying from the lowest price place, and expecting best quality work.
The two do NOT go hand in hand.

covering the brake light in wi is considered altering a safety feature on the vehicle and is considered illegal

ny law requires it cut out nothing is to be blocking or altering the view of the 3 b light

So I am a little curious as to see if the original poster ever got a hold of that mobile tinter. Little does he know, most tint shops will charge a premium to remove tint off a back glass so he is not sucking up a $100 mistake but adding quite a bit more to it for the removal and retinting if he is not satisfied with the original hack job.

I tell all my customer's that it is very difficult to go mobile to them as we require a controlled environment with good lighting and electrical outlets in order to perform a quality installation. The only time I go mobile now is to some of my dealership accounts.

Like the old saying goes, you usually get what you paid for. Sorry he had to learn this the hard way.