clear windshield tint(heat reduction)?

March 21, 2008

Hi,

I have done some searches here, and it seems that tinting windshields is a controversial topic, which is understandable given the legal ramifications. I posted a few days ago about tinting my vehicle, heat/UV reduction is my primary goal and I have the impression that there are some clear(or mostly clear) tints that claim to reduce heat & UV.

Does it makes sense to tint a windshield using a product like this? I have seen some posts here about all windshields being laminated/safety glass, I guess there is some technical issue with tinting this type of glass?

The vehicle in question is an 08 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited(4 door). All of the glass has a very light tint, it is possible that the factory tint on the windshield is already providing as much heat reduction as I could expect?

I'd appreciate any help or insight available here, I have been to a few local shops and I am having a hard time finding someone who trustworthy. Nobody seems to have a problem tinting my windshield as long as they are paid, but my technical questions seem to be lost on them. There is at least one higher end shop one town over, I just need to make the time to get there.

March 23, 2008

1st off, in ur 4th paragraph, wanna get paid?, do u go to work expecting not to get paid (they prob ment well, but worded poorly), secondly, if it's for uv reduction pick the best tinter (dont no the ones in ur area) - me as a tinter im not a fan of doing fg because of laminated glass - glare reduct is minimal w/ clear - any other ?'s let me know

March 23, 2008

Certain high VLT films can reduce a great deal of heat (up to about 50%), but most "clears" will not.

Of course it's illegal.

Windshields are laminated glass and thus already reject about 80% of UV light.

Most installers aren't used to fielding technical questions on their products. Usually all they get is, "I want [insert darkness here]."

But if you can find someone installing huper optik, v-kool, SolarGard Ultra Performance, geoshield, maybe Global's new IR80, hanitatek's solar steel 70, etc etc etc that is willing to break the law and install it you have room to improve both the heat rejection and UV qualities of your windshield.

March 23, 2008

its not ileagle in ny as long as 70 % light transmits through it

March 23, 2008

But most windshields nowadays are already in the 70% to 80% range. Hard to find any film that can be put onto it and net more than 70%.

In MN NOTHING is allowed, not even clear. =(

March 23, 2008

we do alot of lulu uv blocker clear :thumb

March 24, 2008

Thanks very much for all the responses, this is exactly what I was looking for & very helpful. I live in NC, windshield tinting is legal above the AS-1 line.

My impression is that it will probably not make sense to pursue this, but I will discuss it with whoever I hire to do this work.

It had not occurred to me that clear tint on the entire windshield would not be legal. I can understand why dark tints are not legal, but this seems sort of strange to me & I'm sure somewhat frustrating for those of you who own tinting businesses in the stricter states.

March 24, 2008

I have seen some posts here about all windshields being laminated/safety glass, I guess there is some technical issue with tinting this type of glass?

to answer this question,

besides legal risks, there are more installation risks:

#1 most windshields are curved (although yours is pretty small and flat), and to apply a flat piece of tint to a curved surface, it needs to be heat formed first. You can cause laminated glass to discolor or even break with uneven or exuberant heat application.

#2 It also takes a fair bit of water sprayed on the interior glass surface to tint windows, which isn't usually a problem, because door panels are designed to get wet, and most rear decks drain.... but a dashboard is not designed to get that wet.... even wranglers. hmmm... do they still fold down?

#3 any film on the inside surface of the glass /may/ interfere with the manufacturer's design for the deployment of airbags. many passenger side airbags fire upward, and then are deflected off the windshield to the passenger occupant. windshields with film on them don't give the same as n@ked ones. how much difference this really makes remains to be seen, as full windshield tinting is FEDERALLY illegal, so there is not any FEDERAL crash-test evidence available on this subject to my knowledge.

hope this helps. good luck.