What type of tint on a dark car?

[krzysiek]

I've looked at a few threads here and other places online, but really hard to come to a conclusion.

I have a new XR6 MKII In Edge and I want to get some window tinting on it. I saw in some threads here people have 20% tint and it looks awesome, but I am afraid of the negative consequences of doing so on a new car (insurance and the like).

I would like it to be as dark as possible but I feel, from experience, the 35% I had on my BA XT was just not dark enough. Can see well and true through the windows during the day. Night time it was fine/good but that's night time.

Maybe because my car is a much darker colour now, the window tint will look better during the day even at 35%? Or do you think I will still be a bit disappointed?

I've heard about 'metallic' tints which are still legal but more reflective and making it harder to see in. What's that all about?

I wish the darkest legal was around 25% I think I would be happy somewhere around there.

[BrisVegas]

I had a 35% metallic tint on my Black Sapphire Focus and it looked very good. I was told by the tint place that matt black tints don't look any good on black cars and he was right.

[krzysiek]

Well Edge isn't black but I would argue it is close enough in this instance. It is quite a dark colour. I believe I had the matt black you are talking about on the old BA XT. The colour was 'ice mint' so it was much, much lighter but I think it looked good on there.

Unfortunately, I don't know how that matt black finish would look on the darker colour but I do rememeber they were telling me dark colours should get some different type of tint (I assume this is what you got on your car!).

How did the 35% metallic look on your car? Can you compare it with the standard matt black 35% on a non-dark car, in terms of how easy it is to see through, etc?

[krzysiek]

Anyone else?

[Billy Piston]

I agree 20% is too dark for night use, it is a little dangerous but looks so damn cool. I don't like 'mirror' tints but that is just my opinion. It has to be matt black! I would get 25% matt black and just never crash your car.

[Ben73]

I had 20% on a previous car. It looked good, it was hard to see in and it kept the car nice and cool.
It was definatly harder to see out of at night if there was none or very little street lights.

A few times I found myself putting the window half way down when I needed to see out the side windows at night.

[krzysiek]

Originally Posted by Billy Piston

I agree 20% is too dark for night use, it is a little dangerous but looks so damn cool. I don't like 'mirror' tints but that is just my opinion. It has to be matt black! I would get 25% matt black and just never crash your car.

Love it Billy. Just never crash the car! Haha, brilliant.

[superfly]

I've been told that 3M black in 35% looks really black from the outside but doesn't do much to stop the UV rays.

Visit a window tint shop, they usually have display panels with the different tint.

Generally though, most 35% tints look like there's no tint there during the day.