Vehicle Shades and Tinting

rin2809

Active member
I apologize if this is in the wrong category, not sure where it would belong.

We have gotten by not using any window shades for our kiddo in our minivan because he has always been in the center and the sun never hits him (our van has no factory tint). Now that we are going to have 2 kiddos and will have them both outboard, side window shades are going to be necessary.

I know that the suction cup shades aren't necessarily the safest (and frankly the ones I have seen seem to be a pain in the butt), so I have been looking into cling/removable automotive tint since the window shape is strange. Does anyone know if this will be a safe alternative? I have also always wondered, how do these shades interact with state window tint laws? Do they count toward the % of visibility in vehicles?

I live in MN where the window tint law on back and rear windows is 50%, but hoping to do 20% or more on only the two middle windows to shade the kiddos.

Thanks!
 
ADS

shellebelle

Senior Community Member
Does anyone know if this will be a safe alternative?

As long as the tint is not in a place where it could be reached/removed by your kids then I'd say it's a great option :) The cling sheets don't have enough mass to pull themselves off in a crash, so we recommended them all the time when I was a tech. That's the big issue with the roll up shades - they can become a projectile.

As for the legalities...well...my window tint has always been illegal here in California. I've never had a problem, even in a nearby city that supposedly cracks down on tint violations. However, our only rule is that nothing is allowed on the front windows - back windows are fair game and I keep my front tint a little lighter (currently have 20% up there). If you are concerned, you could talk to your police department about it and ask how thoroughly the law is enforced, if it's a primary violation, etc. You can also scan the other vehicles around and see what they're tinted to and not getting in trouble for.

One thought, however, is that plenty of vehicles come with a dark factory tint on the rear windows, and these vehicle owners are likely not getting ticketed for it in MN. If your budget allows, you might consider professionally tinting all of your rear windows so that it's not so obvious that you've added tint to just two windows. That's my sneaky solution, but I'm a tint-loving rebel.
 

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