Window Tint "machine"
 

Does anyone know how acurate those little machines are? I just got pulled over for it, and while it's only a $50 ticket I'm really not overly concerned with it, but I'm just curious. I never seen one before, it just kinda slid on the window and gave you a reading of how much light is actually passing though. It said 24, so I guess that's 24% light coming through and he said Iowa law is 70%, even though I could've sworn it was 30%.

ive had some 1st hand experience with one of those. damn cop had nothing better to do but to pull me over specifically for tint. he placed one of those on my windows and it had a reading of 16, which i took to assume 16% of the light transmitted. it was probably 15%, so it had a pretty small margin of error. VA law is 50% in front, 35% in rear, 30% on rear window. and no tint on the visor area of the front window unless the state DMV approves it for medical reasons.

the cop probably got 70% mixed up with 30% light transmittance cuz 70% is barely any tint at all. i would try to get a friend or hookup to write you a receipt that you paid to get your tint removed and redone and present it to a judge, he or she might just drop the charges. even though the ticket doesnt cost you anything in insurance or driving record, it saves you $50 and any processing fees.
-meGrimlock

Hey that's a good idea ... I might try that out. See I was thinking that he got confused too and I was going over it in my head while he was in his car writing up the ticket. I asked him to explain it again to me and he said that 70% of light needs to come through, which means that you really cant have any tint on the front windows. He said it pretty much just like that ...

i think tint is measured in how much *light* comes through... 5% tint (very dark) - 5% of light gets through... 20% (my wifes car, still dark) - 20% lights gets through... 35% (legal limit here) - 35% light gets through... right?

That's what I thought too, but he was saying the law is 70! I don't get it ... whatever!

maybe hes talking about the light that is blocked :)

I was told by my local tinting company that just about every car made after '96 has tinted glass. Now they said it's only like 3% or something but if the tints close to the legal limit, it may make the tint film go past the legal limit. I know this isn't necessarily your situation KrayzieFox, but I thought it would be good info.

maybe thats why the limit here is 32 +/-
35% film was factory 3% should make it 32.

The cop mentioned the same thing. He was saying how his trooper car comes with 20% tint on it out of the factory, so any kind of tint was gonna put it over the legal limit. I know I don't drive a squad car but it's probably true that most cars do come that way now. I have no problem paying the ticket he gave me, it's just that the way he explained the legal limit and stuff was really vague, so I was just being curious how accurate those little machines are. Since I was at 24% light coming through, I was only off by 6% from what I think the actual limit should be, and it was a pretty murky day anyway, I just didnt know if something like that could work in my favor so I don't have to pay this sucker!