So this guy cop on two wheels pulls me over in Norcross today in heavy traffic. He couldn't have been a day over 25, tattoos all over his arms (he wore short sleeves). He had this device that he clipped onto the glass and it read 17%. He arrogantly stated that the law is 35% and suggested that if I was in an accident my insurance can claim visibility problems and not pay. Anyway, sure I was in the wrong but the kid was very rude. Anyone here been pulled over because of tint? Any suggestions as to what I should do?
David, That sucks! I was wondering what happened to you after you left the office today. Which windows did he test? I'll have to check tomorrow, but are the front 2 the same as the rear 3?
Yep, same tint all the way around. It came like that. Honestly I like the tint mainly because it keeps heat out of the car in the summer and thieving eyes from looking.
as long as the front sides and the windshield are legal your good... you could spray paint the other windows if you wanted to...
that sucks D. I got a ticket for tint a few years back. I was at the mall of ga park and ride hanging out( back when those meets were huge). Cops showed up, everyone tore ass outta there. Me and about 5 friends just calmy stayed to see what they had to say. They gave me and my buddy tint tickets and our trucks were parked in spaces and locked up. We were 20 foot away from them. Oh well, coulda fought it, but the ticket was like 70 bucks and a non-moving violation so i just paid it. Every vehicle since then, including my sti, ive blacked the windows out on anyway
If you were 20 feet away, what if you just calmly walked away from the scene. They can't prove it's your car can they?
i've been ridin w/ 5% for over a year, and never got a ticket.....been pulled over a couple times and they have never said anything about it.....note to self, when getting pulled over and you have dark windows, roll all of them down..... oh yea and i live in norcross..........where'd ya get pulled over at?
Well, we were in a park-n-ride so nothing to walk to really....besides we didnt think they were gonna hassle us. Maybe just tell us to leave. But to give us tint tickets was retarded.
yea, i got a ticket couple years ago in Doraville and the cop told me to retint the window. the ticket was 70$ and i retinted to "legal" (17%) and they drop my ticket to 20$. also a month ago a cop pull me over because of the "window" he tested and it was fine...
Thats the first thing I did... I rolled them all down. He asked me to roll them up. I was on jimmy carter near singleton I think scoobaru - ah park and ride.
you can bet while he was wasting our tax dollars writing a ticket for such BS somewhere within 5 sq miles A REAL crime was being commited.
4sevens, what % are your windows? I'm at 20% and they seem light as hell compared to other cars I see.........
my future mrs has 35% on all the sides and 20% on the back window....and it still lets a ton of light threw....but then again mine's pretty dark... plus each brand of tint is different......i had 20% on my 02 sedan it was 3M tint and it was just a little lighter than my 5% i have now....so i think it all depends....
i have 20%....went a whole yr before i got a ticket.......then i just made up a receipt when i went to court for *tint removal* hint..hint and it was thrown out.
I have 20% all around on my wagon. if you brought the car like that already you should b ok by showing paper work that sez so but i could b wrong. I never got messed with over that way even when I had 5% on my L except over by northpoint mall but I got the tint when it was "legal" for like a month and showed him the receipt. so he gave me the whole "for our safety line" and let me go. cobb co. on the other hand....:squint:
I got pulled over by GSP for tint alone and he ended up giving me a tint for not having a GA tad and DL, but a tint warning. The 92x has been riding around with 5% for a whole year with no trouble :sx:.
It was just some kink in the law that didnt last long because of out of towners gettin tickets when certian tint is legal in places like Fla. maybe our resident po-po should chime in on this..
I just baffles me with all the road wankery here, when the hell a cop would ever find time to bother with a tinted window and a measly $70 ticket. I mean just driving five square miles to work in the morning I witness such acts of brainless vehicular absurdity it boggles the mind. Case and point I am on Ga400 getting ready to change into the right lane blinker on, look over my right shoulder no car, so I start to merge over and this feminine hygiene disaster of a blond in a Lincoln Crossover SUV comes from the left lane next to me no blinker passes in front of me while I am merging and merges with me slowing down in front of me simultaneously causing me to have to hit my breaks while she flips her hair back exposing a cell phone as she was having an intimate conversation. Her world, her road, no one else could possibly exist accept for the bird looming in her review mirror which followed her for quite some time. So in my mind as long as there are acts of idiocy at this level, happening every minute, police should be written citations for wasting their time on menial, frivolous tickets. If you are a civil servant out harassing people for tint levels you are sleeping on the job. If they want to truly pull people over they can hang out in front the apartment buildings next to where my gal lives. It harbors what I could only assume would be a high population of illegal aliens who drive blatantly drunk mostly on the weekends to the point where they might as well be firing guns into the air like they are riding horses in a western. You make sure to get the hell out of the way because you can bet your ass they don't have insurance or for that matter a valid drivers license. Not a cop in site! The cop you see in this area is one with the sirens on rushing away from the chaos.
I've been rocking 20% sides and back since I've been in college (2004) and I've yet to run into any trouble (knocks on wood). My dad however put 20% sides and back and 35% front on his 350Z and got a ticket in a matter of months (for the side window, not the front surprisingly). I think the ticket was $70 or $80. He paid it, and still sports the tint.
If you know a eye doctor that can right you a prescription you can get out of it, but thats kind of extreme but my dad just happens to be a optometrist in Fl :coolugh: thats how I got out of in Fl but they are still kind of lenient on tint so Ive only have to resort to that once
20% on all windows actually makes the inside of the car darker, but I don't think that would be an issue with the device they tested with. Did they just give you a ticket, or did they also say you have to show within ~ 30 days that the tint was removed? If you just got a ticket, I would just pay the fine, leave the tint, and hope it doesn't happen again. If you have to prove the tint was removed, well, you don't really have much choice then. You could try to find a tint shop that will give you a receipt saying they removed the tint and retinted to the legal limit. Sucks man, good luck. Now, if you were driving the Atom, this would not even be a possibility, since it has no windows. Drive the Atom more FTMFW.
I am not a cop, so I can't say, but I would think that they won't pull you over strictly for tint. If they pulled you over, it was probably for something else. Maybe they couldn't make that something else stick, so they just left it with the tint fine.
LOL, my brothers vette has 5% on the sides and back and 50% on the windshield. No one has ever bothered him about it.
I'd hate to get it removed. It keeps the car so cool inside. I heard some places make you peel it off right there. The cop mentioned that I could either pay the ticket or there might be a "tint" program where they'll make it a warning after I take it off. If I just pay it does this stay on my record? I don't think there are points off your DL right? Yeah I should drive the atom more. Problem is my teeth would turn yellow from all the pollen. And I've got really bad allergies. :rofl:
Removing tint is a real PITA, so I don't think they could make you remove it on the spot. I got pulled over for Tint in PA and they gave me a warning and said I had to show up at the police station within 30 days and prove that the tint was removed. I spent a long, long Saturday night pulling the tint with a buddy, went back to the police station and told them I removed it and was there to prove it was done, they just signed off on the citation, never even looked at my car for verification. Milo got a ticket a while back, shortly after they changed the law here. I am pretty sure he just paid the ticket, and never removed the tint. He may have gotten a tint shop to give him a fake receipt, but I am not sure. I would think you would be safe to just pay and not remove. If you get pulled over again for the tint, they will most likely make you remove and then show that it was removed, and fine you again, for the same amount. Maybe PM Greg or bluelinescooby and see what they have to say.
from what I know, it's not a moving violation. No points and it more than likely won't go on your record.
I love how in Doraville, all the cops with there new mustangs, and chargers, and magnum wagons, all have 20%or darker on them when they drive around all day.....so "they" worry about not being able to see "us" in our cars....what if "I" want to see in his/her car?
^^^ I always thought about that the GSP cop that got me his tint was dark as crap! I didnt want to argue we all know what happen to Rodney King :rofl: :hsugh:
With window tickets I think it is more profiling than anything else. I've been pulled over twice for window tint in my old accord. The first time was by Lumpkin County: It was night time and all my windows were rolled down. I asked them how they knew my windows were tinted and they replied they had seen me earlier in the day, ( so why not pull me over earlier), then they asked to search the car. The second time was by GSP. After the second time I installed legal tint. Did the cop ask to seach your car? If I were a cop I'd spend my free time pulling over folks driving slow in the fast lane and give 'em tickets for reckless driving or impeding traffic or some other BS.
My dad got pulled over strictly for tint. The cop even told him so. I've known other people where that was the case as well.
Before I got my tint, I was looking into the laws and apparently they can hit you with a $250 fine for illegal tint. I went with the legal 35% 3M ceramic based tint. It is nice, but I do wish it was darker.
in norcross, that statement is guaranteed to be true... which is WHY he was worried about the tint. there's a good bit of gang activity in norcross. not saying i neccessarily agree with tint laws though. the cops could simply say "roll all of your windows down" before he approaches. i would.
He didn't search. He did look around inside through my open window suspiciously. I was dressed in business attire so I did look like you the typical punk street racer he was looking for. I did. He still have me a ticket.
Well... they are factory tinted inside the plexiglas. I'd like to see him pull me over for that HA :rofl:
I drive up PIB through Doraville and Norcross everyday. My windows were tinted when i got the car and I doubt they're illegal, but I keep my sun visors down and on a cloudy day you can seen in my car for nothing. Its black, the interior in black. not happening. My car is lowered, it has a distinctive exhaust note, I have aftermarket wheels and I dont get any hassle... yet. I pass cops all the time. My wife got pulled over in Doraville before we got the tags for it. Checked the paperwork and sent her on her way. The "tint" issue is only a reason for Police to use a common "illegal" item to pull over a vehicle when they think it looks suspicious but have no legal grounds to do so. And remember you only have to comply with their commands, not a request. IE, can I search your car? No. Not ever. I have nothing to hide, but it's my car. I dont let just any yahoo come through my car, and that counts police. They can only hold you for so long (back in AR it was 15 minutes), and longer and they are violating your rights. In fact one of my Legal Environment teachers was a Public Defender and often spoke of people who should have gone to jail for items in their cars and they declined the search. Officers would hold them until they could get a K-9 on site. If it exceeded that time, case dismissed. End of story. Be polite, be honest(or dont get caught lying), dont argue, be easy to forget and take notes! You'll stand a much better chance in court if you need to fight your citation.
Gimme a ticket for 250 and it will be unpaid and I will tell the judge where he can put his lips. Basically I will force them to waste so much money on a fucking tint ticket they will surely give up. Works for speeding ticket too, if worked right. Shit like this really makes it hard to support law enforcement.