Learn me: Tinting for UV/glare reduction.

I've never had a car tinted before, but am considering it, mostly to reduce heat in the car.  I really don't want a tint so dark that I can't see out of it at night.  Is there anything I need to know before going to a tint shop, other than saying I want the lightest decent quality tint they have?   I also am disinclined to have the front side windows tinted, but am wondering if tinting the top of the windshield helps enough to be worth it?

Definitely tint the top of the windshield and the front side windows, this is where most of the sun that hits the driver comes in through. Do mention that you want to cut down UV and heat but you don't want it too dark and the shop should be able to select a good tint for that. 3M makes really good tints for high UV/IR blocking with minimal darkness.

I'm in Florida where it's always sunny with an insane UV index and I rarely drive at night. That said, I'm a big fan of 15% tint all around. It's pretty much perfect during the day, and just a tad darker than ideal at night. In your situation I'd go with 25%.

Definitely tint the side windows. But I think tinted windshields are annoying (even the little strip) so I don't bother doing mine. The one exception was my Leaf--the previous owner had some magic clear film applied to the windshield that was invisible but seemed to block all heat. It was cool, but pretty expensive IIRC. 

I would definitely tint the front windows in addition to the rears. I got my old Montero tinted (5% on the rear and 35% on the front) and it made a huge difference in comfort. The AC couldn't keep with the 100⁰+ summer days before, and it was pleasant inside after. My current Xterra is pretty dark all around so I do have to roll the front windows down to use my mirrors when I back up at night. 

I have no direct experience with tinted windshields (illegal in California) but z32maniac here just got his done and seems to be quite happy. Seems to me like the very-light-to-no-tint options with maximum UV blocking are the way to go there. 

Lil Stampie keeps wanting me to get ceramic tint.  What's that and why would it be better?

In reply to Stampie :

Someone here will know way better than me, but the impression I have gotten is the ceramic tints are some of the ones that are better about stopping UV.

Does anyone make light-sensitive film?  I absolutely detest tint on the front side windows.  As soon as the sun goes down, lane changes become a matter of luck.  Mirrors become useless, turning your head just shows you a black wall.  If they make a light-sensitive one, might look into it.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

Does anyone make light-sensitive film?  I absolutely detest tint on the front side windows.  As soon as the sun goes down, lane changes become a matter of luck.  Mirrors become useless, turning your head just shows you a black wall.  If they make a light-sensitive one, might look into it.

That's one of the reasons I'm not overly fond of the idea of tinting the front side windows.  I drive at night enough that it'll be really annoying.  Also, it seems no matter how good the tint is, there is some additional distortion looking through it. 

I'm not too worried about keeping heat out while driving, the A/C keeps up fine once it gets going.  Mostly, I just want to cut down on how hot the car gets when it is sitting, and I figure I can sacrifice a bit of that in order to keep more visibility.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

You need to look into the 3M Crystalline Series. Its pricey but excellent and can be had to where its crystal clear. 

Don't ask me... my Avalanche is 5% all around but the windshield.

You can get UV block without (much) tint. I still have that on my sister's Eurovan but had to pull the windshield UV block off because I didn't have her prescription. 

For modern rigs with factory tint on the rears I will ususally go 20% on the fronts, 5% sun strip on the windshield down to the bottom of the rearview mirror, and then 50% on top of the factory tint on the back.  Just enough to darken it up while still being 100% functional.  

When I replaced the door on the Excursion, it came with a window that was tinted to about what the rears are.  I thought I hated it until the tint started to come up a bit so I peeled it off.  Turns out it was actually really helping with glare and heat and I really miss it now.

But then, in the Excursion my turn signal is a warning, not a request, so night driving wasn't a problem.

I'm not an expert, but being a Texan, tint is almost a requirement for our cars, so I've learned a few things over the years.

1. There are different qualities of tint. From inexpensive tint that is simply coloring to more expensive material tints like titanium and ceramic.  The more expensive tints will have greater clarity and, in respect to the cheapest ones, won't fade.  If you've seen cars where the tint looks purple-ish, that's the cheap tint that has faded. 
2. Every state (any maybe counties) have rules on how dark the tint can be.  Your tint shop should knows the rules, but would be worth looking up yourself ahead of time.
3. Getting the expensive tint at a good tint shop should eliminate any wavy or degraded views.  When I've had tint done, except for being slightly darker, there has been no affect on clarity.  However, I've had cars that the PO tinted (I'm assuming either done themselves or a "buddy" did it) that affected clarity.  They were also the cheaper tints.
4. Tint continues to improve.  Now days, you can get ceramic tint that is virtually clear and can (in some states) be applied to the front windshield to reduce UV. They can make a big difference in the interior temperature.  However,
5. Interior heat while sitting is always difficult to overcome.  Even with tint, the car is going to absorb heat through the windows and the body of the car.  I've found that tint drops those temperatures a little bit, but really helps when the A/C kicks on and makes cooling the car seem quicker.  Plus, the car doesn't get as warm when sitting in traffic.
6. Just ballpark numbers from around here, but a ceramic tint on an SUV is about $400.  The front windshield tint is usually another $600.  Darkness doesn't usually make a difference in price.
7. I find that the better tint's definitely have a difference when viewed from the outside vs. the inside.  With 35% tint, the outside is dark enough that you almost can't see inside, but the inside is just slightly tinted.  Even at night.  I'm in my 50's with bad eyesight and while not as clear as no tint, doesn't affect my ability to see.

-Rob

Slippery said:

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

You need to look into the 3M Crystalline Series. Its pricey but excellent and can be had to where its crystal clear. 

Yep this is the almost-not-there tint that blocks a lot of UV and IR.

There is actually photochromic tint available now, the material is in the ballpark of $50 per window.

Ceramic tint has very high IR blocking without being too dark.