Coolieman1220

20%

Steppenaudi

I should have also mentioned that the front windows so tinted look just slightly darker than the OEM rear windows. The factory windows don't reject heat as well as the tinted windows.

Parsec

Thanks Simans, this is just what the OP was looking for. 27% sounds about right but as Steppenaudi noted above, 30% in the front still looks slightly darker than the rear windows. It's possible the front windows are already slightly tinted at say 80%. If you tint the front windows 30% then 30% of 80% = 24% tint which is darker than the OEM rear.

Has anyone had their tint dealer test the tint on the front windows prior to getting them tinted?

JaXeN

Thanks for the info.

This is all so frustrating... If it weren't so difficult, I'd ask to receive the car without any tinting so I could just get it all evenly tinted in the aftermarket.

Simans82

That's a great point! I never thought about having them meter the fronts prior to tinting. Regardless, the 35% matched up well enough for us.

Q5 Bob

I didn't think of having the rear windows metered either.

It wouldn't have made any difference in my case, as I was getting the legal % in the fronts anyway.

joey jojo

i thought i had posted in this thread...must have been on another forum. in any case, i emailed my sales advisor about tinting, and this was part of his response:

"FYI the rear windows are not tinted. There is only a dye in the glass to darken it. It adds no heat or UV protection."

that being said, i'm going to look to tint the rear window as well, but i'll likely have the shop meter the rear after tinting and then try to match the front.

MP4.2+6.0

basically the light loss through "standard" auto glass (and with its minimal tint). I'm sure more exact data can be found around the internet, perhaps specifically for Audis, but a guess would be that number will be a 10-15% light loss. Even "clear" single pane home window type glass with no low-E or other coatings can easily be 7-10% down.

Thus, if shooting for a 25-27% net transmittance, I would think it would be a 30%+ to 35% film in general to net down to the 25% range inclusive of the glass loss. With the loss of light in the glass itself, starting from 25% film transmission is going to end up too dark.

Not my personal tint choice, but just trying to give some background on it. In CA, no extra front tint is generally permitted (except a modest amount w/ medical prescriptions). Never mind that enforcement seems minimal. I've found in practice a 70% tint can get rid of a lot of heat/IR transmission but still look "stock" in most lighting conditions and various angles. I also like graduated approaches (lighter front transitioning to darker as you go back). Thus I might look at 70% front and even consider adding it to the far rear side windows to get further IR reduction and some graduation; plus doing the roof panels separately.

idale

That's basically my plan: do 70% all around for heat rejection without darkening too much. The privacy glass won't reject much heat on its own, so could use some help, and the steps past 70% aren't too large IMO so may as well keep as much visible light as I can (not into the "tinted" look, especially since I wear sunglasses 24/7 anyway).