Most of the protection to the interior comes from the UV blocking ability of the tint not from how dark the tint is. I believe that most good tints block 95% to 99% of the UV rays regarless of how dark the tint is. I've had window tint on all my cars for over 25 years and only have good things to say in terms of the benefits.

First, the only person I called a "boob" was the person in my hypothetical situation.
Second, It's all about the officers' safety. The fact that a judge thought that he shouldn't have had his sunglasses on clearly doesn't add to the officers' safety. They don't wear them to look cool. They wear them for SAFETY. The fact that a judge (who has never walked a beat or driven a cruiser) would require the officer to reduce his safety margin because someone else decides to break the law shows a disregard for the officers' safety, and a lack of experience. The tint law (not rule) is there for the officers' safety. This is all about OFFICER SAFETY. EVERY TIME an officer pulls someone over for a ticket, they are putting themselves at risk of being killed by that person. If they can not see what that person is doing behind their tinted windows, that risk increases exponentially. If they then have to remove their sunglasses and expose themselves to blinding glare, the problem gets even worse. This is why it's never a "bull crap" excuse when an officer says they cannot see your hands. There are hundreds of documented situation where officers were ambushed during a traffic stop because they could not see the suspect.
Third, not knowing your situation, but judging from the comments you've made, it seems like you were not showing the office too much respect respect when you were questioning him in front of the judge. It's therefore fairly easy to assume (although I could be totally wrong) that you didn't show him too much respect during the initial stop. This would lead to him finding any reason at all to ticket you; that includes tinted windows, black instead of blue ink and any other reason he can find. Most of us hafve been stopped for a ticket at some point in our lives. Nothing can be gained by pissing the officer off. If you want to avoid a ticket, be nice, and try to obey the law. Otherwise, man up and admit when you're wrong.

That's why if I get pulled over I always put my windows down and put my hands on top of the steering wheel. I don't envy the risks officers have to take and will do whatever I can to put them at ease.

Amen, Brother!

Sorry for my rant. I'll climb off my soapbox now.

Tony

Sadly, in this case you are totally wrong. Even the judge agreed that the officer was in the wrong. The Judge even saw that the officer went above and beyond his professional duties by finding any possible ticket he could give (like stupid pen colour which I also proved that the licence department uses was wrong) - this worked totally against him in court. By the way Sunglasses are not part of an officer's official uniform in Canada and are not issued to them for 'SAFETY' as you claim. This maybe why some officers wear them and some not but is not part of the standard issue items here in Canada. I will not ever admit I was in the wrong for that issue (officer can't see in)... perhaps wrong for having tint but that was not the ticket I was given. Matter of fact when I was pulled over I did not say more than one word - I gave the officer my information/ID/etc and he came back with the tickets and that was that. Actually, he asked me "do you know why I pulled you over" and my reply was "no", then he asked for my ID/Licence/Insurance/Reg papers. The other thing too was that he admitted that the windows were rolled down when he approached my window but the windows were up when he spotted me driving by... therefore, the officer was NEVER in any harms way or had any safety concerns while outside his car.

Don't be sorry - its good to hear peoples views and stuff. Sometimes we don't see things from other peoples points of view right away. I leave here with more information than I did before so that's a positive thing for me. Rants are good sometimes!!

Wow. You edited a quote from me to remove all context.

Nevermind...

I'd go with 3M. I got my windows tinted just one grade darker than whatever was legal because Florida :D

Officer making a traffic stop was never in any harms way...

Hit On Stop

Shot

Shot

Shot

I don't care what you think about the reason you were stopped for. You've already admitted several times that you acknowledge your window tint was illegal.

On the issue of safety, You obviously know you aren't going to kill a cop. However, I have zero idea of who you are or what you are up to. I'm required to have in the back of my mind that every person I come into contact with may want to kill me. Unfortunate, but priority one is going home at the end of my day. Complacency kills. Don't sit there and tell me that the officer was never in harms way. He's in a uniform (which makes him a target) stopping someone he doesn't know on a public roadway where idiot drivers will run right into you.

I never go with more than 20%. Anything more looks like someone I'd profile if I were a police officer. :D

15-20% allows plenty of cabin visibility and still makes the passenger cabin much more tolerable on sunny, hot days.
You can see through it well enough that someone took a hammer to this window when parked on campus in an attempt to steal an iPod left on the seat (note the marks on the window). The Neon's glass won. :p

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/a...09DDDB78CE.jpg