Good Morning,

Ya'll may laugh but I haven't had a vehicle tinted in years until this truck. I got 3M ceramic IR and overall the daytime driving and heat prevention is AWESOME.....problem is I do a lot of night driving and all weather driving as well. I let the guy at the shop talk me in to going 20% over all side and back glass and 50% on windshield....it's way too dark to me when I look out the side windows. I have not been bothered by the 50% on the windshield, but my SIDE VIEW mirrors are tough for me to see anything in at night....very concerning with the trailer.

Good news is the guy at the shop wants to make it right, and has offered to take care of it, but I'm not sure whether to go 35% or 50% on the sides. IMO this Ceramic IR tint seems to run darker than the tint I used in a previous life (3M Obsidian).

I trailer and drive 30,000 miles a year on a lot of back/dark roads, and I don't want to have an accident / hurt anyone. Some have suggested the windshield is my actual problem although I feel like I'm seeing fine out of that.....thoughts, help, jokes? Want to make sure I'm getting this squared away properly this time as I'm getting a free shot at fixing my own mistake. Obviously, taking it off is an option, but I would like to keep some of the heat prevention as it works awesome.

 

 

im pretty sensitive to light but also want max visibility, the sweet spot for me:
80% on windshield (nearly invisible), 50% on side windows, and 5% on sunroof so you never have to close the shade again

 

Do you have a picture of your side windows? Would love to see the transparency level.

 

I do a lot of night driving on unlit rural roads and the highway commuting to work.
Pictures are tricky with tint because the backlighting changes how it looks. I have never had to lower any windows no matter the conditions and have never felt like visibility has been restricted. In fact at night, some headlights from behind still sometimes seem too bright, but im comfortable with the trade off.

 

when i got my tint the guy tried to talk me into 20, i ended up go with 30ish(i forget the exact number) and i still feel like im gonna kill someone on a dark road making left turns. Hell i sometimes roll my window down first.

 

OK, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I was going to go to 35, but am leaning toward just matching my windshield at 50 and calling it good. They put 20 over the factory tint in back, and it's like night time back there, but it's fine, the kids like it, and they don't usually have their sunglasses.

 

I have 20% on my front windows and they seem to match the back pretty close. I’ve had 35% in the past and it was significantly lighter at night so I’d say to try 35%.

 

This is 35% ceramic. Dark enough during the day to keep things cool but not so dark at night making it easy to see things without straining. I drive roughly 50k a year so do a fair amount of nighttime driving.

 

I have 20% on the front sides - nothing on the windshield. I run at night with my dash lights really low. That seems to help me see better at night, towing or not. Unless its raining, then when I make turns I usually roll the window down a little bit to help see. But I'm getting old, I might need to do that even with no tint

 

The factory tint on the rear doors and back glass is the darkest I would ever want to go.
And, I'm fine with leaving the front doors and windshield alone, not adding any tint to them.
I drive 60K plus a year going to jobs, 1/2 towing a travel trailer, many night miles, and I want as much night time vision as possible.
SAFETY FIRST!
Especially if you have family riding along.

 

I believe they still make the UV film that keeps the heat out, but lets the light (and visibility) through.

 

Also, on mine, I usually travel with the rear windows covered with my weathertech custom fit sunshades, so they are completely blocked.
But, I never have any passengers sitting back there.

 

Consider rigging up "rock lights" to the upfitters that you can toggle on to help with looking through the side windows. Mount them underneath shining out and you can light up the rear tire area or wherever you want to see. I know what you're saying about nighttime driving, mine are pretty dark and seeing the edge of the narrow backroads when there's oncoming traffic is sketchy.

 

I have 2 vehicles with tinted windows, one that has 20% that I've owned for close to 20 years. Never a time where I felt unsafe or had visibility concerns.
The SD has about a 28% on the front sides, and 50% over the factory rear sides. While driving I have no issues, regularly on the road with idiots driving with no lights on, peds in all black, no problem seeing them.
The only time I occasionally have some difficulty is while parking at night, determining how close to the curb the rear tire is. Is it 6" away or 4".
It's funny, I don't have that problem in my other vehicle that has darker tint, but it is much much smaller than the SD.

I would think 35% tint would be plenty light. 35% front sides, 50% over the rears to help with the UV.