Ha, let me pitch in here. I ‘m from NJ now staying in VA for work, so I have been fiddling with both state’s lift law for a while now. NJ law does not allow you to have tint on front door and I kind of agree with them, safety issue, to get a reality check stop byNewark, NJ</ST1. As far as lift laws, NJ allows you to have only 38inch tires max “Period” and tires cannot pop out more than 1 inch on either side. Register your truck in VA as commercial with GVW more than 15K pounds and the bumper laws does not apply ( I have copy of VA state laws if you need). ..That solves your lift issues, but might bring some new issues if it insanely lifted.

To protect the leather try some aluminum sun blocks…

 

thats a law?


as far as tint goes, Roll down your windows ANYTIME you see cops

 

If my family was local law enforcement I'd be name dropping worse than Dan Patrick on ESPN.

 

Post Retracted....

 

Uh oh! I was kind of looking forward to your response. You're one of the few law enforcement officials I've run across that's willing to wade through some often harsh criticism of your profession and still manage to give a level headed response without counter-attacking?!!

 

it's really federal highway law that the front door and windshield can not have over the pecentage of a tinted windsheild. thats why there is no front window tint from the factory. and new jersey enforces that law. and many others,

sorry dude you at 22years of age just need to say i'm a mature person now, and can live with the laws ment to save me and others from harm. it's so small a issue.

my 05 looks just as good with out as others do with.plus when i pass a dodge or a gm they can see my FORD owners bseg. before they see my hemi this over my tail gates big BLUE oval.

 

Had a call out mid post and rather then post a half post and causing grief I decided to delete and post in the morning.

 

Get over it. If the speed limit is 70, do you think you should be able to go 80 just because you are a good driver? Laws are laws, even if they seem stupid. I guess one way to look at it is the more tickets the next guy gets, the less chance I have of getting one. Keep the tint on and take your chances. Ha Ha

 

I have some family and friends in law enforcement and their stories always amaze me. One friend, who writes all of the tinted window and broken license plate light tickets he can find, has also arrested over 200 drunk drivers, so I know they do more than just pick on tint. He says it is very difficult to see inside a vehicle with dark tint and until you walk up on a car at 2am and all you can see is 4 siloutes of heads inside, you won't understand. Keep in mind, the four heads inside could be nuns going to mass, but they usually are not. As far as a doctor's note goes, here in CA, law enforcement will honor the note, but only if the tint is removable, like a stick on sun shade. In other words, most people are not sensitive to the sun at night so your windows must be clear. Im sure other states are similar.

All that being said, I like the look of dark tint, but I don't have it because it's too hard to see out of. Guess I'm just getting old

 

You guys need to move down here to Florida...

I've been running 5% for 20 years and never been questioned.

Hell, once I had a little isuzu pup and had 5% all around with a generous strip on the front windshield, then I went back and got the rest of the windshield done in 35%. I also had hand cut headlight tinted covers on the truck. I used to guess where the road was sometimes as half of my driving was in the middle of the night.

That being said, I can fully understand why the cops don't want you to be able to have tint like this on your trucks. There was a phase years ago where people were opening up their doors and blowing the cops away with whatever gun they were hiding in the vehicles. That's when my town got its first light meter to start testing tint. I've never been pulled over for it nor have I ever had my tint tested.

Here in Fl it's legal for anything I think over 15% so 20% is very popular. Seeing as how 50% of all of our drivers down here are over 60 and have cataracts I think we're pretty safe to not get that taken away from us.

As a general rule of thumb, since I've had my tint on my cars I've always opened up the door when a cop pulls me over. That way as he's walking up he can clearly see into the truck, the dome light comes on to light the interior, and it relaxes him so I'm less likely to get a ticket. I've always done that and never had a problem.

All that said, I'm also willing to take one on the chin if I get busted for it. I usually make a deal with the tinter at the time its applied to redo the side doors for a cheap amount if I have to peel it off and they usually don't have a problem with that. I made a conscious decision to run illegal tint and you won't even hear a whine out of me if I have to pull it off.

 

Well, i was the same way as the OP. I had tint on my last 2 vehicles. over the 5 year period of those 2 cars i got 7 tickets for tint. Last time i was in court i got ripped a new one pretty good by the judge and the states attorney.

I decided that when i got the truck i have now that i am done with tint. I hardly ever get pulled over for anything else, its just the tint. At least for you, you are allowed to have 50%, here we are allowed to have NOTHING in the front windows.

Good luck

 

one thing to consider is at 22 you may have a drink or two from time to time and do you really want the hassle of going through the sobriety tests just because you had tint on your windows, and thats assuming you are not over the legal limit and if you are imagine how expensive that tint is with a dui ticket. (before I get ripped for drunk driving, I dont drink at all I was just trying to list another reason for not having the tint)

 

Cops like to see what drivers are doing before they reach the car. They do this by observing the driver through the side-view mirror, or approaching the car from a wide angle. Enough police officers have been killed or injured by people whose actionsa were concealed by the window tint that the law became necessary. The law doesn't have anything to do with how dark we like our windows; it prevents us from being approached by nervous cops with drawn weapons as much as it protects the officer.

 

I just want to reinforce what everyone is saying about the cops approaching a traffic stop. If you have ever been on a ride along, you should know what it feels like. When I was on my ride along, I was trying to put myself in the cops place as he approached these dark vehicles and couldn't see a thing. I was nervous just sitting in the car! I have tint on my windows, but it is fully legal. If I am a cop and I have to approach your car, and your tint is below the legal limit, you bet i'm gonna write you a ticket for that and anything else I can find on your vehicle. By you breaking a law that you feel is stupid, you make the officer more nervous and jittery, which could possibly lead to a deadly situation. I know tint looks good, but there is a law for a reason. Your representatives don't sit around trying to **** you off, they are trying to save police officers lives.

Matthew

 

Ok here is my best response to the thread now that I have ample time to read it. In case anyone didn't know I'm a cop and have been for about 8 years here in SOCAL.

I am big enough to admit that like any profession there are good cops and bad cops. My favorite quote about it is:
"Some cops are jerks, rest assured their partners hate them as much as you do"

I think when you start looking at threads like this one you have to try and break it down to really look at it from all sides. I think you can break most down to 3 or 4 sub topics.
1) Did you break the law? In a lot of cases people are denying they broke the law, which is what courts are for. Good bad or indifferent that is the way the system works. In the original posters case he stated he knew the tint was illegal.
So like some of the other posters I would say to bad so sad, you knew it was illegal and took the risk. Same as the folks that run tuners and wonder why their warranty is denied.

It's obvious that the money is not the issue as you drive a nice truck and want it to be nice. You can afford the fine no biggie. BUT do you want the hassle of being stopped all the time for the window tint?

In CA there is ZERO window tinting allowed on front windows

2) What is/was the laws intentions? I don't really know to be honest what the original intentions of the law were. I would imagine there were a variety of reasons including limited drivers visibility out of the vehicles and limited officers visiblity into the vehicle. Yes I know that a young healthy person with great eyesight will have no problem seeing out of tinted windows but what about the 40something that's eyesight is fading already and now you add the obstacle of dark tint? How would you write a law to accomadate both fairly. Simplest way was/is to write one law with equal enforcement for everyone. I will tell you that FOR ME if your windows are blacked out the holster is unsnapped and hand is on the gun, simple as that. I don't know you or who or what is in the vehicle and until I do I'm ready to take care of business.
I do know that the law, at least in CA, does make exceptions for tinted windows provided that it is glazed glass from the factory AND meets the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 205 (49C.F.R. 571.205). Lots of vehicles come from the factory "Tinted" so to speak with the glazed glass but mostly high end cars.
Anybody who has taken the time to do the research knows that DARK tint does not protect the interior any better then clear tint. What protects the interior of the vehicle and helps to keep the vehicle cool is the films ability to block UV light. Just be honest and admit you like the look, that's cool I like the look also and I have VERY light tint on my front windows.

That is probably true in most states. I know for a fact it is true in CA. But again there are restrictions it is not carte blanch to paint the windows black. Even with a doctors note you can still be cited if the officer wants to verify the validity of the note. Once verified the officer would then dismiss the ticket. So it is a viable option for people with a legitimate need. If the need is not legitimate is your doctor willing to risk his medical license or optometry license so you can tint your window? I doubt it.

I saved the best 2 points for last.

3) City must need to generate money, that is why all the tickets.
There are so many hands in that very very tiny piece of pie that no one is getting rich. As an example it was estimated in a recent article that the City of Sandiego takes in between $2-$4 million dollars annually in ticket revenue. Sounds like a big number I know but the annual budget is $3,000,000,000. If my math is right, using $4,000,000, that works out to be about .1% of their annual operating budget. A pretty small sum comparitively speaking. I doubt if your employer gave you a .1% raise you would be all that thrilled.

4) Cops must not have anything better to do.
There are cops doing those things. Along with those issues tho we are also tasked with enforcing all the other laws including traffic violations. It always amazes when people want only the laws that do not effect them enforced. Much like most people are rated at their employment by how well they perform their job, Cops are rated in the same way. Quotas? NO they were made illegal years ago. BUT let me ask a question. If a cop was assigned to the traffic division of their department, whose primary responsibility is related to enforcement of the vehicle code, and they NEVER wrote a single citation how would their job performance be rated? If you were a relator but never sold a single house how would your job performance be rated? and the list could go on.

Some would say that Polygamy is not hurting anyone but it is illegal. What about Pedophilia? Some (NAMBLA) say it dosen't hurt anybody but it is illegal. What about Marijuana? Some say it is not only NOT harmful but is actually helpful and it is illegal. laws were written for the masses and not the individual.

With all that being said here is my personal philosphy. Window tint like burnt out bulbs is a great reason to pull people over. Check for license status, insurance, probation, parole, 4th waiver etc... If your window tint is reasonable, which is my judgement call since CA allows none on the front windows, and your cool it is probably a "take it off" and your on your way with NO citation. If your a punk or have an attitude you get the window tint ticket and any other violation I can find.