My 1997 F150 ext. cab has factory tinted rear windows. I am wanting to tint the front windows, my only concern is that the rear tint has like a mirror look to it, unlike the factory black tint on newer models. So what will it look like if I tint over the mirror 97 tint with black tint? My guess is it will probably still look mirrored.

 

In my area, tinting the front windows is illegal and will get you pulled over in a hurry. There is even a city ordinance in chicago where they can impound the vehicle on the spot, and the tow for the vehicle is $500 and storage fees per day after only after you go through an administrative hearing the vehicle could be released if you pull the tint off prior to leaving the impound lot, or else it has to get towed out.

Then there is the hassle of being damaged in the pound lot since they move the vehicles around with a cat end loader with long forks on it.

Is it really worth the hassle?

I had tint on a car and was pulled over by a chicago high school right when it was letting out for the day. I talked my way out of the impound hassle by pulling the tint off right there and they let me go.

It might be ok where you live, but travel a bit and you will wish you never had it on the vehicle when you get pulled over out of town.

 

Not concerned with some stupid laws or city ordinances... I have always had tint on all of my vehicles, so yes I do believe it is worth it. Now bump back to the original purpose of the thread

 

Pretty sure you'll find that the "mirror look" comes from a coating on the outside of the FORD glass. Of course FORD's "factory window tint" is pigment in the glass itself, there is no tint film. Placing black "tint over the mirror 97 tint" would mean installing it on the outside, which would simply not hold up in rain. Tint film is designed to go inside & isn't expected to last more than a couple of years. On roll down windows tint is subject to extra abrasion. Recently I had the difficult task of removing unsightly degraded tint.

If tinted front windows are illegal in your area it could end up making no difference if you're "Not concerned with some stupid laws". If police are "concerned" your plan may look like a "stupid" ticket. Its illegal here under FL's sun & police are eager for any excuse to pull people over.

 

Around here the cops cruise the bars and known houses and hangouts of drug dealers all night looking for any minor traffic violation to pull someone over for. They jerk them out on a DUI at the same time when they smell the odor of alcohol and see supposed blood shot eyes. Then someone in the vehicle throws their roach over on the driver's floorboard or ashtray and he gets busted for that too. They kill 3 birds with one stone. A reasonable suspicion that the windshield is tinted too dark is all they need to pull someone over. Then the odor coming from the car sustains the rest of the stop. If they are surveilling a drug dealers house and a car stops and then leaves, I can guarantee you that car will be stopped for a stop or signal or any other violation, whether the violation honestly happened or not, so they can check out and ID the occupants and maybe get a DUI or drug bust.

Same goes for loud mufflers, California stops, cracked windshields, excessive acceleration, turn signal when changing lanes, any safety violation such as a broken mirror, light out, etc. and all the other stupid laws and ordinances that people get pulled over for and end up in jail, prison, no DL, high insurance, etc. Any body who wants to tempt fate by driving around operating under a grey area of a stupid law or ordinance is going to meet up with some blind cop who doesn't understand grey areas so they shouldn't be supprised when they get pulled over.

Now that I am off my soap box, I'll bump back to the original purpose of this thead which asked to offer potentially illegal advice and guess what tint will look like on a windshield. I haven't tried it so there is no way I can guess. My suggestion to you is to put it on if you want it so bad and see for yourself and then wish you good luck with the cops. The price of tint is cheap compared to what can happen later if deemed illegal or in a grey area.

 

When I read the OP it didn't even occur to me anyone would tempt fate by tinting their "windshield"!

Had presumed that only the door windows were even being considered as candidates for tinting.

Pretty easy to understand that police would naturally be suspicious what activites might be concealed behind excess tint. Now that FL ramped up seat belt laws, they can pull you over for failing to wear seat belts. Police want to watch for unbuckled occupants, alcohol swilling occupants & drug injesting occupants, making them eager to enforce laws against tinting. FL's tropical heat tends to make tint more popular so we may hear more about arrests linked to tint.

 

When I read it I thought he meant windshield since he said front windows and to me the extended cab with the 1/2 back door, doors wouldn't be considered as front doors. My mistake there but the rant still applies.

We've got the seat belt laws too. One thing they look at is the door post to see if there is the hint of a belt angling away. I'm about half worried that I could get pulled over drinking from a diet pepsi can. I had a trooper tell me he gets most of his drug busts from safety violation stops such as broken mirrors, lights, and cracked windshields. The sun glaring on the windshield shows the crack and the cops can see it coming from the other way. The cops in Cambridge, Mass are *****cats compared to the young punk stormtroopers we have around here.

There was the occasion last year where Carrie Underwood's 2 tour busses were driving down the interstate. The second bus with the roadies cut in too quick on the trooper and another car. Trooper pulls it over and immediately smells weed. Unlike the trooper with Willie Nelson, this guy just made all the roadies produce their weed and then he dumped it all out on the ground in front of them, wrote the driver his tickets, and let them go.

By the way, when cops are dealing with tinted windows, chances are they have backup on the way or there and have their hands in close proximity to their guns if not drawn. If they can't see 2 hands on the steering wheel, then they start taking extra precautions. All the occupants run the risk of being spread eagled on the highway. No fun and not a way to impress your date when she has to clean the road tar off of her. I don't care what the guy does with his windows, the jails and prisons are full of people who thought they were smarter than some stupid laws and ordinances.

 

When I first read this and to stick to his original post I thought he meant front two windows as in the door windows.

I have had the tint on my windows now for a year, haven't been pulled over, yet i know of many people with tint on all the windows who have been pulled over, if it looks like you're driving like a dick then yeah you're getting pulled over if not then you'll be fine.

to answer your question adding black tint to the mirror finish of the ford oem windows will maintain the same reflectiveness but increase how dark your windows actually are. on my truck i limo tinted the rear doors and double on the rear slider then i believe 10% on the front doors, there's no way in hell you're seeing through the rear glass, you might at the right angle on the rear doors and mostly on the front doors you can see unless you look at the right angle where it looks completely black. remember that tinting other windows reduces light being let into the vehicle and therefore making your other windows look darker, the biggest regret is that it's a royal pita to back up in the dark without rolling your window down or opening the door.

in the end YES YOUR WINDOWS WILL STILL HAVE THAT MIRROR TO THEM.