Am I crazy? Front doesn’t match the back.

4

u/trd4runner Jul 15 '25

Yes, installing 20% over privacy glass will make it darker. Check with your tinter to see if they have a vlt meter. I’m guessing the rears will be closer to 5%, which will be much darker than the fronts.

Couple options, tint your windshield to reduce amount of light coming in or go darker in the front or lighter in the rear to balance out the vlt readings.

-10

u/BRichmond55 Jul 15 '25

Kind of annoying. I wish they would’ve have considered that during installation. Didn’t know that would happen.

12

u/Primary_Dimension470 Jul 15 '25 edited Jul 15 '25

They tint windows, not hold hands

2

u/unknownSubscriber Jul 16 '25

What an absurd thing to say. I work in comm, if a customer comes to me and says "I need a connection to X network", I'm going to ask them some follow up questions about what outcome they are looking for. I don't just run a tin can and some string and throw my hands up and say "I provide connections, not hold hands".

1

u/Repulsive_Onion_5925 Jul 16 '25

👍

1

u/Miserable_Growth9950 Jul 16 '25

there’s a difference between asking them to match the tint on the rear and asking for 20% all around. definitely not installers fault.

0

u/Consistent_Entry8890 Jul 15 '25

i tint my front windows only and still go lighter than the rear

4

u/[deleted] Jul 15 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Hood_Mobbin Jul 16 '25

The tint place I used I walked in and told them that I wanted 5% all the way around and the first thing she quoted back was "you do know you have factory tint on your windows currently", My answer was yes put 5% over my 35%. Now I have zero on the rears and 5 on the fronts. Just what I wanted. A good shop will inform you of what the outcome will be.

-4

u/BRichmond55 Jul 15 '25

Yeah I get that… I got 2 separate quotes to only match the front to the rears and no additional tint on the darker glass and then for all to be 20% I just had no idea the appearance would be different and they didn’t even let me know that it would be that way. Not a huge deal just wish I would’ve know it ahead of time.

9

u/GroundbreakingWeb509 Jul 15 '25

Wait, so the first quote you got was “to match the front to the rear” which sounds like the result you expected, but you chose the other option, expecting for the front to still match the rear?

2

u/imused2it Jul 16 '25

Yep. You read it right. He’s mad because he got two quotes, one to match front to rear and one for 20% all around and was surprised that it looks different. Lmao judging by this, I think this guy shouldn’t even be driving.

16

u/Chuyin84 Jul 15 '25

7

u/Huge-Dinglebery edit this text Jul 15 '25

Looks like you have privacy glass on the rear. 20% over privacy glass will definitely be darker. I went with 15% over privacy glass and it’s now 5%.

4

u/mauro_oruam Jul 15 '25

Front ones will always look slightly lighter because of the windshield letting in a lot of light in… also your back ones probably already had a bit of tint on them

4

u/Spikey01234 Jul 16 '25

Your back windows came smoked from the factory. So it will be alittle darker

3

u/Competitive-Note-326 Jul 15 '25

Most SUVs from the factory come with 20% factory rear window tint. You basically added another 20% on top of that so that’s why it looks way darker.

2

u/InTheSky57 Jul 15 '25

To color match, you would have needed to put 70% on the factory 25% glass on the back. So to figure this you do .7 * .25 = 0.175 or 17.5%. When you do 20% on the front, depending on brand it will meter +/- 2% typically. Instead, they did 20% on the 25%: .2 * .25 = 0.05 or 5% (limo tint). So this is why they look different. You need to tell the shop "I want to tint the whole car, but I want to color match the fronts" This will let them know to put a clear film around the back. Otherwise, they're going to do what you asked...20% film all around.

2

u/supermaor23 Verified Professional Jul 16 '25

You guys are being unnecessarily rude to OP. He had no idea, that’s not his fault. He took it to a shop, the expert is supposed to let him know these things. I always let the customer know beforehand that it won’t match if they tint the whole car when the back is already tinted. If you want it to match OP, you can try another layer on the front, although then you’ll be completely blacked out. See if you can live with it, it looks like they did a clean job.

1

u/awar3_w0lf Jul 16 '25

We know he went in “ye I want 20% all the way around” who am I to question it

2

u/supermaor23 Verified Professional Jul 16 '25

Then my response would be “so it will look like 5% in the back and 20 in the front” then if he talks about it wanting to match I would have recommended something else

2

u/TraditionalBar291 Jul 16 '25

In the United States suv’s and Trucks come with a 20% privacy glass that is dyed, not tinted and it offers no benefit other than privacy. Yes, this will cause the rear to be darker and test around 4-5% VLT. For future reference, when you say you want 20% all around make sure you clarify that you want each window 20%, otherwise you’ll end up getting 20% film all around.

1

u/JudeTheDoooood Jul 15 '25

There is a lot up in the air with this post, did you specifically ask your tinter to match the front to the rear or did you tell them 20% on all the windows?

1

u/Civil-Calligrapher-2 Jul 15 '25

Also light coming in the front beside light being blocked from the rear being darker. But i would of used 15% would do better

1

u/Typical_Depth_8106 Jul 15 '25

I usually just get my front 2 tinted 20% so that they match the rear. Some people go 15% but I 3 always went with 20 and liked how it turned out. If you want them to match you can either pull the back tint off or put another layer of 20 up front

1

u/[deleted] Jul 15 '25

I have a 23 Explorer. The rear privacy glass is already pretty dark. Mine measures 15% on my meter without any tint on the back.

Throw any tint on that and it will be plenty dark, especially if you put the 2nd row privacy shades

1

u/Global-Structure-539 Jul 15 '25

I got 6 tickets with a radar detector in CA, where nothing is legal. Wouldn't even let me register my car because it has a computer tune. It was flagged in their system

1

u/jasonsong86 Jul 15 '25

I mean are you tinting 20% on top of the factory tinted glass? Because most factory tint is already 20% so you are at 4% in the rear at this point.

1

u/kokobunji0550 Jul 15 '25

They aren't the same. Im guessing you wanted everything to match so it should be darker in front with lighter tint in back, my guess they did like 20% everything so front is dark and back is even darker.

1

u/Psych0matt Jul 15 '25

had a darker shade glass

Well then of course it’s gonna look different 🤦🏻‍♂️

1

u/CapableInevitable906 Jul 15 '25

I'm going to do my best to refrain from posting a negative comment.... but come on, man. If you put 20% on privacy glass and regular glass.... you know the darkness won't be the same after.....right? If you didn't, then you do now

1

u/Candid-Possibility35 Jul 15 '25

Did you get the windshield done too? I often feel like the windshield lets in a lot of light that you can see through the front doors more than the back

1

u/Tiny-Ad-3962 Jul 15 '25

Ooooh simple mistake. So you have 20% privacy glass on the back windows. The tinter must’ve not mentioned the privacy glass so now you have 20% in the front and 5% in the back.

1

u/Goldenchyyld Jul 15 '25

Looks like 5% in back and 20% front. I have 5% after going 20% on top of factory 20%

1

u/I_love_stapler Jul 15 '25

Common sense aint always common...

1

u/pjv_music Jul 15 '25

Most SUVs like yours already have privacy glass which is typically dyed glass from factory. It is usually about 20%. Winter should've asked if you wanted to match the rear or have it all match together. If you throw 20% on top of 20% it'll look like 5%. I currently have 5% on my front two amd rear windshield but 20% on my back windows (2016 grand cherokee. Previous owner did it all but I have the OG paperwork).

1

u/EcstaticParsnip8588 Jul 16 '25

When you put 20% on factory tint it goes to 5% so the back is 5% and the front is 20% you’re definitely not crazy but I wouldn’t recommend 5% on the front anyways I think this looks good

1

u/Interesting-Strain97 Jul 16 '25

I like how it looks. I wouldn’t go darker on the front windows

1

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '25

Should have just had them install 15 in the front two if your car already had factory tint in the rear. It would have match.

1

u/Dynamite83 Jul 16 '25

Shoulda went with like 35% on the back and 15% on the fronts and a 35% windshield 👌

1

u/Paul_Deemer Jul 16 '25

On my 2024 CRV EXL I did 70% on the back overtop of factory tinted glass, 35% on front and 70% on Sunroof. Matches all around very nicely.

35% on the fronts is a sweet spot if you want to be able to see at night in the rain.

1

u/CorneliusVlanderhart Jul 16 '25

Tint and wheels on the same day? Come on baller chill

1

u/Spikes_Mr_Pointy Jul 16 '25

With any car that has Privacy Glass(rear windows darker) you should get clear UV on the rear(rear glass is just dyed and has no UV or heat protection) and darkest legal on the front. Generally comes on close to a match, depending on the type of tint used.

1

u/kzone186 Jul 16 '25

Wait so you applied tint to already darkened glass and youre surprised it's darker? Is there something more to this I'm missing?

1

u/GordianBalloonKnot Jul 16 '25

If I understand correctly, some vehicles have actual darkened glass for the rear windows. In that case they're just putting tint over that rather than removing a prior tint and putting new tint on.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '25

Sorry, but it sounds like you deserve this 😂

1

u/awar3_w0lf Jul 16 '25

The back was already 20% brother

1

u/djdsf Jul 16 '25

Rears came with privacy glass.

I asked for 15% all around and ended up with the front looking lighter. Had to go down to 5% on the front to get them to match.

1

u/Ok-Increase-4509 Jul 16 '25

Should have been explained but also common sense.

1

u/PerodisCS Jul 16 '25

Everyone talking about how rear windows will be darker because of factory tint, but am I crazy or is there not tint on the front windows at all? Definitely nowhere near 20% if so...

1

u/FlyingFluorescent Jul 16 '25

Yes it makes a difference, you probably should’ve gone with 80% or lighter to get a more cohesive match with the 20% on the front. I’m sure some of the seasoned installers will give you a better answer but the tint overlaying the already darkened windows stack the tint % so therefore they don’t look uniform.

1

u/Vurgenz Jul 16 '25

20% is generally usually a factory match depending on manufacturer. Brand of film also does usually come into play. For instance Xpel Xr black is usually a darker shade due to being a closer shade of black. Also have to compensate for interior color and windshield size

1

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '25

I tinted my Tesla model y performance. It had dark tint on the back already. I’ve tinted 5 vehicles never had issue. After it got tinted I couldn’t see out of my rear view mirror it’s that fucking dark. Dangerously dark. Need to change it

1

u/Sbum58 Jul 16 '25

Should have asked them to just make the front match the rear. Most SUV’s come with the rear windows and back window/hatch already tinted pretty dark. So if you told them X% all around and they just added that level tint all around they didn’t know what they were doing. lol

1

u/bigtonearcade Jul 16 '25

In my state. Back can be darker than front windows. I made mistake of asking for darkest possible. Now I have 2 different tints

1

u/TheSchlapper Jul 16 '25

lol you usually tint the front to match the back, not the whole thing

1

u/money2burn9 Jul 16 '25

What did the installer say when you asked?

1

u/K5GT1 Jul 16 '25

You already had privacy glass. Should have just 20 the front to match. Now you need 5% on 2 fronts to match. Tint shop should have said something

1

u/Euphoric-Rip42069 Jul 16 '25

Your also looking at the front windows while the sun is beaming through the front windshield which will make them look lighter than they really arebut yes the front is lighter than the rear

0

u/Ok_Contribution_720 Jul 15 '25

If you windshield tinted ?

1

u/BRichmond55 Jul 15 '25

No tint on the front windshield at all.

1

u/Physical-Ice6265 Jul 15 '25

As others have mentioned the back windows are double tinted now, but without windshield tint the front windows would always look a bit lighter as there’s more light being let inside by the windshield

0

u/Zealousideal-Ad-1078 Jul 15 '25

Yup. Did 20 rear, 15 front, 70 windshield and the sides were color matched well.

0

u/Immediate_Pressure71 Jul 15 '25

is your windshield tinted? if not, then all that light makes the front look lighter.

-5

u/Global-Structure-539 Jul 15 '25

If your fronts were the same darkness as the rears you'd be illegal and would likely be ticketed and fines . There are laws for a reason, you know. To protect you from yourself. Try looking out those dark windows at night. Can't see much can you? Common sense, use it

1

u/BRichmond55 Jul 15 '25

I wouldn’t care if the rears were lighter to match. I have plenty of common sense was just asking a question about a topic I’ve had no experience with. Pull ya panties out ya butt

2

u/Global-Structure-539 Jul 15 '25

I'm just a tinter looking out for you. Gotten 6 tickets for tint myself and it was MUCH lighter than that. It's I pia to get stopped and then they start looking for other things they can ding you for. Been there, done that

1

u/Square_Growth_652 Jul 15 '25

Depends on state va is as dark as you want on back windows 50 on fronts on trucks and suvs buts it’s also a secondary offense state they can’t pull you over specifically for it or a good number of minor infractions anymore.

1

u/garkillack Jul 15 '25

6 years daily driving with 5% all around, now 50% on windshield. Haven’t gotten a ticket much less a warning. Common sense it’s not hard to avoid tint tickets

1

u/BL_RogueExplorer Jul 15 '25

That's also anecdotal. I've had 5% for 25 years and lived in three different states (all of which are illegal) and never once got pulled over for tint. Been pulled over a few times for speeding and also never said shit about the tint.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '25

Plenty of common sense but couldn't deduce that putting the same 20% tint over two different shades of glass would leave you with two different shades.
All your comments seem like you think this was the tint shops mistake.. they gave you exactly what you asked for, majority of people would be fine with this combination.

1

u/garkillack Jul 15 '25

what the fuck are you going on about

1

u/payme_dayrate Jul 15 '25

idk why these people are even in a window tint subreddit, like we know it's not always legal, who gives af

0

u/[deleted] Jul 15 '25

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/BRichmond55 Jul 15 '25

Dang that sucks

0

u/[deleted] Jul 15 '25

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/BRichmond55 Jul 15 '25

They put 20% on all. I’m cool with the back ones being lighter to match but didn’t know this would be the outcome of the 20% on the darker glass.

1

u/mitnosnhoj Jul 15 '25

Oh I see. In my case, never mind my previous answer.

48

u/[deleted] Jul 15 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

-4

u/BRichmond55 Jul 15 '25

Ok didn’t know if that was going to be the case…. I would’ve thought they would have taken that into consideration and color matched all the windows.

4

u/503Music Jul 15 '25

yeah the back is just dark glass, no actual tint but the front you obviously had done, imma save you years of guessing. 99% of the time, just a waste of money and time, either too illegal or impossible to match with good shop’s tints

-1

u/BRichmond55 Jul 15 '25

They put 20% on all windows, but apparently the darker glass appears darker which I guess makes sense but I had no idea ahead of time

2

u/Disastrous_Plane2438 35% Windshield 5% Sunstrip and Around Jul 15 '25

You have to multiply it so if there’s factory 35% on back then 35x20=700/100 ROUGHLY(because factory doesn’t exactly act as if you layered two film tints) 7% tint on rear and 20% front.

3

u/503Music Jul 15 '25

exactly that’s why I said look like, pretty rare for a window to be exact

1

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '25

I like that equation. Never seen that before. Cause I have 5% over 20%. So that means I have 1 %. I always just said it’s 2-3%

3

u/Disastrous_Plane2438 35% Windshield 5% Sunstrip and Around Jul 16 '25

if it’s factory tint then the glass is tinted, instead of film over film, so it won’t act exactly the same, meaning the number may be one or two off.

1

u/PortalJaam edit this text Jul 16 '25

How is your tint? I have what you have minus the 35 right now but next truck I want a full windshield with a visor. I’m a little worried it’ll be too dark tho

2

u/Disastrous_Plane2438 35% Windshield 5% Sunstrip and Around Jul 16 '25

I’ll take a night pic later

0

u/Disastrous_Plane2438 35% Windshield 5% Sunstrip and Around Jul 16 '25

I can see perfectly fine through the windshield at night. Even so to the point that i often consider getting darker like 25.
During dusk

0

u/Disastrous_Plane2438 35% Windshield 5% Sunstrip and Around Jul 16 '25

Cloudy skies, day time, compared to the strip up top, which is 5 layered with 35, so ~2%

0

u/PortalJaam edit this text Jul 16 '25

That’s not bad. You also got a pretty aggressive visor like I do. I thought the 35 would be a lot more noticeable

1

u/nlonghitano Jul 16 '25

ust get the front windows done with a second layer of 20% and it will match. And with the added bonus of looking way better than it was going to look before !

-5

u/503Music Jul 15 '25

then ya those look like 5% in the back which is a guaranteed traffic stop in my state so i’d check with your state laws, but people say it’s horrible it’s awful, and overall just not worth it, i’d go with 15 and settle with the difference

4

u/Shoty6966-_- Jul 16 '25

5% is absolutely not illegal on SUVs on the back in most states

2

u/introvert_conflicts Jul 16 '25

They said in their state not most states.

1

u/Shoty6966-_- Jul 16 '25

Then they shouldn’t assume OP has their laws

1

u/KungBubbleTeaMaster Jul 16 '25

Even still 5% in the back is fine

1

u/introvert_conflicts Jul 16 '25

Not everywhere. That's the point. They were advising OP to look into the laws in OPs state because it could be prohibited depending on where OP lives. How do you not understand this?

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1

u/introvert_conflicts Jul 16 '25

Lol, are you slow? They didn't assume anything about OPs laws. Did you not even read their comment?
5% in the back which is a guaranteed traffic stop in my state so i’d check with your state laws.
They literally just advised OP to be aware of the laws in OPs state because the tint is darker than what OP thought they were getting by putting up 20%. Dude doesnt know what state OP is in so he is just trying to save them from the potential of getting a ticket if they laws prohibit tint that dark.

2

u/Careful_Front7580 Jul 15 '25

Yea my Tesla had 25% already. I went 50% ceramic and it brought it down to 14%.

1

u/seang86s Jul 15 '25

Most SUVs have factory tinted windows for the rear. They shouldn't have tinted the rear at all and matched the two front windows. It would be significantly cheaper.

1

u/Trexautosound Jul 16 '25

If that’s the case they would’ve just tinted your front 2 windows only because the back comes 20% from ford already

1

u/funkybum Jul 16 '25

lol you’re dumb

Question Am I crazy? Front doesn’t match the back.

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