Hey Guys,

I'm at Sheffield University and was driving on my way to Uni and got pulled over by a police man on a motorbike

He a little test and apparently, my front window tints only allow 30% of light through which I don't think is right because they are LIGHT SMOKE!

He also said that I have to take off the front tints before driving off but I said, i'm not going to do it and i'll take it to the garage and they can do it - But I'm leaving them on.

I have to pay a bloody £30 fine now,



Any guys on here had this experience?

Yer lots of us keep then on and you will keep getting £30 fine

Yes, many times

Your tints might be light smoke (like mine were) but you need to remember that your car already has a a factory tint which makes the after market tints look even darker.

Just pay the fine and hopefully you don't get stopped again over them.

[quote]Hey Guys,

I'm at Sheffield University and was driving on my way to Uni and got pulled over by a police man on a motorbike

He a little test and apparently, my front window tints only allow 30% of light through which I don't think is right because they are LIGHT SMOKE!

He also said that I have to take off the front tints before driving off but I said, i'm not going to do it and i'll take it to the garage and they can do it - But I'm leaving them on.

I have to pay a bloody £30 fine now,



Any guys on here had this experience?[/quote]

Hard luck at finding a motorcycle cop with that attitude, but he was right in the 'letter of the law'. What tint level do you have on the rears?

It's really annoying because in Oxford, I've driven past police so many times and never got pulled over once, but the first police man who saw my car in Sheffield, I got pulled over

He even started peeling it off and said he wouldnt let me drive off until they were removed, but I told him - I'll take it to the garage and they can remove it!

really strange as at car meets in MK where the plod walk around they've looked at my car really closely and have not said a thing before :S and also driven past and again nothing.

30% equates to sweet fa tintwise unfortuantly, even the lightest tint will prob fail their test. Best thing is not to touch the front windows at all.

sorry to hear that dude!
have been driving with tints for ten years on differant cars and never once have they quized me bout them!
after reading some of the replys I think I have just been lucky!
dont worry, just keep doing what your doing!! lol

u must be lucky
When i was pulled last time about 3 years ago on my focus in Doncaster, i didnt get fine, i just got banded of road. Cops just gave me note that i can drive me car til i get home, remove tints, book appoitment in Sheffield for checking if tints were removed and after that my car was road worthy again. And all that happend on friday evening.

Guys,

I have to take issue here.

I ride a motorbike and it's bad enough already with drivers trying to kill me because they just don't see me. Anything illegal that restricts a driver's ability to see me only puts his vanity ahead of my life.

I think it's no coincidence that you were pulled over by a motorbike cop.

So, please, get rid of the illegal tinting.

Ian

I hear where your coming from Ian as I too am a big biker fan, but the same can be said with bikers tinted visors imo road presence and awareness are the key things.

I can't honestly see the difference in wearing a pair of sunglasses and having a extremely light smoke on the drivers and passengers doors.

Dan,

IMO valid comments - but only so far.

Additional car tints only in bright conditions - most people don't wear sunglasses in poor visibility, which is when I've had the most trouble from car drivers (although that could be because we've had poor light for most of this year).

And, in my experience, people with extra-tinted windows often wear sunglasses too (what's that all about?), at least the **** that tried to T-bone me a week ago did!

As for bike visors, I find a smoked visor essential in sunlight otherwise my eyes get washed out (no roof or sun-visor to protect them, no sunglasses to wear and take off easily), I switch between clear and smoked visors depending on the weather and the one with the tints is taking most of the risk of injury and death............

Ian

Agreed Ian, didn't mean for it to sound like I was attacking you individually or anyone at all. Simply saying there are a large number of bikers who ride around with tinted visors through most conditions same as people with bad tints on their cars

Not sure if have seen the pics of mine but my drivers + passengers are the same tint as my rear windows so it's very light and I haven't had any visibility problems nor have I been pulled up on them (my dad is a policeman with 20years traffic experience and has checked them and said they are fine).

I agree with you that a lot of chavs with their limo black tints on their corsa's shouldn't be allowed and can cause a problem especially to bikers, on a side note what bike have you got ?

Dan,

Yep. There are some loony bikers out there.
I once got caught out with a smoked visor at night, and had to leave up all the way (in winter!) so that I could see where I was going. Don't see many car drivers doing that.

I've got a CBR600RR, lightly modded with a Scorpion exhaust (loud & a few extra bhp), K&N air filter & seat cowl + removal of rear footpegs. Plus some unscheduled customizing from a car driver trying to take me out where the only escape route had gravel sprayed all over the tarmac.....but at least I wasn't going fast.
Living in Surrey where they have 20 potholes and sunken manhole covers per mile, I don't get much chance to use it's full performance but it's great when I do. I did think of getting a bigger bike (I've had several 750 & 900 sports bikes in the past) next year, but the CBR is fast enough to scare me s**tless on the SE's roads as it is.

If only Lexus did motorbikes!

What bikes have you got/had?

Ian

[quote]And, in my experience, people with extra-tinted windows often wear sunglasses too (what's that all about?), at least the **** that tried to T-bone me a week ago did![/quote]

You know why...the screen you're looking out most of the time isn't tinted so that's why the driver wears sunglasses. If the light conditions are such that you need to wear shades, then light smoke side glass should not obscure your vision. Problem with bikes is that people don't look for them (apart from drivers that are bikers or ex-bikers).

Sounds like a tidy bike mate , I'm only 22 so no bike yet was a choice of my lex or get a bike . However my bro had a Ducatti 748 with 50mm Termigoni exhaust and marchesini wheels was bloody gorgeous.

I will probably looking at a R6 or 749 as and when, visor up in winter nice haha

I've only got light smoke tints all around the car, front + rear

Also, does it matter on the conditions on the day, i.e. weather wise?

Because it was quite a dark day so the tints appear to look even darker, however on a sunny side, they look fine!

But I'm leaving them on!

[quote]I can't honestly see the difference in wearing a pair of sunglasses and having a extremely light smoke on the drivers and passengers doors.[/quote]

Yes, but you can take sunglasse4s off at night - bet you don't remove your tints off your windows at night

The regulations are there and I suspect if the first poster gets stopped again then he'll get a court date not a penalty. The police biker will remember you and will look when you next go by.

Touch wood its never happened to me. Silly thing is, look around at Range Rovers that are factory tinted almost Limo black and they get away with it!

Mate, I find no difficulties to understand where that officer in question was coming from. If the law ([u]Road Traffic Act 1991[/u]) states that it's illegal, it should mean “illegal”. Plus unlike others, [b]the Traffic Police, SO18, CO19 and Defence Police[/b] won't hesitate issuing you a fixed penalty notice (£30-£120, depending on the offence & the offender's history and in your case you've already been issued a ticket).

My advice is to get them removed on as soon as possible bases as I can assure you that you'll probably get another ticket and this time they won't let you move unless they get them removed (which surely is humiliating).

Be safe on the road.

[quote name='nervo1234' post='593379' date='Oct 15 2008, 02:35 PM']Hey Guys,

I'm at Sheffield University and was driving on my way to Uni and got pulled over by a police man on a motorbike

He a little test and apparently, my front window tints only allow 30% of light through which I don't think is right because they are LIGHT SMOKE!

He also said that I have to take off the front tints before driving off but I said, i'm not going to do it and i'll take it to the garage and they can do it - But I'm leaving them on.

I have to pay a bloody £30 fine now,



Any guys on here had this experience?[/quote]

i am i window tinter and as a rule i dont normally tint front windows at all. just a sunstrip witch is usually also illegal depending on its depth. if i tint fronts i make the customer sign a disclaimer to take the blame off me. worst was a guy come back after an hour saying he had been pulled and made to rip it off and a fine asking if i could do it again cheaper seeing i had already tinted them. answer was noooooo.

but as a rule if its tinted on fronts at all it prob be illegal. manufacturer glass can already be verging on the 70% limit that your aloud. so anything more and your in the red. some pugeots at one point were illegal from factory. it just depends on the police what mood they are in and if they have to do you for anything just to get you for somet else.

i.e. my mate flew past an unmarked car at 50ish in a 40 zone. they could not prove it so they did him for his windows instead. its a weak spot if you have done anything wrong. and is also a points worthy issue if dark enough.

as for the LIGHT SMOKE thing. depending on the film brand. cheap films are not always very accurate to what they say they are and claim it is just a guide. expensive proffesional films are usually better at getting the percentage right.

sorry to hear about the fine tho, i have had a few myself

lol