I am NC also, and window tint is a must here! The summers here are ridiculous. It definitely helps out your hard-working A/C also.

 

I got my ultra luxury 300h in December when it was cold and dark in Illinois. Now that the summer is coming up, I want to know if getting my windows tinted in an Ultra luxury is necessary.

The ultra luxury has the power rear sunshade and the manual sunshades for the rear windows. When I park my car at work, I leave all 3 sunshades up to protect the leather, etc

To me, the difference with tinting will only affect the driver and passenger front seats.

Thoughts ?

 

I did it on mine, but I am in South Florida and where you absolutely need window tint. Personally, I think it is necessary. Whether it is necessary or not to you is another question. Some people like window tint, some don't.

 

And, since you're in IL, you're pretty much screwed if you tint the fronts.

 

Why would tinting an Ultra Luxury be any different than tinting a non UL? I ask because I, too have an UL. I had a BMW 750 that had those rollup sun shades and I still tinted.

 

From the functional aspect of blocking out the sun, the roll up sun shades, are almost the same as tinting. That is my limited understanding since I have never tinted any of my cars before.

I'm not sure if getting the tinting done is wasting money since I have the functionality mostly there from the sunshades covering 3 out of the 5 windows I would tint

I have Indiana plates so I'm not worried about Illinois rules, thank goodness.

 

You mean Indiana "plate". I'm risking it with just one IL plate. You don't have to worry about that, either.

 

There are some benefits from tinting the front driver and passenger windows (additional UV protection, heat rejection etc.), if it's important to you. It is a personal choice. If you stop by a good shop they can give you additional info that could help with your decision. This would include what is legal in IN.

On both of our cars, one sedan and one CUV, I went with the legal % for IL on both. I don't drive in the city of Chicago too often but haven't had a problem with the police there when I have. If I worked in the city or drove there frequently it might be a different story.

 

Gotcha. There are definite advantages to tinting your windows. The biggest advantage is the UV400 and IR blocking you will get from a good tint film. It definitely reduces the heat inside the cabin. It looks good from outside. The disadvantage is the reduced visibility of your surroundings at night.

 

Reduced nighttime visibility is a concern for me. I think I won't get it too dark, probably the level of the stock RX back/rear windows. Any estimate what level of tinting those are?

 

I have 40% on one car (35% is legal in Il) and no problems with nighttime vision - That was a concern for me too.

Our CUV w/privacy glass in the rear has 50% on the driver and passenger front side windows (legal in Il) and nighttime visibility is fine too. One of the shops I used told me what % privacy glass is but I don't recall what they said (20% perhaps).

 

I thought no tint was allowed on the front sides.

From windowtint.com:

Here is what is allowed in Illinois window tint law:

Windshield Non-reflective tint is allowed on the top 6 inches of the windshield.
Front Side Windows
No tint can be applied legally to this window.

Back Side Windows Any VLT can be applied legally on this window.
Rear Window Any VLT can be applied legally on this window.

LINK

 

The law here in IL was changed a couple of years ago. I confirmed the new law(s) with two tint shops before moving ahead. it's good to verify before moving ahead with tinting though. Here is another link with some information. Best bet is to verify with the shop you intend to use.

http://www.tintlaws.com/laws/IL/

 

Yeah, I just found that out. I hadn't looked into for about 5 years. I guess you need to stay out of Chicago, though. See THIS

 

I saw this when researching tints (can you tell that I over researched the subject). The report is 3 years old - Maybe things have settled down in the city on the subject. I don't drive in the city too often, but no problem after two years.