NewGS4me

Well, after all these posts I realized it was an aftermarket tint job on the rear windows. I had the car shipped to me from an out-of-state dealership to my dealership, which is why I was concerned about having it covered. MY dealership didn't do the work....but they immediately took care of the problem for me, so my window stress is gone. Customer care points for Kearny Mesa Lexus.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

"factory tint" isn't a film applied to the glass - it's a chemical coating or it's mixed right into the glass itself.

after market tint IS a plastic film applied to the glass. Big difference.

A good tint shop though can do a job that will last the life of the car.

I had FormulaOne tint on my 2GS for about 5 years and it was as good the day I sold the car as when it was put on.

But as has been said - you get what you pay for. It's a Lexus - don't skimp.

jwa

I just purchased the GS 450H, and it came from the factory with tinted glass. Tinting isn't listed on the sticker as an option, but the side and rear glass are definitely tinted, and even the front glass seems to be tinted slightly. The tinting is in the glass, so there's no arguing that the dealer did it, and I just traded the 2006 GS, so I'm not imagining the tinting is there.

Before picking up my Silver-black 450H, I had seen the White, black, and NM colored 450H, and those didn't have tinting. Either my car is an anommaly, or my color combo comes factory tinted.

Here are the Pics of my 450H with factory tinting, and another 450H without factory tinting:

jlin101

tinting is not a factory option, so it is never listed on the spec sheet--unless you are referring to the UV tint that the majority of cars come with these days. One way to tell film tint from factory tint embedded in the glass is to look at the periphery of the rear window where the film is usually cut just a millimeter short of the "dots." Or you can lower a window to see that the film stops just short of the top edge of the glass. All film tints are done as an aftermarket job, whether it's listed or not.

jwa

I wasn't suggesting that Lexus installs film tinting as an option; I was showing that my 450H came from the factory with glass that had an embedded tinting. Not all 450H's come with this embedded tinting, so while it may not technically be an option, it's not a standard feature of either. I posted a picture of my GS with factory tinting and another GS without to show the difference, however, I acknowledge that this may not be conclusive enough for all forum members.

jracerlmn

is KMLex better than Carslbad?

flipside909

Actually every Lexus comes with "factory" tinted glass. It's embedded in the glass as Bitkahuna just mentioned. All glass that is manufactured for Lexus is safety glass that is usually tinted at a very low amount, a minimum of 70% visible light transmission . (The percentage is how much light can travel through the glass). They all have a bias to a green/blue color as the glass manufactured on all modern Lexus is UV glass.

The Lexus and Toyota laminated windshields are made by Nippon Safety and the rest of the windows are manufactured by Asahi. Whether it's listed or not on the window sticker doesn't have a bearing since those window stickers are printed at the local Port of Entry either Long Beach, Portland, Newark or Jacksonville. Toyota/Lexus made in Japan use local Japanese vendors for glass...and is always "tinted" UV glass.

If you notice, the last picture you posted is NOT a US Spec GS and is only a representative photo. Because of the camera angle (and possible usage of a photo polarized lens), that is not an accurate representation. All glass that comes on US Spec cars from Japan must meet the minimum SAE/DOT standards. No passenger car that is sold in the United States has any kind of tint other than the factory embedded color during manufacturing. It would be pretty expensive for any car manufacturer to make two different kinds of glass for a passenger vehicle. On trucks and SUV's on the other hand, that's a different story.

Common aftermarket film tint i.e. 50%, 35%, 20%, 5% are those that actually darken the glass. What you see on your factory GS450h is standard glass tint.

jlin101

There is NO way your GS450H came with extra tinting compared to other stock sedans--for the simple reason that some states, e.g. CA, forbids ANY tinting of the front windows than what is already on every car (that's why SUV's only have dark windows in the rear). If your car's windows are darker than other cars', then it must be an aftermarket tint job (with film). Looking at the photos posted, the windows don't look any darker than stock. Black interior tends to make the glass APPEAR darker than beige or grey interior. We all wish our car is an anomaly that comes with extra/special features that others don't have. Unfortunately, that's not how modern production process works (I am still looking for the 15th speaker that my ML may come with).