I did a search on this topic and was very surprised that I didn't fiind any relavant results. I'm in Texas and bought a car that was oroginally sold in California. When I reregistered the car a month ago, I tore a little bit of the inside windshield tint getting the sticker off. Today, I went in for a state inspection and decided to remove the old sticker myself to prevent them from doing the same thing. I was very very careful, but still ended up tearing two more holes. To make matters worse, the inspection station said tinting the windshield is illegal and they couldn't pass me. After a little negotiation, I passed, but how am I going to get the stickers (registration and inspection) off next year? Is tint legal in CA but not TX? Hasn't anyone else had this problem?

 

It is illegal in California. However, you don't get in trouble for tinted front windshield unless police want to give you trouble. Also, if you ever get into an accident, your insurance company will definately want to know why you did that.

 

I'm pretty sure it's original, but I can't be positive. It has the following info in the bottom corner -

SEKURIT
E6 (in a cirle) 43R 00091
DOT32/M51/AS1
VSG Tinted
1

Does that mean anything to anyone?

 

The window tint was applied aftermarket. I've never heard of anyone tinting the entire windshield. Sometime people will tint a small strip across the top of the windshield though.

 

OE/OEM/Factory tint is between the glass sheets. AFAIK, no windshield is tinted with an applied tint from the factory.

 

All your glass is tinted from the factory. but aftermarket tint, or stuff that peels off, is never done at the factory. So, the windshield has a factory tint in the glass itself and then someone put an illegal film tint on the glass.

 

I just had a Porsche OEM windshield installed...and the only "tint" on it was about a 4 inch band of greenish color imbedded into the windshield at the top. It's laminated into the glass...more of a sunscreen than anything. There is no tint throughout an OEM Porsche windshield.

 

Thanks everyone - obviously the tint was put on by the previous owner. Now I have to figure out how to get it off. Too bad, it was really very well done.

 

Unfortunately no great solution for you to keep the tint.
In CA, there are no required stickers on the windshield like there are for the annual stuff in Texas. Someone in CA can easily deal with the tinited windshield long term except if given a fix it ticket by the cops. In Texas, you would probably have to replace the tint yearly for this issue if you really want to keep the tint look.
Or just have it professionally removed by a tint service and forget you ever had it.

 

I had the same problem with the 996tt I bought from a guy in pheonix. I live in texas and the whole windshield was tinted. Applying license and inspection stickers required cutting an appropriate size rectangle into the corner of the tint other whise the cops will be able to tell right away its tinted and the tint may be damaged removing the stickers. You'll always find a shop that will pass you just ask around.