Chrome tint gets attention. The video below, a Mercedes C63 AMG with mirror-blue film on every window, has been passed around since 2012. It's a striking look for a show car. On a car you drive on US roads, almost every part of it breaks some state's tint law: the mirror finish, the color and the tinted windshield.
Why states limit chrome tint
A mirror film reflects sunlight and headlights back onto the road, where it can dazzle other drivers. It also stops a police officer from seeing into the car. So most states cap how reflective tint on the side windows can be, separately from how dark it can be.
The limit is a percentage of visible light the window reflects. Film makers publish it as visible light reflectance on their spec sheets, and our window film library lists it for every film line. Mirror films reflect much more light than most of these limits allow.
Reflectivity rules by state
These are the side-window rules we have checked against each state's statute. Click a state for the full law, its sources and the other windows.
| Rule | States |
|---|---|
| No more than 13% reflective | Oregon |
| No more than 20% reflective | Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming |
| No more than 25% reflective | Oklahoma, Texas (front side windows) |
| Different limits front and back | Connecticut (27% front, 21% back, and not mirror-like), Florida (25% front, 35% back) |
| No more than 35% reflective | Arizona, Idaho, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Washington |
| No mirrored or metallic look | Alaska, Colorado, Kansas, New York, North Dakota, Utah |
| Non-reflective | Illinois, Maine, New Mexico, South Carolina, Wisconsin |
| No more reflective than untinted glass | California, Ohio |
| Not "excessively" reflective (no number) | Iowa |
| No mirrored finish that looks red, yellow, amber or blue | Hawaii |
| No reflectivity limit in the statute | Mississippi, Nevada, Rhode Island |
For the other states, see all state tint laws. Even where the statute sets no number, a mirror finish can still draw attention at a traffic stop, and the darkness limits still apply.
Colored tint
Color rules are less consistent than reflectivity rules. Red, amber and yellow come up most often, because they can be mistaken for signal and emergency lights. We read every state's statute for its color wording, and most color bans are narrower than tint charts suggest:
- Banned on every window: Oregon (red, gold, yellow, amber and black film), Washington (red, gold, yellow and black), Maryland (red, yellow and amber, or film that turns those colors), North Carolina and South Carolina (red, yellow and amber), and Hawaii (no mirrored finish that looks red, yellow, amber or blue). Alaska works the other way round: tint must be green, gray, bronze, neutral smoke or sun-reflective.
- Only on the windshield: in most other states that name colors, the ban covers only windshield tint, usually red and amber, sometimes yellow: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, West Virginia and Wyoming. Ohio also bars red or yellow film on the front side windows.
- Texas: the statute bars red, blue and amber on the windshield strip. Many tint charts say those colors are banned on every window. Sources differ, so treat blue or red film on any window in Texas as a risk.
- California: the front side windows may only have clear, colorless film, and the windshield strip can't be red or amber. The law doesn't name blue.
- Virginia: no colors are named, but film with a holographic or prism (rainbow) effect isn't allowed on any window.
In most other states the statute doesn't name a color, but the darkness and reflectivity limits still apply to colored film. Oklahoma is unclear: tint guides say red, amber and yellow are banned, and we haven't been able to read the statute itself yet.
Tinted windshields
The fastest way to get pulled over is a tinted windshield. Most states allow only a strip across the top, above the manufacturer's AS-1 line or within the top few inches. In 2012, photos of Justin Bieber's customized chrome Fisker Karma showed tint on every window, windshield included. California allows only clear, transparent material on the top 4 inches of the windshield and clear film on the front side windows, so a car like that is a ticket waiting to happen there.
Want the look without the ticket?
- Keep the color neutral. Charcoal, carbon and ceramic films at a legal darkness are the safe choice in most states, and they reflect little.
- Get heat rejection without the mirror. Ceramic films reject heat without metal, so they stay low-reflective and don't block phone or GPS signals. See types of window film.
- Use chrome where it's allowed. Reflective films are common and legal on homes and offices, where they reject up to about 80% of solar energy. See home and office film.
Before you buy, check your state's tint law and compare the film's reflectance in our window film library.
