About TintCenter

TintCenter is the free, independent reference on window film, and the store that pays for it.

It started with a simple frustration: getting a car tinted, and finding it hard to get straight answers about the film, the price and the law. So we wrote a free guide to window tint, to help people new to it understand the products and make an informed choice. The guide grew into a resource for tint shops and their customers, and then into the reference it is today.

The reference

Everything on the research side is free, and none of it depends on what we sell.

• Tint laws for all 50 states and DC: the limit for every window, reflectivity, colors, stickers, medical exemptions and penalties, with the statutes and official sources side by side and the date we last checked.
• Window film brands and specs: specs, history and status for the film lines of every major maker, current and discontinued.
• The spec-sheet archive: the makers' own spec sheets, brochures and warranties, every edition kept, linked from each brand's page.
• The industry timeline: who founded and bought whom, launches, standards and law changes, with a source on every entry.
• News and guides: law changes and maker news as they happen, and plain-language guides to film types, cost, choosing a shop and installation.

How we check what we publish

• Every research page names its primary source (a statute, a regulation, an agency page or the maker's own document) and the date we last checked it.
• When sources disagree, we list each answer with its source instead of picking one.
• Tint laws are rechecked every month, and a state whose law changed is marked "changed recently" for a year.
• Spot a mistake? Email research@tintcenter.com with a link to your source, and we'll fix the page and update its date.

Independent, and how we make money

No maker pays to appear here, or to be ranked, described or compared in a particular way. We make money by selling window film by the roll, and store links are marked as such. For precut kits we send you to SnapTint, a separate company and our partner.

The full version is our editorial policy: how we research, how we correct mistakes, and how the store that pays for the reference is kept apart from it.

The store

In 2010 we opened the TintCenter store, because readers wanted to try the films they had read about and kept asking us for samples; selling professional-grade film by the roll turned out to be the best way to help them. We sell automotive tint and home and office film from Solar Gard, ASWF and our own TintCenter line; decorative film; and paint protection and wrap films from XPEL, Avery Dennison and HEXIS. We're an authorized online dealer for the brands we sell, and we ship from Castro Valley, California, to the US and Canada.

We don't install film, there's no walk-in shop, and we don't sell precut kits.

Who TintCenter is for

Everyone who works with window film, from a first window to a shop's daily work. Window film keeps growing beyond heat and privacy into protection and decoration, and we grow with it.

• Car owners: check your state's tint law before you choose a shade.
• Do-it-yourselfers: the guides, film by the roll, and precut kits from SnapTint.
• Tint shops and installers: rolls shipped from California, and every maker's spec sheets on the brand pages.
• Journalists and researchers: the industry timeline and the film library, with a source on every entry. Email us for data.

How TintCenter grew

• A free guide to window tint, written for people new to it.
• 2010: the store opens, after readers kept asking for samples of the films they read about.
• 2026: the site is rebuilt around the reference: every state's tint law with its statutes, the window film library, the spec-sheet archive and the industry timeline.

TintCenter's founder still answers customer questions and keeps the tint law pages up to date.

Get in touch

Email sales@tintcenter.com or use our contact page. Answers to common questions are on our customer service page.

TintCenter LLC · 20885 Redwood Rd., Suite 318, Castro Valley, CA 94546