This is what it looks like when you tint the front to match the factory rear.

 

Looks great! I could never drive at night with that myself.
I'd be hitting every curb and gas pump in sight!

-Mike

 

SoCal, does your strip on the front window impare your vision any? I thought about it but then I thought that I already have a hard enough time seeing stop lights while waiting for them to turn green. If I put down the sun visor I can't see. I still might do it because I love dark tint. Also did you use black vinyl to cover up the little dots around the mirror or did you tint right over them? Seeing as how they are spaced apart I don't know if little air bubbles that apear around them would realy make a difference in the looks. On my Mustangs rear window i had to use a 10" strip of black vinyl to cover up all of the little dots or it would have looked like hell. I lived with them around the edges of the little rear quarter windows, it didn't distact from the look that much.

 

Hi CH! My front "glare strip" is 5-inches high. With the 2-inch black border on the HHR windshield, that gives the illusion of a 7-inch strip. It looks nice, and kind of has a "lowering effect" on the car!

I went under the mirror by about an inch, that way I could have solid tint underneath. The dots aren't really a problem once the tint sets (drys). If you run 35% tint, seeing the lights is easy, but it's not dark enough for me, I changed to 5% limo tint and it's better and looks cooler. You can still see the lights change too.

Hope it helps,
-Mike

 

what % tint is that on the front doors? 35%?

 

20% It's premium Onyx tint also so it is as black as you can get and it will stay that way. Wow that picture brings back memories, only tint and a few small things then. If you put 35% you will see that the fronts are lighter than the rear. If you want to match the factory you have to go 20%.

 

cool, thanks. I was just checking about tint today and the shop I stopped at told me the rear windows were done at 35% except for the hatch glass which was 20%. now I now foe future reference. thanks again.

 

Look at the corner of the window where the GM logo is. It tells you the tint % on each window. If I remember correctly it's 21% on the factory tinted windows. Make sure they don't give you cheap tint that will turn purple after a couple of years.

 

That does look nice. I just got my front windows tinted yesterday as well. In Texas, we couldn't get away with matching the tint as the rest of the car because it is illegal. The front windows have to be lighter than the rest of the windows, but they were able to match the tint color, just had to make it a little lighter.

 

It's illegal as all hell here in NY also, I just don't care. You are only allowed 70% on the fronts here in NY so pretty much any tint on your front windows is illegal. I can live with an occasional tint ticket. It looks weird when the windows are two different shades.