Stickers on tinted windows

June 13, 2006 5:37 PM

I just got a used car that has tinted windows. I'm not sure if they're factory-installed or after-market (is there a way to tell?). Anyway, I'm going to be putting a parking sticker inside on a window. Will the sticker be a problem removing in a year? Will that tear off the film? Thanks.
posted by tommassit to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

If you can track down some clear static-cling vinyl (a local sign shop gave me some scraps), you can stick the permit to the vinyl, trim around it, then stick that to your window. Works great.
posted by trevyn at 5:44 PM on June 13, 2006

Factory-installed tinted glass puts the tinting on a plastic layer embedded in the middle of the glass. Stickers won't affect it, nor will removal of the stickers.

For the last 50 years, by law all glass in cars has been multi-layer with plastic in the middle, in order to make it so that the windows and windshield don't produce lethally sharp shards in a crash. The tinting goes on that plastic layer.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 5:58 PM on June 13, 2006

To tell if your tinting is factory or not, roll down your window a few inches and look at the edge of the glass. If you can see where the tinting stops, and if that edge is about 1/4" from the edge of the window, then your tinting. If you don't see an edge to the tinting, then Steven is exactly right as the tinting is on the encapsulated plastic.

If it's factory installed, you're in good shape. You're sticking your permit directly to glass. If it's aftermarket, I would personally go for Trevyn's advice.
posted by richardhay at 6:10 PM on June 13, 2006

I think RichardHay's point is that if the tinting is on a removable surface layer, then where the window goes into the seal on the door, over and over and over again, will have removed the tinting surface layer at the edge of the window.

If the tinting is on an embedded layer, that won't happen.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 7:33 PM on June 13, 2006

Can you put your parking sticker at the bottom of the windshield? There shouldn't be any tinting there.
posted by b1tr0t at 8:48 PM on June 13, 2006

Thanks for the answers, everyone. The sticker needs to be in the rear window. Anyone know where I can order that clear static-cling vinyl online? Or can I get it at an art supplies store? Thanks again.
posted by tommassit at 7:25 AM on June 14, 2006

Steven C: I just had my minivan windows aftermarket tinted last Thursday, and the windows came with that 1/4 inch of non-tinted glass around the edge. So I'd guess that it's not that the tinted film has worn off, but that it isn't applied in the areas where it might be worn off by windows being open and closed repeatedly.
posted by not that girl at 6:00 PM on June 14, 2006