Texas window tint law

Window tint at Shade Customs starts at $249 for a full car in HiTek Carbon IR; HiTek Ceramic IR runs $449 and SunTek Evolve, which we sell as Ceramic XR, is $649. Those are sedan prices, so a three-row SUV or a minivan carries a size adder, and a front-two-only job starts at $129. Build the exact car on the auto tint page and we'll confirm the number by text before you book. No surprise add-ons at pickup.

Texas law requires front side windows to let in more than 25% of light; back side and rear windows can be any darkness. The windshield can only be tinted above the AS-1 line, or the top 5 inches. We install to these limits by default and will tell you straight if a request isn't street-legal.

Most cars are in and out the same day, usually 2 to 3 hours for a full vehicle. Drop off in the morning and you're out by 5:30. Film cures fully over the next few days; we'll tell you when it's safe to roll the windows down.

Worth it if you're running a legal front window, which in Texas you have to. Carbon's heat rejection depends on how dark it is: HiTek Carbon IR blocks about 62% of infrared at 5% VLT and only around 32% by the time you're at 50%. Ceramic holds 70 to 75% at every shade. So on the 35% front sides Texas requires, ceramic rejects roughly 73% of infrared against carbon's 42% — same look through the glass, very different car in August. Carbon is still the right call if you're going dark and parking in a garage. Both carry our lifetime warranty.

Yes. Texas allows darker front-window tint with a signed medical exemption statement from a physician or optometrist. Bring the paperwork and we'll install to the exemption. Without it, we keep front sides at the legal 25% by default — but if you want it darker up front anyway, we'll install what you ask for. The choice is yours, and so is anything a trooper has to say about it.

Lifetime, on every film we install: bubbling, peeling, fading, or purpling, and we redo it. The warranty is backed in-house at the shop on University Ave, not by a mail-in manufacturer process.

Only the top strip. Texas allows film above the AS-1 line, the small marking near the top of most windshields, or the top 5 inches if there's no AS-1 line, and it can't be red, amber or metallic-reflective. The rest of the windshield stays clear. A clear or near-clear ceramic across the full windshield is a different product and a different conversation; ask us.

Yes. New film will not bond over old film. It has to go down on clean glass, so the old layer and its adhesive come off first. We do the removal here and can re-tint the same visit. Full detail on the tint removal page.

VLT is visible light transmission. The percentage of light a window lets through. 35% VLT means 35% of the light gets in, so a lower number is a darker window. Every tint law and every film spec is written in VLT.

For most cars: 35% on the front sides is the practical pick, since Texas requires more than 25% there and 35% gives you margin. Back sides and rear can go as dark as you want: 20% is the common choice, 5% is limo. If heat is the reason you're tinting, pick the film grade first and the darkness second.

Cooler, but darkness isn't what does it. Infrared rejection is. A light ceramic film blocks more heat than a dark carbon one: our 50% ceramic rejects about 71% of infrared while a 20% carbon manages roughly 51%, and the carbon is far darker. If the goal is a cooler car rather than a darker look, spend on the film grade and pick the shade second.

Nothing we install will. Older metallic and some hybrid films can interfere with cell, GPS, radio and toll tags because they contain actual metal. All three of our films — HiTek Carbon IR, HiTek Ceramic IR and SunTek Evolve — are non-metallic, so signal passes through them normally.

Give it two to three days in Texas summer, longer in winter. The film is cut and squeegeed the same day but the adhesive needs to cure, and rolling a window down early can drag the edge. Some haze or small water pockets in the first few days are normal and clear on their own.