Is 5% tint legal in California?
Not on the front side windows, and not on the windshield. On the rear side windows and the rear window, 5% is legal — there is no darkness limit behind the driver, provided the car has working mirrors on both sides.
Vehicle Code section 26708 splits the car in two, and 5% falls on different sides of that line depending on the glass.
Behind the driver
The rear side windows are exempt from the obstruction rule entirely, and the rear window is allowed any darkness as long as the car has outside mirrors on both the left and right giving a view at least 200 feet back. So 5% — limo tint — is legal there.
The front side windows
No. The law does not allow darkening film on the two front windows at any percentage. It allows only clear, colorless film of at least 88 percent light transmission, which is nothing like 5 percent.
The windshield
Only a transparent strip along the top, and the law measures it from your seat rather than in inches from the roof.
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