What have you bought for your 8R?

[Martin2]

It is the amount of light that passes through the window, but the law is 70% for side windows.

 

Insurance companies don’t need much to void your policy….

[AHG]

3 hours ago, R_wannabe_owner said:

assuming you’re in the UK, isn’t 30% the maximum legally permissible tint on the front side windows in the UK? 

30% blocking, 70% passthrough

 

1 minute ago, Martin2 said:

It is the amount of light that passes through the window,

but the law is 70% for side windows.

Well, seems you are correct:

 

https://www.gov.uk/tinted-vehicle-window-rules

[R_wannabe_owner]

2 hours ago, Wads said:

30% would be darker than what’s on the lower the number the darker the tint 

Sorry, my mistake - to clarify; what I meant to say was the legal UK limit on tint on the front side windows is that they should let 70% of light through and block 30% of the light as @AHG and @Booth11 have said. 
 

As others have said, going darker also has insurance implications. 

[Nes]

On 01/08/2023 at 13:57, sam67R310 said:

Wanted some sill protectors for the Mark 8 R, but unfortunately Lockwood don't make the R logo branded ones due to copyright reasons. Found a seller on Etsy who made these ones for me. Seem very like the Lockwood ones. They are excellent quality stainless steel with the official R logo etched on to them. Really protect the sills and smarten up the look of the car when the doors are open.

When I checked again, the Etsy seller had removed the listing for them. Might have got lucky! 
 

 

Hi, do you have a link for the seller please? I am after something similar too.

[airwolf]

Just got a quote back from VW for the steel space saver spare wheel how much!!! 😮

£335 no thanks, think I will get one off ebay.

[MK1GTI]

On 12/09/2023 at 16:02, Wads said:

50% front window tint and quarter window wrapped gloss black

If you've place a 50% tint on top of the already tinted Glass of 30%. 

The Legal limit is 30% which means 70% light must go though the glass anything below that is £100 fine, however 30% and below of allowing light though is class as dangerous condition 3 points on licence. Looking the picture of you're window if a light meter was placed against it was closer to 20% light.  

[Wads]

7 hours ago, MK1GTI said:

If you've place a 50% tint on top of the already tinted Glass of 30%. 

The Legal limit is 30% which means 70% light must go though the glass anything below that is £100 fine, however 30% and below of allowing light though is class as dangerous condition 3 points on licence. Looking the picture of you're window if a light meter was placed against it was closer to 20% light.  

The pic does make it look darker than it is.

[MK1GTI]

1 hour ago, Wads said:

The pic does make it look darker than it is.

Vehicles first used on 1 April 1985 or later

The front windscreen must let at least 75% of light through and the front side windows must let at least 70% of light through.

Penalties for having wrongly tinted windows

It’s illegal to fit or sell glass (or a vehicle already fitted with glass) that breaks the rules on tinted windows.

The police or the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) vehicle examiners use light measuring equipment to measure window tint.

If your windscreen or front side windows are tinted too much you could get:

• a ‘prohibition notice’ stopping you using your vehicle on the road until you have the extra tint removed
• a penalty notice or court summons

 

[-kenny-]

Does anybody have a link to door sills in europe please?

[sam67R310]

On 17/09/2023 at 13:08, Nes said:

Hi, do you have a link for the seller please? I am after something similar too.

I got them off an Etsy Store called 'Micro Workshop'. The seller doesn't list them as available any more. You could message the seller and ask if it's something they could create for you. @Nes

[Nes]

 

I ordered these off Ali Express to replace the stand VW logo covers that came with my 8R. Ordered 2 white ones and one blue R. 

[gregozedobe]

On 13/09/2023 at 05:19, R_wannabe_owner said:

Sorry, my mistake - to clarify; what I meant to say was the legal UK limit on tint on the front side windows is that they should let 70% of light through and block 30% of the light as @AHG and @Booth11 have said. 
 

As others have said, going darker also has insurance implications. 

[start RANT]

 

I hate cars with heavily tinted or privacy treated driver side windows !   Why ? you ask.

 

For one very good reason, in one particular scenario:  I'm turning right on a roundabout, about to go past a side road, and a car is approaching the roundabout from that side road.  The driver isn't slowing down as much as I would expect them to if they were intending to give way to me.   This happens a lot as our local authorities are very keen on roundabouts, so I see them often on every drive I take (especially near where I live).

 

It is now a crucial decision point for me, I have to decide whether the driver has seen me and intends to give way (but is just a classic "late braker"), or have they really not noticed me and they intend to motor on through into the roundabout without giving way and therefore may crash into me. 

 

If their car has a non-tinted driver's side window I can see where they are looking, and if they are looking in the direction of my car then I can (usually safely) assume they are going to slow down and give way to me (but I will still be wary and ready to slam my brakes on at the last second if they don't actually slow down).

 

If their car has a heavily tinted driver's side window I just cannot see where they are looking, so if they aren't slowing down I have to assume they are not intending to slow down and give way to me.  When this happens I apply my brakes (to avoid a potential crash) until I see that they have slowed down enough that they will not crash into me.  This slows both myself and them, wasting time unnecessarily and frustrating us both.  But that is the only rational course of action I can take, as I have no idea where they are looking and therefore what they intend to do as they approach.  They might be intending to brake hard at the last moment, but they could also be on their phone, having an animated discussion with a passenger, or be distracted from fighting with the "haptic" buttons on their steering wheel and therefore completely unaware of my approach.  In any case, my priority is to avoid being run into by a potentially distracted/inattentive driver.

 

I will admit to being a somewhat cautious driver, a habit I picked up through surviving many years of riding a motorcycle on the street.  "Trust no one" is a useful motto given how many idiots and distracted drivers there are on the roads then and now.  I have managed to avoid any crashes on the road in the past 53 years of driving, but way too many times I have had to give up my "safety margin" to some other driver who has under-estimated their driving skills and/or their vehicle's performance.

 

[end RANT]

 

Anyway I hope that is food for thought for anyone considering adding heavy tints or privacy treatments to their car's driver side windows.