I'd recommend going as dark as the law allows, but then again it's summer down here 10 months out of the year. I know, I know: you want pics. I'm working on it.

 

Check my 'website' link. I tinted mine the minute I left the dealer. I can get you the specs tonight when I get home but to my recollection there were three levels of this 'graphite' tint that were offered. I put the darkest on all the backs, and on the driver's and passenger and drivers I went with the middle tint level.

Best thing I EVER did!!! Get it done 8)

I just called TINT KING and checked and the levels offered were 35% (lightest), 20% (middle) and 5% (darkest). So I guess I used the 20% on the fronts and 5% on everything else.

 

I drove mine straight from the dealer to the tint shop. If you have a gold or green colored car then go for the bronze (brown) colored tint. Gray tint looks better on other colors.

I tinted by windshield down to 70%, my front sides to 4.9% and my rears to 1.1%. The windshield is gray, the others are bronze. I was thinking about removing the 70% gray from my windshield and going with 50% bronze.

Of course, my windows are illegal in all 50 states, but I haven't had any problems yet. I recently dropped my digital camera off a balcony. My new digital camera isn't communicating with my computer and I am having difficulties getting pictures posted. I will continue working on it when I get back home from Kuwait.

 

thanks...

keep em' coming...with more pictures please.

 

It looks dark depending on angles and lighting:

...but actually only 35% on all 4 windows and rear window. Here's a side shot:

/karl

 

My new reflex silver varient is going to get a full treatment of silver-ish tint. 35% is all that is legal on the front windows here in Wisconsin, so I'm putting that all around (except the windshield). I never liked the look of different shades of dark, so I'm not going to go darker on the rear windows. I don't think it's as noticeable with the metalic stuff though.

I saw a dark blue B5.5 sedan with silver metalic tint and it looked SO DAMN GOOD! :shock:

I'll try to snap some pics of this tonight (I was going to anyway, before and after sort of thing). I'm excited to get it done. Stock is WAY too transparent.

I have a good tint shop locally, but the film is so cheap that I was going to try my own hand at it first. If it doesn't work out, I'll have the shop redo it.

 

35%.....looks darker than it is because of the bright day and the back interior.


here's another

 

I cannot make up my mind what kind of tint I want to use or even which windows to tint.

I will either tint all of the window or all of them except for the driver and front passanger. Then I am not sure if I should go 50% or 35% or a combination (50% front 35% rear). :nervous: too many options.

Let me see some pic of your Variants with tint and let me know what % it is.

Thanks :thumbup:

What color Variant do you have? My mother has an 03 black variant and i put 35% infinity tint all the way around... it's almost mirror... but doesn't look like tin foil.. i'll get pics if ur interested... ANd do all the windows the same all the way around except for the back.. you can go dark on that... My b5 is 20% infinity all the way around

 

This isn't my variant, it's mdtoney's, but it's sick and the tint, I believe, is 20% on everything except the front drivers and passengers windows which are 35%. You can always PM him for the exact details but I'm pretty sure that's correct. He even tinted his sunroof darker as well.

 

i've got 50% on the fronts and 35% on the rest (not counting windshield). also, i've got more pics if you want to see some other angles, etc.

if i could do it again i'd go darker.

a.s.

 

Ours is pretty close to the last post and it looks great, in my opinion. The car is Silverstone and we have 50% for the two front windows and 20% for the rest of the car. You are not supposed to tint the front ones but 50% is pretty light and without it you have such a great contrast between the front and the rear when you look fron the side. I see a lot of Silverstone Variants without tint at my wife's work and the tint makes it such a nicer car. At no time have we felt that 20% was too dark. Wish I could post a picture but I have no site to host it. Send me a message and I can e-mail to you.

Harold

 

Thanks for all of the feedback

My Variant is Silverstone by the way to those who were wondering. I am getting tinit strictly to reduce the heat inside of the car, though I do think it makes the car look a little better at the same time.

 

35% on the front doors, 25% for everything else.....

 

I have had a few professional window tinters tell me that you shouldn't tint your sunroof. They all tell me that the tension caused by the tinting causes sealing problems and that the sunroof can leak rain water as a result. The same isn't true for the other windows because they are enclosed on both sides by the seals, which will then conform to shape. The sunroof seals won't conform to shape. Anyway, I don't know if this is true or not, but three different window tinters from three different cities have told me this. Food-for-thought.

 

Lot of nice looking varients here!!! :thumbup:

Here is a picture of my new '04. still bone stock.

Not for long!!!

 

Is that silver or light green? I can't quite tell. You got a shaggin' waggin' just like me. Mine is gold, however.

 

It's reflex silver. I would have prefered the Silverstone gray or the light green, but this was the last 1.8T 5-speed wagon around here. The way I see it, the color is secondary but the drivetrain is MANDITORY.

It's our family-travel car, and the variant gives my kids extra head-room in the back seats (they're going to need it, Both son and daughter should both be over 6 feet when grown. )

It's safer, but just as fun to drive as my other vehicle.

 

30/20

 

I'm the same way with color. I wanted mine as light as possible. White if they had it. They told me it would be a 6 month wait, but that the gold one was readily available after it shipped to the states. Now that I have gold, I wouldn't want any other color. It hides dirt extremely well, very maintenance free, looks excellent when washed, etc. I also like the way my bronze window tint matches my gold paint. The only thing I don't like is the grey lowers. It doesn't match the gold paint well. I have been thinking about painting them for a while. I would probably paint them some other color of beige or gold to turn it into a two-toned paint scheme.

Wow, 6' tall huh, that's getting up there, especially for a girl. I had a girl next door to me at a service academy that I went to that was over 6'5". She kicked ass on the basketball court! She was a real sweet girl. I miss her.

I don't have a family, in fact, I am single. People make fun of me for driving a station wagon as a single man. As soon as they ride in my Passat for the first time, they quickly stop making fun of me! In Europe, almsot everybody drives a station wagon. They typically have diesel engines with manual transmissions over there. Too bad we can't get that combination over here. :sad:

 

35% on the front doors, 25% for everything else.....

i LOVEEEEEEEEE your ride!!::drooooools::

-Mark-

 

Your picture doesn't seem to be coming through.

 

B5.5 tinted windows on B5


http://www.passatplus.de/galerie/meinPassat/02.jpg
http://www.passatplus.de/galerie/meinPassat/03.jpg
http://www.passatplus.de/galerie/meinPassat/04.jpg

 

25% all the way around. I love it.

 

I have FormulaOne, 18/28 which is the darkest allowed in Florida.

check www.nikoz.net/gallery/passat for some pics.

Nick

 

I'm gonna go 35% all way around (no fronts) on my blue-silver 2004 variant. Questions:

1. How do I find a good tinter around Dallas? Should I go with a chain?

2. How do I make sure I'm getting a good film? (brands? type?)

3. Should I go with a metallic tint to blend with the Blue-Silver? Anyone with pics/experience of metallic tint on the Blue-Silver paint job?

4. What do I need to look out for to make sure they're not taking shortcuts (ie. trimming around stuff they should remove, etc.)?

5. What kind of cost should I be looking at?

Thanks