Is it illegal to tint your sunroof?

If you're in a rollover and your head/face is pressed against the broken and tinted sunroof glass, you could suffer the same consequences as if your head/face was pressed against the tinted side window. It presents similar dangers to the driver and passenger.

Sunroofs come tinted don't they? At least mine did.

really depends on the car.

mine is factory tinted sunroof glass.

ive seen on my friends car, its like a polarized type glass (slight green tinge to it)

but that brings up something interesting. donno if tinting your sunroof is legal or not.

god I hate this Big Brother crap!

the fact that its illegal is....(no comment)... but to justify it with extraordinary, seldom renditions is futile!

seriously, pedestrians making eye contact and all that crap..if ure that blind you SHOULDNT be DRIVING IN THE FIRST PLACE!

If you were a pedestrian crossing the road, wouldn't you want to be able to see the approaching driver? Given the sight lines, you are probably looking at the driver through one of the two front side windows. Dark tint prevents you from ensuring that the driver has seen you. Not so much a problem with light tint.

Or you could just walk in front of the car hoping that the driver knows you are there and take the chance getting hit.

you know...7 out of 10 times when i drive ..i do have the driver and passenger side window almost always rolled all the way down,

another great reason for tinted windows ,,,is when you park your car its harder to see inside..

^ Even now? I tend to keep my windows up when I gets below 20ish.

The most noticeable time for that is when you're trying to get onto those little islands at bigger intersections. If you can't see where the guy is looking you can't tell if he's slowing down to stop, or slowing down to make the turn. Being able to see the direction the driver is facing makes a big difference.

Which wouldn't be a problem with say.. 75% tint.

Any tint is illegal now and there are still idiots that put 20% tint on their front sides. Legalize light tint and ticket those who can't comply. Everyone gets to have a safe level of tint should they so desire and everyone can see in/out of the care safely.

True, but then officers have to pull you over, check the level, etc just to ensure you're legal. Whereas with all tint illegal it's just boom, you're tinted, you get a ticket. While it would be a good idea it may not be the most time effective use of the officers time.

They don't "have" to pull you over to check it. If the driver is clearly visible, then it is most likely OK.

I would say that it would waste less of the officer's time because he only has to stop the cars that have tint that significantly blocks the view of the driver.

If you're really worried about wasting the officer's time, what about all the people who post here complaining how they were ticketed for *factory* green windows?

I was one of those people. At least there is now one more Richmond RCMP member who knows that the green factory tint is legal and he also knows how to check for film tint.

mine did




pfff i can see just fine with tinted windows

Real easy to check...take my Swiss Army Kiife blade & run it carefully along the edge of the door glass. If it peels off..it ain't factory in the glass tint.

See, thats the problem with pedestrians in the first place...

How about waiting for the vehicle to yield to a crosswalk or a zebra crossing??

Its quite elementary!!! learnt in when i was in kindergarten!!

Does that not cross anyones mind instead of darting out on the road like a headless chicken: "typical vancouver pedestrian!!"

Is your life not worth the extra 10 secs to wait for a vehicle to fully stop or come to a slow speed??

ive crossed many crossings and have never had issues, even with drivers who have tinted windows.

AND have always cursed under my breath at pedestrians prancing on to the road without even looking left/ right!

its funny that we are even arguing about this?

Point is it was a stupid justification thats all, the law is the law, fair enough, ill reserve my opinions on that.

in usa ...tint is 100% legal there ...in most states, i always see washington license plate vehicles with the darkest tint on all there vehicles windows.....and there driving around in BC ...now im wondering ..if they get pulled over by a police in canada , are they subject to our tinted window ticket laws ??

they're only allowed tint up to 35% in the front. same rules apply for the rears.

and i can only assume that our canadian rules on tint will not apply to american tourists.

just curious what is the rules towards tinting the sunroof?

At work, we get these huge sunroof panels. we are talking like it encompassing the whole roof type, panoramic glass roof i think is what they are called. but i also noticed they are just barely polarized.

it got me thinking, i think i posted on the first page, but what are the rules towards tinting the sunroof in this case? there is no roof shade that can be slid out (at least not that i could see) may be great to let some natural light in, but must suck when its blistering hot with the sun beating down, not so much the heat, but the glare!

Not all states allow front side tint, but most do.

Yes, an out of province vehicle that is compliant in it's home province or state would be required to comply with our tint laws. I can fully understand complying with a driving law, but it seems absurd that a driver could be ordered to remove tint while simply passing through BC.

35% VLT on the front sides is too dark. 50% would be acceptable, 65% should be minimum.

Make the tint law reasonable and you won't get people blacking out the front sides with 5% tint :rolleyes:

You would be incorrect in your assumption.

I just moved back to BC from Alberta, brought my car which i purchased and tinted with 30% llumar metallic tint. In Alberta the laws are supposidly the same as BC, no tint on the front driver and passenger side, but So many ppl have thier windows tinted and I was never once pulled over, or given a ticket for tint.

Its an outdated law, and needs to be updated to allow REASONABLE levels of tint to be legal. The increased levels of UV from the sun is getting worse, and at the very least Mild tint would help with reducing those levels inside your car.

I was just pulled over yesterday, and given a 14 day notice and order to remove the tint in my car by the Abbotsford police (note: my car is still registered and has alberta plates). I explained to the officer, how I thought it was a rediculas law, and asked him whats the reasoning behind it, He said it was so the police can see the driver, and what they are doing. I told him with all due respect the current laws allow 5% or even PAINTED windows in the rear, and there could be a passenger in there with a gun, and you STILL wouldnt know it. he seemed to agree, and gave me the obligatory "we dont make the laws, we just enforce them".

Manitoba seems to have an acceptable 35% front tint law, Why cant BC and other provinces adopt this? Im all in for trying to get the laws changed, I dont know how realisitic this will be, but might as well try. Im sick of accepting terms without proper reasoning. Do I not pay enough taxes...

/end rant

Just be a good sheep and wear sunscreen if you are worried about UV. The Government says so.

lol.. NO!

Anti establishment! :mad::thumbsup:

That's just the way BC works. Wherever you go, you have to follow their rules. I wouldn't go to a country, smoke weed, then say I'm from BC so it's pretty much legal for me to smoke weed. Or somebody drinking in BC when they're 18 claiming that they're from Alberta, so they're technically legal to drink.

Also, if your car has Alberta plates, and you are residing here you'd have to change address, or if you attract too much police attention, or if you get in an accident and then are unable to prove that you don't live in BC, your insurance may not cover you. But however, if you do actually reside in Alberta, and are just here for a bit, you can probably get away to prove to the cops that you actually are from Alberta and am going back by having gas receipts from Alberta or something, but if the Abbostford Police still gives you a hard time for the window tint, theres not much you can do there.

It isn't really unsafe or anything to have your sunroof tinted, because you dont make eye contact with other drivers through your sunroof, so I would assume that it is legal. But IMO it defeats the purpose of having a sunroof if you're going to be tinting it really dark, because like you said, it's nice to have some natural sunlight come in. When it's blistering hot with the sun beating down, you can just pull the shade thing in halfway or all the way. I personally always open my sunroof on sunny days and don't really mind the heat and glare. It's never gotten to a point where I've had trouble focusing on the road.

Yeah, as skidmark mentioned, you assumed wrong.

The rules from where you reside don't follow you wherever you plan to travel. You have to adapt and follow the rules of where you travel to. I can't tell the bouncer in the states that because I'm 19 and am legally entitled to drink in BC he has to let me in. Their land, their rules.

I understand the whole "follow the laws of the land where you go" concept such as drinking ages, drug posession, etc... but this is a law regarding equipment which is fixed in place, not an action like speeding or turning right on a red.

If front side tint is legal where the car is registered and where the owner resides and is legal under the federal motor vehicle safety standards, then I don't see what leg the province of BC has to stand on.

Take Quebec's winter tire law for example: it doesn't apply to vehicles visiting from out of province. While there would be obvious safety benefits, it would be unreasonable to expect everyone entering Quebec from another province or state to have winter tires on their car.

Window tint isn't an accessory that you can pop on and off like auxiliary driving light covers. Once applied, it is a fixed part of the vehicle.


As for tinting the sunroof - why would you risk your life? Applying the same logic as the front side windows - If the car is in a rollover collision, the glass won't shatter properly and you could be left with permanent disfiguring scars.