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I finally bought a new used car. The car has manufacturer tinted windows on the rear passenger windows and rear windows. I never thought about this on the test drive, as it during day light.
When when driving at night and checking my mirrors, visibility is n't great. All I can are two headlight. I can't make out the colour, make or model of car. This is useful, as I like to keep out of the way of faster cars when overtaking.
It is also annoying when reverse parking at night. As you cant see much. I do have parking sensors. The rear parking camera is useless at night as all I can see is grainy black and white video and low resolution.
I know many cars have rear tinted windows... but this an annoying disadvantage.
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When when driving at night and checking my mirrors, visibility is n't great. All I can are two headlight. I can't make out the colour, make or model of car. This is useful, as I like to keep out of the way of faster cars when overtaking.
Absolutely no clue why you would need to know the make model or colour of whatever car is behind you?. Equally baffled as to what you mean by keeping out of the way of faster moving cars?, do you pull off the road and stop?.
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Absolutely no clue why you would need to know the make model or colour of whatever car is behind you?. Equally baffled as to what you mean by keeping out of the way of faster moving cars?, do you pull off the road and stop?.
It is my driving style. On multi-lane roads, there are boy racers driving fast, switching lanes left and right, undertaking, speeding, cutting people. It is particular bad on a Friday and Saturday nights. I like to keep track of all the cars around me.
The mirrors are indeed auto-diming, but not on/off switch. When I into the mirror it is totally pitch dark, I can see the headlight. Important to know which car, because I don't want to be overtaking a car and it turns out I have an impatient boy racer in a BMW (sorry if you own one!).
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When when driving at night and checking my mirrors, visibility is n't great. All I can are two headlight. I can't make out the colour, make or model of car. This is useful, as I like to keep out of the way of faster cars when overtaking.
My car has the manufacturer tinted rear windows. It also has an automatic dipping interior mirror. I find these 2 features combined really cause the issue you are complaining of.
I quite like these 2 features, as it significantly cuts down on the amount of light entering the car to blind you in the mirror.
I wasn't fussed about the tinted rear windows (when I bought the car), but I would prefer to have them on my next car.
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Perhaps get the rear glass changed to a non tinted type .
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"Perhaps get the rear glass changed to a non tinted type ."
Or, if it's possible, switch off the dimmer on the mirror. (I can do this on the CX-5.)
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It is an auto dimmer on the mirror. I put flashed a mobile light onto the mirror. I looked in the mirror, everything behind me turned pitch black.
However, there is no on-off switch for this auto dim mirror :-(
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<< I quite like these 2 features, as it significantly cuts down on the amount of light entering the car to blind you in the mirror. >>
We have had manual dipping rear-view mirrors for a very long time, and they work quite well. What bugs me more is the blinding reflection in the external mirror, which one can do nowt about except turn it outwards !
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Absolutely no clue why you would need to know the make model or colour of whatever car is behind you?. Equally baffled as to what you mean by keeping out of the way of faster moving cars?, do you pull off the road and stop?.
It is my driving style. On multi-lane roads, there are boy racers driving fast, switching lanes left and right, undertaking, speeding, cutting people. It is particular bad on a Friday and Saturday nights. I like to keep track of all the cars around me.
None of which explains why you need to know the make, model and colour of the car they are driving.
Even with your tinted windows you can see headlamps approaching from behind, from that you can easily tell how fast they are approaching and if they are driving erratically.
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None of which explains why you need to know the make, model and colour of the car they are driving.
I have tried to explain as best as I can. You need to understand who is behind you, as much as who is in front. Imagine getting rear-ended by a car, but unable to identify the car. Even if I had a police car behind me, I would n't have know. The auto dimming is too aggressive. I can't even see the shape of the car, just the headlights.
I rented a car in Spain, and they gave a Renault Captur, which had rear tinted windows too, but I never had this problem with rear visibility. I think that car had a traditional rear view mirror.
Here are some random videos and why it is important who is behind you.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGcvVkR-fGQ
youtu.be/ISeNBNbTcoI?t=329
www.youtube.com/shorts/Gl0dS00IDz8
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<< I quite like these 2 features, as it significantly cuts down on the amount of light entering the car to blind you in the mirror. >>
We have had manual dipping rear-view mirrors for a very long time, and they work quite well. What bugs me more is the blinding reflection in the external mirror, which one can do nowt about except turn it outwards !
It is possible to get auto-dimming erxternal mirrors, my VW Touareg has them - it does make mirror glass replacement very expensive!
When I ordered the car I opted not to have "privacy" glass so it's just the normal 70% tinted - so I wonde if the OP is complaining about privacy glass rather than tinted glass.
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First car I drove with rear tints was a 2008 Audi A3 courtesy car, It also had a black interior and headlining and was like sitting in cave.
I remember as it only had reversing sensors which were useless when needing to manouver into a narrow driveway in the middle of winter in Scotland. I could see nothing out of the windows, it may as well have been a van,
I have since owned two vehicles with rear tints and reversing camera and reversing system warning and not being able to see from the windows isn't an issue.
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I have since owned two vehicles with rear tints and reversing camera and reversing system warning and not being able to see from the windows isn't an issue.
'Privacy' glass is all very well, but I find it odd that everyone thinks it OK to deliberately limit a driver's visibility. And recent style trends have exacerbated that by reducing the window area. Doh ...
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When I ordered the car I opted not to have "privacy" glass so it's just the normal 70% tinted - so I wonde if the OP is complaining about privacy glass rather than tinted glass.
I have no idea of the difference between the privacy or tinted. It seems to be a standard feature?
A lot of manufacturers on newer cars have darkened rear passenger windows and rear window.
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Practically all car glass is at least tinted now.
'Privacy' is darker and basically you can't see the people sitting in the back even in daylight. It's now common. I like it because it's difficult to see what's in the back or the load area from outside.
If you look at a few cars in the supermarket car park from the side it's easy to spot the ones with privacy glass - it's only applied from the B pillar backwards, it would be illegal on the front doors and windscreen.
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When I ordered the car I opted not to have "privacy" glass so it's just the normal 70% tinted - so I wonde if the OP is complaining about privacy glass rather than tinted glass.
I have no idea of the difference between the privacy or tinted. It seems to be a standard feature?
A lot of manufacturers on newer cars have darkened rear passenger windows and rear window.
If there's a difference between front and rear door windows, the front are 70% tinted (the maximum allowed) and the rears are privacy, around 30% light transmission.
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<< I quite like these 2 features, as it significantly cuts down on the amount of light entering the car to blind you in the mirror. >>
We have had manual dipping rear-view mirrors for a very long time, and they work quite well. What bugs me more is the blinding reflection in the external mirror, which one can do nowt about except turn it outwards !
I believe the vast majority of people don't adjust their door mirrors correctly.
Everybody seems to want to see the side of their own car, which is unnecessary, When it is, as when manoeuvring, just move your head a bit.
Adjusted outwards so that the side of the car is normally just out of sight opens up the view into what people call the blind spot. I find I can practically eliminate the blind spot. Even a motor cycle appears in my door mirror before it disappears from the interior mirror, and by the time it has gone from the door mirror I can see it with a sideways glance. Adjusting the mirrors this way removes the headlamp glare for a car directly behind.
No need for blind spot blinking lights.
Apparently I'm not the only person who thinks this,
www.google.com/search?q=correct+door+mirror+adjust...0
My main car has privacy glass and an auto dimming interior mirror. It's easily the most comfortable of our cars to drive at night with door mirrors adjusted as above.
The worst is the MX-5. Headlamps are at the level of the merely tinted rear window and shine straight in. The interior mirror must remain almost permanently manually 'dipped'.
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Two points:
If it's a used car, the previous owner may have added a further layer of tint film to the rear windows. If this is that case it can be removed.
Auto dipping mirrors work by comparing the front and rear light levels. If the rear is bright the mirror dims. There should be a light sensor somewhere, often on the mirror or nearby to read the rear light levels. Covering the sensor should prevent the mirror from dimming.
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I thought auto-dimming mirrors went dark when it goes dark. Blacking out the sensor would leave them perpetually dark.
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I thought auto-dimming mirrors went dark when it goes dark. Blacking out the sensor would leave them perpetually dark.
No, it works the other way round. Shine a bright light on it, and it reduces the light reflected.
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Maybe they are differently set up for privacy glass then. I have never had privacy glass and the mirrors for the last few cars worked as I described.
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I had this on my most recent car. I hated it. I dont mind tinted windows but they were super dark. I accept the side rear windows might be tinted but the rear window was tinted. It literally looks like its dawn outside all the time and at night I can barely see anything out of it. These are manufacturer tints. I thought tints that dark were illegal.
I like looking back through my rear view and also when I reverse I look back... even if I have a camera lol.
Next car I get I hope does not have the tints.
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These are manufacturer tints. I thought tints that dark were illegal.
They are, but only on the windscreen and front door windows. But think about it, if dark tinted glass on rear and rear side windows was illegal for safety reasons, you'd have to also ban vans............
;-)
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These are manufacturer tints. I thought tints that dark were illegal.
They are, but only on the windscreen and front door windows. But think about it, if dark tinted glass on rear and rear side windows was illegal for safety reasons, you'd have to also ban vans............
;-)
Excellent point BBD. I drove vans without any see through vision for 25 years. Meant I had to use my external mirrors.
Haven't driven a van for over 5 years. Even now though, I regard my external mirrors as my main mirrors and the interior one as an extra one. That's probably why, although I find the view in the interior mirror quite dark at times, it just doesn't bother me.
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