Car window tinting laws are complicated. Here’s what you need to know.

Car window tinting laws are complicated. Here's what you need to know.

Curious City

Do you want to get your vehicle windows tinted? Here's how it works, what the laws are and how they’re enforced in Chicago.

For Curious City listener Erin Alexander, tinting her car windows poses a conundrum.

"I really want to tint my windows," she explained, "but I don't want the dreaded $250 ticket!"

So she asked Curious City: What exactly are the laws governing car window tinting in Chicago? If someone wants to get their windows tinted, what do they need to know?

Erin isn't alone in being confused about window tinting laws in Chicago.

Tinted windows in the city are governed by the Illinois Vehicle Code. But for Erin and others, the law can be difficult to parse.

"Reading the Illinois Vehicle Code is like reading another language," she said.

There are lots of reasons people choose to get their car windows tinted: for many, it offers an extra layer of privacy, particularly for drivers who park their cars on the street. But there are some concerns about tinting windows beyond the legal limit — including from folks like bicyclists who come face-to-face with cars on a regular basis. And it turns out that window tinting regulations are some of the most under-enforced laws in Chicago.

So here, we’re breaking down everything you need to know about window tinting in Chicago — including how the process works, what the laws are and more.

Vehicle owners get their windows tinted for a variety of reasons, ranging from health to privacy.

For one parent we spoke with outside Burke Elementary School, the darkened glass in his car is about comfort. "I have a child, so keeping the sun out of his eyes, he doesn't always have sunglasses on," he explained. "And really just reducing glare."

For Chicago resident Brice, who we met while he was having his windows tinted, darkened windows function almost as an anti-theft device. "Specifically for my car, it feels like … a fishbowl inside, and when you sit in there, you really notice that you can see from everywhere. So I think partially parking on the street, it kind of helps to keep it more private."

Plus, some people just love the way it looks. "I would go dark, dark, dark," said Chicago resident Christyan Velasquez, who added he loves the sleekness of dark windows.

Chicago used to have a zero-tint ordinance, but that's no longer the case.

Today, car window tinting in Chicago is governed by the Illinois Vehicle Code. It's enforced by the Chicago Police Department, according to city officials.

According to that law, which only applies to cars registered in Illinois, all windows on a car or truck can have some tint to them as long as it follows the established legal requirements.

The state law establishes how much light transparency is legal. The lower the percentage, the darker the window.

According to the Illinois State Police, most vehicle windows must allow at least 35% of light to pass through them — with numerous exceptions for people who drive commercial vehicles or have particular medical conditions, for example. On the front windshield, only the top six inches can be tinted, and only with a non-reflective tint.

Laws differ from state to state, but they are similarly complex. For example, Texas permits darker windows (in the 25% transparency range), and in California vehicle windows have to be much closer to transparent (in the 70% range).

At Simon's Shine Shop in Bucktown, customers select the type of tint they would like for their vehicle and employees load the corresponding roll of adhesive film into the printer.

Employees use a computer software system to look up the make and model of a customer's vehicle and pull up the exact size and shape of each window on the car or truck.

The printer etches the shape of each window into the film and employees cut it out. They clean each window very thoroughly and apply the sheet of adhesive film. Then — and perhaps most importantly — they use squeegees to buff out any air bubbles that may have formed between the window and the film.

Finally employees at Simon's use a heat gun to "cure" the film and bond it permanently to the window.

The cost of window tinting at Simon's ranges from $200-500, depending on the make and model of the car, according to Victor Espeland, communications and brand manager.

In an informal survey of other car shops around Chicago, this price range was fairly standard.

(For hobbyists, there are a ton of tutorials on YouTube about how to tint windows yourself.)

Today, as explained above, Chicago police follow state law and its very specific set of transparency standards.

According to Rose Tibayan, director of public affairs with the city's Office of Budget and Management, determining that a driver has violated that standard "requires evaluating the level of tint on the windows, which requires special equipment called a tint meter." The Chicago Police Department didn't respond to several requests for comment about this process.

Under Illinois law, a first ticket violation can be considered a petty offense with a fine of no less than $50 to no more than $500. Subsequent offenses are considered misdemeanors with fines that can cost anywhere between $100 to $500.

According to information gathered by Curious City through a public information request, Chicago police issued 184 tickets for illegally tinted windows in 2022, up from 103 in 2021. By comparison, other city records show that in 2013 — when Chicago had a $250 fine accompanying its no-tint ordinance — the city issued more than 20,000 tickets.

We talked with a number of people who love tinted windows for a variety of reasons: they look cool, shield the car interior from the hot sun and offer privacy.

We also talked with several people who think illegally tinted windows pose a public safety issue — including a bicyclist who said darkly tinted car windows make it difficult for her to navigate around drivers in the city.

What do you think about tinted windows? Do you have them on your own car and love them? Tell us why! Have you had an encounter with a vehicle with tinted windows where the darkened glass created a hazardous situation? Tell us about it!

Call the Curious City hotline and leave us a voicemail at (888) 789-7752.

Adriana Cardona-Maguigad is Curious City's reporter. Follow her @AdrianaCardMag