[smbsocal]

I am looking to tint the windows on my M5 but want to stay legal.

Does BMW put any tint or light reduction on the windows of the US designated M5 from the factory?

NC tint laws have a 35% maximum total light reduction limit and do annual inspections (Yes I know everyone has their inspection guy you can tip to pass but I don't want to go that route).

If the M5 doesn't have any light reduction I would go with 35% tint otherwise I would go up to 40% to compensate for BMW's factory light reduction.

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

Originally Posted by smbsocal

I am looking to tint the windows on my M5 but want to stay legal.

Does BMW put any tint or light reduction on the windows of the US designated M5 from the factory?

NC tint laws have a 35% maximum total light reduction limit and do annual inspections (Yes I know everyone has their inspection guy you can tip to pass but I don't want to go that route).

If the M5 doesn't have any light reduction I would go with 35% tint otherwise I would go up to 40% to compensate for BMW's factory light reduction.

One of my first threads (if not my first) on BP was this exact question. For some reason, it seems I can’t go far back enough to post the link to it here. I had at one time placed an order for an M5. When tracking the car in MyBMW Garage, the generated image appeared to show tint on the rear glass. I posed this question to the forum.

We determined conclusively then that Dingolfing produced cars bound for the US have no factory tint on front and rear windows, nor on the rear glass, irrespective of what the generated image of the car showed. Thought not conclusive, we determined this was also likely the case for all Regensburg produced vehicles and perhaps more broadly for all Germany produced cars bound for the United States.

At the time, other owners chimed in that South Carolina produced X vehicles (at least at the time) did have equivalent to 35% tint on the rear windows. It’s also worth noting that even that reduced light transmission was embedded into the glass, and not a film overlay.

So, M5, definitely no tint. M3/M4 likely no tints. X vehicles, almost certainly rear tints.

Here is my LCI M5 Comp on the showroom floor, followed by two shots of my previous pre-LCI base on the dealer lot. As you can see, there are no tints whatsoever.

EDIT — Pre-LCI photo makes the second row appear to be darker. It’s not though; this is because I captured a still photo from a video. Rest assured, no tints on either.

[NoMods]

i have nothing to add but the front windshield on the MB and Range Rover glass looks sweet with that bluish coating embedded in the glass.

[Maverik259]

Never heard of a manufacturer putting tint on a car. SUVs almost always on the rear glass never front.

My ‘06 AMG had a blue hue in the glass but wasn’t tint and certainly didn’t reduce light transmittance when I had them tinted. BMW also doesn’t do this.

[micvite]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

Never heard of a manufacturer putting tint on a car. SUVs almost always on the rear glass never front.

My ‘06 AMG had a blue hue in the glass but wasn’t tint and certainly didn’t reduce light transmittance when I had them tinted. BMW also doesn’t do this.

Bmw does have solar tint iirc on all windows, helps a bit with hear and uv radiation, needs to be 70% or above light transmittance. As far as the tint on the rear windows for german cars, that's an option you can order (Yes even on us bound cars) it's called something like rear privacy glass iirc but because the glass itself has properties and its not a film its hard to match exactly. That being said there's an even better option you can order which I found out about which is full solar glass and that is something around a 50% tint that covers all windows including windshield iirc and provides massive heat reduction with a bit of tinting, wish I knew about it sooner I'd have tried to get it on my m5.

[smbsocal]

The tint shop I want to for F1 Llumar Pinnacle only does 'legal' tint levels at their shop and did 40% so that factory + tint is still above the 35% VLT NC tint level.

On the downside there is a bit of contaminants on the window edges. They redid two windows but wouldn't do two others with contaminants since they said that due to BMW using felt in the window frames it is impossible to be contaminant free.