i know there are a lot of people with window tint on their vehicles.

I'm going to get window tinting done ,and im wondering if this will impact on how the auto dimming mirror works.

this is my thinking.

since it works on the brightness of light through the front onto the sensor versus the amount of brightness (glare) from the rear then as long as the light from the front is greater than the light from the rear it shouldnt dim during the day.

if window tinting reduces the amount of light at night then will this decrease the sensitivity of the auto dim feature by any significant amount.

im hoping it will still dim sufficiently if i have cars with bright or misadjusted headlights behind me.

my auto dimming mirror has a switch so i can turn it off but i rather like the feature..

 

Since there is no manual dimming, the automatic is sort of the only choice other than flipping the mirror up. With factory tint, my mirror view in daylight is darker than I would like.

right turn! ...

On a mirror with a prism, one trick to fix drivers dazzling you from behind is to *not* flip the lever, but flip the whole mirror. This results in them getting a dose of their own medicine. They usually backoff or pass at that point. In either case, they're out of your face ... so to speak.

 

I have 35% tint all the way around on my jag. and the rear and passenger mirrors still dim when bright lights hit them.

 

so Plumsauce - are you saying the mirror dims during the day or that the window tint makes the view out through the rear window dimmer than you would like? the electrochromatic mirrors do not have a prism in them like a manually tilted mirror - and given the volatility of the gel used to create the dimming effect i don't want to be moving it around too much - its not referred to as dragons blood for nothing.

Thanks achysklic for your response - sounds like the sensor is only mildly effected by the presence of tint on the windows.

the sensor must be fairly sensitive.

 

Not entirely sure as yesterday was the first time out in daylight for me. Time will tell.

There is no point in moving the mirror around as there is no prism. My point was that you/we are pretty much stuck with auto-dimming or no-dimming.

The post from achysklic is probably better guidance if you are using the same level of tint.

BTW, there is a warning in some manual about metallic tints on the rear window blocking the antenna for the security system on certain models.

 

The Mirror still auto dims when something glaring hits it, and I have 15% tint on my rear window. 35% down the sides. It just doesn't do it as often.

The Antenna for the security system in an S-Type is in the driver's door. No issues with tint for that.

However The radio and gps (if you have it) antennas WILL be affected by tinted windows. I would get non-metallic tint installed if I were you.

Take care,

George

 

100% non-metallic tint. I have 15% on the rear and with the auto dimming I cant see a thing. However it does come in Handy when a Ford Superduty is on your a$$ with those ricy, ridiculous blue bulbs coupled with bright yellow fogs blinding everyone in their path.

 

mmm dont have an onboard gps - window mounted one is unaffected by the tint as it uses the windscreen. i had the same tint on my X-type and it only effected Am radio which has abysmal reception anyway with a diversity antenna.

we are only allowed 35% VLT here so i would say from what everyone has said that i will have no real problem.

15% must be almost totally blacked out - probably akin to what the sunroof has. we wouldnt get away with that here in West Australia.

 

Not just Ford. Almost any late model van/suv. They must be night blind or something. Even with those lights they want to navigate by following tail lights.

Or maybe, it's just like the lighting engineers said ... the blue bulbs have less output, more glare, and are painful to the eyes over long drives. A chrome trunklid might not be a bad idea. Or, a highly polished Delorean.

 

When this happens to me I turn on the rear fog lights,, I know they can't be that bright but it sure does make them back off.

 

Maybe they think they are brake lights.

Speaking of mirrors, there is a dire warning in the manual about not using a scraper on the external mirrors for fear of scratching the surface.

Is the surface involved in either the dimming or heating functions?

Someone stuck some small round aftermarket convex mirrors on the door mirrors. Removing them is going to involve some twisting, prying and perhaps dental floss or razor blade work. Knowing whether there is a coating to damage would be helpful.

 

Not sure, but it may result in it looking like the driver's side electrochromic I replaced on my daughter's 03. From purchase, it had a double-image, kind of a gold tint to it...there is a pic under a thread on mirror replacement...I took some pics to show someone the clips on the backside...but I think there is one where you can see the surface flaws....just a guess....it looked like "overheating" to me, but it could've been scraping.

 

15% isn't that bad...

I have 15% on the back window of both of the Jags.
35% down all the windows of the S-Type, and 35% on the rear windows of the X-Type. (It used to have it on all the windows, but back then NJ had inspection and we aren't allowed to have ANY tint on the front windows).

Here's what they look like.





Take care,

George

 

Do you think the coating(s) are on the front surface?

I'll look for your post.

 

BTW, found this testing procedure for electrochromic mirrors for a Gentex mirror dealer retrofit on a Tundra.


5.0 Testing

1. Re-connect the negative battery cable.

2. Turn the ignition switch to ON.

3. With the vehicle in a fairly well-lit area, perform the
following:

• Cover the forward-looking photocell located
below the wire harness connection on the back
side of the mirror (a dark cloth or towel will work).
(Figure 11).

• After a few seconds, the mirror will begin to
darken. (the time may vary with ambient light
levels).

• Remove the cover from the forward photocell and
the mirror will begin to clear.

• The test is now complete.

And, how electochromic mirrors operate:

Many carmakers offer an automatically dimming electrochromic rearview mirror that provides an infinite number of brightness levels. These darken automatically according to ambient light conditions and the amount of headlight glare. Sensors feed input to electronics that determine how much voltage to apply to a special gel sandwiched between thin layers of reflective glass in the rear and clear glass up front. The more glare present, the more voltage is applied, and the darker the gel becomes.


So, at a guess, the razor blade/dental floss is probably ok.

 

Looking good

i will have to post some new pics up when the tint dries out properly and i next wash the car.