I have an 86 Coupe in Gun Metal Grey and was cosidering tinting my side and rear windows. I havent seen any done. Was anyone done them? How does it look?

 

My XJS and X300 are both tinted, I have a friend in the business who does it for me. I live in Florida so keeping interiors cool is a must PLUS it helps protect the wood and leather from sun damage and is not hard to have removed if selling or wanting to go back to original.

 

My '96 is tinted. Looks nice I think. I tint all my auto's windows because I had skin cancer on my head a few years back.
RagJag

 

Happy all is well with you. Good point

 

JTsmks is right on with his remarks.
I live in Tampa Bay and the sun has absolutely ruined the inside of my car.
When I finish with replacing the interior I'm going to have the windows tinted on it and my '90 Majestic.

 

OP lives North of the wall, so to speak. Gunmetal grey is not that dark. Here is Flint Ironstag's official stance:

Additive darkness of exterior color + leather + carpet = darker tint. Lighten any of those, and the tint needs to lighten accordingly; hence my propensity for Lamp (or Jet) Black on Black 89.5s.

Yummy

 

Just FWIW....

I generally like tinted windows but I find that the reduced night visibilty can be a problem at times. Not so much in city driving as the streets are well lit. But in areas where street lighting is weak or non-existant there is a safety consideration, IMHO.

I've nearly run into a few stationary objects due to my tinted glass

Cheers
DD

 

Mine is tinted it looks chrome until your within 10ft

 

Doug, I don't tint the windshield at all although I could have a 70 percent admitted light on it, with the tint waiver in VA. How would side window tint cause anyone to run into obstacles?
RagJag.

 

How? I guess it might depend on driving technique and/or circumstances? If you only look forward through your windshield when driving then tinted side glass wouldn't make any difference, obviously.

I look thru my side windows and my rear window when manuevering my car....parking, backing out of a driveway, changing lanes, etc. If I'm in a dark environment I find that the window tint decreases my visibility to the point where it can be difficult to see an obstacle...and then run into it !

Cheers
DD

 

I tint all mine, coupe and convertible and they look good, just don't go "black out" like some people do (which is illegal in most states anyway) or go with odd colors they offer now days. I just like enough of a basic smoke tint to cut down on the suns glare coming in the side and it gives the car a sportier look from outside.

 

Doug, do you mean you have actually ran into a fixed object that or are you just stating a possibility? lol
RagJag

 

Tinting has its advantages, as many point out. I just don't like the reduction in visibility from my perspective. A light tint, especially in the factory glass would be ok.

If you do decide to tint, get a real professional to do it and use the finest quality tint. Whenever I get a vehicle that has the crappy tint that turns purple after a couple of years, first thing I do is remove it.

 

I've managed to keep my sheet metal undamaged but I've had some close calls due to the reduced visibilty, yes!

Cheers
DD

 

When I purchased my 1996 Jag Vanden Plas...I had several items that were a must...one was no aftermarket tint....every used jag I saw had a tint job that was aftermarket and I thought "how pretentious" of the owner to undo the original engineering...not to mention the lack of quality and for sight in attempting to match original quality....Jaguar engineers have spent labor hours determining optimal conditions a function of these beautiful cars. You might as well put wide whitwalls and a racing stripe on too while you're at it. You will devalue the car on so many levels of ignorance by simply adding an aftermarket tint...think about it...and the Florida bright sun thing...if you are leaving youre car exposed to the sun much of the time, its toast anyway...thats my take on it...

 

In all seriousness, take your pompous attitude elsewhere, tinting the windows does NOTHING to devalue the car and is easily removable and reversible. If I want to drive my car to work and park it I sure don't need your condescending attitude about me leaving it in the hot Florida sun....grey pupon anyone! Your "take" is the only thing "pretentious" around here.

 

Huh? WHAT original tint? The OP was talking about an XJS and I've never seen one with any form of factory tint to begin with. If they was built today I suspect it'd be an option just like it is on the new cars but back then they just didn't think of window tint that much. No one is undoing any factory engineers work because they didn't DO any work as far as tinting goes, tinting was still fairly new back then on any new vehicle.

Good quality aftermarket tint (your only option if you want tint on an XJS) is very high quality and in no way devalues a vehicle. There are some do-it yourself home kits that almost always look like crap and yes they do look bad and would detract from the value of the car but I'm assuming the OP is referring to professionally installed top-quality tint such as Lumar lifetime. It can still easily be removed if a later owner doesn't want it and everyone who has seen my cars after a good professional tint job has said how much nicer they look and how much it adds to the appearance of the car.

 

Not that you asked but my 'take' is that you're giving the impression of being ignorant, pompous, and insulting.

If *that's* what you're going for..... it's working

Not the best approach since you're a noob here but, hey, do as you wish!

I might add that "Jaguar engineers" and "optimal" used in the same sentence would make for a great new topic with some good opportunities for humor !

Cheers
DD

 

devalue the car? its freaking tint, it comes right off!

I live in an apartment complex and my car has to be outside in the florida sun, if I had tinted my windows sooner my stitching wouldn't be coming out of the back seat and I wouldn't have had to waste so much money hydrating the seats.

I am pretty sure a damaged original interior messes with the originality and value a lot more than some plastic film on the windows.

I think what you are misunderstanding is these cars are old and tint, even manufacturer's tint, does not last. So if you have seen them with peeling old tint, that doesn't mean its crappy, it just means it is time to reapply. And if it looked bad because of color or something, remember it was done in the 80s or 90s.

You basically said, "I have a garage and if you don't you have no right to own an XJS."

calm down man, I suggest you take a ride and relax.

 

lolol

But seriously they didn't put tint in the windows because it wasn't a big thing back then and it did cost a bit of money. It cuts down on interior heat and improve AC cooling by 20%, how zero is optimal compared to 20% I do not know...
For someone who talks so high and mighty about the engineers, it is honestly insulting to think they would do this by choice.