Expensive To Tint An Ls400?

[Big Iron]

I had my headlights restored at one of the local shops and while I was there I asked about window tint. The guy told me these cars are difficult to tint because of the way they're assembled, and that they had to take quite a bit of interior trim apart in order to do it. I think the quote was $300-$400 for a decent 35% tint. I've owned quite a few vehicles and I've never heard this before. Any truth to it?

[1990LS400]

That's a new one! I had both a 1990 and a 2000 LS400 tinted and the price wasn't much different than for our Camry and Prius. I don't remember any interior trim being removed on either LS400. I had the two front side windows on my 2000 LS400 re-tinted just before I sold the car in 2014 and that took maybe 30 minutes. Tint prices don't seem to have risen much over the past 20 years where I live.

A word of caution. I regret having the back window of my 2000 LS400 tinted for three reasons.

1) The back window tint interfered with the automatic dimming of both the interior and exterior rear view mirrors.

2) The rear window tint deteriorated over time and could not be replaced inexpensively and without damaging the defroster wires. I had the installer use a cheaper non-metalized tint on the rear window so that it would not interfere with the phone and radio antenna imprinted on the glass. Maybe the more expensive metalized tint would not have deteriorated but the installer warned me that other customers had complained about poor radio reception after metalized tint was installed.

3) Glare of headlights from following vehicles off the defroster wires. The defroster wires are apparently pretty darn thick and this is a common complaint.

I didn't have the rear window of my 1990 LS400 tinted due to it having the extraordinarily rare retractable roller shade option. When we had our Prius tinted in 2012, I did not have its rear window tinted and I doubt that I will ever have tint applied over defroster wires again.

[Big Iron]

Thanks, that's what I figured. I'll get a second opinion.

Really appreciate the advice on the rear window as well.

[Exhaustgases]

Window tint would be fine if it was an OEM laminated process, and not an added film. The more non OEM things done to a car, the less the resale value of the car.

[1990LS400]

Window tint would be fine if it was an OEM laminated process, and not an added film. The more non OEM things done to a car, the less the resale value of the car.

I totally agree that non-OEM modifications can absolutely trash a car's resale value. However ... added window tint has become very mainstream and does not seem to detract from resale value unless it is unusually dark, illegal or in poor condition. The people who we sold our last three cars to seemed to like that the windows were tinted.

My wife was critical when I had my first LS400 tinted and said that it looked "gangster". She quickly changed her mind and wanted her Camry's windows tinted.

When she bought her current Prius wagon, she wanted its windows tinted RIGHT NOW. When I removed the tint from the front passenger side window of my 2000 LS400 early last year after the tint failed, she wanted "her" window re-tinted ASAP. Needless to say, I had the front side windows of our new van tinted last year right after I took delivery.

SUV's and vans can have tint of their rear and rear side windows in the glass - SUV and van manufacturers install factory tint that appears to range between 20% and 30% light transmission but there does not appear to be a legally mandated darkness limit.

Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, the tint percentages of all windows of regular passenger cars and the front side windows of SUVs and vans are regulated by the individual states. Sometimes the tint laws of adjacent states are very different.

For example, Washington state allows 24% tint on the back and all side windows of passenger cars. Kansas, where I live, allows a maximum of 35% tint on the same windows. Barely five miles from where I live, Missouri has no limit on how dark tint can be on the back and rear side windows - 0% is legal.

I don't know the percentage of light transmission on front side window factory tint but I suspect that it is around 85%.

[VBdenny]

I have had the windows on all of my cars tinted. Took my IS in the day after I got it. Without the tint, the sun destroys the interior and your skin. I had my side windows done with a light tint 50% the back window with 35% transmission and the sunroof with 10% (limo) tint.

The place where I use for tinting is excellent and did my first vehicle 14 years ago and the tint is still perfect.

[Tom130]

need help,,, first day here,, i have a 1996 ls400 will not start.. cant find where or how to post this question

[Exhaustgases]

need help,,, first day here,, i have a 1996 ls400 will not start.. cant find where or how to post this question

Just post in the main forum not one of these ones that is not on your topic. Maybe one of the moderators will fix this for you.

You need to explain what is not happening with it not starting like you turn the key and nothing happens? Or you turn the key and try to start and nothing happens, or the engine does turn and will not start etc. One thing it can be is the security system can prevent it from starting. Bad battery connections, bad battery that sort of thing. We will need more information to help.

[Jason's LS's]

Window tint on a LS is more expensive than typical vehicles. The rear window has a heavy curve in it and any quality window tint is hard to form to these curves hence the reason for the higher cost. I have a 95 sc300 that was just tinted, I paid $200 installed for all 5 window using the Suntek brand window tint, this car was pretty easy from what my tint guy told me. Got the 2003 LS430 and 2008 LS460 tinted by the same guy for $550 as a combo discount. Going to get the 1991 LS400 and the new to the family 1996 LS400 tinted this week by the same guy for $600. Looks like the first gens are the hardest to do, yet not impossible, but def the most time consuming. Generally the more curved the windows are, the harder it is to tint because the tint only has so much "stretch" and "shrink" using the heat gun. Cheaper tint is easier to form, but the tint itself is a lot thinner and will not last. Hope this helps, this is just my experience with tinting.

[Exhaustgases]

I'd like to know how much to remove the tint from the gen 1? I bet if they had to buy a OEM Toyota rear window they'd all think real hard about tinting it.