Do window shades help with heat significantly?
Hey, just got a 2014 Honda fit about a month ago and it's getting hot. The windows have no tint on them and I was wondering how big the difference is between tinting the back windows and getting shades for the backseat. My state allows rear and back seat windows to be tinted, but I don't have the money to do that now. I was about to order a shade for my front windshield and was wondering if an always on shade in the back seats and trunk would help with heat, or if it's more of a privacy thing.
Having anything, whether tint or shades, to block direct sunlight will help immensely to block heat.
There could be a few tint shops in your area that has a display/demo they can show you: basically a demonstration of how much heat any given tint can block, but even simple shades will help.
Having something will always be better than nothing!
It helps. But I don't understand why, since they're dark..? Don't they just absorb the light instead of letting the light through?
When the windows are dark, they absorb heat and they get warmer. The heat from those warmer windows mostly rises up outside the car. A little will go inside.
When the windows are clear, light passes through and everything else in the car absorbs some and gets warmer. The heat from those warmer surfaces is trapped inside the car, so the air inside just gets hotter and hotter. That's the greenhouse effect.
That's why silver tinting works best - it blocks the light without absorbing much. On the other hand, if you turn a light on inside, it becomes a mirror in the wrong direction.
Also they block UV rays. Helps protect the interior.
I have a 2015 fit, and had tinted the windows sometime after I bought it. It is a significant difference.
I love how much I can see around me, but the windows are huge and my job doesn't have covered parking. Did you tint them all or just a few?
I did the side and rear windows and then I think they did a polarized coating on the front.
I had my wife's widows tinted and when the window is partly opened, i can actually feel the difference in heat load by putting my hand on my shirt in the direct light and in the light passing through the tint.
Last time I got tint removed and replaced it wasn’t that expensive. Have you actually checked the cost? Because buying shades might be 2/3rds of the cost of tint.