5%, 20%, 35% — tint percentages explained by a working Atlanta installer. Learn which shade fits your car, your lifestyle, and Georgia law.
Picking a tint shade is one of those decisions that feels simple until you're standing in the shop holding two sample cards that look almost identical indoors but will look completely different on your car in direct Georgia sun. Window tint percentages measure how much visible light passes through the film — so a lower number means a darker shade, and a higher number means more light gets through. That distinction matters more than most people realize before they commit.
At Defyne Cars, we install window tint across our Marietta and Alpharetta studios daily. The three shades we get asked about most are 5%, 20%, and 35%. Each one has a legitimate use case, and each one has at least one situation where it is the wrong call. Here is the honest breakdown.
What tint percentages actually mean
The number on the label is VLT — visible light transmittance. A 5% film blocks 95% of visible light. A 35% film blocks 65%. Neither number tells you anything about heat rejection or UV blocking on its own, which is where a lot of buyers get confused. A dark dye film at 5% can actually reject less infrared heat than a lighter ceramic tint at 35% — because darkness and heat rejection are two separate things. If heat rejection is your goal, the film technology matters more than the shade. Ceramic window tint vs regular tint: the complete Atlanta guide covers that tradeoff in detail.
For now, assume we are talking about shade only.
The 5% shade: also known as "limo tint"
From outside the car, you cannot see through 5% at all. Not even a silhouette. It is the darkest commonly installed shade, and it looks exactly as aggressive as it sounds.
Where it makes sense: Rear windows on SUVs and trucks where the driver never looks through the back glass directly Privacy glass situations — cargo vans, certain utility vehicles Occasionally rear quarters on a car being built for a very specific aesthetic