Tint strip for side windows?

I must be unlucky but for a lot of my drives I seem to have the sun loitering on my right just below the roof line. I know I can flip the sun visor to the side, but that's awkward and annoying. It would be much better if I could get a tinted strip to go at the top of the driver's side window. To be effective however this would need to block more than 70% of light, but only for a couple of inches at the top. Would this be legal?

I've read Section 32 of The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 and it states the procedure for measuring whether 70% of light is transmitted through side window is defined in:

"the British Standard Specification for Safety Glass for Land Transport published on 30th June 1967 under the number BS 857 as amended by Amendment Slip No. 1 published on 15th January 1973 under the number AMD 1088, Amendment Slip No. 2 published on 30th September 1980 under the number AMD 3402, and Amendment Slip No. 4 published on 15th February 1981 under the number AMD 3548 (including the requirements as to marking); or British Standard Specification BS AU 178 (including the requirements as to marking); or ECE Regulation 43 (including the requirements as to marking)."

Can't really be arsed with that, so does anyone know if a cop could measure the light transmission through the top two inches of a blatantly otherwise compliant side-window and determine an offence has been committed?

Also where to buy such tinting from?

No idea regarding strips of material, but one of the spec-sheet inclusions for films (assuming a reputable manufacturer) is % light exclusion.

It's really quite simple. Nearly all manufacturers tint the windows between A and B pillar to the maximum allowed in the regulations. this means any amount of tint would break the law.

The existing glass will already be tinted and will be letting through between 70% to 80% of light.

If you add tint film to it then the tint filters out a % of the existing light that is coming through.

50% tint film on a 70% glass results in about 40% of light getting through in total. Don’t ask me why - the formula is tint x tint + 10% of the lowest tint.

Even if it's just 1 square millimetre of additional tint? I'd like to know the official procedure for measuring it.

It gets around the side of the glasses, very annoying.

It might not be against the spirit of the law, but it would definitely be against the letter of the law, which is all that matters.

Try these:

The letter of the law will be that if you're fitting window tinting to a front side window, it won't be legal. Whether you get pulled for it will depend on the police officer and your attitude. I would be surprised if any MOT tester would pass a car with the strip fitted. I expect the argument from both will be that if your window is half open the strip will obstruct your view.

So, you will have to be willing to remove and refit the strip. It is sold on ebay/amazon so very easy to get hold of.

I'm not sure how this is less hassle than using the car's sun screen.

LHD