Guides / Legal shades
Alabama window tint laws
Alabama’s tint rules are old, specific, and still in force. This is a plain-language summary of what the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency publishes under Title 32, Chapter 5C, not legal advice. We meter film so the finished glass matches the shade you were quoted.
Passenger cars
Only the upper six inches of the windshield may be tinted, and that strip has to be transparent. Side windows and the rear window need to allow at least 32% of visible light through. ALEA also notes a 3% tolerance. Reflective film cannot reflect more than 20% of light.
A 20% or 5% “limo” shade on the front doors of a sedan is not legal. Thirty percent is still under the line. A 35% shade is the practical legal choice on front doors. Factory dye in the glass counts, so the film has to be chosen against the glass you already have, not against a bare chart.
SUVs, trucks, and vans
Front windshield and front side windows follow the passenger-car rule. On multipurpose vehicles, glass behind the driver may be darker, within what federal rules allow for that vehicle, and you need an outside mirror on each side. The manufacturer’s classification decides whether your vehicle gets that break. A crossover that is titled and glazed as a passenger car does not become an SUV because the brochure says so.
Stickers, waivers, and the 2026 rumor
Fresh tint that meets the standard needs a compliance label where it can be seen. Medical exemptions exist and have to be certified by a physician through the state process. A later change also created a path for darker tint on personal vehicles of active and retired law enforcement. Nothing in the 2026 model year rewrote the 32% rule.
If you are moving to Alabama with dark tint from another state, assume it is too dark until it is metered. We would rather tell you to peel illegal film than hand you a ticket.
- Windshield: clear strip, top six inches only
- Front sides: 32% VLT minimum on every vehicle
- Sedan rear glass: 32% as well
- SUV rear glass: darker allowed when the vehicle qualifies, mirrors required
- Reflectivity: 20% maximum