I'm thinking of doing 15% rear (including rear sides), and 35% for the front sides on my '03 Coupe.

I don't think 35% is very dark. Visibility isn't terribly reduced and you can still be seen from the outside. I heard that most cops don't care too much as long as they can see inside, but I guess that all depends on the cop's monthly quota.

The tint shop where I'm going to get it done told me that local police aren't as strict about tint as CHP, but that can vary.

I really don't know about the 35%. It looks OK in the sample I've seen, but I'm wondering if it will be too dark when it's on my car, especially with the rear tinted. I thought about 50%, but my old truck had that and you could hardly notice there was any tint there at all.

Does anyone have any 'safe' suggestions for Southern California? What tint should I get, and what can I do to avoid or minimize getting pulled over? A little worry I have now is that my car is new so I have no plates on it at all (not even the dealer plates - the dealer has to PAY ME to advertise for him), and I'm afraid that with no front or rear plate combined with tint will be a COP MAGNET.