meagain

Has anyone here been pulled over for any mods done? I understand there's some rule about some amber must be on the front somewhere and clearing headlights can render at least a fine. I also understand that tinting tail lights is also a problem because you're altering some sort of govt. approved part?

I think it looks great, but I surely don't want to attract any attention from the cops. That's never a good thing. So....

1. Has anyone been pulled over for this? What happened? Or, has anyone been pulled over for something else (speeding, etc) and ended up getting nicked for mods?

2. Does anyone feel tail light tinting compromises safety? I'm not crazy about the idea of my husband driving around with tail lights that now have reduced visibility to some looser behind him on a dark evening in the dead of winter or a nasty rainstorm at night. I'm concerned about this. Worried the chance of accident just went up a couple of percentage points.

jdb8805

To most people, I don't think the cleared headlights or tinted taillights are noticeable as a MOD. Unless the cop owns a TL or you have a completely riced out TL, he will probably think it is stock that way.

enormus

The laws vary greatly from state to state and even if you don't get pulled, you may not pass inspection unless you know someone. North Carolina, for example, is pretty strict. I know someone who got pulled for having blue LED washer fluid bumps. Not sure if it was because the lights were blue or due to the vaguely worded laws in NC about non-OEM lighting. I expect that ANY mods to car lighting will be illegal here any day now.

legionofdoom

Not sure about the tinting of the taillights, but there is a Federal DOT law that says you must have an amber reflector up front (and supposedly that law can't be over-ridden by State laws but don't quote me on that). I doubt you'd get pulled over for it but like someone else said, you may have issues passing inspection. I've read on MA specific boards of people not passing inspection for having cleared headlights (one guy was asking people if he could borrow their stock lights for a couple of hours just for inspection). If you're thinking about tinting, you may want to find out what's legal in your state as well since they'll fail you on inspection even if it's only a few percent too dark. Keep in mind there's already factory tinting on the windows so getting tint of 35% is actually dark than 35%.

LacViet

I don't think anyone will know for sure tinting the front headlight and back taillights is illegal or not. I have both front and back lights tint with rockblocker for more than 6 months now, and I drive pass either highway patrol or cop (in both motocycle or car) at least twice a week without any issue so far. I also had local cops stop me one time after a late night car meeting with a bunch of S2000, RSX, integra, etc. two months ago, all they check is for illegal engine mods, but not bothering with the tinted head and tail lights.
As far as I know, In CA at least, the law requires that:
For the front: Headlight must be white color, turn signal must be amber color, and reflective pieces (can be incorporate into the turn signal assembly or separate) also must be in amber. Clearing headlight (which removed the relective piece is illegal!)
For the back: tail light must be in Red color, turn signal can either be yellow or red, and the reflective piece (again, can be incorporate into the turn signal assembly or separate) must be in Red.
From what I understand, when the DMV talks about headlight, taillight, and turn signal, it talks about the light itself, not the color of the housing; however, there is also a section in the law said that the light must illuminate at certain distance or something like that which I did not remember on top of my head right now, so technically, tint the front and tail lights is LEGAL as long as you still have the functional refective part. Tinting over the reflective piece may or may not render the function of it and my guess is that this is the point to argue about.
Now, if you concern about the visibility of the tinted taillight at night, then you should not let your husband tint the taillights because it might certaintly be the focal point of dispute if the accident occurs and lawyer is involved. It's your own risk. Tinted the taillight is certaintly reduce the visibility of the break light by the degree of the tint. In case of mine, it is 20% less light out put since rockblocker tint film block ~20% of light. Same for the headlight! In my case, I use higher watts aftermarket bulb for the brake light which might compensate for the loss light out put of the tint. For the headlight, it's not that much of a different since I can turn on the fog light to compensate for the loss.
Don't know if any of you notice, but in So Cal, it starts to have more and more cars with blackout headlight (either come from stock or cleared yourself) and tinted taillights from BMW, Charger, Mustang, C300, Mercedes, etc.

subinf

I havent been stopped for mine but I have been in a friends car with modded lights...though they reflected a stong blue/yellow (i dont know why) My guess is that if a cop is looking for headlights that are not OEM they will be looking at what color reflects out of them unless you got pulled over for something else and your car is being inspected. I dont worry about my cleared headlights pretty much because I have an amber bulb in there and it doesnt give off any weird colors.

meagain

LacViet - You brought up a good point. The accident & lawyers issue. We drove for at least 4 hours last night and I didn't see one single car with darkened tails. I think I'm going to leave them alone UNLESS I do what you did and added a brighter bulb. It can be just too dark & gloomy here to reduce visibility.

I'm more up for clearing the headlights. I saw on another thread that the bulb is a bit yellowish when on so I'm thinking that might be kosher enough. Or perhaps a small piece of amber sheet tint.

Subinf - so you cleared the headlights & put in an amber bulb? I read there's a bulb by Phillips that appears white but when on - is yellow. I like the concept.

subinf

Pretty much. A few people are using the chrome/amber bulb...so when its not on it doesnt really stand out.

Chinaman38

When I used to have my 1996 accord I was pulled over for clear tails and was told to put stocks back on. I think now their legal as long as you those red bulbs. Ive also been pulled over for car being too low. I think their is some kind of height limit? My friend had a sc300 and his side blinkers he changed them to red in the front and was told it could only be amber.

MichaelBenz

iTrader: (2)

Dont sweat it guy! Just do what makes you happy! Dont worry about getting pulled over....unless you have a habit of travelling with "weight" or something you would have to worry about...and if this is the case....you shouldnt have to ask.