tinted tail lights..

[vash]

ok, maybe i am officially an old curmudgeon. tinting your tail lights..why?

here is the question..if i get into a rear end accident with a car with tinted tail lights..can i call foul and say i couldnt see the tail lights in current driving conditions?

[yazhound]

ah the quick reply.. just plain dumb; just like tinting over the plates....

think it would depend on the officer or... perhaps the judge should you take it that far...

[Noah930]

There's some guy on the GTO forums (or maybe he had a G8) who got a ticket (in MD?) for tinted tail lights a couple years ago. Only his were stock. Judge still sided with the ticketing officer.

So I suppose that yes, you could cry foul. There are regulations governing color of tail lights. But whether or not it would hold any water in court would depend upon the presiding judge. Just hope you wind up with the same one that the GTO dude had.

[jcommin]

I tinted my tail lights on my 944 - I like the way it looks. I bought a rear tail light assembly and experimented using candy apple red spray paint, I used red vinyl. I decided on the right color of red and had both lights sprayed and baked.

No regrets!

[craigster59]

Plasti-Dip is all the rage with the kids these days...

[Tervuren]

I'd think it would vary based on the power of the illumination coming out of those tail lights.

[redstrosekNic]

Originally Posted by yazhound

ah the quick reply.. just plain dumb; just like tinting over the plates....

think it would depend on the officer or... perhaps the judge should you take it that far...

Not a fan of the tinted lights, but I do like dark covers for the plates...

[Hugh R]

I'll bet it illegal, just like tinted driver's side windows.

[redstrosekNic]

There was some douche in an older Pontiac Grand Prix that had the darkest tinted taillights I have ever seen. It was seriously dangerous.

[ossiblue]

There are two issues, at least here in California. One is the color of the lens, the other is the red reflector. Rear lenses can be tinted (legally) if they they still produce a red light when the lights are on. However, there must always be a red reflective lens at the rear of the vehicle. This is the issue which gets most people into trouble because most modern cars have the red reflector integrated into the light lens and when they tint the lens, they also tint the red reflector.

c) All lamps and reflectors visible from the front, sides, or rear of a vehicle, except headlamps, may have any unlighted color, provided the emitted light from all lamps or reflected light from all reflectors complies with the required color. Except for backup lamps, the entire effective projected luminous area of lamps visible from the rear or mounted on the sides near the rear of a vehicle shall be covered by an inner lens of the required color when the unlighted color differs from the required emitted light color. Taillamps, stoplamps, and turn signal lamps that are visible to the rear may be white when unlighted on vehicles manufactured before January 1, 1974.

[intakexhaust]

Originally Posted by vash

ok, maybe i am officially an old curmudgeon. tinting your tail lights..why?

here is the question..if i get into a rear end accident with a car with tinted tail lights..can i call foul and say i couldnt see the tail lights in current driving conditions?

For the right car, color or style it can sometimes improve it.

I suppose you can blame your accident on anything you wish and rightfully so.

The first and only time I had them was way back around 1988. They were factory produced by Hella from Audi and fitted to a black met. 5000 turbo qttro sedan. I thought they looked great vs. a massive panel of uber crossing gate colored amber and red that covered the entire ass end. They also worked perfect with no noticable lighting difference. Some prick later tried to steal them by prying them off but cracked. Idiot thought they were a cover or something.