Are euro (yellow) headlights OK in your state?

[SCWDP911]

Well, it is kind of not technical, but it sure could be valuable information as I found out today. First, what I found out. I had been wanting to change my H4 lenses to the yellow, as I thought it would look nice with the Ruby Red car. So I called my local State Trooper's office to ask what the law was regarding such. Boy am I glad I did...

In the Volunteer State of Tennesee, they will pull you over and cite you for anything other than clear lenses and clear bulbs, or at least they can. Then he told me if they did cite you for it, it was a flat $189 fine. Ouch! Guess I will keep the clear lenses.

So why the thread? Let's get a rep from all 50 states and maybe the provinces north of the border to tell us what their state law is for this scenario. Please only respond if you know for sure. Let us not be con-fuz-ed. Maybe we can save each other some fines when travelling across enem... uh, state lines!

[911s55]

Yellow is for the French! Go figure

[slodave]

They are not legal in Cali either, but there are a couple of 911s that have them. I don't think they are legal at all in the U.S. The D.O.T regulates that.

[TRE Cup]

Actually and surprisingly they are legal in california! Some of the pelicanites here can help with the statute that says this
They are not legal in france anymore , except on vehicles that are participating in a vintage sporting event (classic rallies, races, tours etc)

[slodave]

Originally Posted by TRE Cup

Actually and surprisingly they are legal in california! Some of the pelicanites here can help with the statute that says this
They are not legal in france anymore , except on vehicles that are participating in a vintage sporting event (classic rallies, races, tours etc)

I stand corrected.

[Dave Nordhoff]

[jbrinkley]

good to go in La

[Gumba11]

I have never been bugged about it in Portland but Im not saying they are legal either.....LOL!

There was supposed to be a pic here. Lets try this.....



.................................................. ......................Chris

[SCWDP911]

Sounds like I need to move!

[joe payne]

Wow! I need to start driving my car at night. I'm surprised they're not illegal here in California.
For a state that loves its tricked out/modified automobiles we have alot of laws that restricts them. It's those new super blue lights that fry my retina's now.

[PorscheGuy79]

Honestly, and I know there are some of us here that have similar situations, if I was pulled over by a cop who knew the book and really wanted to take time on my car...he wouldnt have any trouble finding some tickets.

I personally run without a front license plate, illegal here in IL, but I have owned and daily driven the car for 1-2 years without so much as a warning or a slap on the wrist. If I was driving a '92 Civic Hatch with some BOSS red turn signals and a "racing muffler", I might not be so lucky.

[pwd72s]

Looks absolutely stupid to me...but one gruppe's fad is another's opinion. To each his own on "yeller" headlights.

[PorscheGuy79]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Looks absolutely stupid to me...but one gruppe's fad is another's opinion. To each his own on "yeller" headlights.

Yeah, well, well, Your face looks stupid!


I got him guys, I got him good.

[RWebb]

they look ok on green!

or black

otherwise no

But... they cut the amount of light reaching the road. Why would anyone do that?

[PorscheGuy79]

Originally Posted by RWebb

they look ok on green!

or black

otherwise no

But... they cut the amount of light reaching the road. Why would anyone do that?

A serious question, why were they dont in the first place? Ascetics or did it have something to do with Rally? Im not sure, curious if anyone knows.

[Dave Nordhoff]

I teach my children not to use the word STUPID and they like yellow headlamps.
Dave

[Dave Nordhoff]

I also teach them the age old saying " If you can't say sompthing nice, don't say anything at all"
This is not teached or learned by many these days.
Dave

[SCWDP911]

BOT boys... you digress.

[RWebb]

"why were they [used] in the first place? Ascetics or did it have something to do with Rally?"

You meant aesthetics, right? If so, no.

Long ago it was thought that they helped one see better in inclement weather (fog, rain, blowing snow). The idea was that since you are cutting out the shorter wavelengths (blue) that would help you see better or have lower eyestrain. No one could ever verify that, so the idea was abandoned. Today, we use low mounted lights with a sharp cutoff - and those work better than yellow lights.

Yellow also impairs color vision, so you are giving the driver less information. In an adjacent city (Springfield) they had lots of the sodium vapor yellowish street lights and are planning to take them all out in favor of new white lights. One reason is to give drivers back their color vision - or as much as they can get given the low illumination levels.

ascetic means voluntarily giving up something BTW - often for religious reasons

[rnln]

more visibility but illegal, at least here in Cal. I always wanted it but don't want to waste time with caps and DMV.