The other day I found a brand new set of blackout taillight covers and rear deck lid blackout for 75, which i talked down to 60. Not too bad considering they would retail for about 100 altogether, at least in my opinion.

Anyways, I had just picked up my car from getting tinted and was putting the covers over the taillights to see how they looked, when a guy walked buy and said that the covers were becoming illegal in several different counties or states, because of not being able to see the brake lights or turn signals. I had never heard of this, but i tried braking and putting the turn signal on, during the day and again at night; and i though you could see the brake lights and turn signals just fine in both daytime and nighttime.

Anyone know or heard of anything about them being illegal?

Thanks in advance

Ps. Put them on anyways and love the look it gives the car, although I decided to hold off on the deck lid because it seemed like too much black.

 

They are illegal in many states. There is a DOT requirement that they have a certain light output during braking and turn signals as well as marking the vehicle in the dark. Anything that you do to darken the taillamps reduces the required light output. You may be able to see light but it's never enough light. I have driven behind morons with all sorts of tint and covers and I can never see their taillamps light up well enough...Never mind that they are completely invisible in bright sunlight.

 

It really just depends. As long as you can safely see all the lights you shoul be fine. And considering our lights are some of the brightest on the road i think you should be fine

 

Well I guess, I ll just have them on till I get told otherwise. Thought about even going to my local precint and having someone look at it and telling me if they are fine or proned to be fined lol. I figure if I get told to take them off I ll just put the deck lid blackout to give it that black accent.

 

Not to mention the factory tail lights/turn signal lights have reflective properties incorporated in the design. Thus if your vehicle is parked without lights on, another operator would be able to see your vehicle at a distance no less than 300'. By covering them with a tinted plastic, you may also take the reflective property away. Won't be a problem until someone rear ends your parked car!

 

It's illegal in Texas. DPS will DEFINITELY pull you over just for the tint on the lights (front or back), and county sheriffs are likely to, but if you are stopped by the local cops for speeding, expect a tint ticket from them as well. They'll also ding you for too-dark window tint while they have you stopped. DPS will also stop you for no front plate.

I see DPS and county sheriffs every day, so my car is legal. I hate being stopped.

 

Thanks for the info, and obviously your from texas and seem to be sure on the law. FML, i guess I m not going tontake the chance of getting fined for the covers and tint, so i ll just pull them off and put the blackout deck lid :/.

What part of texas are you from if you dont mind me asking?

 

 

San Antonio. I wish I had your headlights. I want the ones with the black bezel (mine are chrome).

My car is white as well.

 

Cool, I live in the valley. I never even knew there was a difference in headlights.

 

Btw nice car! The reason I asked where you were from is because i ve seen one similar around here.

Everything I ve thought of doing Isnt going to workout lol. I really want rims but want to hold off a while so i can do other things, so i m going to get my factories painted gloss black for now. I m also getting a boss intake manifold and C&L soon for 700 from the guy who sold me my mustang and he only used them for 1500 miles . He ended up getting a roush supercharger :O. Lol

 

I have plenty buds with tinted lights an cops neee pay much attention to em. Only if theyre way too dark really. And im from corpus christi and we probably have some of the most relaxed cops in the south lol

 

I actually used plasti-dip to black out mine. I've talked to several officers about it (city, county, state) (fort worth area) and they all say it's fine. It's more of an officer to officer thing. They let enough light needed to see behind me out during the day, so it works for me.

 

Did you read about the license plate law change in TX. See this link for a brief summary: http://dallasattorney.com/blog/114-n...ng-key-element You can google it and find many news articles around it.

In short, TX was rewriting the law that made a front license plate required by law. The phrase that made it illegal not to have a front license plate was inavertantly omitted in the rewritten law. It will be Jan 2013 at the earliest I have read to correct it, if corrected at all. We know how much red tape there is in getting laws passed. I am hopeful it remains off the books. Officers may still stop and ticket you though as this isn't widely known. However it should be an easy ticket to have dismissed outright withouth paying any penalty at all.

 

Dismissed by who? A judge. How do you get it dismissed? Go to court? Take a day off work to go to court and wait for a judged to dismiss it? Lose a days pay? Probably cheaper to pay the ticket.

 

I had my body guy tint them with special paint on my 06 but you could still see the lights perfect. Never had a problem with the LEO. However I have seen after market covers and they are way to dark.

 

It's cheaper just to have a front plate, and avoid the issue altogether. Being stopped by a cop for any reason is a pain. You don't know what kind of day he's having, and if you say or do the wrong thing, he'll ding you till your ears bleed.

I have legal window tint, a front plate, no light tint, and I don't speed or do otherwise stupid crap in the street. My car is flashy enough - I have no intention of drawing even more attention on myself. I'll leave that for the younger guys that want to spit into the wind.

 

In NY any tint is illegal, however I never got hassled for 35% on the side windows and 20% on the back in NY, Plan on getting that on the new car. But I am not tinting the lights this time since the 2013 does not need that on the rear and the look of the new headlights it would take away from the car to tint those.

 

I've had tinted tails and headlights for a couple of years now at least. Never been pulled over but I know that DPS would pull me over in a second if they saw me out on the highway. Same goes for no front plate. Got pulled over for it once and got a warning by a trooper.

Local cops and deputies see me everywhere I drive and never give me a second look. They just don't care. But Texas DPS does.

So if I drive highways I'm takin my chances. I've passed inspection with the headlights and taillights but the guys always tell me that if I get caught I'd better say I put them on after the annual inspection.

 

While those things may be annoying and inconvenient, my rights are worth more. If I follow the law and am ticketed for something that is not illegal as written and approved by my law makers, you bet I am fighting it. I will not put a front plate on it. It's ugly and I don't want to drill my front bumper. And it is legal!