Clear Tails . . . .

[TimestandStil77]

Alright so today im going through town and I get pulled over. The cop started giving me a hard time about having the tails on , but the thing is i have the street legal LED bulbs in them , and they are the clear tails that have the bottom red , arent they street legal ? and if so i want to fight this !

what do you guys suggest i do ? i want to plead not guilty and beat this

thanks in advance as always,

nick-

 

[udmsvt]

first of all, just because the BULBS are stree legal doesnt mean the lenses are.

second, dont know about where you are from, but here is what michigan says:
you must have a red reflector IN the lens (ie NO clear lenses).

most of the time you can get away with it, but if you get pulled over, its usually a fixit ticket with no points...i got one for having green and blue turn signals this past winter...changed them to amber and all was fine...then changed back.

basicially, altezzas ARE legal, clears ARENT.

 

[jimbo74]

you say they are red on the bottom? can you get us a picture so we can try and help you?

 

[99exEB1]

I think he has the tails like nnnick, if you know what those look like.

 

[Black Magic]

Most states laws state that the break light must be produced by clear light through a red lense.

 

[DarkFox1]

I remember towards the end of the lifespan of the clear tails by APc the part numberes were something like 40.24.TL and 40.24.TLR.. supposedly the TLR had a red reverse lense, which were claimed to be street legal so long as the bulb was street legal.

I beleive the law varies from state to state as to what is legal, calling the police dept here 3 times however.. will get you 3 different answers, basically you'd have to talk with someone who knows the DMVs stance on these and more importantly knows what they are.. I was shocked when I talked ot my local law enforcement that most of them had never even heard of clear taillights let alone known if they were legal or not.

I think technically yours are supposed to be the legal kind, but I do not beleive even if yo uwent to court on the issue you would get "away with it" because the federal govt gave APC such a fuss about these lenses..

I heard the federal govt contacted all makers of total clear lenses and TLRs like the ones I tihnk you have and fined them hefty fines for production of these items and forced them to stop production and destroy all stock not already sold.

You know they make altezzas for all models of Xs now, I know they're not as cool as the total clears, but they are street legal.. you may want to consider a pair.. they look better on a truck than the product pictures show, really..

good luck!

 

[udmsvt]

yes they do!

 

[TimestandStil77]

thanks for the help. I do have the same clears as nnnick they have the red reverse at the bottom , clear brake , and clear turn , but i switched the harness's so that the reverse on top and the turns are on the bottom . .. and i put a clear regular reverse bulb in on top and red LED's in . . .I think i'm going to try to paint the middle section of the clears just so they dont bother me anyone know where i can get the paint ?

thanks for the help guys,

nick-

 

[jssong]

any local ricer shop.

 

[Hartman]

If you go to Wal-Mart or a hobby shop you can get Testors transparent candy apple red paint in the model section. That is what most people use to paint lenses. It works pretty good.

 

[TimestandStil77]

nice i'm going to give it a shot, thanks for the help guys.

NIck -

 

[rydinhigh]

Why couldn't you just take the wire with the bulb for the brake and put it in the lower part where the red is?

 

[DarkFox1]

wouldn't that look silly tho?

 

[rydinhigh]

so what? he would have the red lens that the brake lights need to be legal.

 

[nnnick]

they are legal. tell the cop to go find a real crime to fight....

I had tail lights exactly the same. I moved the lights around and had the brake light in the bottom where it was painted red....and then the reverse lights in the middle. They didn't fit in the holes obviously, but i just squeezed em in there then sealed it with duct tape. Worked great, the brakes lit up red, never had a problem, and i even asked a few cops and they said they seemed perfectly legal to them....

 

[sonkakaro]

Nick i just bought a pair like yours. How tight was the fit to get the brake line to go to the bottom red lense? I haven't received them yet which will probably be another week but i had planned to do what you did so i don't get pulled over.

 

[SilverX]

Do they make altezza tails for the 01+ sports? Last I heard, they didnt, but if they do now I want a set.

 

[xplorerchic]

Originally posted by SilverX
Do they make altezza tails for the 01+ sports? Last I heard, they didnt, but if they do now I want a set.

TYC is working on taillights - they are supposed to be out early fall