Page 1 of 1

Tinted Lights

PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 1:30 pm
by Laps
Okay I need your help with my decision,

Before I start, I'm justing going to start off by saying I don't care about whether or not these are legal lol...

GTBSPECB STI is doing a Group Buy on Smoked Tail/Head Lights.

I currently have 50% smoke on my tail lights, but am thinking about going to 30%. What do you guys think (keeping in mind I have a black car with black wheels)?

Im also thinking about tinting my head/fog lights in 50% or 30%...

Heres some Pics (keep in mind I am having my chrome tailight strips painted obsidian black, hold ur finger or something over the chrome strip to get a better idea :))...

Taillights

Stock Taillights
Image

50% (Current - Light Smoke)
Image

30% (Normal Smoke)
Image

Headlights

Stock Headlights
Image

50% (Light Smoke)
Image
Image

30% (Normal Smoke)
Image
Image

Please let me know your thoughts and opinions on headlights/taillights. Im even open to the option of leaving everything as is lol!

Re: Tinted Lights

PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 3:01 pm
by mihai
TBH, i wouldnt tint your headlights. You will get less light output.

As for rears, it comes down to personal preference.

Re: Tinted Lights

PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 3:20 pm
by jdm rsk
Just for you info. A mate of myn had his tail lights tinted. He got rear ended and due to the tint was found to be at fault and his insurance company cancelled his policy


Ohh and the 1st BMW's headlights look good

Re: Tinted Lights

PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 3:23 pm
by Laps
jdm rsk wrote:Just for you info. A mate of myn had his tail lights tinted. He got rear ended and due to the tint was found to be at fault and his insurance company cancelled his policy


Ohh and the 1st BMW's headlights look good


Oh really... Maybe im best to stay with my 50% taillights then... I also just noticed that 30% make the white part of the taillight look like its brown or something :?


Yeh I was leaning towards 50% for headlights :)

Re: Tinted Lights

PostPosted: Sat Jun 26, 2010 8:03 pm
by Weerty
Laps,

dont know if you saw my post in the group buy post, but will copy and paste it here..


==============================================================================================================================================
hi all,

just a word of caution, nothing to do with being illegal...etc

But i had smoked tint for my head and til lights of my previous car - what i found was over a period of only about 3 months of having the tint on the headlghts, the the actual headlight cover had warped due to the concentration of the heat/light where the low beam was shining through (obviously as i use low beam more than high beam), and the heat could not escape effectivly enough from the headlight due to being encapsulated by the tinting. The warping didnt look very good and it ended up distorting the beam in the end.

Also on the tail lights, if there are any impecfections/raised symbols/letting on the lights this may also become an issue when removing the tinting because as the light heats the cover, the tinting expands sightly, when the light is turned off it contracts - and then it is effectively stuck/burned on to the tail light cover.

+'s
smoked tint does look cool and would probably be bst used on show cars
really easy installation - slightly soapy water and a squeege

-'s
the distortion of the head lamp cover
the melting of the tinting on to raised lettering/symbols
the amount of light that is actually reduced by the tinting
the precut shape of the tinting - mine was slightly too small for the headlight/tail lights so i effectively had a 'boarder' around my lights of the original light that i was trying to cover which i didnt like the look of

in summary
having done it previously i wouldnt bother doing it again... its really just a cheap and nasty product which can have major repercussions down the track.