Are smoked headlights legal?

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sllewgh@reddit

Not just illegal, but really fucking stupid. You wanna make something as important as headlights work less well, for what? So you can do the same played out shitty cosmetic mod a million other broke posers have done to their clapped or shitboxes?

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Decent_Doubt4572@reddit

Dang bro he just asked a question 😂😂 calm down

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Some0neAwesome@reddit

I feel like you're mad at someone that isn't OP and OP is getting the blunt of it. I've seen tinted headlights on everything from clapped out 90's Nissan's to late model supercars and everything in-between. Try harder if your goal is to alienate shitbox drivers.

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sllewgh@reddit

Incorrect. I'm mad at people with dumbass headlights and no taste, a group OP aspires to join.

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Some0neAwesome@reddit

"Dumbass headlights and no taste" is a subjective opinion that you are passing as a fact so that you feel right and entitled to hate people based on VERY minute information about them. Must be miserable having as wide of a world view as a glory hole, you cantankerous dotard.

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sllewgh@reddit

I hope you stay mad about this conversation forever.

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Temporary-Author-690@reddit

You sound like the most miserable shirt d-bag ever 🤣. Cry harder about taillights please

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Some0neAwesome@reddit

I had completely forgotten about you once I closed the app 8 months ago, my dude. You, nor any other dumbass on here, are not worth 2 seconds more time than it takes to respond to your dumbass comments.

How many kids have you made get off your lawn in the last 8 months?

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Any-Committee-3685@reddit

Lmfao 🤣

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Any-Committee-3685@reddit

💀😭

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Some0neAwesome@reddit

Thank you for commenting and reminding me of this absolutely ridiculous insult!

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Aggressive-Bed3269@reddit

No. Smoked lights (head or tail) are illegal pretty much everywhere.

Will you get pulled over or ticketed for it? Depends on where you live and how much actual crime there is vs bored police looking for people to pull over.

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ImReallyFuckingHigh@reddit

I thought I’ve heard that smoked lights aren’t illegal in some places at least because when it’s smoked on the inside it doesn’t refract as much light, whereas tinting them refracts the light which is a no no

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Chase_Lazer@reddit

any light interference is illegal

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Dubzophrenia@reddit

Depends on whether or not the "smoked" part is the lenses or not.

If the headlight is opened up and the internal elements are painted black and done correctly, it doesn't negatively affect headlight performance at all.

I build headlights for fun. Here's an example.

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SubGothius@reddit

If the headlight is opened up and the internal elements are painted black

Also popularly known as a "Joey mod", which may help OP in searches to see if that's what they really mean or want.

To clarify, this mod basically involves disassembling the stock headlights at least to remove the clear front cover, removing or masking-off the actual light lenses and reflectors, and painting the rest of the chromed inner housing black, then putting the clear front cover back on.

In modern cars, most of that chrome on the inner housing behind the clear front front cover is purely cosmetic to make the headlight cluster (comprising multiple actual lamps, lenses and reflectors) look more like one big headlight for styling reasons, so all of that decorative chrome can be safely painted black without affecting the light output at all.

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jrileyy229@reddit

All these people saying no, but it depends what exactly you're referring to.

I'm guessing you're talking about the ones with black housings and led projector inside... Those are fine... If the listing on Amazon or wherever says DOT compliant, then you're good.

What I think most people are referring to are tinting the clear lense on your oem headlights

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archlich@reddit

Even if they say dot approved on Amazon they must be stamped on the housing.

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SubGothius@reddit

And even if it has DOT stamped on the front cover or housing, that doesn't necessarily mean it's actually DOT approved.

Any factory (esp. non-US ones) can make headlights with that stamp on it, doesn't mean they did the actual testing/review/certification to back it up.

Sure, they might get in trouble if found out and then may not be able to sell any more, but until then they'll have already sold a bunch and raked in some cash.

Stick with established, well-known US-based companies that have something to lose by selling counterfeit/non-compliant product.

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ruddy3499@reddit

As someone who was licensed to do state inspections dot approval is acceptable. That being said a lot of the custom lights on Amazon are crap and can’t be properly aimed and fail inspections

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jrileyy229@reddit

Well that is definitely true... while they're legal, they are probably still crap.

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Some0neAwesome@reddit

Tinted headlight lenses are illegal in most places, but typically aren't enforced until inspection time. If you really like the look of them but want to stay legal and, well...see good, then you can buy black headlight housings for your car that the entire inside is blacked out, but the lenses themselves are clear. They usually look pretty sweet on most cars.

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Dubzophrenia@reddit

Smoked headlights, or smoked lenses?

People are very quick to tell you no and call you stupid but there IS a difference.

Smoked lenses are always 100% illegal because they interfere with light output. Anything the diminishes functionality of your headlights is illegal.

Smoked headlights though, are different depending on how it's done. I build headlights, and if people want the smoked look I paint the inside of the headlight housing with black or black chrome because it doesn't change the output. The lenses remain clear which allows 100% of the light to pass through still.

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