all new cars have to have an orange reflector. whether it be behind the clear lenses or whatever. it is there. yes there are many new cars that come with headlights with clear lenses, but behind the lense is an amber reflector that is required by law.
there is no car out there driven on the streets that could have passed dot sae regulations without an orange reflector.
and just because your clear corners have a reflector and you put in an orange bulb doesn’t mean its legal despite what a cop says. now some cops may be more lenient than others in enforcing this rule. the reflector part is still clear when infact it needs to be amber. it is illegal if there is no orange reflector.
no, jdm 1-pieces don’t have an orange reflector or any type of reflector, which makes them illegal. as stated already.
edit: your 05 altima has an orange reflector behind the clear lense. there is no clear corner on there. the clear part is the whole lense of the headlight.
BMW got nothing amber/yellow…i know a cop that clear corners are ok as long as they work and as for the back nothing white beside backup light but in the front is ok to have white lights so all my lights in the front are white (headlight/clear corners/lower corner)…signals in the back are yellow but it comes out red blinkers cuz i got a red led bul to make it come out red (looks nice but blink freakin fast)
Which BMW you talking about? I would like to see this. All cars issued in US must have an amber reflector on front of car, it doesn’t have to be in the corner light. It just has to be on the corner of the car.
Has anyone considered putting that 3M reflective tape on their jdm one piece headlights?
I was looking at buying this stuff in orange with the small diamond pattern. If you look closely at the side of the jdm teg headlights you will see a place (closest to the front doors) where no light shines out of the parking lights. I want to cut a small piece of reflective tape that follows this area and put it on. Do you fellow g2icer’s think this would be legal then? Because I won’t do it if it doesn’t make the lights sae legal.
By the way, I have thought about cutting a hole out of the bumper to insert a reflector, but I think it would not look very cool.
There is also the possibility of running the reflective tape across the bottom of the headlights thereby giving it a style like the 98-02 Honda Accord headlights.
Dont quote me on it… but i think it’d make everything legal. From all the cars i’ve seen imported, all they had to do was slap on some oval reflectors on the corner of the car (most often on the bumper) so if it’s big enough, and visible i think it would be legal… Mind you… i’ve never been in crap for them…
Yeah, I think I’m going to try the reflector tape idea as it’s pretty inexpensive. If it goes well I’ll let everyone know. Xtreme98 thanks for your input.
well would having a side marker count in a way since its in the front kind of like the bmw posted? also cant you buy some amber reflector at like u-haul and stick it inside the jdm headlights where that strip is on the end and stick it on there might look a little tacky but its safe…just some thoughts that popped in my noggin
This topic makes me want to go down to the police station and ask a cop what is leagle and what isnt. it would make sence to me if it were in fact leagle and as long as you have a flashable spot to flash a little amber all would be ok. think about the 94-99 teggys. they have no orange on the front lights… idk i could be wrong, ill pm the guy and see what he says lol
ok i just shot a pm to a local police officer that posts on another forum that i get on. here is what he said.
if you put amber bulbs in there then it is still legal.
although i dont normally worry about it when im working, but i do know some that do.
the law is, 2 foward facing white lights and 2 amber corner markers for turn signals.
if the corners are clear then you need to change the bulb from a white bulb to an amber bulb
so as he states it as long as your bumper bulbs are amber as well as the sidemarkers. he says nothing about making the side of the one pieces orange. or that they have to blink. just thought i would pass this along but it is in fact legal in Kansas.
The reflector has to be amber. If you put an amber bulb in and when a headlight shines on it, it does not reflect back amber like a real amber reflector. Not only that, the main thing is jdm lights are NOT DOT approved.
8-1711
Chapter 8.–AUTOMOBILES AND OTHER VEHICLES
Article 17.–UNIFORM ACT REGULATING TRAFFIC; EQUIPMENT OF VEHICLES
8-1711. Color of clearance lamps, identification lamps, side marker lamps and reflectors. (a) Front clearance lamps, identification lamps and those marker lamps and reflectors mounted on the front or on the side near the front of a vehicle shall display or reflect an amber color.
(b) Rear clearance lamps, identification lamps and those marker lamps and reflectors mounted on the rear or on the sides near the rear of a vehicle shall display or reflect a red color.
Go down to your local Police station and confirm it.
Just because there is an amber bulb behind the lens doesn’t mean it will display the amber well enough to be legal. Look at the JDM headlights. The corner part isn’t crystal clear and the bulb that goes in there is really small. Small bulb and semi-translucent lens isn’t going to do wonders when trying to shine amber through.
