Headlight tinting

HDi fun said:
Just because you've seen 'em and the cars have been issued an MoT certificate does NOT mean that they're automatically legal on the road.

Blue coloured filament lamps do make cars look very silly, especially when the headlights are turned off. There's that blue reflection from the headlight interior.

Some lamps have a very subtle blue/purple filter - these to look quite good - and because it's so subtle there's no attenuation of light.
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I've got rainbow sidelights in the Primera and I know these are not road legal as it says so on the packaging but it still passed it's mot so I do agree with you there HDi. I know the mechanic who MOT's my car an he is quite a good friend. Many people may have this same friend in the MOT business...
 
But if I tinted my bulbs with spray would that make them blue and better? I could just put fog lights on as well to make up for the light. But my headlight bulbs are already 55 watt anyway
 
Fogs are useless for seeing the road ahead. All they do is give you a wide low beam pattern for when dip beams are causing too much reflection in heavy fog.

Blue tints are totally legal. They just look silly in my opinion.

What you cannot do lawfully is fit a high wattage lamp (the correct term for bulb) to make up for the light that the blue filter removes. Unless, of course, you're driving it off road.

High wattage lamps can also overload relays and wiring looms so these are best avoided.

To be honest, the construction and usage regs are so out of date now. You're forbidden from using lamps of more than 55w electrical input yet you're allow to fit 55watt ones that give 90% more light than standard (Osram Nightbreaker, for example).
 
also putting on the fog lights again is unlawful, if you get stopped that could me 2 fines if the police are in a bad mood.

i can agree with HDi i used 130w bulbs in my civic on auxually driving lights and ended up having to have 1 relay for each light after burning out my wiring due to overloading.
 
I've never yet encountered a situation where front foglights have been useful. Both the cars I've had in the last ten years were fitted with 'em and the only time they ever came on was for the MoT examination.
 
i use mine quite alot as the headlights are crap to put it bluntly. they have a decent range on them but not so good with the low level, even messing about with the leveling makes no difference. supposidly this is a well known problem with the bora and is only made worse by swapping out for angel eyes, projectors. the obly way of bettering it is to go down the HID route but at £700 its slightly out of my range.
 
I have a mate who has an Audi A3 1.8T and her lights are crap. As are the ones in ourown Seat Ibiza. This seems to be a VAG problem in the lower specified cars.

Both these cars have H4 fitments (ie. dip and main in one enclosure). I reckon this might be part of the problem.

My car has separate H7s for dip and main (the Nissan used H1s). These are obviously in reflectors with geometry optimised for each purpose which probably helps the beam pattern.
 
I see about 10 people a day who have their fog lights on. Even some people during the day.. do you think they've been fined?
Would blue tint spray look good on my 'improved' headlights and sidelights? One problem I'll have is actually spraying them, I don't think I can do it. And finding a garage that will spray headlights is very, very difficult.
 
DOn't spray em, just go and but a set of blue tinted lamps. I think, although I'm unsure of this, that colouring the front lens possibly is disallowed.
 
Nice one Jeben - HDi is a fastidious bugger and he does try to keep things the right side of legality or, more accurately lawful usage.

Can you see OK with 'em as well?
 
What do you mean by blue tinted lamps? I hope you don't mean bulbs, I just spent £50 on bright white lamps that said they were blue
 
Chris7024 said:
I see about 10 people a day who have their fog lights on. Even some people during the day.. do you think they've been fined?
Would blue tint spray look good on my 'improved' headlights and sidelights? One problem I'll have is actually spraying them, I don't think I can do it. And finding a garage that will spray headlights is very, very difficult.
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it must depend on the enforcement, i know plenty that have been fined for having them on. i think im lucky as mine are in the headlight themselves you cant see there on unless your up close.

if your insistent look for tinting vinyl rather than spray this way if you get told to take it off your not sitting there scraping the paint off the plastic which is going to damage it. and mean buying a new casing.


HDi think you could be right ive got the H4 lamps whereas the wifes golf has the H1 and H7 setup and there alot better.
 
pgarner said:
it must depend on the enforcement, i know plenty that have been fined for having them on. i think im lucky as mine are in the headlight themselves you cant see there on unless your up close.

if your insistent look for tinting vinyl rather than spray this way if you get told to take it off your not sitting there scraping the paint off the plastic which is going to damage it. and mean buying a new casing.


HDi think you could be right ive got the H4 lamps whereas the wifes golf has the H1 and H7 setup and there alot better.
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My mum got fined a few years ago for having the fog lights on. Depends on how the police feel at the time... As for spraying you headlights I wouldn't do it. I'd do what P Garner has said get the Vinyl cause if you spray them the police won't wait for you to scrape it off they will just impound the car until you can replace the lights unless you yourself get get it towed on a flatbed there and then...
 
Yeah I got "laser blue" lamps. They were only £4 the sidelights and about £40 for the headlights. But it's just clear white light.. maybe they're a bit lighter but I can't see any blue unless I look close directly into the light I can see a tiny bit of blue colour at the back of the light. But there's no blue light visible if you're over a few feet away. What a waste of money, I hope I can take them back. Where can I find those film/vinyl tints and how much do you think they'd cost?
 
HDi fun said:
Nice one Jeben - HDi is a fastidious bugger and he does try to keep things the right side of legality or, more accurately lawful usage.

Can you see OK with 'em as well?
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yes HDI i can see fine with them they are VERY very bright and especially on high beam much brighter then normal car lights!
i would highly recommend these instead of tryin to spray the bulb/lamp! it is much safer and is within the law!

as for fog lights u shud not have them on unless it is foggy(quite simple really) you restrict other road users vision as the lights are brighter and reflect off the road etc....
there are certain circumstances like on Peugeot 205 the front fog lights arent "fog lights" they are driving lights,this means that when u have your normal headlights on these so called fog lights come on!
 
Thanks for your help pgarner but that's window tint I'm looking for headlight tint. Do you think I'd find it in Halfords or a similar shop? And will it be proper blue this time?
 
yeah i couldnt find any light tints other than black for the rears.
Halfrauds might sell it but i wouldnt hope for much out of them.

the blue will depen on how dark the tint is. the darker the more blue, however less avalible light, it will be
 
Well the bulbs I've got now are slightly brighter than the ones I had before. So if I got the tint it'd just be the same brightness as before right? Is there any other place other than Halfrauds? Their name puts me off.. LOL
 
i lost faith in halfords a looooonnnnggg time ago.
not necessarily it would depend on the tint. i think youll feel like your driving with sidelights on when there in dipped.

have you not got a decent car shop around your way
 
Is there a tint I should look for for good brightness? There's only two other stores I can think of... motor world and spares world. Have you heard of those?
 
heard of motor world but nearest is 100 mile away.
if you go for a light tint you will get more light on the road but will sacrifice the blue that your after
 
you can get blue led sidelights, but as you will be putting the vinyl over thewhole headlight unit itll not matter

nightbreakers are on ebay for ~£13 for a pair expect to pay around £20 in the shops.
im thinking about trying them
 
So the vinyl will cover both headlights and sidelights? Is it worth paying £20 for these instead of like £5 for other ones?
 
It says those nightbreaker things are for a whiter light not a blue light. I thought it was some vinyl, film you put over the lense.. not bulbs
 
I phoned Halfrauds and told them how their stupid "blue" bulbs are actually completely white. The dude on the phone said they wouldn't be "blue blue" cause that would be off-road only. I then said they're not blue at all.. not even white blue, they're bright white. He said to bring my car down later, hopefully they can replace them with decent bulbs or something. They'd better... since I spent like £50!
 
Basically the dude said they're legally the bluest you can get.. but I've seen loads of cars with real blue lights. Just look at the LED lights that come with Audis and Mercedes, are they illegal? I don't think so. I asked him about the headlight film and he said what colour? I said blue.. he said they only do yellow and red for the back lights. Then he was shocked that he realised I wanted to put them over my headlights. I could've got a refund for the lamps but I didn't. I still have that spray tint.. I should try using it
 
the lights you see on Audi and Merc, along with a lot others now, are High Intensity Discharge (HID) kits these cost around £150 for a decent set. they are avalible from briliant white to a purple colour epending on the tempreture of the lamp.

although you can get upgrade kits that replace your standard bulbs they are unlawful as you require headlight washers and auto leveling, not the manual switch thats on the dash. they should also fail the MOT if the tester is doing his job properly as the beam pattern will be off due to using the halogen reflectors rather than the HID ones

spray tint the plastic by all means but i wouldnt like to be you when your stopped and having to scrap it off. DONT put it on the bulbs as they will overheat and blow
 
Just get some decent H1, H7 , H4 whatever uprated bright white lamps and enjoy the massive improvement in foward vision at night. Accept that you can't stylise this part of your car and spend money on something else.

Trust me, you will not like the vision that the heavily tinted Osram, Philips, GE, Ring etc lamps afford you. The blue filters really do cut down vision and visiblity.

Even if you do fit 'em. Everyone knows they're not discharge lamps.

Discharge lamps are also subject to scrutiny - there's some thoughts that the vision the offer is not as good as their +300% brightness might suggest.

Why do you think that top class restaurant kitchens are fitted with dichroic halogens in addition to fluorescent lamps?
 
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Well I already bought the tint a while ago anyway. Do you really think the police would notice it's tint?
 
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