On 10/27/2012 1:57 AM, charlie wrote:
> On 10/26/2012 10:34 AM, Frank Berger wrote:
>> 1. Rear window is tinted - that's against MD law. Have to have the
>> tint removed.
>> 2. Car is too low. I assume (hope) putting pack the 17" wheels will
>> make it legal.
>> 3. Right tail light is missing. Not burned out, housing is missing.
>> Never noticed that.
>>
>> Grrr.
>
> In Georgia, the rear window tint will often result in a ticket.
> The tail light bit is understandable.
> Ride height too low? I haven't heard of that one!
> We've got a bunch of red necks/swamp rats that jack pickups up several
> feet, beyond what I always thought was allowable, and I've not heard of
> that causing tickets.
>
> The state I grew up in, Illinois, used to have a law that the license
> plates had to be a minimum distance from the ground. The front plate on
> a Miata passed if the stock mount was used, and might not if it was
> moved down from the mouth.
>
> How can the housing be missing? What attaches the tail light lens to the
> body?


You can remove the tint yourself if you have something that creates
steam. Warm/to hot very moist air starts the process, and makes removal
much easier. Dish washing soap and water, with something like Windex, or
a very small amount of ammonia added to the dish washing solution also
helps, and should be repeatedly sprayed on the film. Patience is the
word. Don't scrape any heating grid elements. Generally, you would get a
corner of the film to lift, then spray the warm/solution on followed by
steam, then, after a bit, gently pull on the corner until you feel a
change. Spray some more solution on, add more steam, wait, and as the
film loosens, gently pull again. Once the film is off, there may be some
of the glue remaining. The same process can be used to remove it. You
can also score the film with a razor blade to help the solution/steam
penetrate, but it's easy to scratch the glass or the heat grid elements.

If you have a plastic window, test the solution on a small unimportant
area first. Ammonia can cause problems with some plastics and fabrics.
With the plastic windows, and high heat areas like Texas, some plastic
films can
be a real problem to remove, and cause window replacement to be necessary.