Is the use of "Nite Shades" on taillights legal?

wrote:

> > Application of a tinted coating or any kind of covering, even a clear one,
> > over a lighting device is prohibited by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety
> > Standard 108 (Lamps and Reflective Devices).

> My wife's son has a Jaguar that has now lost the two RHS lenses over the
> right headlights (Not a sealed beam application). The lights work, but he
> cannot find these lenses in the junkyards, and the new price looks
> frighteningly like a couple hundred bucks each.

>From the dealer, probably so. There may exist aftermarket options you
aren't yet aware of. What year and model Jaguar is this?

> We used to install plastic rock guards over the headlights of our company
> cars to stop the almost continuous replacement of the sealed beams.
> Do you interpret this legislation (And I cannot see any reason why it
> wouldn't) to prevent such protective covers?

Indeed it does prohibit clear lamp guards. Sounds silly? Well...yeah,
until you remember that most of the "clear" guards are made out of a
material that is not optically clear; transmissivity is generally about
85%. So right out of the bag, you're losing 15% of your headlamp
performance. With one particular stick-on film ("Stongard"), the loss
is closer to 20%. And as far as I know, there are no headlamp guards
made to automotive standards of resistance to UV and abrasion. Think
about that for a minute: In North America, the standards for UV and
abrasion resistance are pretty pathetic, as can be seen by walking down
any street and looking at all the yellowed, cloudy, sandblasted plastic
headlight lenses. The guards aren't even made to _that_ pathetic level
of environmental resistance. Not that they couldn't be, for the
materials are available on the open market -- it's just that they're
not.

Add in the tendency of some guard designs to collect condensation
and/or dirt, and you begin to see why US law forbids guards of any
type, whether clear or tinted.

In practice, of course, if you start out with good quality
clear/untinted guards and keep on top of them, cleaning them when they
need it, replacing them when they go cloudy and get scratched, then
you're not too likely to run into legal trouble.

I really think the best overall solution to the problem is replaceable
headlamp lenses, preferably made out of glass.

DS

In article .com>,
says...

>I noticed that the product disclaimer says - "This product is for
>off-road use only and can only be shipped to the continental US." This
>implies to me it is technically illegal, but does its use actually
>cause problems with law enforcement / vehicle inspection?

Not technically illegal, it is illegal. With good reason too. Anything you
put on the light is going to deminish the brightness. A bad idea with no
benefits.
-----------
Alex

"Daniel J. Stern" > wrote in message
oups.com...

> >From the dealer, probably so. There may exist aftermarket options you
> aren't yet aware of. What year and model Jaguar is this?
> I really think the best overall solution to the problem is replaceable
> headlamp lenses, preferably made out of glass.
>
> DS

It is a 1999 Van den Plas. The lenses are round glass units, approximately
6 inches in diameter (I would estimate).

Alex Rodriguez > writes in article > dated Wed, 04 Jan 2006 15:05:10 -0500:
>In article .com>,
says...
>
>>I noticed that the product disclaimer says - "This product is for
>>off-road use only and can only be shipped to the continental US." This
>>implies to me it is technically illegal, but does its use actually
>>cause problems with law enforcement / vehicle inspection?
>
>Not technically illegal, it is illegal. With good reason too. Anything you
>put on the light is going to deminish the brightness. A bad idea with no
>benefits.

Whatever tinting does to the brightness of the lights, it will do doubly to
the brightness of the reflectors. Light from another car's headlights would
have to go through the tint layer twice.

-- spud_demon -at- thundermaker.net
The above may not (yet) represent the opinions of my employer.

'Off road use only' means it is 'not' street legal, period.

I have been pulled over on several occasions over the years for having
dirty rear lights so it is easy to get nailed for it.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Aug./05 http://www.imagestation.com/album/in...?id=2120343242
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

Ed White wrote:
>
> Is it legal to use the "Nite Shades" on taillight lens? This product
> darkens the lens. It seems to me this must have an impact on the amount
> of light emitted through the lens. Are there rules/regulations/laws
> that are in conflict with this product?
>
> Examples of its appliation can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/7h83x
> Product information is at
> http://www.stevensautoglaze.com/nati...o/niteshds.htm
>
> I noticed that the product disclaimer says - "This product is for
> off-road use only and can only be shipped to the continental US." This
> implies to me it is technically illegal, but does its use actually
> cause problems with law enforcement / vehicle inspection?
>
> Ed

Daniel J. Stern wrote:

> I really think the best overall solution to the problem is replaceable
> headlamp lenses, preferably made out of glass.
>

And made only in a handful (10 or less) STANDARDIZED form factors used
by all carmakers so that when it comes time to replace them, its cheap
and easy regardless of the car's brand or age... rather than so
expensive that owners tend to leave them broken until absolutely forced
to fix them by a failed inspection.

On Thu, 5 Jan 2006, Steve wrote:

>> I really think the best overall solution to the problem is replaceable
>> headlamp lenses, preferably made out of glass.
>
> And made only in a handful (10 or less) STANDARDIZED form factors used
> by all carmakers so that when it comes time to replace them, its cheap
> and easy regardless of the car's brand or age... rather than so
> expensive that owners tend to leave them broken until absolutely forced
> to fix them by a failed inspection.

That, too!

DS

Daniel J. Stern wrote:

> On Thu, 5 Jan 2006, Steve wrote:
>
>>> I really think the best overall solution to the problem is
>>> replaceable headlamp lenses, preferably made out of glass.
>>
>>
>> And made only in a handful (10 or less) STANDARDIZED form factors used
>> by all carmakers so that when it comes time to replace them, its cheap
>> and easy regardless of the car's brand or age... rather than so
>> expensive that owners tend to leave them broken until absolutely
>> forced to fix them by a failed inspection.
>
>
> That, too!

And I forgot the most important thing- ALL of the form factors should
have excellent photometry, avoiding the 94 Camaro / 1st-gen LH / etc.
sub-par performance of vehicle-specific headlamps.

"Steve" > wrote in message
...
> Daniel J. Stern wrote:
>
> > I really think the best overall solution to the problem is replaceable
> > headlamp lenses, preferably made out of glass.
> >
>
> And made only in a handful (10 or less) STANDARDIZED form factors used
> by all carmakers so that when it comes time to replace them, its cheap
> and easy regardless of the car's brand or age... rather than so
> expensive that owners tend to leave them broken until absolutely forced
> to fix them by a failed inspection.

That would make it very convenient, but when some manufacturers get their
'fat' from humping egocentric yuppies, things are not likely to get more
standardized.

A little judgement, used when buying certain automobiles, would go miles.

If one can't afford a Ferrari, then one shouldn't buy it. If 'one' cant
afford to
maintain the POS he bought, maybe he could get a second job, OR sell said
POS. Or buy a Ford Feces, or something else within his ability.

wrote:

>
> A little judgement, used when buying certain automobiles, would go miles.

If there was much choice, then yes. Have you priced replacement "aero"
headlamps? Even for "common" cars? Or "cheap" cars?

>Or buy a Ford Feces,

I'm going to remember that one... :-)

>or something else within his ability.

I'll wager you that a headlamp assembly for a Feces is on the order of
$150-$200 US. The problem is that even CHEAP cars have expensive
unique-to-the-model headlamps now.