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Tinted Tail light Laws


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Hey everyone

 

I was wanting to tint my back tailights but that looks like its a big fat no legally haha.

 

However, after speaking to a few people the law seems a bit grey to me on the following:

 

1. Can I tint just the white strip on the stop lights that is just the reverse/indicators and the leave the stop lights as is?

2. I noticed there is the High Stop Light on the WRX and STI spoilers. I have an STI spoiler on mine so I was like, oh Ill tint that one but then I was told that you can't touch that light either. But then I was thinking so many people remove their spoilers and so must only be running 2 stop lights?

 

I am super confused and should I just forget about tinting the rear stop lights.

Edited by Bugeye01WRX
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Just do a light coat. You get almost all of the light output while looking a bit nicer and won't get pinged by anybody but will technically still be not above board.

 

Grabbing a set of v8/9 ones is another option as they like ok a lot less dated than the v7’s. You’d just need to cut the bumper a bit for the round section at the bottom 

 

 

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Strict interpretation? It's illegal, the end.

 

Real world, depending how you do it and where you get your WoFs they might not notice/care.

 

People who think there is wiggle room in the VIRM are wrong:

19. An overlay has been applied that reduces or distorts the light emitted from the lamp (eg a tinted cover).

 

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1. A class MA vehicle first registered or manufactured on or after 1 January 1990 is not fitted with one high-mounted stop lamp.

 

If you remove a wing that has a high-stop in it, you have to add another one - usually on the parcel tray or stuck to the rear windscreen.

 

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On 14/02/2022 at 10:12 AM, boon said:

Strict interpretation? It's illegal, the end.

 

Real world, depending how you do it and where you get your WoFs they might not notice/care.

 

People who think there is wiggle room in the VIRM are wrong:

19. An overlay has been applied that reduces or distorts the light emitted from the lamp (eg a tinted cover).

 

 

Thanks man that cleans that up for me! Honestly if I didn't work in insurance at one point I'd tint from front windows at 20% and rear tailights blacked out almost. The reason I don't is if I had any accident insurance could decline my claim based on the illegal modifications.

 

Wofs etc are easy to get around.

 

Insurance, not so much haha.

On 13/02/2022 at 4:29 PM, Andy_Mac said:

Just do a light coat. You get almost all of the light output while looking a bit nicer and won't get pinged by anybody but will technically still be not above board.

 

Grabbing a set of v8/9 ones is another option as they like ok a lot less dated than the v7’s. You’d just need to cut the bumper a bit for the round section at the bottom 

 

 

Honestly if I didn't work in insurance at one point I'd tint from front windows at 20% and rear tailights blacked out almost. The reason I don't is if I had any accident insurance could decline my claim based on the illegal modifications.

 

Wofs etc are easy to get around.

 

Insurance, not so much haha.

 

I see a lot of people like the blobeye tailights but I am not a fan. The little circles annoy me I like the cleaner look of the V7 and the Hawkeye ones look terrible being predominately white.

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kooky eh : those "What if's" and some people learn the hard way

 

yet when we try to warn them "oh noes you're the Fun police"

 

:D

 

(like "some" not getting a cert for certain things yet technically required for a select common mods like this, and yes I know Tails are not a cert item I'm alluding to others that I'm not specifying)

 

such a BIG little word with only two letters

 

IF

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10 hours ago, Bugeye01WRX said:

I see a lot of people like the blobeye tailights but I am not a fan. The little circles annoy me I like the cleaner look of the V7 and the Hawkeye ones look terrible being predominately white.

 

I'm not a huge fan of that lower circle either but the general colour design with clearer lenses looks less early 90’s style. 

 

Things could be worse though, you could have these trainwreck aftermarket ones 

 

51884763250_d9afb79842_b.jpg

 

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I find these rules funny to be honest. 
I used nite-shades on my FTO many years back, and never had an issue with WOFs etc, but another friend with the same car immediately failed his WOF for it. 

And also, if it's factory, it's okay 🤷‍♂️.

My new car has them as a factory option (only photo I have that shows them, but they're the factory-option tinted taillights.

 

5lz9azR.jpg

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15 minutes ago, Technikhaus said:

I find these rules funny to be honest. 
I used nite-shades on my FTO many years back, and never had an issue with WOFs etc, but another friend with the same car immediately failed his WOF for it. 

And also, if it's factory, it's okay 🤷‍♂️.

My new car has them as a factory option (only photo I have that shows them, but they're the factory-option tinted taillights.

 

5lz9azR.jpg

 

Same way manufacturers can have insanely dark window tints which are deemed legal as they apparently know best, but anyone else can barely go half as dark

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On 16/02/2022 at 11:31 AM, Andy_Mac said:

 

Same way manufacturers can have insanely dark window tints which are deemed legal as they apparently know best, but anyone else can barely go half as dark

 

That's different, factory tints look darker from the outside. Aftermarket tints look just as dark from inside the car.

 

As for exhaust noise... I live on a very busy street and hear extremely loud cars, motorbikes, trucks and even Utes ... all the time. No way they are legal, but still common.

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5 hours ago, Loren said:

 

That's different, factory tints look darker from the outside. Aftermarket tints look just as dark from inside the car.

 

As for exhaust noise... I live on a very busy street and hear extremely loud cars, motorbikes, trucks and even Utes ... all the time. No way they are legal, but still common.

 

Interesting. I can't say I've ever noticed they're lighter inside than equivalent aftermarket ones but it makes more sense why it's allowed. 

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My aftermarket tints are darker from outside. The problem is if the car already has some factory tint if it adds up to too dark. One of the reasons they change the rules in some years. Cheap tint can be dark both ways, and some tint does work well with factory tint.

cops also complain they can’t see in so laws change again.

the originally government wanted complete ban they thought it was on outside and gets scratched by wipers.

 

tinited tail light rule was to stop the 2000’s epidemic of stockings over lights on civics. Along with mirror tints on windows.
 

even the lowering laws for lowered springs was from a video of a prelude in Wellington having a chopped spring fall out on SH1.

this one was almost a complete ban as well, lucky there was at least one car guy in parliament and he managed to avoid the complete ban.

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Yeah we have to give the LVVTA guys a hell of a lot of respect for everything they do for keeping the laws in check.

They have some interesting posts on facebook that went over how they were setup, and everything they actually do. If it wasn't for that group then we wouldn't be allowed to do anything at all to our cars. Let alone what we can do without a cert.

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LVVTA flip-flop between being excellent and f***ing useless.

 

Examples include the driveshaft hoop rules when re-shelling (now fixed), and their deeply stupid Facebook post about needing to cert brake rotors. A lot of LVVTA grew from old dudes with epic beards building ropey kit cars and hotrods in their sheds, not bolt-on modification of modern imports, and it showed. A lot.

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On 16/02/2022 at 11:29 AM, Technikhaus said:

I find these rules funny to be honest. 
I used nite-shades on my FTO many years back, and never had an issue with WOFs etc, but another friend with the same car immediately failed his WOF for it. 

 

The rules on overlays were less clear in the past, something about visibility from 200m in normal darkness. At some point in the last 5 years or so they made a change to the VIRM to add more clarity. So that is likely why you got away with it in the past. Sections of the VIRM highlighted in yellow represent a recent amendment (I think they stay yellow for 5 years).

https://vehicleinspection.nzta.govt.nz/virms/in-service-wof-and-cof/general/lighting/rearward-facing-position-lamps

Quote

Reasons for rejection:

15. An overlay has been applied that reduces or distorts the light emitted from the lamp (eg a tinted cover).

 

The inconsistant application of the VIRM by crappy inspectors is super annoying and I deal with this on a daily basis. 

Customer says: "Oh well Bruce at Lowquality Autos has been passing it like this for years"

The virm is very clear on most things if you actually take the time to read it. Many WOF inspectors are lazy and won't fail cars on difficult issues if they think is going to cause a point of contention with a customer because it reflects badly on their business. The problem is that it then makes an inspector who is applying the rules correctly look like they are being difficult when the fail a car.

 

Stories like "I passed with x mod" do not mean they are legal from a WOF standpoint this is inspector inconsistency. If you are ever unsure of the legality of something have a read through the relavent section of the VIRM, that is the only difinitive answer.

 

On 11/02/2022 at 4:34 PM, Bugeye01WRX said:

1. Can I tint just the white strip on the stop lights that is just the reverse/indicators and the leave the stop lights as is?

https://vehicleinspection.nzta.govt.nz/virms/in-service-wof-and-cof/general/lighting/reversing-lamps

Reverse lamps are not mandatory equipment so you could tint that area of the light or even remove the bulbs if you wanted to.

 

https://vehicleinspection.nzta.govt.nz/virms/in-service-wof-and-cof/general/lighting/direction-indicator-lamps

Direction indicator lamps are mandatory equipment so you cannot tint over that area for a WOF

Quote

Reasons for rejection:

19. An overlay has been applied that reduces or distorts the light emitted from the lamp (eg a tinted cover).

 

Edited by IZichard
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11 hours ago, IZichard said:

 

The rules on overlays were less clear in the past, something about visibility from 200m in normal darkness. At some point in the last 5 years or so they made a change to the VIRM to add more clarity. So that is likely why you got away with it in the past. Sections of the VIRM highlighted in yellow represent a recent amendment (I think they stay yellow for 5 years).

https://vehicleinspection.nzta.govt.nz/virms/in-service-wof-and-cof/general/lighting/rearward-facing-position-lamps

 

The inconsistant application of the VIRM by crappy inspectors is super annoying and I deal with this on a daily basis. 

Customer says: "Oh well Bruce at Lowquality Autos has been passing it like this for years"

The virm is very clear on most things if you actually take the time to read it. Many WOF inspectors are lazy and won't fail cars on difficult issues if they think is going to cause a point of contention with a customer because it reflects badly on their business. The problem is that it then makes an inspector who is applying the rules correctly look like they are being difficult when the fail a car.

 

Stories like "I passed with x mod" do not mean they are legal from a WOF standpoint this is inspector inconsistency. If you are ever unsure of the legality of something have a read through the relavent section of the VIRM, that is the only difinitive answer.

 

https://vehicleinspection.nzta.govt.nz/virms/in-service-wof-and-cof/general/lighting/reversing-lamps

Reverse lamps are not mandatory equipment so you could tint that area of the light or even remove the bulbs if you wanted to.

 

https://vehicleinspection.nzta.govt.nz/virms/in-service-wof-and-cof/general/lighting/direction-indicator-lamps

Direction indicator lamps are mandatory equipment so you cannot tint over that area for a WOF

 

 

Thanks for this!! That is really awesome to know I'll definintely spend some time reading through the VIRM to get really up to date on all the alws haha.

 

Ahh ok if its only the reverse light I can tint I wont bother it is such a small section not worth it but thanks so much!

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