Why do owners tint their headlights and taillights?

[Dari]

This is something I've always wondered. I can understand tinting the windows, but why tint the lights? It makes the car look cheap.

 

[Maleficus]

I don't understand why people blackout/smoke/tint their lights like that either, when a car has black wheels blacked out lights etc etc, all I think is ghetto.

 

[BassBomb]

Headlights I can't understand. Rear I can understand but only when its really really low amount to get a slight smoky color. Those ones where you can't see the lights in daylight are fucking ridiculous and dangerous.

Either are illegal though

 

[SyndromeOCZ]

Either are illegal though

Depends on where you live.

 

[xSkyDrAx]

I don't understand the whole blacked out car thing either. Usually looks better with a hint of contrast.

 

[Harrod]

I've always wondered if you could pass blame on the other driver if involved in a wreck with a car that had blacked out the tail lights, as in what is a show car doing driving around?

 

[Fenixgoon]

because people are retarded

 

[BassBomb]

Depends on where you live.

Where is it legal?

 

[HeXen]

Depends on where you live.

Depends whether it's actually enforced or not, that's all that matters. It's not enforced at all in my area. I see everything from 5% tint, neon lights showing, unreadable license plates to people driving everywhere with either no lights or their brights on at night, cops here don't seem to give a crap.

 

[deadken]

The short answer is that some people want their car to stand out from everyone else who has the same car. Some people buy quality items and other people buy cheap items like decals. To each his own...

http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=268879011

I don't know how many people actually 'tint' their headlights. Perhaps what you are seeing are the 'colored' bulbs. Some give off a yellow, blue, green, etc... color. But, those look normal 'clear' when parked.

I know a bunch of VW guys (a lot of MkII owners) who spray a light coat of red over their taillights in order to make them look uniformly red. Once a reverse or signal light comes on, it is obvious that it is white or yellow. IOW, the light coat of red paint only looks really red when the reverse or turn signals are off.

I do wonder what happens to the reflectivity of the lens with that layer of paint on the taillight. If your car stalls and is left in the middle of the road in the middle of the night, your taillights still reflect an approaching cars headlights, so the car isn't invisible. I don't know how much that is affected with a layer of red spray paint on it.

 

[HeXen]

I don't know how many people actually 'tint' their headlights. Perhaps what you are seeing are the 'colored' bulbs. Some give off a yellow, blue, green, etc... color. But, those look normal 'clear' when parked.

They make various types of smoked plastic housings that either replace the existing or just adhesive over it. There is also "spray on tint" in a can, a transparent paint that you spray on the inside of the headlight cover.

I see smoked lenses all over the place, usually young guys. Some are so dark that they cannot be seen hardly at all when the sun is just right.
The colored bulbs you refer to also seem just as common, ugly as fck if you ask me. They want to sacrifice safety so they can look different which is sacrificing intelligence for stupidity

The super bright ones are what pisses some off and i do believe that is the intention of them wanting such lights cause otherwise there is no need for such. I have seen some others angle their lights higher too...just DB's is all they are

 

[mmntech]

Same reason why they get fart cans and colossal subwoffers, to be a giant douchebag.

 

[pauldun170]

"Yo...ima debadge mah cah...lower that shit and tint that bitch out right after I do the intake and exhaust. Ima gonna have the only one like it in the whole country....just like my tribal tatoo on my arm"

People have fascinating ways of lowering the value of a car.

My next car...I'm going to tint the side mirrors.
Pretty sure thats going to be the next big thing.

 

[HeXen]

i'm waiting for hydraulics to make a big comeback.
Though something i'm seeing more and more are Ipads in peoples cars replacing the head units. I'm almost surprised car makers don't replace the glove box with a fold out laptop or something.

 

[Soccerman06]

Same reason why they get fart cans and colossal subwoffers, to be a giant douchebag.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/soccerman05/20120909_181237.jpg
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/soccerman05/20120909_181128.jpg

Problem with large subs (ignore the shitty beer)? FYI I have 2

 

[deadken]

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/soccerman05/20120909_181237.jpg
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/soccerman05/20120909_181128.jpg

Problem with large subs (ignore the shitty beer)? FYI I have 2

Just out of curiosity.... Are your genitals abnormally small?

 

[Soccerman06]

Just out of curiosity.... Are your genitals abnormally small?

Only when the dubstep makes its drop

Those are home theater subs, they arent capable of handling anything over 80hz without distortion. I would love to see a 5k amp driving those in a ported box, however the enclosure would probably take up a whole trunk since each one requires atleast 10cuft when ported.

 

[Baked]

I always want to get my coupe's windows tinted and get black wheels (I have a very dark blue color car).

because people are retarded

I'm offended by your name calling!

 

[iamwiz82]

Interesting, I was just contemplating this today while I was behind an Outback with blacked out brake lights that I could barely see. The CHMSL was still untinted and it was remarkable how much brighter it was.

 

[deadken]

Interesting, I was just contemplating this today while I was behind an Outback with blacked out brake lights that I could barely see. The CHMSL was still untinted and it was remarkable how much brighter it was.

If only them getting rear ended would make them eligible for a Darwin Award! (when doing something stupid removes you from the gene pool)

 

[nerp]

Always looks gross and cheapy. Autozoneish. Crap.

 

[Zivic]

mine are tinted... do they look gross, cheap, autozone-ish, or D-bag-ish?

edit:

my buddy's G35 tinted tails. 1/3 darker than mine.

Lit up - center brake light is untouched. still pretty even output

kind of a small/crappy pic, but here are the two side by side in the sun

 

[Murloc]

Here it's legal to put homologated aftermarket parts on your car and this includes smoked lights (I think you have to replace the whole thing though).

I think it looks ricey but that's because of the kind of people who do it, not the smoked look itself. Stereotypes and profiling based on car basically.

Zivic's smoked lights don't look bad but it fits with the kind of car he has and he's not overdoing it.
On many cars I see with smoked lights (usually small, cheap and old with modified exhaust or whatever) it's just trashy and usually the driver looks like that too.

I prefer having more contrast though so I would never do it.

 

[MixMasterTang]

Where is it legal?

Nigeria.

 

[railer]

mine are tinted... do they look gross, cheap, autozone-ish, or D-bag-ish?

No, they look good IMO, especially on the blue Z.

And that's exactly why people tint them....because they think it looks cool. And that's the same reason people buy cars in a certain color, or put aftermarket wheels on, or get axleback exhausts that add zero hp but sound good, etc. It's just that with tinted light covers....they're usually wrong about the cool factor. Usually but not always.