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I got pulled over for my DARK tail lights!! HELP

S

stingray502

Full Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Messages
3,132
Location
Palm Coast, Florida
OK so I am at the redlight this morning and I see one of the local motorcycle cops coming up behind me. I see him looking? and then he slowly pulls up beside me and motions me to roll my window down. I say "Good Morning" He Says " Your brakelights aren't working" "The one on the top is but not the ones on the side" Since he did not look as if he was going to write me a ticket..I played dumb and did not blab about the smoked lenses....I said "Oh really, well what about the one under the tailgate?" He said "That apppears to be working, but its the ones on the side that count" I said "OK, thanks". He backs his bike up behind me and when the light turns green he goes his separate way.

Now, since Palm Coast is a small town, chances that he recognizes my AV or we cross pathes again are really high, so I need a fix before he checks me again. I have had many of the locals behind me before but this is the first time one of them has said something.

Are there brighter bulbs that I can install with out melting the lenses? What are the part numbers? I really do not want to give up my smoked lenses.

I wonder what the Florida statutes say exactly about brake and tail lights anyway? Is my Fire and Ice legally not enough?

Any fix suggestions would be appreciated!

Worse case scenerio..could I mask off a small circle and remove the "smoke" with paint thinner?
 
Finally someone with the same problem I've been having.  Hopefully someone will respond, but I've been living with my smoked tails for over a year now.  I ended up putting in LED lights, but they still are not bright enough in my opinion.  So when ever I venture out on a road trip or head back to GA I always put my regular tail lights back in.

If you don't mind post some pics I'd like to see how dark yours are smoked.
 
BB,

Here are a couple of pics of myck'd bed panels but you can see to lenses in them. I'll be honest you can barley tell if I have taillights one. AT night you can tell I have break lights but during the day not really..that is one reason I installed the Fire and Ice.

What LEDs did you get? How do you install them?
 

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I smoked mine, but didn't do it too dark. But they are still harder to see. I also have a LOF.

You could do the mod that has both rear bulbs come on when you apply the brakes. That would give you a bit more light.

YOu could also install a 3rd-brake light modulator, just to bring more attention to it.
 
    You might be able to wet sand them/polish the tint down on them to thin it enough in the back to be able to see the lights.
 
JohnBChef said:
? ? ?You might be able to wet sand them/polish the tint down on them to thin it enough in the back to be able to see the lights.
Click to expand...

Hey John, I really would not mind trying that...any suggestions to the proceedire...what grit sand paper? What about masking off the sides and wet sanding the back?

Also in the mean time, is there a brighter bulb?
 
Also I just found this:

Lights:
Your car must have the following lights:

Bright (high-beam) headlights which show objects 450 feet ahead.
Dimmed (low-beam) headlights which show objects 150 feet ahead.
Two red taillights mounted on the rear, visible from 1,000 feet.
A white light that makes the license plate visible from 50 feet (The plate must be kept clean).
Two red stoplights. They must be seen from 300 feet in the daytime, and must come on when the foot brake is pressed.

Found it on the following link: http://stateofflorida.com/Portal/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=214
 
IB Mike said:
Of course now I can't find a thread on it, but here is a link to one: http://www.comagination.com/bflasher.htm

I know they are legal in CA, not sure about FL.
Click to expand...

Oh..OK I know what you mean now..I have seen them on bike..did not know what they were called.
 
stingray502 said:
Hey John, I really would not mind trying that...any suggestions to the proceedire...what grit sand paper? What about masking off the sides and wet sanding the back?

Also in the mean time, is there a brighter bulb?
Click to expand...

Can't find the LED on ebay now. But it was something called a tower 2 LED or something like that.? All of my older photos that I had posted are no longer available.

Sanding them does sound like an option.? What about good old paint thinner on just the back portion?
 
stingray502 said:
Oh..OK I know what you mean now..I have seen them on bike..did not know what they were called.
Click to expand...
yeah, i have them on my truck-they're just as illegal as blacked out taillights so wouldn't you just be compounding the problem?

You should check out the design that SpikeAV had done to his lights, i think George (Redleg) has them now and won't give them to me  :8:
 
blackbeauty said:
Can find the LED on ebay now. But it was something called a tower 2 LED or something like that.? All of my older photos that I had posted are not longer available.

Sanding them does sound like an option.? What about good old paint thinner on just the back portion?
Click to expand...

I will probably do one or the other....right now I am thinking I am going to put duct tape on covering the rear of the lights..then carefully cut out 3 circle like shapes..one for each bulb including the reverse lights. Then wet sand and take some of the dark down, but not completely off. If I could find some brighter bulb, too, then that would help, too....I guess if I do it that way I will have 2 tone black out lights...don't know how it will look but we will see if I do it.
 
DaytonaZ71 said:
yeah, i have them on my truck-they're just as illegal as blacked out taillights so wouldn't you just be compounding the problem?

You should check out the design that SpikeAV had done to his lights, i think George (Redleg) has them now and won't give them to me? :8:
Click to expand...

I found the thread that Spike stared....I will probably do something like that....but different...now the MOD half of my brain just kicked in!
 
I had this done at STI last year.
 

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Wet sanding won't run under the tape an make a mess...... :wave:
 
Web said:
Wet sanding won't run under the tape an make a mess...... :wave:
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Yes, some thinners could also destroy the plastic on the taillights.

Be very careful wet sanding and use a super fine grit paper 800 grit or higher is what i'd use, if you accidentally hit the lens, it will be a bad thing.
 
I tried to smoke my own once and it was a disaster. I used mineral spirits to remove smoke and cleaned them up with a cleaner wax.
 
Thanks for everyone's input...I just got back from Advance Auto..picked up some 800 grit and 2000 grit...I will probably attempt this on Saturday so I will take pics and we will see how it goes...I decided against the thinner....it is just too had to control...I can control how much I sand easier.
 
Now you see why I got rid of them!!!!!

I even used 55w backup bulbs in place of the brakes, and they still didn't show through...

BTW- I have grown to accept that unless I get a set of tails like dunes, I am sticking factory....

UK
 
UrbanKnight said:
Now you see why I got rid of them!!!!!

I even used 55w backup bulbs in place of the brakes, and they still didn't show through...

BTW- I have grown to accept that unless I get a set of tails like dunes, I am sticking factory....

UK
Click to expand...

Yeah..I'm gonna make them work some how....this is the first time a cop has said soemthing to me....What was the number to those 55W back up bulbs?
 
here are my tinted lights... i got pulled over one time for no lights in my license plate and the cop even complimented me about my av and didnt say anything about my tails... that is why i bought the LOF just so the cop cant say he cant see when i press the brake... i wonder if the cop is just giving you a hard time

IMG00191.jpg
 
I had mine dark and the only time your really couldnt see them is when the sun hit them just right. 95% of the time they were fine. Maybe he just got them at a bad angle something.
 
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