You cannot legally change any lighting on any vehicle.
That`s the way it was built and approved by the D.O.T.
Any changes and your on your own.
Fortunately, The police have better things to do most of the time and are not authorized to enforce Federal Motor Vehicle Law.

 

LED replacement bulbs in amber or white would look better. im not into the rice look with colored bulbs. thats just me. i got my amber LED bulbs from www.autolumination.com they work very well. now some peope say you need resistors, some dont. im using them on mine from a previous car i had them on.

 

^^^^ The resistors are to make the flash rate slower (so it is closer to stock). When you replace turn signal bulbs with LED's, they flash very fast.

 

oh i already have resistors in my car. what im saying is someone on here has LEDs in their turnsignals and they flash normally. you probably didnt read the end of my post right.

 

Oh, you are correct. I read it as "you are using them..." them meaning the LED bulbs, but you meant the resistors. oops!

 

If you check my "easy clear tailights modification" thread, I give full instructions on how to modify the flasher to work with LED bulbs without a load resistor.

Look under the "tech" part of the forum.

 

here in my part of NJ there is a city called vineland, there you can find every single street illegal mod ever invented, not to mention every narcotic undet the sun. but elsewhere like 45 mins away around my house i see people with all colors of headlights and white turns. maybe its just because it happen to fly where I live?

 

in CA you are allowed to have white or amber turn signals... i can verify this firsthand cuz i got pulled over for blue turnsignals.. the officer giving me the fix it tix said I had the option of changing my turnsignals to white though.. I even asked the officer checking off my fix it tix and she said white turnsignals are allowed in CA

 

Then those officers, like most, did not know the law as well as they think they do. The CA law says you can have white or amber AND ALSO say that federal regulations take precedence.

The federal regulations say you can have white or amber, BUT ALSO say that you can only have white in cars built before 1969.

Try to keep track of BOTH of those thoughts, OK? yes, you can have either white or amber front turn signals, so long as your car was built before 1969. That does not apply to a 2000-whatever Scion.

Those cops just knew one little paragraph of the Cali code, and did not care that the federal law said otherwise - they don't enforce federal laws. Thing is, another paragraph of the Cali code says they do, because it incorporates those federal regs right into Cali code, AND says they override the Cali code.

Every one of those laws is quoted in this topic. Read 'em, understand 'em, and assume that one of these days you might be unlucky enough to run into a cop that actually knows what in Hell he is talking about, and you might get nailed for not following the law as written - ALL of it.

This is partly why the cop on the corner is not the final word on what the law says or means. That's the judge, and they don't know all the ins and outs, either. That's why lawyers actually quote the laws and reference them in their arguments, rather than just making something up that sounds good like the cop on the corner does.

Ask ten cops a simple question and you will probably get at least twelve different answers. Remember, it doesn't fit the cop-on-the-street's personna not to have and instant answer to any question, right or wrong. Who's gonna challenge 'em, you? Uh-huh. He's got the badge, the gun, the car, the flashing lights, 'cuffs, and fancy radio, you've got an opinion. His JOB is to always have an instant answer, even if he has no idea what the right answer might be.

If he gives a wrong answer, it can be sorted out later at the station or in front of a judge when someone can actually take the time to sort through the books. Most of the time folks just ake the cop's word for it and never check.

This "discussion" is getting ridiculous when the actual damned laws can be quoted and linked, then yet another warm body comes in and says something that contradicts the law as if they are quoting scripture.

Come to the table with properly backed up legal arguments that prove the laws already quoted wrong, or accept what is in the books. We ALL know of times when the local cop has told each of us something that is just plain wrong. Why are you assuming that in this one instance he's right even though the laws saying he is wrong are already quoted? Wishful thinking, right? "*whine* but the cop SAID it was OK! *whine*" at the next stop.

(Just about ready to lock this thread down. It's outlived it usefulness, and some people will never believe what the actual laws say even when they are shown. The only hope is that some day when they are griping about being treated unfairly by some cop who called 'em on breaking some law they were told in detail about, someone else will remember and say "I told you so!")

RTFM (Which in this case is a stack of law books.)

Tomas

(Pro forma apologies to anyone offended by being told the truth. Besides, I'm on vacation.)

T

 

Pwned!

 

Lol!

Tomas, I just noticed.... does your avatar blink?! haha!

 

Heheheheh... Yup. It's a two-way avatar. While you are watching it, it is watching you...

Tomas

 

Nice Tom!

I thought that I saw it blink, but then I thought that my sick mind is just playing visual tricks on my. :D

Good job!

 

Thanks Tomas, Surf city and all for the valuble info......good reading.

 

I always wanted to build a car so fast that you'd think it was an airplane, and put red marker lights on the left side, and green on the right, just like a plane has.

 

Heh. The red and green marker lights apply to rowboats, too...

Tomas

 

anybody know what the fine is for having red or blue lights..if they decide to be a punk and pop you for inpersonating an emergency vehicle?

My friend got busted for purple lights this weekend in vegas. he said the cop was a ___ and told him that they were red. When he said that they weren't red the cop told him that he could legally smash them out of his headlight. Good thing he was all attitude, and just gave a fix a ticket.

 

I believe in this state the max fine is $250 plus some court costs, etc., just for having green, red, or blue lights visible from the front of the vehicle.

It is also considered a 'traffic infraction' and counts against one's license.

I do not know what the penalty would be for 'impersonating a police officer' or 'emergency vehicle' ... Could include a 'trip downtown' I would suspect.

I don't know about California.

Tomas

 

more than just a trip downtown.

free room and board for a couple years, and a real lonely room mate that's looking for love in all your wrong places

 

I have to admit that it is pretty frustrating to read a new thread every day that basically says 'I broke the law, knew i was doing it, and i'm ____ed at the cops'

we ought to just make a damn sticky.