midgethearsexb

I want to do this, but am also wondering if I will fail my safety inspection if I do it... any answers?

SNJ_XB

If the silver reflectors are painted black, then yes it would probably fail. If just ribbed silver part and bezel is painted black they probably wouldn't even notice and even if they did, it probably doesnt matter. I honestly dont know how picky they would be about the orange reflector being removed. But I guess if they really busted your hump about it you could always just temporarily get a self stick reflector and stick on on the fender next to the headlights.

burstaneurysm

^^ What he said...

UBOW

From what I have observed, I have seen a lot of cars/trucks with black outs. My one concern is do they really get enough illumination at night? To me it is foolish to compromise safety for looks.

It is illegal to remove the orange reflector from the front lens unless you repace it somewhere else on the front side. It is a USDOT standard. You most likely will not get stopped just for it but if the cop has you pulled over for something else and has a wild hair, well, expect him to walk around your car with a grin.

What is totally illegal, and I don't appreciate, is people who replace their bulbs in the front with red or blue., or they install red or blue bulbs in the front of their cars. These people should be pulled over just for that.

Modding can be fun but if lines are crossed too often then someday the legal community is going to crack down and restrict it. I don't want the day to come where you have to ask someone's permission to put a sticker on your car.

SNJ_XB

If you arent blacking out the parabolic reflector, the portion of the headlight housing that actually focuses the light, then its won't reduce the amount of light that is shining down the road. Painting the ribbed headlight surround and bezel might reduce some amount of ambient light being reflected on the ground, but this is just unfocused random light thats not useful anyway.

And as far as reflectors go, if you cant see a 10 foot x 6 foot box parked with its lights off on the side of the road I dont think a 2 inch by 2 inch reflector is going to improve things much. When was the last time you said "WOW, I'm sure glad that car had reflectors. I almost didnt see it!!"

UBOW

That's just he point. park a car in a dark parking lot and reflectors mean a great deal. That is why the USDOT specifies only orange or white reflectors in the front and red in the rear. The car must have reflectors on each corner when viewed from any side and the reflectors must be a minimum size or greater.

It is not enforced but give a cop a bad time for pulling you over, or get pulled over for the wrong reason and he/she may notice those little things. If modders go overboard on other mods eventually law makers are going to say enough is enough and tell everyone to toe the line. In reality the pendulum must always swing back the other way. I just hope it happens in another generation.

integroid

Sure , why not

firesquare

that particular paint job will fail. just paint the non reflective parts of chrome and youll be fine.

this thread here has a xB with black out OEM lights painted. its not the greatest pic but their is a how too somewhere. you can find it in search and look there.

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=159669

and dispite what people say. the search button does work fine

dskinner

When my manager was, umm, younger and dumber, he had a heavily modded Mustang and when he was pulled over for speeding the cop was ____ed. The cop thought that he was planning on evading him (when he was actually looking for a place to pull over where he wouldn't damage the ground effects). So, in order to vent his anger, the cop wrote twenty-some warnings for stupid things like license plate too low to the ground and tint 1" too far down on the windshield. Actually hand wrote every single warning. What a dork.

BrianGillen

I havent experienced it myself but around here in NY, alot of people say that it is illegal whenever the topic comes up.