Yellow headlights

[naika]

Hi Guys,
I brought some yellow smilies from Europe and I wondered if it is illegal to run them in any states?
I never thought of that first but somebody asked and now I wonder.

Any input would be appreciated.

[Jscotty]

I am willing to bet that 99% of the cops don't even know the difference let alone feel its necessary to bother you over some yellow headlights.

Secondly, I would suggest that in most states you are not in violation of the law unless you are actually USING the illegal lights. For example- in most states you can purchase and install red and blue "police" lights on your car and its perfectly legal provided that you do not operate the lights while on public roads and you do not use the lights as an aid to impersonate a police officer.

So I think that if they are illegal in the US, they would have to catch you using them. Another example would be KC off road lights. They are legal only for off-road use even though people use them on the road all of the time but its hard for the cops to catch people using them at night.

[Van Westervelt]

If they are French lights, then yes, they are illegal.

#1, they are European lights, not meeting DOT requirements. However, I havent heard of a single person being bothered with this as there are hundreds if not more guys running Euro smillies.

#2, anything as a headlamp that emits anything other than a white light, is illegal. Thats why all the little HID swaps have to say, "for off road use only." And it is still a matter of getting pulled over. And with yellow lowbeams, at night, it is much more likely.

I ran French Hella's with HID's in for over a month. Several cops harassed me, but never stopped me. If I was doin anything silly, they wouldnt have hesitated. So yes, they arent legal, but, so long as you arent a douche, cops will mostly just keep an eye on you. Be ready for that "non-standard lighting" ticket someday though. Cus there will be some stater with a wild hair up his ace.

[blunttech]

as stated they are illegal but ive never been bothered. for the record they suck though. i have them in my track car and you cant see shit at night. maybe with HID's you can. as soon as i get some time im ripping them out and replacing them

[delatlanta1281]

The visibility is shit, it always struck me as wierd that they run them during lemans nights. I guess they are brighter.
I do like the way they look though.

[asubimmer]

I used to have yellow lights and I loved em. They were much better in bad weather and I liked the way they reflected off signs. I may end up getting some 3.5k xenons for lows but idk.

[JasonC]

Seeing that you're in PA. They seem to be anal about stuff with your car. All you can do is put them in and find out.

[naika]

The visibility is shit, it always struck me as wierd that they run them during lemans nights. I guess they are brighter.
I do like the way they look though.

With the bulbs they have, I think the visibility is good.It might depend on what kind of bulbs you have in.

[naika]

Seeing that you're in PA. They seem to be anal about stuff with your car. All you can do is put them in and find out.

I'm actually selling them. I don't even have Ellispsoids on my car now, regular white sealed beams.
Just broughts those over since I know they are hard to catch and thought somebody might need them.

[hendrixvodu]

as stated they are illegal but ive never been bothered. for the record they suck though. i have them in my track car and you cant see shit at night. maybe with HID's you can. as soon as i get some time im ripping them out and replacing them

i have kind of an off topic question....you say the Projectors suck....is this with normal bulbs??...because i got a set not to long ago..and went back to H4's because the light out put was terrible...is this just with stock bulbs?

[stevofthahill]

The visibility is shit, it always struck me as wierd that they run them during lemans nights. I guess they are brighter.
I do like the way they look though.

they actually don't run "french" lights, they run a 3000k HID set up. This is why the light output appears yellow.

[Van Westervelt]

they actually don't run "french" lights, they run a 3000k HID set up. This is why the light output appears yellow.

You are right that they dont call them "french." And they do use an HID setup. But the housings are yellow to begin with. Maybe its just cus I am an ass and I like to argue. But here you are... :)

[stevofthahill]

You are right that they dont call them "french." And they do use an HID setup. But the housings are yellow to begin with. Maybe its just cus I am an ass and I like to argue. But here you are... :)

Yeah you're a total ass :) On the topic of Le Mans cars, this is definitely one of my favorites, and also shows off the HID's in action.





DBR9 = pure sex on wheels...

[Van Westervelt]

Mmmm, I remember seeing the 2 dbr9's last summer. Man how I missed it this year.

Oh, and Bluntie. The yellow isnt designed to light up more area, its designed to see the details more vividly, and yellow will travel further out than white light if I am not mistaken.

Same reason why fog lights are a bit more effective when yellowish. It penetrates the road without all the bs. I could get a lot more technical, but its way past my bed time. lol

[mikeedler]

bingo on the fog thing. France is VERY foggy, and most of the street lights in the area I lived were all yellow also,-guess it helps

I also know I used to always wear yellow goggles while snowmobiling to reduce the glare off the snow.

I have to say that when I was running them, it didnt seem to make the lighting any worse, but I do imagine you dont get AS much output out of a tinted lens