mot failure ??

[fry 0]

I tinted my rear lights red to get rid of the horrible orange bit on them but my indicator now blinks red instead of orange. Is this legal and can I be failed on an mot for this??

 

cheers

 

phil

[funky 0]

dont think it comes in to mot

mine are tinted black and very dark and passed ok last week

funky

[G60 0]

over here the signal can be white, amber, or red... all legal. just cant be anything weird like blue or green.

 

over there tho.. i'm pretty sure they MUST be amber. if they pass you and they are not amber... i think its down to luck.

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

If indicators blink red, yes, it will fail the MoT.

You can also be pulled by a copper at any time for this too :?

[dr_mat 0]

"not amber" is an MOT fail.

Tinted black is fine, as long as the lights are still "amber". Even if they're dimmer than usual.

Tinted red is more tricky... Mood on the day...

[dubbprince 0]

so what about MK5 polos?? they have read rear lights... :(

[W3RKD 0]

so what about MK5 polos?? they have read rear lights... :(

 

but the have clear stripes in them and an orange buld behind them ..

 

i had red rears although i had no problems from the police with them i did have to change the outers for the mot.

this is only a 10 min job to swap them once a year. imho well worth it cos i think the all red lenses look very nice.

if you could buy them i would of deftintly brought them over the fk's.

[dr_mat 0]

There's a lot of cars that have "all red" lenses these days, but if you look at them they flash very clearly amber, because they were designed that way..

Sprayed C lights don't flash "clearly amber", so it's a bit more dodgy ground..

YMMV. :)

[dazzyvr6 0]

it depends on how strict the mot tester is,with mine he just say change it as soon as you can :D

[dubbprince 0]

what if i place an LED cluster bulb in place of the normal clear one, then its more orangey right.

if i place black vinyl stripes over the brakelights but have the reverse and indicators red then bottom would look fine and top would be less smoked. It would also mean they'd look more cooler! :lol:

[dr_mat 0]

It's not so much the darkness that's a problem, it's the redness. If you're going for a black tint, you probably won't have any problems, all you'll have to do is get a brighter bulb maybe. But red tint causes problems. I've got red tints on mine, and I'm fully expecting to get pulled at some point and told that I need to change them, and I'll not even be trying it at the MOT - I'll swap the original lights straight back onto the car.

 

I thought about getting a bright LED-based bulb for my indicators too, but I've not tried it yet. I suspect they'll still look a bit too red for comfort.. :(

[dubster82 0]

my girlfriends polo lights up red too. looks the dogs tho :D

[G60 0]

try orange bulbs under the red paint instead of clear... see if that helps.

[dubster82 0]

i tried that. not a smitten of a difference...

[W3RKD 0]

try orange bulbs under the red paint instead of clear... see if that helps.

 

i try'd that and it wasn't much better.... :lol:

[G60 0]

ah well. what can ya do?? :lol:

 

i'd do like daz suggested and swap out the outers for orange tops for mot. spare outers shold be cheap... i've bought a complete set for $10US once. :D

[W3RKD 0]

i have some spare outers too.... as i have the fk's now...

[Henny 0]

Just out of interest, has anyone tried masking the lights before spraying them? :?:

 

If you put thin (about 3mm IIRC) strips of tape over the bits of the indicator that let the light out (not the reflective bit... You'll see what I mean if you look closely) and then spray them, then when it's all dry take off the tape, you'll be left with a slightly stripey red/orange effect that should look red normally, but shine amber when lit... 8)

 

I have no idea if this will work or not, it's just an idea that popped into my head after reading this thread and seeing a thread earlier about putting black tape over the reflective bits to make the lights seem darkened without loosing light intensity... :?

 

I must also point out that I've just stumbled back from the pub 'cos I'm now on holiday for 10 days! :lol:

[dr_mat 0]

Yeah, that works pretty well, but it doesn't *quite* hide the orange plastic completely. It's an improvement over the normal look, and it does mean you're unlikely to wind up in trouble with the police tho.. :)

Lets face it you could do the same thing with tinted lights, you just have to carefully dilute and remove thin strips of paint with thinners. Much trickier after the event tho.. :-\

[hyscore 0]

Cars registered after sept 1965 must show amber light.If your not sure if yours will fail ask your tester if he will pass and advise he can do this.