.

[Bob Gervais]

I think his career makes it okay

**********?

 

[Phoenix]

Wow........ nice to see such positive responses across the board. Thank you all.


Legal questions / concerns

Contrary to a posting I saw, Illinois does not "inspect" vehicles like I've heard other States do...... Illinois will only inspect a vehicle for Emissions Compliance related matters. Not for any type of equipment matters.

That being said, the onus is on the individual owner to comply with the various equipiment laws. If violation(s) exist, then that owner can be pulled over by an officer and cited accordingly. Most equipment violations as long as they are remedied, will usually result in the citation(s) being dismissed as compliance was gained.

Moving along, Illinois does not prohibit tinting on heads & tails in the aspect that the rear tail lights specifically, need to be visible from at a minimum distance of 500 feet from the side and rear of the vehicle.

There is no specified designation for light output in feet for the heads that I am aware of. Most restrictions on heads have to do primarily with color, rather than any specifed distance.

!!

Neither do we , not even emissions. Problems starts when a policeman is standing next to your car.

 

[SinisterSHO]

**********?

his career, not yours

 

[Bob Gervais]

his career, not yours

Will work for hot apple pie.

 

[Speedie13]

Wow. Absolutely amazing. Big big thumbs up

 

[TopGunnYFZ]

Love it! Looks like the G4 I built on Forza, the only place ill have one lol.

Nice job!

 

[SeanMc]

Holy crap. NICE!

 

[mustang-michael]

Very nice!!!!!! Now I'm inspired to look into doing the same. Now I have to show of the pic's of my baby.

 

[Wardawg]

How has your tint been holding up on the headlights? When I had my other windows done I had inquired about brake/headlight tint and he recomended against saying that the headligths would eventually heat up and melt/bubble the tint and it would be better to have them all sprayed.

 

[Wardawg]

Yeah I was kind of getting that feeling as well. What % is on the head/tail lights?

 

[SHO U UP]

How has your tint been holding up on the headlights? When I had my other windows done I had inquired about brake/headlight tint and he recomended against saying that the headligths would eventually heat up and melt/bubble the tint and it would be better to have them all sprayed.

I've had my headlights tinted for quite some time and no ill effects either. Mine are probably over a year old and no discoloration, bubbles, chips, etc.

 

[j1mmyr1chter]

I don't think time is the relevant factor on the headlights. What sort of mileage have you put on the car since the installation? I too am interested in doing this, so the percentage you used is a curiosity I have as well.

 

[j1mmyr1chter]

Great pics btw!

 

[SHO U UP]

I don't think time is the relevant factor on the headlights. What sort of mileage have you put on the car since the installation? I too am interested in doing this, so the percentage you used is a curiosity I have as well.

I'd take a stab and say about 7,500 miles since the install. I just turned 14,000 last weekend too.

 

[j1mmyr1chter]

Well guys, I am having zero luck getting anybody in the Atlanta area to pay any attention to my requests for information on doing this vinyl stuff on the chrome trim and headlights / taillights. I have submitted via phone and web, about 7 requests for information, and nobody's even responded?? Anybody know of a good place to get this done around Atlanta?

 

[steve142857]

As far as percentage, this is gonna sound dumb, but really, IDK. When I went to the shop (which was referred to me) they told me they had a "light" and a "dark". Nothing inbetween.

They showed me both and I decided to rock what they termed "dark". The "light" film wasn't even worth doing IMO.

Because I've had window tint on every one of my cars I have owned since I was 16, and knowing the gradients/percentages pretty well, I'll take a stab at the head & tail film and say it's 20%.

As far as mileage..... I think I was around 5 or 6K on the odometer at install, and I'm at like 17K now. Hope that's of some help to both of you.



Thanks for the compliments on the pics. I didn't post all of the most recent one's, but they're located here in this album if you wanted to take a look at the rest:

http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee231/bpd1151/SHO PICS FROM TOFU PRODUCTIONS/

Don't mind the modified G35 in a few of those shots, it's not mine, but my photographers. Enjoy

After seeing those pics, I was convinced I wanted to cover head and front lights. I found a place in Georgia called lamin-x
http://www.lamin-x.com/Ford-Taurus-2010-and-up-s/1172.htm
They have many options in terms of colors and tint grade.
For my needs and since it's not really legal where I live, I went with gunsmoke for tail and only tint for front lights. It says that it blocks 12% of light in the back and the front 6%.
I recently upgraded headlights with Silverstar Ultra night vision 9005 at 60$ the pair after been given advice from. They have a bright pure white light that has 50% more intensity than OEM. So I guess I should lose visibility looking in front and I am not that concerned with back light.. just don't want to overdo it and drag attention there, again since illegal.
I talked to Derrek at Lamin-x and he really was nice taking time to explain their product (which BTW prevent me that their might be a risk of overheating the vinyl if the upgraded lights are too hot compared to originals.)
I will have a friend near my place install them for me as he works in a car body shop and has the experience. It should be a 2 hours job, so the whole project should be done under 200$.
So, with all that, I would presume that Mike probably has a tint close to the gunsmoke, which would block around 12% of luminosity... Looking forward now to see the result on my black car.
Finally, it is better to go under that route rather than having them sprayed because if you need to remove the tint, than you need to sandpaper with a product and then buffer the plastic...
There you go, thanks for inspiration, for advices and I hope it can help the next owners that consider tinted their lights make the appropriate decision.
Cheers!
Steve

 

[steve142857]

I got my head and tail lights covers from Lamin-x installed. IT was raining but I still managed to wash my car in 5 minutes so that the pics would look not too bad. I went fro tint (6%) in front and gunsmoke in the back (12%). Not too much, but enough to give a better look without dragging attention to the cops (illegal where I live). Now I will have to remove the peeling chrome and put black vinyl instead and see what I can do to diminish the chrome of the front grill that now shines too much now that everything else is darkened.
Here are some pics before :

And here is the after :




There you go, I really recommend lamin-x for those interested. It took the guy less than 2 hours to install (75$ cash) and the 4 light covers were 110$ no tax and shipped free to Canada. They have different tint and colors. Worth the money imo.
Enjoy!

 

[zeus268]

I got my head and tail lights covers from Lamin-x installed. IT was raining but I still managed to wash my car in 5 minutes so that the pics would look not too bad. I went fro tint (6%) in front and gunsmoke in the back (12%). Not too much, but enough to give a better look without dragging attention to the cops (illegal where I live). Now I will have to remove the peeling chrome and put black vinyl instead and see what I can do to diminish the chrome of the front grill that now shines too much now that everything else is darkened.

There you go, I really recommend lamin-x for those interested. It took the guy less than 2 hours to install (75$ cash) and the 4 light covers were 110$ no tax and shipped free to Canada. They have different tint and colors. Worth the money imo.
Enjoy!

Thanks for the pictures Steve! They are greatly appreciated. :thankyou:
I think that after viewing yours that I want to go darker than what I originally ordered from Lamin-X. I placed the order yesterday so I'm really hoping that I can still change the order before they start to cut the material for my car. I noticed that they haven't charged my credit card yet so there may still be a chance

Regardless, I do like the look of it on your lights..... I just want a little bit darker for my car

 

[steve142857]

Thanks for the pictures Steve! They are greatly appreciated. :thankyou:
I think that after viewing yours that I want to go darker than what I originally ordered from Lamin-X. I placed the order yesterday so I'm really hoping that I can still change the order before they start to cut the material for my car. I noticed that they haven't charged my credit card yet so there may still be a chance

Regardless, I do like the look of it on your lights..... I just want a little bit darker for my car

If I remember well, you ordered smoke and tint, I ordered gunsmoke and tint. So the front would be the same, but for the tail, gunsmoke is 12% and your smoke I believe is 17%... Beyond that they go to 30% directly, so you might want to leave it as is... unless you want the front to be more tinted... just that here in Quebec I wouldn't drive to corners before the cops stop me and give me a 48hours to remove the tint, so I preferred like that. In terms of light, I see very well at night.
Cheers!

 

[steve142857]

Steve,

Great pics my man. It looked like it turned out pretty well

It's too bad the chrome peeled off cuz with your car being black, and now the tails being tinted, I kind of actually like the chrome outer ring.

I think if you do end up deleting the tint from the center portion (where the reverse/turn lights are at) that the chrome will actually look even better.

Now if your car was any other color, nope, I wouldn't rock the chrome around the outer assembly. You should possibly consider asking whoever it was that installed the tint for you, see if they can replace the areas where the chrome peeled with a chrome type of vinyl overlay.

Just a suggestion my friend. Either way, great pics and thanks for posting :thankyou:

Hey I might consider it after all, good idea. It's true that on your white car, the flat black looks better, but on the black, the chrome (if good quality vinyl) might look even better... Will see...
Thanks,
Steve