Teach me: headlight tinting

mad_machine wrote: I guess a lot of my dislike for yellow headlights comes from the cars I see using it. Most of them are badly riced out hondas. they seem to come in two flavours around here.. yellow headlights or so blue I am surprised they can see anything (and do not get a ticket for impersonating an officer) There is an E30 running around with Yellow Highbeams, That does not look so bad

Agreed. Swank's MX6 looked like E36 M3 with yellow lights, at least I thought so, and I told him about it. I would argue that it works on the ferrari above- and other cars of its ilk. Seems to me legit euros are the best candidates, especially 80's style, like the aforementioned e30.

There were a few japanese cars that had factory yellow fogs.

Ima do the yellow lights on the mx6 again.

Swank Force One wrote: There were a few japanese cars that had factory yellow fogs. Ima do the yellow lights on the mx6 again.

And i'm gonna tell you it looks like E36 M3, again. But you don't listen to me, nor should you, as I am NOT the paragon of automotive styling.

yellow fogs is not the same as yellow headlights

I'm considering doing a yellow tint + clearcoat on the headlights on my Mustang. They need to be polished a bit anyway so it's not much extra work. I think it'll look good against the red on my car, it's the Ferrari-esque red, and I'm eager to improve the fog/drizzle busting abilities of the headlights.

mad_machine wrote: yellow fogs is not the same as yellow headlights

True story.

More rice.

Swank Force One wrote: RICE!

Yes, if you put yellow tint on your headlights people will think you have a ferrari race car. You too can be like a ferrari driver!!!!

I'm kind of surprised at the intensity of reaction here. Yeah, I want to do something for purely aesthetic reasons. I think it looks nifty. If that's ricey, so be it; I really don't care whether anyone else thinks it looks good or not.

Here's the riceburner in question.

plance1 wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: RICE!

Yes, if you put yellow tint on your headlights people will think you have a ferrari race car. You too can be like a ferrari driver!!!!

My car is even red! And it has stickers!

I can't hardly wait to tell some young impressionable girls that i'm a professional Ferrari racer!

Ayyyyyyyy gurl you like mah Ferrari?!?!?!

I am going to do yellow headlights on my Civic at some point.

Yellow seems like its much more connected to auto sports. If we were talk red or probably any other color I would agree with ricey comments but yellow seems appropriate on cars.

Will wrote: What have you guys used with success on curvy lights? Will a name brand film like Lamin-X be any easier to work with? Any other products I should try?

I tried the Lamin-X stuff. I didn't have any luck even with heat.

Our WRX wagon came to us with yellow on the fogs. It really stood out on the silver car. Just a head's up on the spray stuff: it only takes about an hour at highway speeds in a monsoon to wash it off.

When the visibility on the road is poor I keep a pair of yellow tinted glasses in the car. They work quite well.

But, on the right car, yellow lights do look sharp.

Will wrote: I'm kind of surprised at the intensity of reaction here. Yeah, I want to do something for purely aesthetic reasons. I think it looks nifty. If that's ricey, so be it; I really don't care whether anyone else thinks it looks good or not. Here's the riceburner in question.

It might actually work on your car..... though I'm biased and I admit to liking an F-body driven in anger no matter what.

Try this...
headlight tint
We used something similar to increase the tint on our car in the tech line for LeMans a few years ago. The tech officials didn't think our lights were yellow enough, but we didn't want to sacrifice any illumination.

Swank Force One wrote: I have these wierd nipples

Also, bake your headlights in the oven to soften the adhesive silicone gunk holding the lens in the housing. Then, peel the lens off, spray the INSIDE, regunk the seam, and reinstall. Remember, this is permanent tho.

I remember being overseas in the Navy & had never seen yellow headlights. I think it was Italy, maybe France, I forget (they both sold beer). But seeing EVERY car with yellow headlights seemed surreal after a day or two.

Done well I think it would look pretty nice.

On a vintage French car, il est de rigueur: On a 4th gen Camaro, s'il vous plaît ne pas.

You realize the Ferrari has yellow lights due to racing regulations, right? The LMP cars had white lights and the GT's had yellow to help differentiate them on the track at night.

They also have lots more money and engineering invested on making them work properly.

It's a style thing that impacts something that is important to safety. If the car isn't driven at night, then all is good.

turboswede wrote: You realize the Ferrari has yellow lights due to racing regulations, right? The LMP cars had white lights and the GT's had yellow to help differentiate them on the track at night. They also have lots more money and engineering invested on making them work properly. It's a style thing that impacts something that is important to safety. If the car isn't driven at night, then all is good.

Are OEMs using yellow foglights because they look cool, then?

Jerry wrote: I remember being overseas in the Navy & had never seen yellow headlights. I think it was Italy, maybe France, I forget (they both sold beer). But seeing EVERY car with yellow headlights seemed surreal after a day or two.

That would have been France, who has also switched to join every other country in mandating white headlights on new cars since joining the EU.

Swank Force One wrote: Are OEMs using yellow foglights because they look cool, then?

Probably. That's the reason at least half of the things on cars are executed the way they are. If yellow were actually superior, I would expect the faster racing class with the greater visibility range needs would probably be using it on their headlights, as would the OEMs and government safety nanny organizations...Which all happen to require white headlights.

I agree, yellow lights look awful.

The theory is that yellow light rays travel further than white, which helps with low visibility (fog). Problem is that the 5% increase in yellow band range is more than killed with the 10% drop in output from the yellow filter.

But they still look cool IMHO.

In reply to Cone_Junky:

Ah ok... that makes sense.

So when i saw a great increase in visibility with my yellow setup (done it on two cars now, though the previous car was just using yellow tinted bulbs, same end effect, though), it was probably more due to the higher output bulbs that went in at the same time?

Cone_Junky wrote: The theory is that yellow light rays travel further than white, which helps with low visibility (fog). Problem is that the 5% increase in yellow band range is more than killed with the 10% drop in output from the yellow filter.

Dirty little secret: A shade doesn't produce light. It only allows certain light to pass through. Your headlights were already making the yellow light - it was just mixed up with all of the others. Hence the white.