[vvb8530]

Thanks Karthik,

Perfect timing of your post and great details. I have been trying to read up about smoking the tail lights and head lights for the past few days but had not come across any good useful information. Your thread has the exact information that i need since i did not want to use paint or remove the light assembly and had been looking for information on using tints.

The modified beauties from Kerala that are posted regularly on the forum have made me consider using a light blue tint on the headlights and smoke black the tail lights of my ANHC. The only problem is that mines a black colour so i am not very certain how the smoked black tail lights would look, hence if i go ahead with this i think i will only use a light black film.

However i had heard from someone though that using these tints on the tail lights and head lights is not legal. Do you have any info on this?

Regards,
VVB

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by vvb8530

The only problem is that mines a black colour so i am not very certain how the smoked black tail lights would look, hence if i go ahead with this i think i will only use a light black film.

The overall effect would be good irrespective of the car's color, since the masking is done with blackish vinyl (which is a neutral color).

However i had heard from someone though that using these tints on the tail lights and head lights is not legal. Do you have any info on this?

Technically speaking, every modification on the car no matter how small, is illegal if going by the RTO's books. Even a headlamp upgrade to projectors or using brighter bulbs can be booked as an offense under "Dazzling lights" for causing nuisance to other road users.

There is no traffic violation for having weak headlights (there is one for having NO headlights though), so there are very few chances of getting pulled over for this. Many of the old vehicles and poorly maintained vehicles on our roads suffer from far worse headlamp/tail lamp illumination than smoked lamps, due to ageing of the glass/lens/bulb. Some vehicles like the new Vento/Polo have blackened headlamps as OEM. It will be very hard to differentiate which ones are tinted and which ones are designed black. Tinting the headlamps is more of a visibility problem for you the driver , than it is a legal issue. On the headlights, if the tints are too dark the driver is asking for trouble in any case - either the headlamps will overheat and conk, or the driver will crash into something due to poor visibility. This is the reason why I chose to strip the tints off from the headlamps. For headlamps, a better option would be to get them painted/customized by accessory shops specializing in that. That way, your glass won't reduce the beam strength in any way.

On the tail lamps, it shouldn't matter since they are neither susceptible to overheating nor are they directly affecting your view of the road. As long as the lights are not getting blocked too much, especially in bright daylight, you are good to go. Do ensure that they are properly visible from the back, from the view of any other vehicle looking at your lamps. You can purchase lighter tint shades if you feel some particular product is too dark for your liking.

[vvb8530]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

The overall effect would be good irrespective of the car's color, since the masking is done with blackish vinyl (which is a neutral color).

On the headlights, if the tints are too dark the driver is asking for trouble in any case - either the headlamps will overheat and conk, or the driver will crash into something due to poor visibility. This is the reason why I chose to strip the tints off from the headlamps. For headlamps, a better option would be to get them painted/customized by accessory shops specializing in that. That way, your glass won't reduce the beam strength in any way.

I have installed HID's in the headlight and also plan to use only a very light blue tint on the head lights, do you think that will cause an issue with visibility. I specially ask cause as is my father anyways refuses to use this car at night cause he thinks after installing the HID's the visibility has reduced, which i think for him is just a case of being too used to the yellow lights, but with the light blue tint if the visibility reduces then its an issue.

VVB

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by vvb8530

I have installed HID's in the headlight and also plan to use only a very light blue tint on the head lights, do you think that will cause an issue with visibility. I specially ask cause as is my father anyways refuses to use this car at night cause he thinks after installing the HID's the visibility has reduced, which i think for him is just a case of being too used to the yellow lights, but with the light blue tint if the visibility reduces then its an issue.

If the tints are too light (and colored rather than black), it may cut only 10-15% or so from the headlight beam strength. In that case, you can go ahead and install them. The fact that you mentioned the presence of HIDs on your car means the visibility with tints will still be miles ahead of the stock lamps. What gets me concerned is another aspect of tinting - overheating.

Regarding your dad using your car, while it may be a case of getting used to it like you said, I wouldn't disagree with your father on the lesser visibility either. A lot of people here will agree with his opinion - it is quite a known thing that white light isn't as effective in visibility as yellow light during rains or when driving in fog.

Why not just custom-paint the headlamp to blue?? There are some resident modification gurus here like speed_kills, who have colored their fog lamps to blue. He might shed more light on how to go about it for your City.

EDIT : I've already PM'ed him to help you out. He should be replying to your query here in a while

[vvb8530]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Why not just custom-paint the headlamp to blue?? There are some resident modification gurus here like speed_kills, who have colored their fog lamps to blue. He might shed more light on how to go about it for your City.

EDIT : I've already PM'ed him to help you out. He should be replying to your query here in a while

Thanks for all your help Karthik.

But you know what i am not very sure if the blue colour would suit the car so i want to have the option of taking it off in case i feel it dosent look good, or if i get bored off it after sometime. I think that is the reason why you too went ahead with the tints instead of painting it.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by vvb8530

But you know what i am not very sure if the blue colour would suit the car so i want to have the option of taking it off in case i feel it dosent look good, or if i get bored off it after sometime. I think that is the reason why you too went ahead with the tints instead of painting it.

Yeah. I went with the tints because it is a reversible change. speed_kills recently blue'd out his fogs on his Polo 1.6 - he also went with tints i guess. He will be able to give you better info on where these blue tints can be procured.

[vvb8530]

Something like this is what i am looking at for the headlights, maybe even a shade of blue lighter than this. What say Karthik?

Pic Courtesy:- Tastefully Modified Cars in India thread on Team Bhp.

[Soumyajit9]

Excellent DIY stuff Karthik !!
I had always wondered how difficult it must be to get those tints on the lights. Now it seems like a cakewalk.

One quick question: I searched for headlight tint and it shows up one response on ebay. In any case, my question is regarding the transparency of the tint. Are there any shade code or light transparency %age that could be referred to ?
I was wondering if the accessories shop would have various transparency shades (that are used on windows) ??

Will discuss with you in detail this Saturday at Sidhu's place (3M HSR).
Will you be there this Sat ?

[speed kills]

Originally Posted by vvb8530

Something like this is what i am looking at for the headlights, maybe even a shade of blue lighter than this. What say Karthik?

Pic Courtesy:- Tastefully Modified Cars in India thread on Team Bhp.

Hey vvb, this Blue tint can be procured from lamin-x. You can Google these guys. They have tints in every imaginable color

Here's a reference pic

[Speed Pujari]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Yeah they can add it for you on any part you like. You can get it done at any of the 3M car care centres. They charge on area basis - 400 bucks per sq. ft or something like that. For the work required in the bumper pattern you showed, I'm guessing you will require 3-4 strips = 3-4 sq. ft. So that's roughly 1500 bucks.

I think that should be ok. Thanks for the info buddy.

BTW I remembered long back (when I was a biker), one guy had put a photo chromatic films on the Pulsar headlights. So it was really cool to see it black in the noon time and transparent at night. I tried to hunt for that film a lot but could not find it.

[rosaf]

Mod Note : There are several spelling & grammatical errors in your posts. This negatively affects the forum experience for other readers.

Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use spell-checkers.

[vvb8530]

Originally Posted by speed kills

Hey vvb, this Blue tint can be procured from lamin-x. You can Google these guys. They have tints in every imaginable color

Here's a reference pic

Hey speed kills,

I have checked out the lamin-x website but you know what I am not good with the DIY stuff and am certain ill mess it up. I've spoken to the local accessories guy that does all the normal stuff on my rides and he says he has a guy who is pretty good with smoking out lights and he will himself order and get the tints. Call me lazy but if I am getting stuff ready made I did rather go for it than mess things up myself.

VVB

[Blow Horn Ok]

I must say this is the most detailed and fun DIY thread I have ever seen. I have been following your punto + 3M thread and I really appreciate the time and efforts you put into your car.

You did the right thing by removing the front smoke films! I am sure many of us would follow your DIY and smoke our lights and I am one of them!

[basilmabraham]

Wonderful narration and excellent end result. Thanks a ton for the patience shown to make this DIY look so simple. Your car looks extra HOT from the rear.

I had done smoking by spray painting on my now sold Palio D. Had to struggle a lot to remove it later. This seems a very practical solution, with option to just peel off to remove.

Thanks once again.

[canonball]

Originally Posted by vvb8530

Hey speed kills,

I have checked out the lamin-x website but you know what I am not good with the DIY stuff and am certain ill mess it up. I've spoken to the local accessories guy that does all the normal stuff on my rides and he says he has a guy who is pretty good with smoking out lights and he will himself order and get the tints. Call me lazy but if I am getting stuff ready made I did rather go for it than mess things up myself.

VVB

Hey vvb, count me in if it is the aqua,blue I see on some KL cars not the dark blue, but the light blue green seen on pete's modded Ertiga. Thx