pulled over for 'blue' headlights and HID's [Archive]

stillriza

10-08-2007, 04:30 PM

I used to think this would never happen where I live but I got pulled over for the headlights I had on my car.

I saw the cop tailing me for quite a while and I thought it was odd...so I made sure to stay under 60km.. about 10 mins later.. he lights up his lights and I pullover. The guy comes up asks me what's up with my blue lights. When I step out the car I have my headlights on and they are white...but he didnt like the fact that the bulbs all have a blueish tint. After trying to explain that is how they are tinted to achieve the look of white lights...he says...Those are blue emmiting lights, the same as what he has on top of his cruiser which is absolute BS. His lights light up BLUE...mine were white and I showed him..but he didnt give a ****. So I get $110 ticket and have to go to court to show him i replaced them. What a focking piss off. They were WHITE. I go online to look and almost all aftermarket bulbs have a bluish tint to them.

I call a budy of mine up who works at canadian tire..to ask him if they have a sale on sylvana lights... he tells me he got pulled over for having HID blubs in his jetta and same deal, he has to replace them then show up in court.

Just a rant...
Im gona replace with silverstarts and forget the idea of buying the crystal headlights without the clear reflector...cuz some ******* will pull me over for that.

Bryan

10-08-2007, 05:45 PM

That's lame. What bulbs are you using?

You do have to take into consideration that on many of those bulbs it says "Check your local laws" or whatever though. Still sucks man.

Mirage85

10-08-2007, 05:54 PM

that really sucks. First time I actually heard of someone getting pulled over for bluish tinted lights, although Canada is a little different Im sure. Regardless, if this is what cops are spending their time doing, I would be raising some hell. My tax money would be better spent paying cops to actually do something constructive.

coupe

10-08-2007, 06:06 PM

Why dont you go to the court and ask someone there to look at the lights.

If the light itself isnt blue then i dont see how you cannot have them. Do the laws say the bulb itself has to be white? Or just the light omitting from them?

RAZE

10-08-2007, 06:40 PM

I'm pretty sure all those bulbs say "for offroad use only" on the packaging. If you want a true white light, then buy a luxury car. These blue bulbs have a worse visibility compared to the yellow ones. That's mainly why I don't bother with them.

timberwoof

10-08-2007, 06:42 PM

You can not have a bulb which emmits blue or red light, period. They are reserved for emergency responce vehicles only. As for the tint on the bulbs, from a distance some lights will show blue, but as you get closer they turn white. The tint is to "dull" the intensity of the light so as to not blind other drivers. Atleast that is what I've been told.

To me the way you are describing the incident, the cop was just trying to find some reason to pull you over and that is what he finally came up with. He was either really bored, or just wanted to see who you were and if you could fit the bill for a druggy. Did he ask you any other questions, as to where you were going, or coming from, or what you were doing in the area?

WeibSunder

10-08-2007, 06:44 PM

That is bull****, the little ricers run around with actual BLUE headlights. I would take the HID box with me to court and fight it, showing that it's a "white" light emitting bulb, not blue. I would have pics and show him the difference between a blue light emitting bulb and a white light emitting one. I hate ****s like that.

Not trying to jack your thread, but when I was in VA visiting my brother I got pulled for my "blue" turn signals. They were a blue bulb that would flash a white light. The freakin VA cop said that if he ever saw me with the blue bulbs again, that he was going to impound my car. So I changed my bulbs while I was up there visiting, thank God I didn't get a ticket. You need to fight that crap though.

Mirage85

10-08-2007, 06:50 PM

The freakin VA cop said that if he ever saw me with the blue bulbs again, that he was going to impound my car. So I changed my bulbs while I was up there visiting, thank God I didn't get a ticket. You need to fight that crap though.

Thats a common threat cops give to out of state vehicles that dont meet in state standards. They dont have authority to do anything to you about anything on your car. Im guessing he didnt realize you were from out of state until he already was pulling you over. Other wise he probably would have let you go.

lone_wolf025

10-08-2007, 07:06 PM

timberwoof

10-08-2007, 07:08 PM

Thats a common threat cops give to out of state vehicles that dont meet in state standards. They dont have authority to do anything to you about anything on your car. Im guessing he didnt realize you were from out of state until he already was pulling you over. Other wise he probably would have let you go.

chances are, he already knew who, and where the person was before he pulled him over. You license plate tells you a hell of alot more than most people think.

Year, Make, Model(in some state), Owner's name, Owner's address, Insurance Company(in some states), registration month and year, Previous Owner info, Even who you have a lean through(if the car is financed)

The cop had a good idea about who this driver was or could be before he hit the lights.

stillriza

10-08-2007, 07:13 PM

I am actually looking at the packaging and it says Xenon bulb and DOT approved. THey look similar to the piaa bulbs but aren't. I actually bought them from the auto show. They are not ricer lights or anything like that. They were replacements for the burned out stockers. It was a light blue tint only on the blub.

I explained it but ... for him to say that they were emitting a blue light similar to his cruiser lights was absolute bull****.. I mean I had them on and they were clearly jsut a bit whiter than the stockers.

He explained that only blue lights are allowed on emergency and snow plow vehicles. He didnt ask me any questions. I am taking this to court, with my current bulbs in the vehicle and will fight this. This is absolute BS to pull me over for the hell of it and give me a ticket cuz he felt like it. I understand..it is thanksgiving weekend and thier is a blitz on the streets...but for ****s sake...why dont you go out and put that effort on the real asses out there who speed and drive drunk.

timberwoof

10-08-2007, 07:17 PM

Take the pachaging up there and show the judge the DOT approved sticker. See what the judge says to that. If its DOT approved then it "should be legal"

lone_wolf025

10-08-2007, 07:24 PM

Yea but weren't the black/chrome headlight lenses w/clear reflectors technically DOT approved too?

Mirage85

10-08-2007, 07:53 PM

chances are, he already knew who, and where the person was before he pulled him over. You license plate tells you a hell of alot more than most people think.

Year, Make, Model(in some state), Owner's name, Owner's address, Insurance Company(in some states), registration month and year, Previous Owner info, Even who you have a lean through(if the car is financed)

The cop had a good idea about who this driver was or could be before he hit the lights.

While true, what saying is that Im guessing he saw the signals from a distance and already had the lights going to pull him over before he saw the plate...

Mirage85

10-08-2007, 07:54 PM

Yea but weren't the black/chrome headlight lenses w/clear reflectors technically DOT approved too?

DOT laws vary from state to state and country to country.

silverbullet51

10-08-2007, 09:03 PM

I am actually looking at the packaging and it says Xenon bulb and DOT approved. THey look similar to the piaa bulbs but aren't. I actually bought them from the auto show. They are not ricer lights or anything like that. They were replacements for the burned out stockers. It was a light blue tint only on the blub.

I bought some aftermarket bulbs on ebay recently to get that luxury car look. My packaging says DOT approved and the sellar says they are legal in all 50 states. But these have a blue tint to them on the bulb. The light is definately not as bright as the manufacturer says they are. Is this similar to what you have?

I'm pretty sure your lights aren't blue as a cruiser's and most people can figure out that any bulbs that blue are probably not road leagal. Good luck with your court case and hope that anal cop spends more of his time dedicated to actual law enforcement. There's clearly too many idiots and drunks on the road yet.

GrandAmGT1996

10-08-2007, 09:46 PM

to get that luxury car look.

lol

Bryan

10-08-2007, 09:53 PM

Only looks luxury if you're rockin the projectors really.

GrandAmGT1996

10-08-2007, 10:04 PM

...or a real luxury car maybe?

Bryan

10-08-2007, 10:05 PM

hahah yeah.

Oh sh!tttt 2,000 post for Brandon.

cardude007617

10-08-2007, 10:26 PM

heh ya id say thats pretty BS.

silverbullet51

10-08-2007, 10:59 PM

yeah yeah, so the newb bought crap. i should have known for 9.95

oh well, we learn by doing

guess it's back to the silverstar ultras for me

stillriza

10-09-2007, 01:25 AM

yep.. gona grab a pair of silverstars tomorrow...and maybe some stealth signal bulbs..

Bryan

10-09-2007, 01:29 AM

Silverstars for ze win.

DomesticFreak

10-09-2007, 02:45 AM

Hey... Silverstars have that blue tint too. And everyone and their mother has silverstar's. Use that in your case. Jeez, even the GE Night Hawks have that bluish tint. EVERY SINGLE High end halogen bulb has that freeking blue tint...

That's a complete load of crap. COMPLETE BULL SIHT... I hate that... I hear about it all the time, and it's happened to me twice. Both times the case was thrown away when I showed them the DOT approved sticker.

Mike Jung

10-09-2007, 05:18 AM

Jeez, even the GE Night Hawks have that bluish tint. EVERY SINGLE High end halogen bulb has that freeking blue tint...
The GE NightHawks have no blue tint coating on the bulb.

They are about 3234°K bulb.
Anyone ever used/heard about:

GE Nighthawk 9007 headight bulbs.

They are new, but no real spec's on them are out.

They cost $26.99Cdn each, $2Cdn less than the Silverstar bulbs.
[OEM stock GE LL headlight bulbs cost $9.99Cdn each.]

No (blue) coating on the bulb.

I called GE & they faxed me this on a description:
Colour Temperature = 3234°K (according to GE, their standard bulb is 3123°K)
[Silverstars have a blue tint coating making them about 4000°K.]

Average Nighthawk life = 402 hours (according to GE, their standard bulb is 416 hours)
[Silverstars = about 150 hours headlight life.]
[I think the OEM stock GE LL bulbs last up to average 1500 hours.]

"About same lamp wattage as standard lamp."

They are suppose to be the brightest headlight bulb that GE makes.
& 10-15% brighter than their High Output (HO) headlight bulbs.

"More light is just directed forward."

"...on average, 33% more brightness than a standard lamp.
This is accomplished through a new filement & gas design that throws more light forward in front of the car instead of down or to the extreme sides."

"Using a robust filament and a refined, xenon gas composition, Nighthawk produces an average 30 percent more luminance than GE's standard lamps."

Sprucegagt

10-09-2007, 07:50 AM

DOT laws vary from state to state and country to country.

DOT regulations are nationwide. But states or counties can enact additional requirements.

Mirage85

10-09-2007, 10:02 AM

DOT regulations are nationwide. But states or counties can enact additional requirements.

Yes, like every other government agency. The state can have stricter requirements, but cannot have requirements less than the Federal standards, thus they vary state to state.

DomesticFreak

10-09-2007, 12:19 PM

The GE NightHawks have no blue tint coating on the bulb.

They are about 3234°K bulb.

Well, almost every Halogen bulb has that tint. GE's is a bit more silver-ish... Idk what's on them, but it's got a very light tint.

Hodge

10-09-2007, 10:10 PM

the thing u do when a cop is tailing you, just pull off in a restaurant/gas station/whatever u think u can pull off... and if they want you THAT bad.. they'll get u... if they are like **** it, ur good. if i have suspicions that i'll get pulled over i bounce off the road quick and get out at a party store/whatever

stillriza

10-09-2007, 11:56 PM

I bought the silverstar ultras and have them installed..they dont have a blue tint but have a grey tint on the top of the bulb..

i had a choice between the nighthawks, regular silverstars and the ss ultra's.

i must say though...after getting use to the white light from my $20 bulbs...im kinda disappointed in the ss ultra's. they just seem stock to me...nothing special for that ballooned price on them.

Cormaster

10-10-2007, 06:01 AM

Z3R0

10-10-2007, 08:31 AM

If you don't have projectors Xenon bulbs (20 dollar garbage) are not road legal because they emmit a different light pattern that the headlight housing will reflect in all directions causing glare to other drivers.

The same goes for HID Kits...yeah the kit and bulb is legal...IF YOU CAR IS FITTED FOR THEM(ie. light doesn't go in all directions(projectors)/came stock/luxury car)

GrandAmGT1996

10-10-2007, 05:07 PM

hahah yeah.

Oh sh!tttt 2,000 post for Brandon.

good eye, i didnt even notice. lol

Ajaxus

10-10-2007, 05:09 PM

slowpoke :D

timberwoof

10-10-2007, 07:18 PM

slowpoke :D

Hey some women like that...

GrandAmGT1996

10-10-2007, 09:20 PM

slowpoke :D

shutup postwhore lol

Cormaster

10-11-2007, 03:17 AM

I'm not sure what the xenon lights look like, but there are some ricers going around town with HID's without projectors, and I really hope they get a ticket. Looks like they are driving around with there brights on. One pulls up behind me and my whole car's lit up like its daylight!

WeibSunder

10-11-2007, 07:35 AM

flems17

10-31-2007, 11:19 AM

yeah thats BS and it would piss me off too. Those lights our white, and completly street legal. Surely you'll get let off the hook in court, or maybe the cop won't even show up. Either way take it to court.

I understand why your not allowed to have "blue" lights, but this is a HUGE technicality!

It's too bad cops get a $1000 fine now-a-days up here if they don't show up. I was going to fight a ticket on the hopes a cop wouldn't show up, and my uncle, also a cop, told us about this. Kinda pissed me off. :(