Quote:
Originally Posted by Devante
So I spent an hour looking through the vehicle code for CA on DMV's website.
I couldn't find anything that specifically forbade darkened housing.
Only thing I could find was that various lights and reflectors must be visible from certain distances when in use.
So I'm wondering now if getting smoked lenses is fine if you get bulbs strong enough to meet the visibility requirements.
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This was my understanding too about the Valenti tail lights, even the non-smoked ones aren't DOT approved because they don't have the reflectors in them. The bulbs are definitely bright enough even to see day or night, but the safety issue is when the bulbs aren't on at night. For example if the battery is dead and you're on the side of the road w/o lights one. DOT approved tails would theoretically be seen by headlights shining on them, but the Valenti's wouldn't.
The clear side markers should be ok, like someone else mentioned, as long as the bulb is amber colored. I think (I'm no authority though) you'd even be ok without a bulb. The law in California only requires amber side markers on vehicles 20ft or longer. I've noticed most cars don't even have them. The problem would only be if you had another color light shine when it's on.