Headlight Tint Laws in New York
Anyone who is in the business will tell you that tint laws are a mess to navigate and even worse to understand. And, whereas the laws regarding window tint shades are relatively straightforward (even if they can be ridiculously detailed) there are no such laws regarding your headlights and tail lights. For years, we at Rvinyl.com have been fielding questions on a daily basis about the legality of headlight tint and there are a few things you should know and they can be boiled down to these three points:
- When in Doubt, Don't: If you have to ask if headlight tint is legal then you can be pretty much certain that it isn't. In our experience, even if there is no law on the books that specifically deals with tint per se, you will surely get a ticket for improper equipment.
- Colored Tints Are a No-No: Red, blue and orange lights are used by police, fire and other emergency services so it makes sense that they don't want you driving around with an NSX with red-out tinted headlights.
- If You Can't See the Road the Cops Will Be Sure to See You: Blackouts are not only a red flag for cops but are dangerous for use on public roads. At Rvinyl, we recommend black out tint for show use only. Save your money and possibly a life, try removable static cling tint instead.
NYS Specific Laws
In NYS you are obligated to use your headlights both when windshield wipers are being used (Duh!) and when visibility is less than a thousand feet. This caveat along with the requirement that you use headlights when there is insufficient light speaks to NYS troopers' problems with headlight tint. By tinting your lights with a VLT of 5% you are decreasing the candle power so much that your lights will not be visible from 500 feet away let alone 1000.
We hope this has been useful and we will continue to add new state laws and information as it becomes available. Take care out there!
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