[Toadster]

I'm definitely going to Lamin-X the headlights - can't stand the faded headlights on newer cars lately...

clear is 'duh' easy to visualize, but does anyone have 'tint' on theirs? it's the lightest shade.. don't want to block light output...

 

[Toadster]

 

[nickbaldwin86]

red and blue is illegal on front of car... just a FYI before doing anything stupid.

Honestly coloring headlights should be illegal regardless. if not for safety just for stupidity. making tail lights dark should also, be illegal and I know of some that have gotten "fit-it" tickets for it. Why would you want to make it harder for someone to see you putting on your brakes? you want to be rear ended? Honestly think that if you get rear ended and have tinted tails the person shouldn't be at fault for hitting you.

 

[Toadster]

I'd be doing clear or 'tint' shade - nothing darker...

 

[pyroman131]

I'd recommend going with clear Lamin-X and abstaining from the slightly tinted ones. I, like @nickbaldwin86, do not approve of any kind of tint on lighting for a vehicle. I'm not a fan of compromising safety in order to achieve a particular look. There's a special snowflake in my apartment complex that stupidly blacked-out his headlights. I'll have to try to find him and snap a picture. It's faded as hell and worse, they're halogen headlights. I'm sure that at night, this guy feels like he's using an 18th century oil lamp to light the way on dark highways. Since I live in Florida, inclement rain storms are so prevalent. I've seen dum dums driving on the road with blacked out taillights during heavy rainstorms and you can't see them at all even with all their lights on. I'm hoping the law changes and police will enforce the removal of these more often to help save lives.

If you stick with clear, you'll only slightly affect your lighting output. I suspect the human eye wouldn't be able to detect a difference when driving. The benefit of protecting your headlights from road rash, pitting, and cracks is worth it to me. I haven't pulled the trigger on a Lamin-X cover for my headlights because I'm not comfortable installing them myself. I do have clear Headlight Armor for my fog lights since they're easy to apply. But with the curves of our headlights and the large surface area, I'm worried I'd mess it up.

 

[Giaco45]

I was looking into laminex but for the fogs. does anyone have them and have they faded at all? i keep running into that problem with films i purchase off amazon

 

[zeonhaomaru]

Any film, yes even clear, will affect light output to different levels depending on film tint\color. There is plenty videos of guys testing it on YouTube and regretted the install after a few weeks. But it's your car man, do as you please. Laminex will not fade as hard but eventually depending if it gets nicked by road debris (bugs,rocks, etc) will need to be replaced. Had previous car laminex headlights and lasted 3 years before it look suspect.

 

[AgtDALLAS]

red and blue is illegal on front of car... just a FYI before doing anything stupid.

Honestly coloring headlights should be illegal regardless. if not for safety just for stupidity. making tail lights dark should also, be illegal and I know of some that have gotten "fit-it" tickets for it. Why would you want to make it harder for someone to see you putting on your brakes? you want to be rear ended? Honestly think that if you get rear ended and have tinted tails the person shouldn't be at fault for hitting you.

Porsche is already starting to ship cars with a very subtle amount of tint on the head and tail lights. I dont think the "Tint" color of lamin-x would make that drastic of a change, any darker and you are probably shooting yourself in the foot though

 

[nickbaldwin86]

Porsche did it.... must be right! band wagon up everyone!

 

[Skywalker15]

Porsche is already starting to ship cars with a very subtle amount of tint on the head and tail lights. I dont think the "Tint" color of lamin-x would make that drastic of a change, any darker and you are probably shooting yourself in the foot though


View attachment 160554

I seriously doubt that is actually tint on the Porsche headlights. More likely black plastic behind a clear lens giving the appearance of tint. Hella made "black magic" lights that had a black plastic crosshair, which gave a dark appearance when reflected in the bowl of the light.

 

[LilHaile]

Mine is red, however here is a few shots with the light smoke (50%) from headlight armor. I have these on my headlights and fogs. The nighttime brightness was cut down some, however I don't even notice it anymore, I can still see perfectly fine at night.

 

[MichaelScarnST]

Looks good, but driving in Germany... at night... in inclement weather is dark and ****ty as it is.

 

[bemdoubleu]

Porsche is already starting to ship cars with a very subtle amount of tint on the head and tail lights. I dont think the "Tint" color of lamin-x would make that drastic of a change, any darker and you are probably shooting yourself in the foot though


View attachment 160554

Porsche has never used tint on their headlights or taillights. The headlights have a black housing to give it that look and the taillights are just a darker plastic. This is akin to their GTS models

 

[LockeLamora33]

Porsche has never used tint on their headlights or taillights. The headlights have a black housing to give it that look and the taillights are just a darker plastic. This is akin to their GTS models

And the Raptor has this too. I had my f150 lights done custom and painted the housing black as well. There is a huge difference between doing that and ruining your light output.

 

[MikeD]

Front side marker tinting is an option with very limited impact on safety. I just received the rear reflector overlays but haven't installed yet as its too cold here.

Focus ST Side Marker Overlays (2015+) - Premium Auto Styling

 

[pyroman131]

Front side marker tinting is an option with very limited impact on safety. I just received the rear reflector overlays but haven't installed yet as its too cold here.

Focus ST Side Marker Overlays (2015+) - Premium Auto Styling

View attachment 206017

Side marker lights for cars are there to alert vehicles that there is a vehicle adjacent to them. This makes it easier to spot a car in very dark areas or in inclement weather. For instance, you'll see some driver's of older cars that have one headlight out completely and the other one is on. I almost merged into a lane because the car was almost completely blacked out, but I saw a speck of orange in the corner of my eye as I was about to come over. That prevented me from getting into a minor car accident on the highway. I couldn't see them properly in the darkest parts of I-95.

I wouldn't recommend compromising any form of lighting output on your vehicle. Every light is there to meet safety standards and make your vehicle easier to spot in bad weather, a distracted driver, etc.

I think the only way I would be okay with that side marker being blacked out is if there was another one on the car somewhere (e.g., on the fender). But I like having that extra light in both the tail light and the headlight as they do a sufficient job of approximating the total side and vehicle length in a quick observatory glance from another driver on the roadway.

EDIT:
https://one.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/regrev/evaluate/806430.html

 

[FullThrottleST1]

 

[blu_H]

I'm definitely going to Lamin-X the headlights - can't stand the faded headlights on newer cars lately...

clear is 'duh' easy to visualize, but does anyone have 'tint' on theirs? it's the lightest shade.. don't want to block light output...

[iurl="http://www.focusst.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=151393&d=1470847228"]

[/iurl]

I just had my tail loghts and headlights clear coated and painted smoked, apparently it lasts longer than a tint film, and looks glossier!
I'll post some pics soon!

 

[MikeD]

I think the only way I would be okay with that side marker being blacked out is if there was another one on the car somewhere (e.g., on the fender).

I don't disagree concerning missing headlights/taillights as a serious safety issue, but I would not call this kind of tinting as "blacked out." The light is clearly visible at night and if you add an LED bulb for the marker your inclement weather/dark road visibility will not be impacted while attaining the custom look in the day.

Taken from the the NHTSA document "The evaluation does not develop a detailed model which predicts side marker lamp effectiveness as a function of their intensity, size, luminance or as a function of accident parameters." In my opinion this sounds like as long as you have some sort of light you are safer then without.

 

[pyroman131]

I don't disagree concerning missing headlights/taillights as a serious safety issue, but I would not call this kind of tinting as "blacked out." The light is clearly visible at night and if you add an LED bulb for the marker your inclement weather/dark road visibility will not be impacted while attaining the custom look in the day.

Taken from the the NHTSA document "The evaluation does not develop a detailed model which predicts side marker lamp effectiveness as a function of their intensity, size, luminance or as a function of accident parameters." In my opinion this sounds like as long as you have some sort of light you are safer then without.

That's an excellent point and a viable excerpt to mention. It is certainly important to at least have some form of illumination. Perhaps my opinion is rooted entirely within the continued inclement weather we have in Florida. During heavy rainstorms, especially at night, it's nearly impossible to see other cars that have tinted or blacked out lights. In normal driving conditions, if the headlamps are entirely tinted or blacked out, at least some light will penetrate the darkness and provide some degree of visibility, although it will be dramatically reduced from factory. Therefore, I'd prefer that safety lights would not be obfuscated by tinting.

If there is a high performance LED bulb that can be used for the side markers that are clearly visible, then I'd be more on board to the idea. However, having too bright of a light can be distracting for other drivers. I wouldn't want to put a high performance LED in those markers. Not only would light be scattered, but I imagine the intense bright light would be distracting simply because it's bright to look at (however, LEDs output significantly fewer lumens than a traditional incandescent bulb).

I absolutely agree with you that having some form of light is safer than without. Perhaps the pictures listed there do not do it justice, but it looks incredibly blacked out to me. That looks like a very dark tint rather than an opaque overlay (i.e., blacked out, although my definition of blacked out includes a darkened tint overlay).