Are Smoked reflectors road legal?

[McShmoopy]

Hi everyone, hope you're well.

I've never particularly liked the look of the rear reflectors on the back of the IS250 and aside from changing my bumper out to an IS F, one option I considered was smoking the reflectors but I'm not quite sure if these are road legal or not.

The two options I've seen are just smoked black reflectors, and those with the LEDs in for the brake lights. I'm not a fan of the LEDs in the reflectors look but is that a way people keep it road legal? 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362298046780?epid=27018242011&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item545aa5793c:g:CkAAAOSwUtJiO1eH&amdata=enc%3AAQAGAAAA4CizaMAc2nBMv1tMUTfCP28%2Fj9hSlPL2nXf5ikZCPYHojV7HjxGX8KKVvZLeTo2%2FFhw7Z89J3NH30Dl1LsFLxJGWLql6f%2F78hixjcbCetzkxwl4SheyKDPQ4odcju92lWV6j324PErENAinTzJnVKQi3%2F1BPx%2BGL2nHmJaELTL2OS9x%2BX6sH7LuXej55fHuOm9vFueSpBsycfV5BR%2F3fXpKa3CR0usi8BbravM%2BZCplJiXOEGQ%2BGnCy3cjnMFSCgQ7uzXQsBFDaJqywWY6G6cZf0pZhoNA602WgFE0rfNPY0|tkp%3ABFBM6tODpf9f

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304109496924?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item46ce56aa5c:g:2jYAAOSwdK1hG2q1&amdata=enc%3AAQAGAAAA8L6HcH2PKtUg3bG90sIGcoqIvp0S79MJofSvmN8QI8guqr6U2qsEz%2BhoPIpYQCra%2Bp33jl7oc6boehQFPHGcMJYUavtepQQot1fzC5LKZXZCCNBO5VeqZ6UsIFYZoYlCInxZCv2wx1N%2Fdqmr6lvlDX%2BXpQmxNvLQ23gnzIDFSAB5%2Fcsy1vRSReGMhIyu65v4PY6ZYfwH92P%2F8PxjQ6H14VznOCLJ15Aeu0XCoKWazFwEDHOWJs7UhDzaR3SCw7zmuLZ5tUOsLFFwFpPfG70sFLLec442LkM%2BwMw6jt4rA6uIvhz%2BsQX04cWul67M75SWxw%3D%3D|tkp%3ABFBMlN6Gpf9f

Does anyone here have any experience with this at all, any input would be greatly appreciated. 🙂

 

[Linas.P]

Smoked could be legal as long as they meet legal requirements and can pass MOT (which I doubt), if they are reflective then they can theoretically be legal (but I doubt many meets requirements in practice). The second ones are just plain black, so I assume they are illegal because they do not reflect at all. 

[steve2006]

I used aerosol tint on my 94 Celsior rear light clusters to darken them.

Never had a comment about them over 14 years of MOTs.

[NemesisUK]

Smoking the light cluster is a 'grey area' as the MoT tester must use his judgement as to whether the light output is significantly reduced.

The rear reflectors are slightly different as they must reflect a red light to comply with the regs, so I can't see how blacked or heavily smoked can pass

"You must inspect the 2 mandatory red rear reflectors that must be fitted."

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/4-lamps-reflectors-and-electrical-equipment#section-4-3-1

[McShmoopy]

Thats for the input everyone, its something for me to consider doing. One idea I had was wrapping the existing reflectors in some window tinting film to darken them slightly but still allow them to function as reflectors. I suppose MOT time I'll know for certain if this is passable or not 

[steve2006]

As Peter mentions it’s a “grey area” with the MOT tester’s interpretation coming into play.

Mine were given around 5 light coats of tint spray which reduced the redness but not so much the light output.

[Mr Vlad]

I'd ask the MOT tester that I regularly use to get their interpretation before I altered the lights at the rear of my car. With me being a professional driver I see 000's of cars on the road. The ones I'm disgusted with are those plonkers who blackout their rear lights. They can hardly be seen and I've witnessed plenty of near misses of those cars being rear ended because the light output is drastically reduced. 

[H3XME]

5 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

I'd ask the MOT tester that I regularly use to get their interpretation before I altered the lights at the rear of my car. With me being a professional driver I see 000's of cars on the road. The ones I'm disgusted with are those plonkers who blackout their rear lights. They can hardly be seen and I've witnessed plenty of near misses of those cars being rear ended because the light output is drastically reduced. 

I agree. I don't like smoked lights as it is, but if one is to get them, might as well get proper ones that are built to be smoked and legal.

@McShmoopy In terms of reflectors.. mine are red, but my friend has the below smoked lights + those LED smoked reflectors and no issues. Food for thought. Tbh if you're not sure that your MOT guy will pass them, I'd buy £3 black tint foil on eBay and tint them yourself. Should it be a problem with MOT, just peel it off. The quickest fix. Otherwise the bumper has to come off to fit new reflectors.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133944912120

[SeanR]

Noticed Vland lights for sale on eBay.

 

Does anyone know if these are all fitted with connectors and involve no electrical know how ?

Also, is there any chance these can mess your car up in anyway by causing faults ?

 

Just curious.

[H3XME]

3 minutes ago, SeanR said:

Noticed Vland lights for sale on Ebay.

 

Does anyone know if these are all fitted with connectors and involve no electrical know how ?

Also, is there any chance these can mess your car up in anyway by causing faults ?

 

Just curious.

Plug and play. Comes with same connectors like the stock ones. No issues at all. Its a good purchase 

[McShmoopy]

 

23 hours ago, H3XME said:

I agree. I don't like smoked lights as it is, but if one is to get them, might as well get proper ones that are built to be smoked and legal.

@McShmoopy In terms of reflectors.. mine are red, but my friend has the below smoked lights + those LED smoked reflectors and no issues. Food for thought. Tbh if you're not sure that your MOT guy will pass them, I'd buy £3 black tint foil on eBay and tint them yourself. Should it be a problem with MOT, just peel it off. The quickest fix. Otherwise the bumper has to come off to fit new reflectors.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133944912120

That’s good to know regarding your friend, I may look to get those smoked LED reflectors although I may not necessarily wire them up but just use the reflector part. The inner LEDs should provide energy reflectivity but I’ll do some testing and see how I get on 👍🏼