Clear tails legal?

I was gonna get some red/clear tails for my 96 civic, but now I am thinking about getting clear ones, and just getting ccolored bulbs. It would look really nice I think on a white car, especially since I have cleared headlights.

My question is: would this be legal in CA? I have looked at the codes, and it says that it only needs to emit a red light (brakes, no lens specified, just light color) to be visible at least 500 ft away. I am thinking then, that it is legal as long as in the end, the light comes out the right color. Anyone have more knowledge? Please inform me. Also, besides ebay, does any place sell them? They're pretty rare.

I dunno man, cause what I heard is they are supposed to REFLECT red light, but you could argue that your third brake light does that. A friend of mine had clear tails on his 89 civic hatch, and after being pulled over approx 13 times (I am not exagerating) he painted the corner part of em red.

Most places have stopped carrying clear taillights because their legality is questionable, the main reason they became illegal is because a bunch of idiots didnt put in red bulbs.

I know I can get a set of clear tails for my 91 sedan for $170 over on autodynamic.com, but I dont want to spend money on it if its illegal, and I kinda like my stock tails. What I am currently thinking of doing (since they dont make altezzas for the sedan) is trying to get a clear centerpiece, and then paint the actual tails all red, so I would have a big red clear, but I dunno.

I believe it's legal if you have the red bulb in there for the tail and brake lights, and then have amber bulbs for the turn signal.

Here in Louisiana, clear lights are legal as long as they emit red light (red bulbs) and you have something that acts as a red reflector at the two sides where your lights are. i've seen some guys put clear lights with red bulbs and just put ugly reflectors next to the lights and others just outlined their clear lights with a quarter inch of that red reflective tape which looked alright if they took their time and cut precisely.

is there such a thing as a bulb that is reflective? i could have a red one that reflected light back, and not worry about putting on red reflector tape or anything like that.

You could get the Red LED lights that they sell at AutoZone :uhoh:

Originally posted by Frostbyte
You could get the Red LED lights that they sell at AutoZone :uhoh:

are those any good?

red l.e.d lights work pretty good, but how r the cops in ur area?
if there out 2 bust balls i would'nt go clear..the red n clear lights look sharp also. have u thought about those?

In my honest opinion. Clear taillights annoy me. Cause they don't light up bright enough and I almost rammed into someone with them cause you couldn't see the red.

i think they're legal as long as u got the correct colour bulb in ur clear taillights.........but seriously, get the red and white cause it looks so much better than all clear

gotta be careful with the red colour bulb because after a while, they turn colour and go pink on u, i've seen tons of ppl with colour bulbs in clear taillights that looks pink

Originally posted by CivicSiRacer
In my honest opinion. Clear taillights annoy me. Cause they don't light up bright enough and I almost rammed into someone with them cause you couldn't see the red.

tailgater:flash:

ok, i think they're more trouble then they're worth. i'll just get the red/clears. anyone have any for sale?

WOW:eek: there a lot more expensive than i thought..heres a few,but in my opnion i'd dig around....the 1's on ebay "scambay" will probley goto $150



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1873096538



http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/auto/jsp/mws/prddisplay.jsp?inputstate=5&catcgry1=Civic&catcgry2=1999&catcgry3=2DR+SI&catcgry4=KA5MT&catcgry5=TAILLIGHT

i found some decent prices at matrixracing.com.

well, here in NY, Clear taillights are not legal because they have to have a red reflector on the car... even if its not on the taillight, because of parking, when your car is parked at night....... this is what the cop gave me when i had my white hatch with clear tails on it.... that was back in the rice days.......

clear taillights are deffinately 100% illegal in california
even with red bulbs

i got pulled over when i had clears on my durango and its no longer a fix it ticket for $25 its now $87 and it sucks

i suggest getting them for show only but for driving around they are deffinately illegal