Painted Demon Eyes

[Jimmye212]

So I am in the process of blacking out my 09 headlights. I had the idea of painting the ring around the projector (see attached pic) in a metalcast/anodized red. This will have the benefit of being red when the lights aren't on, and also slightly illuminating when the lights are on.

 

However, I am wondering about the legality of this. I live in NY and heard someone say that as long as there are no actual red lights then it is fine, but I am not sure about this. I would like to do it but I don't want any trouble with the police, and I am not even sure if it would look good. I searched for pictures of this and couldn't find any, so I am curious if anyone has done this already.

 

Thanks for the help!

[MilesA]

This varies by state. I know some states do specify the colors that are allowed when the vehicle is operating on the roads. For instance, this from Connecticut DMV:

 

- Any light visible from the front of the vehicle shall be white, yellow or amber.

- Any light visible from the forward most edge of the rear tire of the vehicle to the front of the vehicle shall be amber or yellow.

- Any light visible from the forward most edge of the rear tire of the vehicle to the rear of the vehicle shall be red.

- Any light visible from the rear of the vehicle shall be red or amber.

 

I guess they are not counting license plate lights or backup lights.

 

To me, it makes sense not to deviate too far from the OEM light colors since those are known to be legal in all states.

[Jimmye212]

Thank you for the reply!

 

I actually just asked my friend who is a sergeant in New York and he said that it is perfectly fine as long as it is just paint. He said any actual red lights or red lights that project would be illegal, but what I am looking to do with the paint is fine.

 

However, that now brings me to the question of how it would look. Would it be rice? My car is black and I do have a black and red theme going on so it wouldn't be out of place. I could just see it potentially either looking amazing or looking tacky.

 

Also, should I just paint the front part that I have outlined in the picture? I'd imagine that's the only part that would get illuminated from the headlight. Or should I do the whole chrome ring that people usually leave chrome when blacking out the headlights.

 

I suppose I could just paint it red and see how it looks, and if I don't like it I can always paint it "chrome" again. I'll be sure to post some pics!