OK... So we've managed to establish the fact that most of us hate tinted tail lights. However the question I asked and the ENTIRE reason for this thread is; Has it recently been made illegal for tail light tinting of any kind in Queensland???
I'm just interested to hear of any other Queenslanders that are aware of this 'new law' Or is it bullshit. Regardless of what percentage of light can be seen from certain disances, etc, is it illegal full stop?
I am unaware of any 'new law' as such. Perhaps there has simply been some kind of publicity about cops cracking down on tinted tail lights. They have been illegal since the day any of the ADRs governing tail lights came out, because they change the way the lights perform.
Firstly the ADRs are very specific about light strength, colour spectrum etc so anything that makes them perform differently is illegal. Its possible to add powerful globes to standard lights and make them illegally bright too, because you have changed the performance beyond the rules.
Like it or not, tinting changes their performance and makes them instantly illegal. Not because they are tinted, but because they are no longer meeting ADR parameters.
Also, as ari has already pointed out, regardless of how powerful the globes are, tinting stops the reflectors working properly. The fact that tinting changes the colour, strength and reflectivity of the lights means they wont meet ADRs. A law banning tinted lights is unnecessary, tinting them makes them illegal anyway for that reason.
If a car or aftermarket manufacturer wanted to put in the effort and design a light with tinting included, and the resulting tinted light met all ADRs, it would be legal. Just a point there though.. tail lights need to be within a certain range of red, hmmm red tinting? lol
This is not new, perhaps what you heard is that they were cracking down on something that was already illegal.
Bottom line. Tinting tail lights is illegal, full stop.
