Looking to buy new headlights for my blue 8. Ive tried to research this but ive seen 2 different things. Are blue hid headlights illegal or not?

 

depends on your city/state. I see lights all the time with the blue kelvin rating i.e. 8000k HIDs if so you should be fine.

 

There's a difference between what people do and what is legal. I think you will find that blue tinted lights are illegal. Some officers will let you go for it. Others, will tack it on as an additional ticket when your picked up for something like speeding.

 

I'm gonna sound like a crochety old fart here, but blue headlights put out way less light than legal white ones, and are a real safety hazard.

Ken

 

I personally would not put anything over 6000k, like Ken said, it puts out less light but also dont look very nice in my opinion, i see people around with HIDs over 15000k so it really just depends on City/State

 

Im not sure but I run 8000k in my z06 and have never been pulled over in very cop populated central NJ. And true, they do put out less light than pure white.

 

Depends on where you live and enforcement. Using HID's is not illegal, if the lens they are shining through we're designed for their use. You will find many cars with HID's with a DOT approved lenses. The problem arises when people put the HID bulbs in a housing designed for halogen bulbs. It produces a lot of glare and blinds oncoming traffic. I personally would like to beat these people with a sack of door *****! HID's do output more light in that spectrum, but not all are created equal. Do us all a favor don't do it unless you do it correctly, buy the proper housings as well. Just having blue headlights is not cool.

 

Florida Laws: FL Statutes - Title XXIII Motor Vehicles Section 316.001 Short title. - Florida Attorney Resources - Florida Laws


So for the OP, the answer is: "No, they are not legal"

 

I think it is quite a leap to go from blue colored high powered halogens or HID's in the the 5000k range and above to emergency light bars/strobes. I don't think any peace officer would mistake the two.

 

By the letter of the law, if the light is referred to as "blue", it is illegal. There is no distinction made for headlights vs emergency bar or deep piercing blue flashing vs steady pale blue. "Blue" is what is illegal.

Here is another statute regarding the headlights themselves, not the legality of alternate colors:
Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine

Note: I'm not telling him to do it or not to do it, and I'm not expressing an opinion about what I think about blue headlights. Just answering the OP's question, which was if they were legal or not. And no, they are not. If he got a citation for blue shaded HIDs, he would lose any attempt to fight it as they aren't legal under any definition of FL law.

 

I agree. I have an 08 and they have hid so I went a little cooler with the temp. I also put hid 3000k in the fogs and as you mentioned they cast light all over since the fogs are not designed for hid. I only use them on back roads. So essentially they are no longer Fogs bug driving lamps.

 

there are federal laws regarding headlights .... best way to put it.. anything fancy... illegal

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If your interpretation of the law is correct then every vehicle equipped from the factory with HID's is in violation of the law. While I understand what you are saying I still say it's a stretch. The point of laws that say no blue lights on passenger vehicles is so that the motoring public makes no mistake about a vehicles emergency status. Whether that be fire/police/ambulance etc. No one is going to mistake a RX8 with HID's for a patrol car. If any motorist is cited for blue headlights that were part of the original factory equipment then I would think that the manufacturer would be liable. Like many other things in our society, it takes the laws a bit to catch up with technology. I'm positive there was no such thing as a HID when that law was written. Now as far people putting HID bulbs in halogen housing well if the officer knows the difference, I am all for it...cite them.

 

I understand the point of the law. Factory HIDs are not "blue" though. They are white. An intense white that has faint amounts of blue on the very edges of the spectum, but still white.

I also agree with the laws lagging behind times.

"Blue" headlights are still illegal in Florida. Whether or not the OP would have that enforced on him is entirely up to any officer that observes his car, and if they choose to do so, he won't have any defense if he has blue headlights of any shade. That's my point.

 

HIDs are not really blue...it's that conventional tungsten lamps are yellow by comparison. The usual 4500 degree HID lamps are warmer than 6000 degrees or so for daylight.

As Cornbred pointed out, there's a Federal motor vehicle standard for headlights, and state laws include that.

Ken

 

NY State law mandates white or yellow as acceptable colors, I run illegal bulbs and have not received an infraction for it. Nor would I care if I did anyways

 

I have 10k and cops don't stop me...

 

All I can say from EXPERIENCE in Florida is that I drove around with a Blue LED thing that went around my license plate and never got pulled over, Flagged, or had issues till about almost 2yrs went by and then IDK WTF I did or if Martin County police were told to Target Lighting infractions or what? But, I all of a Sudden I got pulled over literally on BACK TO BACK night's over that License Tag thing!!!! An even though I just got warnings both times, that was the End of that *****!