Headlight tinting in Russia | What is the fine for tinting headlights in 2021?

What is the fine for tinting headlights in 2021?

Tinted headlights. There are only three colors of lights allowed at the front: white, yellow or orange. If a driver installs green lamps or tints his headlights purple and an inspector notices this, he will be deprived of his license for a period of 6 months to a year.

Alexander Torvard, auto lawyer

If the light bulb itself, which is located under the headlight glass, is painted, the inspector will remove it and attach it to the protocol. If you have tinted headlights, you may send the car to a special parking lot, since you cannot drive a car that does not meet the requirements.

Tinted rear lights. The same thing applies to the taillights - their colors should not differ from the permitted ones:

license plate lighting and reversing lamp - white;
the remaining rear lights are white, yellow or orange.

If the colors are different, the driver will be deprived of his license for up to a year. Tinted rear lights are prohibited.

Payment of fines at a discount. There is no monetary administrative fine for tinting lights - only deprivation of rights. This means that there will be no discount.

The discount applies to the fine for tinting the interior windows. Instead of 500 rubles - 250 if you pay in the first 20 days from the date of the decision.

Repeated fine for tinting. By law, a violation is considered repeated if a driver violates the same traffic rule more than once within a year. The list of violations for which repeat penalties are more severe is limited. There is no penalty for tinting on this list.

See our article on fines for repeat offenses for a full list of penalties.

Inspection with tinting

The law on tinting car optics and glass states that the applied coatings should not impair the quality of vision. For this reason, its presence on the headlights leads to complications during technical inspection (TO).

Punishment in the form of a fine awaits persons who have painted lighting fixtures with varnish or paint. If the headlight tinting was done at the factory in a production environment, the owner of the car can be calm: he will not face a fine.

Persons conducting technical inspections are guided by the articles of the Technical Code. When checking lighting devices, much attention is paid to their attachment to the car and the quality of work. A special device measures the quantitative indicators of light emitted by the headlights. All equipment is inspected for:

presence of chips and damage;
changes in the shape and color of the device;
pollution;
presence of light diffusers;
the presence of decorative details that reduce the surface emitting light.

Measurements of the amount of light emitted by rear devices are rarely made. The inspector will pay attention to the tinting of the rear headlights only if their color is radically changed and does not correspond to the permitted shade. Violation of existing standards is considered a serious reason for recognizing a vehicle as failing inspection.

Film tinting can be removed by the owner immediately after receiving a comment, but the paint will have to be removed using special means within a few hours. The vehicle will be allowed for a new MOT only after its performance characteristics have been brought back to the factory ones. By reducing the quality of lighting, the driver creates the preconditions for a collision with another car.

Correct tinting of headlights according to GOST

Inspection and tinting of headlights. A technical inspection is necessary to ensure that a car on the road does not cause an accident. If the car's brakes fail at high speed or the windshield washer nozzles break in dirty weather, an accident may occur and people may be injured.

In addition to the engine, brakes and wheels, the inspection station employee will also check the headlights. If there are no coloring elements on them or the lamps themselves, the headlights are considered roadworthy. And vice versa - if, for example, the turn signals are colorless, although according to GOST they should be orange, the owner will be sent to correct the defects. He will have 20 days to do this. They will only check what caused the re-inspection.

Color of headlights and taillights. Front and rear lights can only be white, yellow or orange. The license plate lighting and reversing lamp are only white.

Rules for measuring tint. The guest talks about measuring only the strength and width of the beam of light from the headlights - high and low. The color of the headlights should be white, yellow or orange. A diagnostic center employee will look at the headlights, compare them with what is allowed, and continue the check, or send the driver to correct the problem.

If a traffic police officer sees a car on the road with headlights of a color different from those permitted, he will stop the car and inspect the headlights - no special equipment is needed here. If the color really does not match the permitted color, the inspector will make sure that it was not a glare or an optical illusion, and will issue a violation report. The driver will be deprived of his license.

To determine the color, the inspector needs special instruments - just look at the headlights in good lighting

Current legislature

State standards require the use of only white external lighting devices when operating vehicles; a change in color can lead to consequences in the form of traffic violations or an emergency situation on the road.
Front markers must be white. The lights on the rear panel when the car is braking, in accordance with the law, are only red. Headlights against bad weather conditions are displayed in white or yellow.

The presence of Japanese and American cars in Russia prompted the relevant authorities to make changes to the basic provisions for the approval of vehicles for operation.

The amended provisions refer to the use of vehicles with the following characteristics:

the presence of yellow or orange headlights;
the use of reflective devices of any color (the exception is white).

If a car owner violates the requirements for tinting headlights, he receives a fine for failure to comply with the rules described above.

How to challenge a fine for tinting

Police officers often have a body camera to record conversations with the driver. The recording will show that the headlights do not meet the requirements, so it will be difficult to challenge the deprivation.

Alexander Torvard, auto lawyer It is almost impossible to challenge such a violation - either there is a film or there is not. There are no factors that can play in favor of the driver, such as with the stop line - the driver can prove that the markings have been erased or covered with snow. There is no such option with headlights.

Eventually

The question of the need to tint car lighting equipment is a personal choice for each driver. The fact remains undeniable that such interference leads to a deterioration in the light transmittance of the headlights. Such changes can cause emergencies and increase the number of accidents. Most often, the culprit is the one whose headlights were tinted.

The presence of tinting can also complicate the procedure for passing a technical inspection of a vehicle. Before deciding to make such changes to your car headlights, you should carefully read the existing regulations and prohibitions regarding tinting lighting equipment.

How to remove tint from headlights

It depends on how the headlight is tinted - with film or paint.

There is a film on the headlight, the glass is not painted. Try to carefully remove the film by pulling on the edge. If the edge of the film is inaccessible and you would have to remove the headlight to remove it, try making a cut at the junction of the headlight and bumper and pulling the edge.

The tint was applied from a spray can onto the glass. Use a solvent such as 646. Apply solvent to a rag and place it on the headlight - wait 5 minutes and wipe off.

Is it possible to tint the taillights on a car?

Tuning headlights, brake lights, parking lights and turn signals is the process of applying a film or aerosol spray to the protective glass. It can be darkened or transparent.

Answer to the question: “ Is it legal to tint the rear lights of a car? » worth looking in:

traffic rules;
technical regulations;
a special annex to the rules, which contains requirements for external vehicle lighting devices.

A legislative innovation is a ban on the operation of vehicles with unauthorized design changes. If the application of special transparent or painted parts is not provided by the manufacturer and is not agreed with the traffic police, it is illegal.

Remember

The law allows only three colors of lights on cars - white, yellow or orange.
For tinting your headlights, you will be deprived of your license for up to a year. For repeated violations, the punishment is the same.
To avoid losing your license, do not apply tint. Or remove it right on the road, in front of an inspector. This does not always help avoid deprivation.
It is almost impossible to challenge such a violation - either there is tinting or there is not.
To remove tint from headlights, pull the edge of the film or apply solvent, depending on how the tint is applied.

All articles by the author: Evgeniy Lesnov

Tips before tinting

To avoid paying various fines when applying film to headlights or other tinting, you should pay attention to the following recommendations:

using film is a safer method compared to using varnish, as it has higher light transmittance and other advantageous characteristics;
the applied tint must have a maximum light transmittance of at least 85%;
The average cost of a fine for tinting headlights is 500 rubles. In the absence of severe violations, the assigned payment may be excluded and a conditional warning may be issued.

What are the headlights and sidelights usually tinted with?

After you have found out what kind of tinting the law allows, you can start tuning . It will not only add attractiveness to your car, but also protect lighting fixtures from clouding and scratches . There are two types of tinting.

Film

In this case, the surface of the lighting equipment is covered with matte or glossy vinyl film . It can be removed at any time and the headlights returned to their original appearance.

This material is produced in any shade, so choosing the right one will not be difficult. The film will protect the headlights from impacts from small stones when driving . In order not to reduce the light transmittance of the equipment, you can apply a film to part of the headlight .

Useful video

Let's look at tinting the headlights (dimensions) with film in the video below:

Varnish

The essence of the process remains the same, only varnish is used instead of film. This is a more economical option . But the result does not always turn out the way you want . Especially if you apply the varnish yourself.

Useful video

Let's look at tinting the headlights (dimensions) with varnish in the video below:

It is prohibited to use paint for tinting ; it significantly reduces the transmission of light from devices .

ATTENTION Factory tinting on the optics automatically exempts the car owner from a fine .

But independent tuning entails a violation . Tinting the front and rear headlights with film or varnish is punishable by a fine to the same extent.

Tinting headlights yourself or at a service center

Many drivers are concerned about who to trust to tint their headlights. You can tint the headlights yourself or contact a special point. The issue of self-tinting has quite a large number of difficulties in terms of the wording of the law. Information may be vague or unclear. If you do the tint yourself, it won’t be immediately clear whether the law has been broken or not. Therefore, owners who dimmed their headlights themselves complained that complaints arose from law enforcement officers.

From a common sense point of view, it is better to book your headlight tinting appointment with a professional. They will provide quality, as well as a guarantee, which, when darkened with film, is issued for up to 5 years.

It is worth considering that the procedure leads to a decrease in light transmittance. And this threatens a serious accident. To avoid this option, it is better to refrain from using headlight tinting and resort to this option as a last resort. And it doesn’t matter what kind of car a person has - Moskvich, Priora, Chevrolet, Ford Focus, Solaris or Lanos. We must adhere to the rules established to increase the safety of road users.

GOST requirements

So, what kind of tinting on headlights is allowed, and what color (besides black) is definitely prohibited? Following current legislation, only white, yellow and orange colors are allowed for headlights. For rear lights - red, yellow or orange.

Thus, any darkening of light sources with a film of a color other than one of those mentioned will entail the imposition of a fine and, accordingly, the removal of the film (varnish removal) from the surface of the external light device.

As for what percentage of headlight dimming is allowed, there is no clear answer. The current legislation justifies only the tinting of car windows in accordance with GOST. For front side windows, the luminous flux penetration cannot be reduced to less than 70% of the nominal value, for windshields - to 75%. Similar percentage parameters for headlights are not yet provided for in legislation. There are only standard requirements for external lighting devices, according to which the brake signal must be red, and the low and high beams must be white.

Regarding the fashionable underbody lighting, we can say that such a change can be interpreted both in favor of the driver (if you can explain to the inspector that this is white-lunar light) and cause a fine (if the traffic police inspector is sure that this is blue light). In the latter case, the driver will have to pay a fine of 500 rubles for illuminating the underbody of the car with the obligatory dismantling of the lighting elements.

Color of headlights and rear dimensions according to GOST

The traffic rules clearly state that low and high beams are only white . And the side lights in front are white , in the back - red .

GOST ( 8769-75 ( CT SEV 4122-83 )) also places restrictions on the red brake light and white backlighting of license plates .

If you want a fashionable tint for your “ foglights ,” then keep in mind that they must emit yellow or white light . The installed illumination for the rear instruments is red . Turn signals must be yellow and taillights must be white .

But many car owners prefer cars from the Japanese islands that have red turn signals. Especially for them, amendments were made to the list of vehicle operating conditions. Cars with headlights in white, orange, and yellow shades were allowed on Russian roads. But retroreflective devices must have white light .

ATTENTION Rear lights are available in the following variations - red, yellow, orange . For rear lights and license plate illumination - exclusively white .

The list of problems and conditions under which driving a vehicle on the road is prohibited allowed the operation of Japanese and American cars , and also imposed a ban on cars with illumination .

Legend four: armoring headlights with film is not tinting!

Protecting your headlights from chips and scratches is a common sense idea. However, laws prohibit, firstly, interference in the design of vehicles (installation of equipment items that are not intended for the design, affecting safety), and secondly, the use of any uncertified equipment and materials. Formally, the inspector (if he wants) has the right to find fault with even a completely transparent film, since the parameters of its light transmission are unknown to him.

It is extremely doubtful that painting vinyl films in any way changes the characteristics of the luminous flux. But then it turns out that installing such films is illegal?

Thus, we can only ask the masters of branded headlight armoring for a document confirming that the transparent vinyl or polyurethane film stuck to the headlights affects light transmission in an acceptable way and is certified in Russia (and not in China, which did not sign the Vienna Convention) specifically for these goals. Then make a copy of the document and take it with you.