Virginia State Inspection

Another reason I'm happy I escaped Maryland and moved to Alabama. No state inspections, no emissions, you have a title you can get tags. As for the people applauding them failing the truck, I am gleefully driving around with my LED bulbs in my halogen housings. No one has ever flashed at me, and I can actually see at night. Hate on us poors all you like, but im not paying $500+ for LED setups when I get my desired results from $40 bulbs.

 

There is no question Virginia sucks. As much as I appreciated the inspection system that keeps a substantial amount of garbage off the road and self unaware douche bags from doing stupid shit that darwin would even laugh at, the process isn't perfect. I once had a car failed for a cracked brake hose because the idiot mis-identified a differential vent that runs through a brake line distribution block. I had to argue with the idiot to get it to pass. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of my hard earned cash just to have a car there. State inspection, emissions test, county sticker, registration fees, and worst of all annual personal property tax. I currently have 6 cars. I'm not sure I could afford to keep all them on the road if I was still in VA.

 

Shipmate, If only your name is on the title, you can keep your Cali tags. If you have another name on the title that isn't in the military will have 30 days to register your vehicle upon arriving in VA. You will have to go through the inspection process and emissions if you are unfortunate to received orders to northern VA. Local cops love nothing more than giving tickets to sailors that have out of state tags. I moved into an apartment complex and got a ticket the second day I was there. I called the cop that gave me the ticket and he demanded that I meet him with a copy of the lease before he would rescind the ticket.

That being said, you may find it cheaper to register it in VA. Being in the military, you only have to pay registration and safety inspection, and I am guessing insurance will be substantially cheaper. You will be exempt from the personal property tax. Of course you lose the cool factor of the cali tags, but unless things changed military pay isn't great. Va also allows you to deactivate the plates and insurance if you are going to be deployed and the vehicle is sitting at the pier.

 

Can anybody actually tell me why they need to change the lights though? I've been driving all over the place for almost 2 years in mine with stock halogens and I've never NOT been able to see what I needed to see. I will concede that my opinion might be skewed since this is the first new vehicle I've ever had and all my previous ones were....heavily used. Now in all fairness I do wear glasses and have astigmatism in both eyes, so oncoming headlights at night are potentially worse for me I guess than other folks. But still, can folks REALLY not see with stock headlights?

For what it's worth, I had some D-bag turn his whole stupid rig of lightbars and such on at me when I flashed him for his obnoxious bright lights a few months ago. I literally was blinded for a few seconds and almost ran off the road with my wife in the truck, so I've been on the warpath ever since.

 

Because you can see farther and better. In rural Alabama on country roads I'll take all help I can get to spot hazards farther away. Like I said above as well, no one has ever flashed at me, told me my lights are too bright, including friends and family who I have driven behind and passed on the road. All my family members have sensitivity to bright lights, I can barely walk around outside in the day without sunglasses, it runs in my family. One of them WOULD have said something. Granted I didn't get some super insane bright LED's, and I aimed them after install. I know a lot of people buy as bright as they can find, and lift their truck and keep the light aim the same and blind people. That issue however I think is the fault of the driver, not the concept of LED bulbs in a halogen housing.

 

That's a fair argument. I guess realistically the whole topic relies on ethics, and the method of "saving us from ourselves". If there are more people who refuse to take the necessary precautions and be responsible like you did than one's who will, who should hold them accountable? Does that mean nobody can have them? Or do they just get to do whatever they want, damn the consequences and anyone else on the road. I think the root of the issue is the range of options that someone can use and the lack of testing by the companies to ensure a product is idiot-proof if it can be used on a public road. As a general rule, I support regulation instead of legislation. Don't hold the consumer accountable for a company's failure.

 

Just don't speed on your way home for Thanksgiving...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q28v8TrrjvI

 

Call me crazy, but I like my headlights to be hot enough to keep them from getting snowed over. Halogens for me, please.

 

I would agree companies shouldn’t sell things they know to be flawed. Personally I think police should have lux meters and measure if they suspect the lights are too bright. Just like window tint. Speeding kills people, I don’t think cars should limited to 55.

 

Of course you can see farther and better because you have made your lights brighter. You can do the same with the flip of a switch to your brights. Your lights are brighter and just because you have another level of brightness doesn't make it ok.

 

Or it’s my truck and if I want it that way that’s the way it’s going to be. Thankfully your opinion if its “okay” or not wasn’t asked for when I put them in.

 

I had a buddy on the job... now retired. He used to pull cars over for "Headlights of unequal power", which resulted in him performing a roadside vehicle safety inspection, whish usually then resulted in vehicle impound. And when they found non-numbers matching items in the car, well, things got ugly when the 'owner' couldn't produce paperwork...

Like "The Firm", his job forced to learn the motor vehicle code front and back... and there were some whoppers in there.

 

Ahh....the "my lights are brighter and the best" discussion.

Reality. Brighter is not always the wise path. A proper beam focus will yield a longer field of illumination. Meaning, you can't just plop an LED into a non-LED housing. The focal length of the reflector in the housing won't match with the bulb location. Sure, it'll be "brighter" but also scattered.

My experience. I had the RH low beam burn out. I replaced both sides with Sylvania Silverstar bulbs. No, they aren't the best bulbs. But they have greater output than stock beams and match the reflector. I also needed to do a headlight restore to remove oxidation. The end result is my low beams will reflect off road signs about 1/2 mile in the distance. The illumination field is several hundred feet. I know my lights comply with all equipment requirements and they are not obnoxious to other drivers.

AS posted earlier, the VA requirement is for the headlight to have matching bulbs and reflectors. So, an LED bulb in an LED housing is acceptable. Plopping an LED into a Halogen housing is not acceptable based on the VA code. Just because oncoming drivers don't flash you, doesn't mean your headlights are not obnoxious.

As a side note. Winter driving can be a problem for LED. They don't generate enough heat to keep snow, mist or ice melted off the lens. So, driving in a snow event or mist or tire mist will result in icing on the headlight lens. Resulting in impaired lighting.

IMHO. LEDs are not the best option for automotive headlight application. Good for running, brake, turn signals and interior lights. Otherwise, inside the home.

 

My Spanish teacher in high school had her brother wire a strobe light in her car to send a message back to others whose lights were too bright...

 

Didn't municipalities observe this when snow and ice were no longer being melted away from streetlights / traffic signals?

 

Yes. Also semi-trailers with LED lights have the same problem. The snow will build on the trailer tail lights to obliterate the signal.

 

The zero inches of snow we get doesn’t make bulb heat issue matter to me. I’m sure my family members and coworkers would tell me if they were obnoxious.

 

They are probably just being Southern polite. Bless your heart.

 

I really don't get the "I can't see with factory headlights" nonsense. If people actually couldn't see with the factory headlights, Toyota would hear about it. All new vehicles sold in the U.S. have to meet a standard as far as visibility for the driver and by other drivers. The headlights on a brand new, off the lot, Toyota Tacoma definitely meet those standards.

Not directed at anyone in particular, although I'm sure a few folks in this thread will relate, if a person can't see at night using the stock headlights perhaps they should spend money at an optometrist rather than buying brighter headlights or bulbs.

Also...yeah I know...

 

Deer, because they are everywhere!

We do not have inspections in TN.