White Side Markers
 

Hello.

Are white side markers legal for the side of the car?

I'm not too sure on this, but make sure you have amber bulbs in there!

No, yellow at the front and red at the rear. Beware, as generally the required reflectors are incorporated into the lens and still must be there in any replacement. Of course, the replacement must meet the same standards as the original.

My Mazda has clear side markers on the front fenders with amber bulbs. Stock.

Make sure you keep the color amber and your housings DOT and you should be good.

I think if you look there is an amber reflector in the corner of your housing. If you don't have an orange reflector near the front of the vehicle that's visible from the side, then it is illegal.

Sorry Wing Woo, I edited your post by mistake. No fault on your part.

You need orange front and red rear side reflectors on both sides. It is illegal to have a reflector of any other colour.

Reflective devices
4.21 (1) A vehicle must be equipped with at least one red reflector at the rear of the vehicle, either separate or incorporated into a tail lamp, that is mounted at a height of not less than 38 cm and not more than 1.83 m.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a vehicle manufactured before January 1, 1958.

(3) Only amber reflectors may be mounted on the front or side of a vehicle.

(4) Only red reflectors may be mounted on the rear of a vehicle or on the side of the vehicle at or toward the rear of the vehicle.

(5) A vehicle with an overall width of 2.05 m or more, or a trailer or semitrailer having a gross weight in excess of 1 400 kg, must be equipped with at least

(a) 2 amber reflectors mounted on the side of the vehicle, trailer or semitrailer near the front,

(b) 2 amber reflectors mounted on the side of the vehicle, trailer or semitrailer near the rear, and

(c) 2 red reflectors mounted on the rear of the vehicle, trailer or semitrailer.

(6) A trailer or semitrailer must be equipped with at least one red reflector on the rear of the vehicle at each side.

(7) A pole trailer must be equipped with at least

(a) one amber reflector on each side of the vehicle at the front and the horizontal mid-point, and

(b) one red reflector on the rear of the vehicle or load at each side.

(8) A commercial trailer with a width of more than 2.05 m and a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 4 536 kg must be equipped with reflective markings on the rear and side of the vehicle to meet the approved standards established by the Motor Vehicle Safety Act (Canada) and the applicable SAE standards

(a) on and after January 1, 2000 if the vehicle was manufactured on or after December 1, 1993, and

(b) on and after January 1, 2002 if the vehicle was manufactured before December 1, 1993.

(9) Despite subsections (1) to (7), reflective markings may replace red or amber reflectors on the side or rear of a vehicle.

you must differentiate reflector and side marker/turn signal

most cars have both incorporated, which is why if u get a set of clear lens markers, it will be illegal.

how to tell?

first meet this requirement, do u have a red reflector located near the rear of the car visible from the side? this could even be a red reflective part of ur rear taillight housing, if u dont know, then use a flash light and shine it towards the rear of the car while ur facing the side of the car. do you have an orange reflector located near the front of the car visible from the side? same as the rear red reflector, but must be orange/amber for the front. use the flash light trick to see if u have one.

if u meet those requirements, then u can have ur turn signals with clear lenses on the rear BUT need to show amber or red light omitted. ur front turn signals can have clear lenses BUT need to show amber or white light omitted. white as in a clear light bulb's white light, not super white, not bluish white, but just plain white.

thats my interpretation of the rules.

my rear tail lights are completely oem, has the red reflector built in. fronts, i have the turn signal in my headlight housing with clear lens, but the light bulb in it is amber. on the front of the car, there is an amber reflector on the bumper, seperate from the headlight housing. i also have a clear side marker from toyota, that has an amber light bulb in it.

<--- refer to avatar picture and picture below. =)

What about smoked side markers? As long as when you shine a light on it, and it reflects amber is that still legal?

yeah I'm curious about that too, as with smoked taillights that still illuminate red, and can still been seen as red (just darker)

My car has OEM clear front signals, but with yellow bulbs....so....?

Reflector and Signals are 2 different things.

Reflector reflects light, it must be orange/amber in front and red in back, can't change color of it.

Signals can be white or orange/amber. But white is already hard enough to see as a signal, amber would be much more proper.

Despite it's not stated in some parts, but common sense is not to tint or block any reflectors or light emitting surfaces. Some people tint so dark that even at braking, their taillights are visible until about 3 car lengths away, don't be stupid.


Note: Side marker ≠ Reflector. Unless the side marker reflects light and produces light at the same time, and the placement is at the front, not at fender behind the wheel arch.

hmmm. interesting.

I did get a ticket on my old car for having 1 clear signal bulb (the actual one burned out, I only had a clear at the time of the night). Does that mean the cop was just being an ass?

FYI, I don't have any modded signals/reflectors/bulbs now.

how about the BMW? they have clear side markers.... with amber bulb, which i assume is illegal following what everyone said here..

Some cars have what looks like white or red reflectors, but when you shine a light on them they show the colour. And I'm talking OEM FACTORY reflectors here.

A lot of BMWs have reflectors not with the headlight, but on the side of the car, and it's flush, so many owners (3 series mainly) paint the reflectors to body color, leaving no reflectors in the front, thus being illegal but hardly noticeable when the car's on with lights or in the day time...

Just leave your lights alone, they're standardized for a reason.

Bumping up this thread, as there seem to be only 2 threads closest to my search.

http://www.revscene.net/forums/clear...rs-t35282.html

Ignoring the rear of the car, and front only...

So is it safe to say, if
a) You leave your signal bulb to stock amber (front)
and
b) the lens is DOT approval

Changing to a clear bumper signal lens would be okay?

To be more specific, I'm inquiring about these: Link, for a 5th gen Accord.

Do you still have amber reflectors?

The headlamp and signal lens I want to replace is separated.

http://www.autos.ca/articles/jc/images/96accord_lx.jpg

So there should still be reflectors at the headlamp casing.

Yup, you'll be ok if you change the bottom signals and leave the amber reflector alone.

Best thing to do is read the sticky on lights and check the MVA to ensure what you are ending up with fulfills the requirements of the lighting regulations.

Personally I am not a fan of white turn signals. Too ambiguous. Amber means only one thing: turning.

What about vise versa? Doing the top, but not the bottom.
http://image.automotive.com/f/images..._side_view.jpg

I'm guessing no....cause it wouldn't meet the requiremnet !SG was talking about:

That is illegal because the amber reflector must be visible from the side of the vehicle.

However, if you cut out a slot on the side of your front bumper (like how the red one is on the side of the rear bumper) and mount an approved amber reflector there, then you may get away with it as I know most officers just look to see you have an amber reflector on the front side of the vehicle.

If you look at the Mazda6, you'll know what I mean. There is an amber reflector on the side of the front bumper.

that applies to AFTERMARKET replacement

NOT OEM from the factory as the car was passed like that.