Underbody lighting

[V6 JDT]

Any boy racers out there know the pitfalls of fitting underbody lighting and best type to go for? Do they last? Are they legal? (Daughters car BTW)

Should never have taken out 2 Fast 2 Furious the other day!!

Edited by V6 JDT on Wednesday 3rd January 15:56

[stigcv8]

I have wanted a nice set up for a long time, huge grey area when I looked at it.

According to one LED undercar site, it is legal so long as they display the correct colours i.e. red at the back, white/yellow at the front and orange at sides but it can be open to interpretation, they wouldnt actually give me a 100% yes it is ok statement.

[baz7175]

I used to help run a modified car site here in N Ireland and through the years did a lot of work with the road safety side of things, one of which was to acquire a big list of people's questions and then get the official answers from the powers that be (to save the grey areas)...

So on the neons side of things:-

Neons

Q5 I've been wondering about this one, when are neons (undercar and interior) not allowed? Are the rules for non-flashing neons different?

A5 The law on lighting states the following. Any car on the road is not permitted to have any form of red light source on the front of the car, and likewise it is not permitted to have any source of white light source on the rear of the car (other than number plate illumination and reverse lights). Therefore neons are not technically illegal, but with that in mind there is a law which makes reference to anything which could distract any road user being illegal. For example: If you were to be driving along with your neons on and someone ran into you, all that they would have to say would be that they were distracted by your neons (whether they were or not). If they were to do so you will be the one deemed as being responsible due to you breaking the distraction law, and face prosecution as such. Interior neons are not permitted at all when in motion, as no interior lighting is allowed when in motion (not even your interior light).

Q6 I also heard a theory on this that if it is only the reflection you could see on the road and could see the actual light on the car anywhere it was ok. It was up on the site here somewhere not so long ago. It also depended on the colour, if you had red for example and could see it anywhere apart from the back it was illegal, same for white if you could see it from anywhere apart from the front, any other colour it didnt matter. I do not know if this is correct legally but would like to find out for sure?

A6 Bearing in mind the law mentioned previously about distracting other road users. With this in mind it comes down to each police officers interpretation of how much light is being emitted from your neons. If you have a basic tube on either side of the car (with the tube not being in direct vision), then most of the time it will not be deemed as a distraction. Remember it comes down to each individual police officers interpretation. Whereas if you have a number of tubes and it gives off a great deal of light (or the tubes are in view) then it will more than likely be deemed illegal and you will be handed a vehicle defect notice and a fixed penalty.

There's loads more Q's and A's to be found on my original thread - www.jon44w.co.uk/forum/viewthread.php?tid=19574

Hope it helps clear this one up for you

[Well_Fans]

simplest way is to make sure they are only used when car is parked which appears to be how most of the "cruisers" around here use them. Having them on while driving tends to attract plods attention and results in more stop checks. Now that's not likely to be a problem when there's only one policeman and his dog on Orkney now is it.

[GreenV8S]

baz7175 said:

no interior lighting is allowed when in motion (not even your interior light).

Really? What about stuff like instrument lights, or any of the other million accessories that people seem to need strapped to their dashboard these days?

[stigcv8]

if i got an LED set up (as I really want, ever since listening to D.I.S.C.O. as a child and saw a cortina drive by with them) whats the law in say France if I used them to make them look at my car as I whiz down to the south coast?

[V8HSV]

I have green neon tubes at front, rear & sides for about 3 years, turn them on sometimes so that I MUST stay within legal limit, stobes fitted in front headlamps (as fitted to police cars spec wise) but never used on the road. Yes they tend to be used at shows and the like, have enough battery power to keep them on all weekend without the engine being turned over, what a child I hear some say, I know, am I bothered?

My view point is that you will not get pulled if your are driving sensibly, passed enough police cars without being stopped to prove that to myself, the tubes themselves are not visable, being lowered they only light the underneath and are subtle IMAO.

[V6 JDT]

Thanks for all the answers guys. Now as for fitting, is it a DIY and where do you take the wires through?