WhattaMattahYou
3098
66
6
Highly reflective strips (or non-breakable mirrors) can't be as illegal as what I'd like to do.
Mar 16, 2025 11:27 PM
WhattaMattahYou
3098
66
6
Highly reflective strips (or non-breakable mirrors) can't be as illegal as what I'd like to do.
spontaneous9
* , then neither should they
Cocainemoon
No sir, your 2011 Dodge Ram did not come stock with LED headlights
Cats2cats
That ok as long as you don’t have back passengers at night. I’d have used a removable headrest cover to mount them on.
AEM5700
fititallinyourmouth
Here is a better tip. Get your windows tinted. Get the back windows tinted to the max your state allows. It makes assholes tailgating with super bright lights not so annoying. It will be the best $300-$600 you will ever spend. I will never have a car without limo tinting again. 2 cars ago i put tinting on my car and now i have to have it. I also live in a state where the sun and heat get brutal so tinting is advisable.
WhattaMattahYou
VLT has to be 70% or lighter in my state, which means damn near nothing.
Cops absolutely LOVE pulling over tinted windows here also, and from what I've heard / read they're VERY aggressive because they can't see in.
Hercules99
So you blind the car behind so they can crash into you?
WhattaMattahYou
Most people avoid painful things, so if their eyes hurt maybe they'll back the heck off.
What I'd really LIKE to do is throw handfulls of rocks, or load marbles into a painball gun.
unremarkableasterisk
It's the only choice.
atrielienz
These will not function to blind the driver behind you that is blinding you. They are retro-relectors. They will only bounce the light back directly at the source. This also means you're not going to blind the other drivers around you. So I doubt it will solve your problem in any meaningful way.
SomebodythatIusedtonope
Sometimes I adjust the outside mirrors..just a little..
florpglorp
I wonder how corner cube reflectors would work in this application
ufoara
So you increase glare bouncing around inside the cabin?
atrielienz
Nope. Those are retro reflectors. They only bounce light back at the source.
ufoara
through a reflective rear glass. every try to shine a flashlight out a window without the flashlight directly against the glass?
atrielienz
This is the same stuff as is used on road signs. It won't reflect enough of the light back to be that kind of problem. If it was it'd do all kinds of weird shit when the light from it hit your windshield.
thedtp
“…sheeting glows brightly when there is a small angle between the observer's eye and the light source directed toward the sheeting but appears nonreflective when viewed from other directions.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroreflective_sheeting
ufoara
Except the glare as it reflects back out the rear window.
Cabreza
That little flip tab on your rear view mirror? It turns the glare off.
RetrogradeLlama
It still comes in via the side view mirrors.
idiotsonfire
You've never driven a car, then, or you'd know that LED lights can be so bright and blinding they'll reflect off your side mirrors too.
idiotsonfire
Not to mention illuminate the entire cabin of your car with the fucking fury of the sun. Then that tab doesn't do a fucking thing.
HeresYourSauce
It can help yes. It is *not* enough with some of these trucks.
WhattaMattahYou
that little flip tab doesn't do shit if the entire inside of my car looks like a fucking Fireball went off
artist props to Punky Doodles
omphaloskeptic
guardianzero
I'm so tired of being blinded at night... I should do something like this.. maybe right on my tailgate..
SF0X
Most states only mandate having a mirror, one could argue these mirrors were designed for the back seat passenger. However, they might be a safety factor in case anybody hit the back of a chair.
WhattaMattahYou
I have reflective craft "mirrors" which are heavy flexible plastic that is super reflective.
I'd not try to do makeup using them, but they won't cut up a face if someone plants into it and they are reflective AF.
SF0X
In that case I can’t see how they’d be illegal. If a driver of an oversized vehicle with too bright lights happened to get flashback from their lights, then that’s prob on them.
TomahawkJackson
In every state lights and reflectors pointing to the rear of the vehicle shall be of Red or Amber color. This seems like a great way to get pulled over by the first LEO who happens to be behind you.
Besides, LED headlights are definitely not the issue - since 2022 fully adaptive LED Matrix technology has been legal meaning that oncoming cars can literally *turn off* the LEDs that are pointing at you as you approach.
But I feel ya. Maybe like me, the real issue is just *getting old*...
Zeckenschwarm
It probably depends on where you live and drive, but in many places only red-colored reflectors are allowed at the back of a car.
WhattaMattahYou
yeah, but this is inside the cab and not on the outside of the car
Zeckenschwarm
It functions the same though...
I found a thread discussing the exact same image, maybe that helps.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CarTalkUK/comments/1j5i3r0/hypothetically_if_i_put_some_white_retro/
WhattaMattahYou
awesome, checking that out
since Reddit got weirdly Fascist, I've been collecting bans and I'm pretty fucking over it TBH
aflarge
I just want a car with a mirror finish. What's that? It would make me an asshole to blast people with such ridiculously bright lights? Yeah, it would. Anyone who blasts people with insanely bright lights is a fucking asshole.
And to the "what if they didn't know how bright they were when they bought the car?" Yes they're also an asshole, because they always figured it was better to KEEP BLASTING PEOPLE than to do something about their insanely bright headlights. Assholes.
WhattaMattahYou
Elegant solution for a too-common problem, but my lazy ass doesn't wash the car as often as it'd need.
aflarge
I've literally never had my current car washed and I got it in 2017, but the amount of spite I feel about this would keep my corpse washing that thing even if I died.
TomahawkJackson
A mirror finish car would legitimately cause random fires when parked in the sun because the body has irregular curves *all over it*
mixiekins
I thought I remembered an article about that, but it was a building that did it to a car. anyway, cars are primarily convex curves, so... 🤷
TomahawkJackson
I thought about the Convex Curves bit for a second, then came back around to "the sun can hit it from nearly any angle when it's parked outside, and the curves are going to have a really unpredictable result considering the myriad angles and distances to other unpredictable objects."
It's not IF it would start a fire, it's just a matter of WHEN.
RetrogradeLlama
The worst are the DIY HID’s … and/or jacked trucks.
imNotThisCleverIRL
Unpopular opinion: I argue that DYI are the entire problem. Factory original LEDs are pointed at the roadway and much darker at eye level than the old bulbs.
imNotThisCleverIRL
DIY even, when typos don’t get in the way 😆
RetrogradeLlama
Disagree. First, there are no longer regulations strictly controlling headlights. Heights used to be tightly regulated (along with beam brightness). Add to that that jacked truck owners regularly violate them by raising their vehicles... and states that don't stop that.
Second, factory lights do what you say but ONLY in straight lines and when the two vehicles share a height. Meet one coming around a slight curve, with changing elevations, etc (i.e. real road conditions) and you're blinded.
MrBananaPants
*confused in European*