Failed MD inspection

  1. Rear window is tinted - that's against MD law. Have to have the tint removed.
  2. Car is too low. I assume (hope) putting pack the 17" wheels will make it legal.
  3. Right tail light is missing. Not burned out, housing is missing. Never noticed that.

Grrr.

Reply to
Frank Berger
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In Georgia, the rear window tint will often result in a ticket. The tail light bit is understandable. Ride height too low? I haven't heard of that one! We've got a bunch of red necks/swamp rats that jack pickups up several feet, beyond what I always thought was allowable, and I've not heard of that causing tickets.

The state I grew up in, Illinois, used to have a law that the license plates had to be a minimum distance from the ground. The front plate on a Miata passed if the stock mount was used, and might not if it was moved down from the mouth.

How can the housing be missing? What attaches the tail light lens to the body?

Reply to
charlie

You can remove the tint yourself if you have something that creates steam. Warm/to hot very moist air starts the process, and makes removal much easier. Dish washing soap and water, with something like Windex, or a very small amount of ammonia added to the dish washing solution also helps, and should be repeatedly sprayed on the film. Patience is the word. Don't scrape any heating grid elements. Generally, you would get a corner of the film to lift, then spray the warm/solution on followed by steam, then, after a bit, gently pull on the corner until you feel a change. Spray some more solution on, add more steam, wait, and as the film loosens, gently pull again. Once the film is off, there may be some of the glue remaining. The same process can be used to remove it. You can also score the film with a razor blade to help the solution/steam penetrate, but it's easy to scratch the glass or the heat grid elements.

If you have a plastic window, test the solution on a small unimportant area first. Ammonia can cause problems with some plastics and fabrics. With the plastic windows, and high heat areas like Texas, some plastic films can be a real problem to remove, and cause window replacement to be necessary.

Reply to
charlie

Maryland says from the center of the headlight to the ground can't be less than 24".

Re: the light: there is no lens. I don't know what happened to it. There's just a hole. I bought the car used in CA a couple of years ago. For all I know, it was never there. Though I would think the Texas inspections would have caught that.

Reply to
Frank Berger

This is a glass window on a 2004 MSM. The car was bought new in CA. Don't know if the tint was aftermarket or what. Thanks for the guide to removing it, but I think I'll leave this one to a pro. First we have to get through the hurricane.

Reply to
Frank Berger

So you are saying that there has been a tail light sided hole on the Miata since you bought it two years or so ago, and YOU DIDN'T NOTICE? Sheesh!

Reply to
charlie

I'm saying it's possible.

Reply to
Frank Berger

Saga of getting the MSM inspected in MD continues. Only one dealer, not too close, had a tail light assembly in stock. Made 7:30 AM appointment with him to get light and have him remove tint fromback window. Got there at

7:15, found out the detail guy doesn't come to work until 9:30. The hell with that. Picked up tail light and went home. Turns out, as per a youtube video, it was trivially easy to remove the tint with a razor blade and a hair blower.

Then I started changing my 16" Enkei RPF1's back to the OEM 17" Racing Harts. I don't know if this will really raise the car the necessary 1" or not, but the guy at Mr. Tire said he would pass me if I put on the OEM wheels. The Mazda guy said he never heard of an non-lowered car failing inspection, but the fact remains it *is* 1" too low as per the law. Anyway, on the second wheel the Mcgard spline drive broke. Now waiting for another one to ship from Goodwin Racing.

Hopefully the Toyota will go smoother.

Reply to
Frank Berger

Go through with the top down? lol

Reply to
tesla747

I've never heard of anyone tinting a plastic backglass....and I have never even tried to tint one. With that said, the easiest way to get the film off is to park the car in the sun. The hotter the glass gets the better. Spray the inside of the glass with ammonia then place a black garbage bag to the inside of the glass and smooth it out as much as possible by hand. Leave the bag on for about 20 minutes. Remove the bag and starting in a corner peel the film off. If done correctly it should come off in one piece. Clean up remaining residue with ammonia, paper towels, and single edge razors being careful not to nick the heating elements if equipped with a rear window defogger. Depending on how long the tint has been on, just peeling off the tint can ruin the defogger heating elements anyway.

Here's a video on how it's done.

You can ignore most of part one all he is doing is cutting the bag so it will fit the glass perfectly. Skip up to the 3:20 mark.

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Part two shows how it's done.

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Reply to
Ron

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