Thank you for the updates, John.

I suppose California was one of the last two states to give approval. Do you know the other one (and if California was indeed one of the two)?

Also, although it will be legal, many police officers may not know this and may pull cars over for ticketing. Although someone could follow up with a visit to the court house to have the ticket dropped, it is a huge hassle and waste of time.

Do you know if GM will provide some documentation which we can carry in the car to show that the lights have DOT and state-specific (in particular, CA) approval?

Thank you!

 

Maybe we need to carry a z06' brochure with us to show the cops it comes clear.

 

Do not know which states, nor if GM will provide in car documentation. Will ask.

 

I may be in the minority when I say that I don't like the clear taillights. In '14 Porsche started offering the option of clear taillights on 911's, and it just looks very rice-like IMO. Because the side-markers remain colored, they look like an add-on. With the 911's people end up replacing the side markers with clear. The Z06 lights do look better than the 911's clear ones.
S.

 

I am with you, Snorman: I don't like the look either. Also, I hate the idea of having a hassle with them, risking getting pulled over and having a huge chunk of time wasted on getting everything straightened out.

I like the standard red ones on the StingRays MUCH better.

 

I thought the lights turn red as soon as the car is turned on. If so, then we don't have to worry about getting tickets.

 

I thought they only turned red when the parking lights were lit.
S.

 

I am with the both of you - prefer red over black

Anybody know the best way to remedy? Purchase StingRay taillight assemblies and switch them out? Or is there a less expensive solution?

 

Anybody know the best way to remedy? Purchase StingRay taillight assemblies and switch them out? Or is there a less expensive solution?

Swapping is an excellent and practical solution, for there already are StingRay owners wanting to get the clear ones. As posted elsewhere, as they are sealed complete taillight units, there is no other simple solution, e.g. swapping out just the lenses.

 

Clearing corners (headlights and tail lights) was big in the S2000 community, but that was years ago. I never much cared for that look then, and I am not a fan of it now either.

 

It looks like a surprisingly large percentage of people agree; well, at least from those posting here.

Anyone want a poll?

 

lol maybe we can convince John to call his contacts at GM to let them know that future Z06 buyers want red. Or convince GM to give us a choice of red, clear etc. I don't think it's fair to have to spend $1000 to get standard red tail lights. If we were able to simply swap lenses, that would be fine but that's not the case.

 

This! Those are great ideas, Andrew!

 

So, clear comes standard?

 

It seems as if it does. I secretly have been hoping for a long time that they would not be able to get DOT approval, or, of they did, to at least give the clear only as an option. Then when the order guide came out, it did not list any tail lights as options, so, at that point, I was reduced to hoping that the DOT approval would not come through. It did. Oh well.

 

Lots of Z06 taillight questions and ideas here..., so a few clarifications/answers.

Yes, all Z06's will have a clear ("neutral density") brake light lens.

There is 0% possibility that GM's will change the clear lenses on the Z06 (that question was raised today, and politely, the person who raised it was told that clear Z06 brake light lenses will be the only way Z06's are sold). Find a StingRay person to trade with, for I have seen many StingRay folks who are already drooling over the Z06's clear lenses. Maybe we will have a "taillight exchange thread" when the Z06's start arriving in customer hands.

The closest thing Z06 owners will get, to show a police officer that the clear brake light lens is DOT legal, will be two sentences in the Z06 owners' manual. I plan on copying that section, placing it in my glove box, readily accessible if/when stopped.

 

Just remember when swapping, the year of production is stamped in the lens.

 

All Corvette tail light lenses also have the word DOT and the section the lenses adhere to stamped on the inside. I'm not sure why anyone would feel the need to carry proof, are the police around you that bored?

 

They are not at all bored; they are always on the lookout for a revenue stream for the government. I have called them before while witnessing a crime in progress. They did not come. Yet, you see them all the time giving tickets to motorists (slow rolling a stop sign is a favourite of theirs to patrol here).

 

Predict that we will have to wait until 2016 for taillight lens choice, for giving Corvette customers a choice when we indicated another/preferred option has been sometimes followed by GM between 2014 and 2015, re the following:

Chrome versus black emblems/badging (both for the StingRay and the Z06 customer);
Carbon flash black grills/vents versus body colored (again both for the StingRay and the Z06);
Black wheels for non Z-51 cars; and more choices.

Yes, not every choice we wanted, but the 2015's offers some new choices where at least a minority of C7 customers repeatedly told GM, we want that specific choice. Another example, the resumption of orange exterior paint... Putting all this together, and the strong opinions of some StingRay owners who want the clear taillight lenses, and some Z06 buyers who want red taillight lenses, believe we will see everyone getting to choose their brake light lenses for 2016 MY.

 

Those are excellent points, John! Also, if I am frankly honest with myself, I know my position on the list at the dealership means I will not get a 2015 MY Z06 anyway unless the Z06 allocations for 2015 are 18% of the total 2014 MY sold, which, everyone says, is very unlikely (people are predicting 10%, but I think GM will beat that easily when all is said and done). But 18% is a stretch, I know.

I do believe there would be demand on both sides: clear for StingRays, and red for Z06.

 

I am not a huge fan of the new tails either. I had a G8 GT which had the clear euro look as well but they offered red tails on the standard V6. Found someone and swapped, problem solved. Then again on the Z06 it may grow on me. I wonder what the euro spec tails look like and when they will become available... My good friend has the euro spec on his C6 grand sport and I think it's a nice OEM look but sets it apart a bit. (Top half red, bottom half orange)

 

I just read CA Vehicle Code Section 25950: Color of Lamps and Reflectors

Subdivision (c) states "All lamps and reflectors visible from the front, sides, or rear of a vehicle, except headlamps, may have any unlighted color, provided the emitted light from all lamps or reflected light from all reflectors complies with the required color. Except for backup lamps, the entire effective projected luminous area of lamps visible from the rear or mounted on the sides near the rear of a vehicle shall be covered by an inner lens of the required color when the unlighted color differs from the required emitted light color. Taillamps, stoplamps, and turn signal lamps that are visible to the rear may be white when unlighted on vehicles manufactured before January 1, 1974."

So, the neutral density tail lights appear to be okay in CA, if there is an inner red lens.

I thought the Z06 had inner red diodes, not an inner red lens.

 

Oh, I had not seen that post in a while.

After reading the above California law carefully and looking at the Z06 tail lights, I conclude the Z06 tail lights do not comply with the letter of the law in California. Although it may comply with the intent (inner red diode), it does not comply with the exact wording (inner lens of the required color). A inner lens would always be red inside even when not lit, but an inner diode is only red when lit.

I know what GM says. Ignore GM, and also ignore me. Read the laws very, very carefully for yourself and come to your own informed conclusions based on what the laws of your states actually say.

By the way, I contacted Chevrolet Customer Care, and received probably the nicest response one could expect, but it did not really satisfactorily answer my question for California. Essentially, my understanding is GM will not indemnify us if there is any tail light related problem and we end up in court. It appears we would be on our own.

And the law says what it says. So there.

 

Thank you thank you thank you for being so knowledgeable about this I've learned so much by reading your thread

could you please be so kind as to provide me the GM part numbers for the left and right side of these clear to light fixtures for the c7 z06 pretty please????

I have call the parts department and apparently the z06 has seven different numerical numbers that represent the taillights and I can't pinpoint which ones are the clear ones please help me I logged on to this and registered to this forum for your answer

 

They are selling Z06 Take offs on ebay now for anyone wanting to convert. I've seen them as cheap as $900 a set all the way to $2700 on "Buy it now". I think they are like $900 a piece new. Better to find someone that wants to swap plus a little extra cash.

 

There's a vendor selling them for around 525 a pair with a 100 core charge. I believe he said he had 6 pairs left. I guess not too bad considering vendors are charging that much for a plastic splitter.

 

One of my favorite features on my new Z!!!!!

 

Where can I get that license plate bracket? Does it come with the Z? I assume it's aftermarket and I want it!

One of my favorite features on my new Z!!!!! View attachment 18370

 

West coast Corvette

 

I prefer the look of the standard red StingRay taillights. I believe the legal and safety issues would be if the Z06 is shut off on the curb side of the road, and the lights are off, no red reflector image would be there to warn oncoming traffic. The regular StingRay model with red lenses will still light up bright red due to the reflective properties of the lens itself. JMHO

 

Probably OK in most states down here. The clear lenses are fine in WV as long as the two red reflective horizontal strips on the diffuser are visible.

 

We Found it, we have it thanks to the Chevy Parts Guy

Here it is. -



23 21 95 35. CLEAR Tailights
23 21 95 36. They come with Red LED Bulbs but just dont install them, use the stingrays Clear LED bulbs w/ Clear Z06 Fixtures




This Is AWESOMEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeee


Feel free to respond with your thoughts, as many 3rd party authorized dealers suppliers were NOT feeling the parts #‘s

Order yours now for Normal price, Not for the Outrageousamounts there going for especially on eBay.


Spread the word, all I ask in return is ............ Well. Nothing!!!!!!!!!

 

Aside from the obviously illegal substitution of clear lamps for the colored one there is no state where simply swapping in the Z06 tail lights will cause you a problem. These are DOT approved for all 50 states. If they weren't they wouldn't be on the Z06 so all these posts about state laws are a bit misguided.

 

There you go again, using common sense....LOL

 

I'm sorry Rodney but you are over thinking it again.

The Z06 is road legal in EVERY state and country it's sold it, PERIOD! And that includes its tail lights.

 

again.

Whew!

 

I'm having a tough time getting all worked up about all the bad things that are going to me because of this.

 

You just need to think about it more.