Is it time to replace your race suit? Let’s get you track-ready. Use the maker visor, not window film
A visor is part of the helmet assembly. Adhesive film affects visibility, coatings and approval, so order the original visor made for that helmet model. The table below says which one that is.
People ask because a tinted visor looks expensive next to a sheet of film. The gap is smaller than it looks. A Sparco X-Pro visor is about twenty pounds and a Club X1 mirror visor is under that, both made for the eyeport and the locking system they go in.
Wrap and automotive tint are not approved helmet components. Adhesive, trapped dust, optical distortion and lifting edges are all avoidable problems, and on a competition helmet a modified visor can fail scrutineering.
The visor has to belong to the exact helmet model
A homologated helmet is approved as an assembly, shell, liner, retention system and visor together. FIA rules do not allow it to be modified away from the manufacturer specification, so the accessory you fit has to be one the helmet maker approved for that shell. Where the standard requires it, the visor carries its own marking, described in the FIA helmet guidance.
The trap is that a visor which physically fits the pivot screws is not necessarily approved for that helmet. Bell alone has separate visors for the 3, 5, 6 and 7-Series, several of which will bolt to the wrong shell and sit slightly proud at the seal. Buy by model name and part, not by whether the holes line up.
Applying film is the same problem in a different form. It changes an approved component, and the coating you are covering is usually the anti-fog or anti-scratch layer the visor was sold for.
The visor for your helmet, and what it costs
The families we stock. If your helmet is not here, send us the model and we will find the part number.
| Helmet | Visor to order | Tints available |
|---|---|---|
| Sparco Club X1 | Club X1 silver mirror visor | Silver iridium |
| Sparco X-Pro | X-Pro replacement visor | Mirror, dark tint |
| Sparco Flux, open face | Flux open face visor | Dark smoke, iridium blue, iridium red |
| Sparco Stealth and Stealth CarbonMOST ASKED | Stealth replacement visor | Clear, light smoke, mirror dark smoke, iridium blue, iridium red, anti-smoke yellow |
| Bell 3-Series | Bell 3mm 3-Series visor | Clear, light and dark smoke, four mirrors, three multi-layers, yellow |
| Bell 5-Series | Bell 3mm 5-Series visor | Clear, light and dark smoke, blue, gold, red, silver and iridium mirror |
| Bell 6-Series | Bell 3mm 6-Series visor | Clear, light and dark smoke, mirrors and multi-layers including purple |
| Bell 7-Series | Bell 3mm 7-Series visor | Clear, light and dark smoke, mirrors, multi-layers, yellow |
| Stilo ST5 | Stilo ST5 short visor | Dark smoke, mirror, iridium blue, red and yellow |
| Stilo ST6 and ST5 R | Stilo ST6 / ST5 R short visor | Smoked, silver, mirror blue, red and yellow |
| Stilo ST6 Formula | Stilo ST6 Formula visor | Clear, double glazed clear, smoked, amber, mirrors in medium and dark |
| Arai 6-Series | Arai 6-Series visor | Clear, light smoke, dark smoke, yellow. Anti-fog and iridium versions also listed |
Two notes on that table. Bell list a DSAF version of the 5-Series visor alongside the standard one, which is the anti-fog treated part, and the 6-Series has a short sunscreen visor if you want the peak-and-strip arrangement. Stilo also do a GT visor for the ST5 and a full set for the WRX. Ask if you want either and they are not showing.
The prices are the reason the wrap question usually goes away on its own. A Club X1 mirror visor is less than twenty pounds and an X-Pro is about the same. By the time you have bought a decent sheet of film and spent an evening on a compound curve, you have spent more and ended up with something you cannot race in.
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From £59.63 Excl. VAT Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
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From £73.39 Excl. VAT Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
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From £73.39 Excl. VAT Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
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From £84.00 Excl. VAT Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
Pick for the conditions you might actually get
The mistake is buying for a bright July afternoon and then getting a delayed session at six o clock in October. A dark or mirrored visor that is perfect at midday is genuinely dangerous under trees, in a tunnel, in rain or at dusk, and races run late far more often than they run early.
The way round it is to own two. A dark or mirrored one for the daytime and a clear one that lives in the bag, which for most of these helmets is a twenty to seventy pound decision rather than a new helmet. Changing a visor is a two-minute job on the pivot screws once you have done it once.
Between the finishes: a smoked visor cuts brightness evenly, a mirror cuts more and hides your eyes, and a multi-layer or iridium sits between the two with a colour shift. Double-glazed and anti-fog versions exist for cold and damp events and are worth it in a rally car or anywhere you sit stationary with the engine running. Check your own regulations before choosing anything dark, because some night and rally events specify clear.
Tear-offs are not film, and they are not interchangeable either
A tear-off is a removable clear layer on posts, designed to be pulled off at speed and to leave the visor underneath clean. It is the only laminate that belongs on a race visor, and it is model specific in the same way the visor is: Bell do separate packs for the 3 and 5-Series, the 6-Series and the 7-Series, Stilo stack theirs for the ST5, and Sparco, Arai and Simpson each have their own.
Use the posts and the fitting method the maker supplies. Check the event allows them, because some circuits ban them outright over litter, and take the used ones home with you rather than dropping them on the track.
Replace anything that crosses your line of sight
Look at the visor properly before an event rather than in the assembly queue. Cracks around the pivots, deep scratches anywhere in the direct field of view, delamination on a double-glazed or mirrored part, worn or missing locking components, and a marking that has become unreadable are all reasons to replace it rather than run it.
Clean it only with what the maker allows, which for most of these is warm water and a soft cloth. Solvents, screen wipes, kitchen sprays and anything abrasive will take the anti-fog or mirror coating off, and once that has gone patchy you are buying a new visor anyway.
Store it fitted or in the bag it came in, not loose in the boot with the tools.
Helmet visor questions
Can I apply car window tint film to a helmet visor?▾
No. Use a visor approved by the helmet manufacturer for the exact model. Film changes an approved component, distorts the view on a curved surface and lifts at the edges.
Can I wrap just the top strip?▾
Not with vinyl. Several makers sell a proper sun strip sticker for their own visors, including Stilo for the ST5 and ST6, which is the approved way to do the same job.
Are mirrored visors FIA approved?▾
Manufacturer-supplied model-specific visors can be. Check the marking on the part and the parts list for your exact helmet, and check your own regulations, since some events specify clear.
How much is a replacement visor?▾
From about eighteen pounds for a Sparco Club X1 up to the high eighties for a Stilo ST6 Formula. Most of the popular Bell visors are around sixty to seventy-five.
Will a visor from another helmet in the same brand fit?▾
Often it will bolt on and still be wrong. Bell alone has different visors for the 3, 5, 6 and 7-Series. Order by helmet model, not by whether the screw holes match.
Can I use a dark visor at night?▾
Choose for the conditions and the event rule, and carry a clear one. Sessions get delayed and light goes faster than people expect.
What actually cleans a visor safely?▾
Warm water and a soft cloth. Solvents, screen wipes and abrasive cloths strip anti-fog and mirror coatings, and that damage is not repairable.
We will find the right part number
Include the brand, the full model name, the shell size and a picture of the current visor fittings. Visors change between model years, so the photograph settles it faster than the name on its own.
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