As I am about to purchase a set of Konig Feather 17"s and Alta CAI...upon the checkout process over @ Alta, I have to acknowledge the following:

A product or products you have purchased are legal in California only for racing vehicles which may NEVER be used upon a highway. By initializing this page you agree to abide by all laws and statues associated with these products and their use within the state of California.

Are the Alta CAIs illegal to use on street? Just curious before I hit that "buy button"...

 

Are you in California?

I believe the reason they say that is because their intakes don't come with the CARB sticker required by the state of CA.

 

Just legal dribble.... I find it ironic that almost all the big names in aftermarket parts (Holley, Mickey Thompson, etc, etc) are located in CA. and yet most of the time come with a sticker "Not for legal highway use in CA"

I'm with Rally's post... if you ain't in CA, don't worry about it.

Mark

 

OP's "Location: Bay Area" usually refers to SF Bay, Tampa Bay, you normaly specify it.

Best to check locally, especially Vehicle Inspection people.

 

I can't believe I didn't check that. I almost always check out where a poster is from and didn't even look this time.

I'd guess that Rally is correct. It probably doesn't pass CARB approval.

I'd check with Alta and like pilotart suggested, double check with an emissions testing station.

Mark

 

Haha oops I didnt check location either

It didn't necessarily FAIL or "not pass" CARB approval......it just may not have gone through the process of the approval. I'm sure if you talk to ALTA they will be able to answer any of your questions. But as has been stated...it's legal stuff meant to inform you that technically it's illegal to run that part in your state due to the CARB requirements.

I'd link you to the California Air Resource Board for further information...but it seems their site is down at the moment

http://www.arb.ca.gov/

 

Yeah, I don't think I've seen any aftermarket options available for the Mini that are Carb legal for California because they are so cost prohibitive for the manufacturer in such a niche market. That said, you can still buy that Alta intake anyway and not worry about it for at least 6 years which is when your first smog test will be done or when you first get pulled over and the cops tell you to open the hood.

 

All K&N's are CARB certified.....and they offer intakes for all the MINI models

 

Thanks for the remind. I keep forgetting about them since they never seem to come up here when it comes to talk on CAIs. I know their panel filters are prob carb legal, but just took a look at their Apollo CAI and its not Carb exempt.

 

Well, I am in California...shoot, what should I do? I have done some research and thought that Alta CAI is what I want to get...then I hit this little roadblock...

Or just forget about it (more like pretend I didn't see that message), enjoy this CAI for a few years, switch it back to stock to pass SMOG when that time comes...

 

Yeah, if you're dead set on getting the Alta CAI, that would be your best bet. Should only take about 15-30 minutes to take it off when the time comes. If you don't wanna be bothered by that, then you'd probably want to go with the JCW intake instead.

 

that's what most people do. Shouldn't take very long to put the OEM intake back on and go run your sniffer test and then put the ALTA (or whichever) back on for another two years.

 

So Alta is intentionally selling products which are illegal to use in a major market? What do you say Adam? Why don't you take responsibility if you are profitting from the sale and know that the product can't be used in California? Aren't you encouraging illegal use when buyers commonly anticipate circumventing state laws?

 

How are they encouraging illegal use when they clearly have a warning before the sale?

As noted, almost ALL of the intakes are illegal in CA....including all the new K&N's (which is news to me). California is one state out of 50....not to mention that ALTA is sold world wide to multiple countries throughout Europe and Asia. I don't think it's an issue that they're selling a product that is illegal in California, and they've taken proper measures to make sure that the buyer is informed about the illegality of the intake in their home state.

 

Some CA smog shops will still pass the visual for vehicles with a CAI. It all depends on the shop. I have never had a problem at the station I go to but I know people who have had problems at other smog stations. The vehicle will pass the sniffer test with a CAI.

 

-please send a link to a K+N high performance intake that is CARB legal (in CA). I've yet to find one.

I do live in CA, and unfortunately the smog/DMV ****'s don't let you get away w/ very much out here. That's why pre '78 vehicles are popular (no smog required). My mod's on my Mini are mostly reserved to cosmetic mods due to the smog laws.

 

Yah, I was wrong about ALL of them being exmpt....it appears that many aren't CARB certified. I just know that one I bought for my r50 a few years back was CARB exempt.

Here it is. It's the typhoon kit. CARB Exempt: YES

http://www.autocom.com/servlet/the-7...-by-K&N/Detail

A link from the typhoon page:
http://www.knfilters.com/search/appl...Prod=69-2020TR

 

This isn't just Alta, it's virtually EVERY aftermarkets parts company out there. Would you rather no one sold aftermarket products in CA?

Face it, CARB testing is ridiculously expensive and it takes a VERY long time to even get on the testing schedule; they don't exactly look at aftermarket performance parts as high priority.

Furthermore, that high cost and wait time has to be undertaken for each and every product - you don't pay one fee and set one time to test all of your products. Yes Cali is a major market but you know what's more of a major market than that? The rest of the world.

California is the one with the most intrusive air standards, so from a profit sense, would it make sense for any company to add a huge expense to their product, delay its release by a VERY long time, only to be beaten to the market by another company that didn't bother to waste that time to satisfy the legal technicalities of a (relatively) small part of their market? Or would it make more sense for them to release the product (that is legal pretty much everywhere else in the world) with a CA disclaimer?

Barring the removal of catalytic converters, these parts will still allow it to pass the sniff test, just not the visual (which most smog stations don't care about anyway.

 

Thanks everyone for the replies so far. As much as I hate that I won't be getting the Alta, since I really don't want to deal with the trouble later on (though that's many years of enjoyment in between), I am glad that at least Alta did the due diligence to warn me. They did lose the sale on this round, but definitely gain the credibility.

Guess I have to wait for the JCW intake then...is that even out yet for R56?

 

I am in the same boat as you beckham23 (I live in Marin, CA). I don't want to mess around w/ non CARB approved equipment either.

 

Guess it's JCW intake for us...I checked 1fastmini...they don't really have a lot of info about the JCW intake other than price...guess I can assume that the JCW is CARB approved? Since they're in the JCW Coopers after all...

 

i'll try contacting them ...i'll let you know when I get an answer.

 

If an intake is made right, it shouldn't noticeable effect the emissions, if a cat back exhaust is made right it shouldn't either. Virtually ever aftermarket part will list this disclaimer, just due to the fact they are trying to protect themselves legally. Aftermarket parts rarely go through the testing that a manufacture does, but the vast majority are just fine. Going aftermarket should just always be viewed as a risk, but forums like these should help everyone be confident that they are made well. Regardless, because of the lack of testing they will normally lower your cars value. Don't let the legal words trip you up, and similar part will have a similar risk but you can always checks the forums for the experience people have had with one particular part.

 

-I don't think anyone is questioning the quality of these intakes, we're just discussing that they all state that they are NOT CARB legal. Whether it's due to lack of testing or not, most of us in California don't want to drop $200-$400 finding out. So, maybe we should ask, has anyone in CA passed smog legally using one of these after market intakes? If so, which intake?

Here is my response from 1fastmini.com (very quick response):


Yes it is the only CARB legal CAI !!!
On Sep 2, 2008, at 4:10 PM, Eric Falk wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I am curious if your JCW air intake for the R56 Mini is CARB legal.
> (I live in California where the smog regulations are very strict).
>
> http://www.1FastMINI.com/product_p/r...r%20intake.htm
>
> thanks,
> eric.

 

So, does anyone know how much HP gain the JCW intake will give us ...and how does it compare to the various after market intakes out there? (i.e. Alta).