Hadn't seen or heard anything on NAM, caught it online... they are setting up random checkpoints that will check you for emissions if they "suspect" your car has anything aftermarket on it. Just thought I'd throw it out there for any of you CA guys and start up a little discussion area for you. They apparently have tow trucks waiting to take people's cars that fail as well? This just seems crazy to me how terrible they treat you all out there. Just another way to steal money from taxpayers.

 

Yup I have seen them before. In my MINI I'm OK but in my truck I have to be very careful to not get caught up in one. They won't tow just any car, but heavily modded cars with emissions removed they will tow.

 

That is just non sense.... We should put a petition together for that... just seems extremely illegal to me. I must say I'm glad Indiana doesn't have these ludicrous emissions laws....

 

Yea it's a bummer. I'm not sure on the laws regarding it but I knowingly and willingly modded my truck to no longer be street legal. So I can't blame anyone but myself if I get caught...

 

I've passed through one, was sweating bullets in the MINI, luckily a Honda a few cars ahead of me took all the heat.

 

Where did you pass one of these?

 

From what I've read, these California smog checkpoints are voluntary, though they make them seem like they aren't.

Just refuse to be inspected.

Dave

 

I think this is correct, at worst they can issue a ticket to have it inspected at one of the normal stations of your choosing within a month. To add to the discussion, I really doubt any Fuel Injected Mini, no matter the mods, would fail the tailpipe test alone - they would have to pop the hood and look underneath, etc.

Do they do sound levels, as well?

 

Ah yes I had forgotten about this, I was told about this before I need to remember that for when it happens!
Probably not but most aftermarket performance parts without a Carb E.O. # will fail you. They open the hood and do a visual. I was sure to buy an intake with a E.O # but most I looked at didn't have it. Any downpipe would cause you to fail also.

 

I don't know. I think any car without any cat would have an even chance of failing. You can search on here. There was a member a few months ago with a catless DP who failed his sniffer test.

 

The smog rules have been very beneficial for CA. Back in the 70's I remember a lot of smog alerts and now they are much fewer with a lot more cars being driven. Not poisoning children with unleaded gas is great. These rules allow us to enjoy our minis wthout poisoning ourselves.l

 

This was in the inland empire area, city is called Rancho Cucamonga.

 

+1 on clean air! I'm kinda hooked on breathing!

 

It is almost impossible to pass without a cat . I believe it is also a four figure fine as well .

 

That's why a hollowed out cat is better than a testpipe....
But imo, part of life is just use a cat...law says to for a reason....when I get stuck behind a car in traffic, with no cat...yuck

 

Amen. I grew up in LA and I remember the days in the 60s and 70s when the air was brown, it hurt to breathe and you couldn't see the hills. CA has led the USA and the rest of the world with environmental laws to clean up our air.

The air we breathe is a communal resource - all of you who remove your cats are dumping poison into the air we all breathe. I'm a serious libertarian, not a hardcore socialist government control type, and I wholeheartedly support the laws to clean up our environment, because I have seen the difference it makes. Last year I was in India, it was like LA 40 years ago. Yuck.

So any of you who get busted for emissions because you deleted your cat - too f-ing bad.