My friends supra was impounded a couple of weeks ago by the Garden Grove pd. They had a smog check point, and clearly his didn't pass. I didn't think they would impound cars now for not passing smog. I always thought it was like a fix it ticket. This seems totally ridiculous to me. He is a very mellow guy and never, ever races. Its just his fun, weekend car that he takes on trips with his wife. I don't know all of the details because a mutual friend told me, but he has to pay like a grand to get it out, get it all fixed, and then he can have it back. What is this state coming to?? This really scares me for the future of this nanny state.

 

So wait... essentially breaking the law, getting caught and suffering the consequences means no more fun? I'm confused.

BTW, there is a California topic in R&P you may want to join in on https://acurazine.com/forums/religion-politics-18/california-politics-news-discussion-thread-695335/

 

It's the law, follow it or else . Don't like the law? Vote differently and/or write your legislators. However, laws are like taxes, they are rarely repealed...especially environmentally-friendly laws in an environmentally-friendly state.

 

I understand all of the legal aspects, but his car is essentially stock except for a blow off valve, exhaust, and intake. Its not like his car is 1000hp with no cats. So that means no more intakes, exhausts, or anything for any cars. I know that there are environmental reasons for all of this, but it seems ridiculous to me to have your car impounded for such minor things.

 

Basically anybody with any sort of sense will get the hell out of California and quick. They are already taxing people back to the stone age and crazy hippies have overrun the state government. It won't be long before the only car you can drive in CA is a Tesla.

Tell your friend to bring his Supra to Georgia. We still have some freedom left here...

 

Two ways to approach this - depending what he knew. If he was totally unaware that his car would not pass smog (never heard of a smog check point) then I don't understand why they would impound the car. Hell, even cars that fail the registration smog are still allowed to be driven until it is due.

If he did know...still seems weird that they would impound the car but the fines associated with it seem deserved.

 

Yeah, but you are in Georgia.

 

Yeah and I can still drive whatever car I want. Point?

 

I forgot this -

 

I was about to say...

 

And we get 93 octane here too!

 

It seems to be excessive to me as well... but I don't pretend to try to understand Kalifornia...

 

Seriously now....it didn't get impounded for not passing smog....it got impouned because he probably took off all the CARB required stuff.

That is illegal. If he is going to take that risk, he can't complain when he gets caught.

 

^ - Have you heard of those types of stops before?

 

^^ Yup...they've had smog checkpoints for a while now.

 

He didn't take off anything. He still has cats, maf, and everything. He just added a couple of basic things like many other cars out here in so cal. I can't imagine how many mustangs, vettes, and civics have basic bolt-ons like this, minus the bov. Anyway, Im waiting on an update from him.

 

If his "bolt-ons" are not CARB approved, he's gonna get busted for it.

Look, I hate Kalifornia's nanny state mentality as much as the next guy, but knowingly adding non-CARB parts or removing CARB parts from your vehicle then gettting caught and complaining?!?!?.....Please.

If you take the risk (and more power to ya), you can't get all bent when you get caught.

 

It HAD to be something more than normal bolt-ons.

 

Interesting. I thought with all the hippies around me the checks would be more common up here too. Before the street racing crackdown a few years ago I remember going through some checks but that was solely in response to the races that were going on

 

This makes me appreciate Ohio even more, no e-check/smog checks ftw.To bad its so boring there

 

Can anybody say "Fast and Furious"

 

As a Kalifornia resident I am surprised about a smog check point! Impounding the car seems harsh as well.

Fortunately, my ride is smog exempt.

Check out this automated smog check!

http://www.smogtips.com/remote_sensing.cfm

 

I guess I just don't understand why older cars, which are the real polluters, don't have to get smog checks. They are exempt here. Maybe all of the muscle and antique car club guys are onto something.

 

Are you sure it was impounded? Or, the cop just wanted to joy ride the Supra for few days?

 

So couldn't the cops shove a smog check up some Cal-Berkeley student's ass and call it a day? That should peg the pollution meter.

 

 

That's pretty interesting.

 

In Cleveland we have to do smog checks every two years. It's only in NE Ohio because of the nasty air here.

 

Really? I didn't know that, I know Cincinnati closed all of theirs a year or so ago.

 

So glad I don't live in SoCal. After driving around the freeways for a day I wanted to shoot somebody and I got a fix-it ticket for no front plate. I think this has a lot to do with how much smog is in the air in LA. Still, there's more to it if your friend didn't pass smog if he just has a BOV (unless it has a dump), intake and exhaust, with cats especially. I would think he would know enough at least to get CARB-approved parts.

its the law and you may not like it but you live here and you are required to follow it I owned my Integra and drove it around daily, 15,000 miles a year without a front plate for almost two years all around the Bay Area and never got a ticket for it.... but in ONE day on LA streets and I get popped for it

 

Smog check-points are old news in Cali, they've had them in the San Gabriel, Rosemead, Alhambra area for a while now.

 

from what I've heard about Supra's is that from the factory they were on the borderline for not passing smog anyway. Just one reason why they stopped making them because as the EPA and the government (state/federal) were getting more stringent on emissions, they didn't want to spend the money in making the car meet the new emission standards.

 

I know which car I'm never driving down to LA

 

 

Dirtiest air in the US and we bitch about things to make it a little better.
America the beautiful. Perhaps they should just keep the damn car.

 

Should we make the violators plant hundreds of trees as punishment?

 

So true. I'd love to live in San Diego for the weather, but the general state of CA makes me want to stay as far away as possible.


Same here. I always hear people talk about 91, and sometimes I pause and think "mid-grade? Oh, right, that's what passes for premium in some states." LOL. I have seen 92 at one or two places, but it was years ago...that was strange.

 

almost all new cars are tuned for 91 octane anyway so there's no difference for almost all cars between 91 vs. 93 octane when the car recommends 91, at least from what I've read.

The only car in stock form that comes to mind that suffers from sub-93 octane gas is the MS6. And on a side note, for some reason I haven't seen any of those 91 octane complaints concerning the MS3, considering that they use the same DISI 2.3T

 

...but you can get them reprogrammed to run a 93 octane program

 

Even then, according to APR's website a stage 1 chip for the B8 2.0TFSI with 93 yields a whopping 5AWHP/10AWTQ improvement over 91 octane. E85 will ultimately offer a much higher gain and there's a station 5-10 minutes away from my house. Unless the tuner is your best friend or brother or some other person who will retune a car for free, optimizing a car made for 91 to run on 93 will be kinda pointless.

The thing is almost every car sold in any state is optimized to run on 91 octane IIRC. It would be a waste of time and money for manufacturers to optimize a tune for each market. They'd rather just tune it for 91 so that it'll work in every state, then let the ECU compensate for conditions. It would be nice if 93 was widespread in CA, but the difference is really negligible, unless you're running a highly modified turbocharged car, where an extra 2 octane will make a bit of difference.... and even then, E85 is the way to go