Sorry for the confusion. What I mean is, even with everything on and not replacing the tune or cats, the car ran fine. It's the visual inspection of the cats that will fail you.

 

So have you passed the smog test with the tune in place?
And have you passed the test now, yes or no, do you have a new registration sticker?
Did you replace the cats?
We just want to know what you had to do to pass?
Thanks, Wayne B.

 

If I lived in CA I would open a “cat’ rental shop and stock all of the OEM cats for commonly modded cars. Provide a same day cat swaps and charge a rental price and deposit.

 

The reason why the state fails modified cars - even if they "pass" the emissions test - is because a modified engine may have excessive emissions at RPM and loads other than what is tested for in the test. The emission test only runs at certain rpm and loads, so the state has no way of knowing whether that particular engine fails under other conditions, so they default to "fail."

As someone else here wrote, if you were in California in the 1960 or 1970s, the smog was so bad it was exactly like your neighbor having his roof tarred. The sulfur smell was really bad. After catalytic converters came along, that ended. Even now when you're on the freeway, you can always "sniff out" a classic car far ahead way before you can see it, the smell of raw fuel is pretty bad. So while it's all inconvenient, it really is there for a reason.

 

While very true, CA Legislation has done more to increase carbon pollution with Toll Roads and Express Lanes, which have reduced free flowing traffic. Along with sparsely used Bicycle Lanes this has slowed traffic and created more traffic jams, which creates more idling and pollution. If it were purely about Pollution, the best start is at the Corporate Leve, staffing OSHA correctly, imposing meaningful fines and restitution. In addition, creating the infrastructure to make EV's practical. "The least represented becomes the target."

In Los Angeles, the traffic flow infrastructure plan looks like someone went to Amsterdam and said, hey thats a great idea. Problem is, L.A Co. is 100x larger and not strategically laid out for effectiveness. JMO

 

As a native Californian who lived in LA thru the 80's I recall when the smog in the summer was like a brown dome with a 3 mile visibility limit and breathing was a bad idea. The difference between then and now is a miracle of improvement in quality of life. Many have lost sight of just how much cleaner the air is now. Keep in mind that there are 30% more cars on the road now, and going forward, as the population grows, if we don't reduce pollution per mile driven the air will just get gradually worse again.

I encourage everyone to be kind to the atmosphere and maintain your emission systems. It's not as if we have to pollute more than necessary to get amazing performance with today's cars. Of course, I race a car with no cat or emissions control at all, so I'm no saint. All I'm saying is be mindful of the tradeoff.

 

I always say:

"I'm from NJ...I don't like breathing any air that I can't see"



More seriously, we live in the "NJ Highlands" and I could always see the brown air once I drove past the last hill, towards NYC.
"Brown Dome" indeed.

 

We in Utah hear that your brown dome is caused by the "mass" exodus ....with U Haul trailers!

 

This inforgraphic is AWESOME about the 2015 - 2019 exodus... https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeaut..._from_20152019

but "exodus" isn't the right word. In the same years, we had a net influx of people, overall. They did move to less dense parts (statistically... of course urban influx was big), to some extent, especially during the pandemic. The real treat is all the new people will offer all cash, no home inspection, and 20% over asking! YIPPEEeeee. If my house with a bridge to bridge bay view doesn't burn down from a fire in our open space, it's my retirement plan LOL I hear we Californians are crushing it in Idaho. At least we're bringing some empathy (actually, as climate changes marches eastward, all my OR, ID, CO friends who made "fun" [good natured friendly barbing] of our fires are like WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!? I had 5 friends have to evac that recent CO Louisville and Superior fire, while each having various minor heat or burn scar damage... their houses were saved! ) along with us as we scatter. lol AND YES I KNOW this is dangerously close to being off topic. Just look at the pretty graphic (I can't upload gifs inline I guess), and we'll move on. =)

 

I have a VAP tuned car (just mild, stage 1 I barely drive it) and passed no problem.

 

Thannks for the update!

 

LOL....They are helping my home value too

 

Guessing you are to young to remember the 60's- 80's when there was perpetual fog over LA, pollution got so bad the state had to do something and it did and CARB was born and like every other thing the government does, it took a good idea and screwed it up.

 

CARB has done a very effective job in improving air quality in So Cal. If you lived here in the 80s, like I did and still do, you know the "brown dome" was real and nasty. I'm talking about a 2 mile limit to visibility, could not see Griffith Park from the hills in Burbank. CARB may not be perfect, but it has done what it was intended to do. CA has 30% more people and cars on the road now and the air quality is significantly better. There is no arguing with those results. I write this as a former sports car racer who wrestled with CARB from time to time.

Also worth noting that the CA proposal T is trying to cancel does not prohibit hybrids with gas engines, only "gas only" cars. I write this as an occasional and happy driver of my wife's hybrid Tucson. Quick enough, great fuel economy, very comfortable, perfect transportation appliance.

 

I also remember the 'brown dome' over NYC every summer.

We should all appreciate the improvements in power that today's engine controls provide.

 

You just have to see what happens when an old non-catted car passes you by. The smell is immediately obvious. Now imagine that all cars were like this, all the time.

Going back to the subject of tuning, it's long been outlawed and made more or less impractical in most of the EU. Yes you can go to a shop and tune your car. You'll probably pass inspection, too. But if you get into a nasty accident (write-off, bodily damage, etc.), your insurance may be able to refuse a claim based on the fact tuning your car made it un-homologated. A pretty nasty situations where people have been left holding the wrong end of a six or seven-figure stick.

 

Love watching these debates.

Ohio spent a fortune instituting a comprehensive smog testing program. Billions of dollars.

After a long run of operation they shut the whole system down

Engineering 101. Due to more modern cars etc, There was no improvement in air quality. None. Other things like not burning much coal etc. Made all the difference. Old cars limping along and belching smoke do not run long. The problem sort of takes care of itself. Ohio logic. Do you really think stopping a few thousand folks from getting tuners is going to matter in the scheme of things?

When legislators with no knowledge make decisions the result is predictable.

For the ignorant, every gallon of gas carries a tax for road maintenance. Those with electric cars pay nothing. Therefore they should pay their fair share. Governmental agents were trying to fool you into thinking electric cars were much cheaper. Until the stuff hits the fan. Less road and bridge maintenance.

In California they have energy problems. Baloney new laws about all of it just make the situation worse. Windmills and solar farms are an expensive luxury. If built properly they are very expensive. But, the powers to be kind of ignore that. One day Engineering 101 will get you. There is no way to economically store electricity And no, there is no economical way to move it from Ohio to California. Their rule about all new homes having solar and battery back ups is admitting the obvious. Get me to pay for your decisions. . You know electricity costs in California are awful now.

Engineering 101 again If everyone in California had an electric car they would need a new term for common and long blackouts. Oopsie maybe? Or a Gavin? No problem. Add $60,000 to the price of the house

Gees Dear, open me another bag of popcorn.

 

The reason California has issued these laws about checking for tunes pretty much comes down to the Diesel bros rolling coal. The tunes that would cause huge clouds of black smoke were just so visibily bad that the whole testing process was changed. Additionally, VW's Dieselgate added to the suspision that tunes could be setup to pass smog during smog checks and at no other times. Ironically, the tune checks would not capture the VWs as that was a factory tune.

 

This is why we can't have nice things.

Meanwhile, we're seeing motorcycle-level power from stock cars. The F-Type 400 Sport puts out more than 130 HP/liter. My first "superbike" was around 90 HP/liter. Yes, I know I'm mixing proper measurements with Freedom units. I should have used PS or kW.

 

Bad logic.

since the start of the California problem car emissions have gone way down. Diesel as well. Car design!

In Ohio much of the problem was big diesels rolling thru. The new ones with def do not roll coal anymore.

big diesels are still not smogged as I understand. But, removing the def system is a major fine. Dealers will not work on modified vehicles.

general emissions are down,

if they closed down the smog testing likely nothing would change except the taxes on the consumer. Can’t have that.

they are swatting flies with a baseball bat.

an important thing about government. They seldom recind a law. Good or bad it is there until hell freezes over.

we travel all around the country. Cities don’t smell like they used to. Nationwide.