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Anyone got pulled over for modified smog device?

I was looking at your car pics, and you have done some nice things to your tour. The problem is some of that is a cop magnet. Like fat exhaust, tinted windows, lowered, darkened tails, big rims, asian characters, blacked out chrome. Those things by themselves are not usually a problem. Put them all together and add a young driver, your are a cop magnet. I'm an old guy and I could get away with it. The cop might still stop me but when he came up to the window he'd just talk.

It is all about perception. Loose the asian characters, restore the tails, sell me your intake and return it to stock.... for awhile. They will leave you alone. One should start with why were they attracted to me in the first place. The real game is to do all the mods and yet don't make yourself an attraction to them. You probably just fit the profile that they are looking for. Change it, be smart about being young. There is a point where they will stop you and another where they just look and go by. That is what you want to acheive..... once they stop you as you found out they will keep looking until they find something. The fact that they had three of them check you out should let you know there is a task force set up to go after certain looks of cars/drivers. Always be polite sometimes that alone gets you a warning in lieu of a ticket. You do have rights they took them away from you through fear and intimidation. The right to say no you can't go farther with a search is one of them. I know I always did that way back when I was young. Oh let me tell you they didn't like it at all, BUT there is nothing they can do about it, and they know it. Phony tickets get tossed it your really clean with insurance and the important stuff. The other big one is most people when they go to court always start out saying I did it but..... after admitting guilt the rest doesn't count. Once you say sure, you have just given them the ok to do what ever they want. You said you went along so you wouldn't get really busted. Don't make that an option either. Finally AND the most important thing to remember IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY... If you look like you can spend $$$$$'s on your car, they want their cut..... don't give them a chance to get to you.

just mey 2 cents,

Merry Christmas,

AF
 
rocketmanrw said:
sounds like what you got is called a fix-it ticket.if you leave it it will cost you a couple hunderd dlrs either paying the ticket or going to court.all you need to do is the the factory peices back on the car intake and taillights and find a cop tell him what happened and show him your car and fixed the problems that were written he will sign it off saying it was fixed and go to your local traffic court and it will be a 10.00 fee to process the paperwork.
it will have nothing to do with smogging you car next time,just a way for the city to make some money
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Pay attention to how the ticket is written. They can write a "fix-it" ticket that still requires you to go in front of a judge. It has happened to me. It was about tinted windows on a customer's car I was road testing. They made me appear in court, not the owner, with proof that the tint had been removed. I don't have the foggiest idea how I upset the cop, but he was like a bulldog.
 
AliasJerk said:
im assuming your "modified smog device" probably is an air intake that you installed on your car.

What most people dont get is that air intakes have nothing to do with emissions.

Or you can just say you have no idea what a modified smog device is, or claim you bought the car that way and didnt know that it was modified. Simple enough, if your ticket says you have a tail light cover, and you dont, you arent liable for it.
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Just so you know...anything from the air intake to the last O2 sensor is a smog related device. When I was a tech, we were encouraged to have a "smog license" even to change the oil of a car because the air cleaner had hoses going to the valve covers which were part of the "closed system" of the emissions schema and when you removed the oil filler cap, technically you were monkeying with the smog system because one of those hoses were connected to it - the other going to the PCV device. Now it wasn't enforced much if at all but that was the word when I was in the business.

So, how many hoses are on your intake and what is their function? If they have anything to do with emissions, then, as Big Jim wrote, then the intake needs a C.A.R.B. number. California is rough and the Governator is trying to make it rougher and have us lead the way in smog and greenhouse gas reduction. Luckily, so far, the Feds don't want us straying from their plan and just the other day shot down the latest state sponsored one.

But yeah, keeping a low "sleeper" profile is the way to keep John Law from hassling you which is why we (should) stay away from the "boy racer" crap and let the car's performance to all the talking. If that doesn't fit in with the thinking of the people you hang out with, find some smarter ones to be with.

Karl
 
EPA/Automakers FTW; CARB/equiv FTL! If you didn't hear yet, Bush signed in the new CAFE standards from the EPA. Along for the ride with those was a new national emissions standard which denies individual state's rights to set higher emissions standards. So bye-bye CARB and equivalent (NY)... well, until they sue the crap outta the EPA till they get the rights back!

In other news, CAIs are (have been) illegal in Germany without paying an additional tax at the TUV, as are about every other aftermarket part on a car.
 
Big Daddy Kane said:
EPA/Automakers FTW; CARB/equiv FTL! If you didn't hear yet, Bush signed in the new CAFE standards from the EPA. Along for the ride with those was a new national emissions standard which denies individual state's rights to set higher emissions standards. So bye-bye CARB and equivalent (NY)... well, until they sue the crap outta the EPA till they get the rights back!

In other news, CAIs are (have been) illegal in Germany without paying an additional tax at the TUV, as are about every other aftermarket part on a car.
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Uhh... can anyone say this in a better way that I can understand? I'm not really good with political stuff :rolleyes:
 
kw8z3boi said:
Uhh... can anyone say this in a better way that I can understand? I'm not really good with political stuff :rolleyes:
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Individual laws that states put into place are now out the door because of the bill that Bush signed. Basically we are all under the same laws and the ones that california and a few other places passed are now garbage and mean nothing. Emissions related of course.
 
Big Daddy Kane said:
Along for the ride with those was a new national emissions standard which denies individual state's rights to set higher emissions standards. So bye-bye CARB and equivalent (NY)... well, until they sue the crap outta the EPA till they get the rights back!
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I recall that a war was started over something like this about 150 years ago! :mad: Time to dust off the 10th Amendment.
Karl
 
98SVTC said:
I recall that a war was started over something like this about 150 years ago! :mad: Time to dust off the 10th Amendment.
Karl
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LOL ..... I doubt there are 10 people on this site that have acutally read the constitution, and the bill of rights. A lot of folks think they know about it, but since school where they may have read part of it have never looked at it again. Ask most people what the first ammendment is about and you get the wrong answer. You are way down to #10.....lol not a chance....

AF
 
fix-it tix

fix-it tix

I think the best thing to keep in mind is to hang on to ANY old engine parts when you do modifications that will alter the appearance of the engine/exhaust system, just in case you should run in to this problem...
 
Aussie Ford said:
LOL ..... I doubt there are 10 people on this site that have acutally read the constitution, and the bill of rights. A lot of folks think they know about it, but since school where they may have read part of it have never looked at it again. Ask most people what the first ammendment is about and you get the wrong answer. You are way down to #10.....lol not a chance....

AF
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I'm still in school so they come easy to me. lol
 
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