Not really. Stay out of my business I'll stay out of yours. You aren't acknowledging the fact that emissions laws are different than manufacturing laws. A few "bros" with "poluting" cars won't change the air quality. That change has been made in manufacturing standards. The crackdown on aftermarket modifications is just a money play.

Anyway, CA guys can sit back and complain about the lack of an import scene, but this collectivist/authoritarian mindset is why it died. Meanwhile, you can sit around and wonder why visual mods and exotics are the only thing at cars n coffee. It's just a sign of the times. I'd rather brave the humidity and enjoy living the way I want in ATL.

 

Triple combo - I'm done ranting.

I just am very passionate about all the opinions that ruined my beautiful state. I still love you all.

 

Extreme point i'm making here, but being stuck behind a dbag with a brodozer truck that's rolling coal and spitting diesel fumes in my face is certainly getting in my business. those people deserve to be hunted down and fined imo.

 

The economy has never recovered.

The fed injected QE, operation twist, and zero percent interest rates for almost a decade. The fed currently plans on cutting interest rates again and purchasing more assets instead of unwinding their balance sheets. With all the money printing that's going to happen the inflation will now hit the consumers. Should of never bailed the banks out. We are now headed towards an avalanche...

 

Actually, it does matter even if it's a small population of cars that are polluting the air... Pollution is pollution, and there are laws to help reduce and prevent it. Just because you 'feel' like it doesn't do much damage to the air quality, doesn't mean you can do as you please. If you do some research, you'll see close to 85% of ozone forming emissions come from vehicles here in CA. The law is the law, people obey it or pay the consequences. No one wants to drive behind d-bags with their removed cats and excessively loud exhausts spewing out pollution and annoying every person on the road just because they think they are 'cool'. Every single person with these loud exhausts should be pulled over and fined, case closed. Extremely happy about the law and glad CA is finally cracking down on it.

As far as you saying no one is happy here in CA, I can assure you your opinion is false.

 

I don’t agree with you on this. California just knows that in order to keep pollution down and keep some sort of air quality for the future they have to do every little thing possible to achieve that. Too many people there and that’s why land and house prices are stupid expensive. They aren’t targeting people who mod their cars, they are targeting everyone and anyone including manufacturers that aren’t adhering to their laws. Sure a few people messing with their emission systems won’t harm anyone, but compile the amount of people that do it and then no one enforces it then more and more people do it. Unfortunately the only way to enforce laws anymore is to hit people where it hurts and that’s your wallet. The only reason I fear speeding in the US is because I don’t want to pay $300 per ticket. It keeps me honest because it’s a waste of money. Don’t get me wrong, while I love Cali, they do take some laws and stuff too far but hey no one is obligated to live there.

 

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I really don't have any huge issue with the laws in CA regarding car modifications themselves with a few exceptions:

- The tint laws here suck. While I agree that 5% all around is definitely a safety issue, allowing any tint you want in the rear windows while only allowing 88% in the front is ridiculous in my opinion.
- CARB exemption is a cash grab game that the aftermarket stopped playing a long time ago. I should be able to do whatever I want to my car as long as I can pass the sniffer/OBD test. The visual inspection for modifications is draconian at best.
- Exhaust noise laws are actually pretty reasonable, as most cat back systems will pass and only straight pipes cause issues (barring some exotic cars). This doesn't stop most cops from harassing anybody with an exhaust that isn't damn near silent.

But for the most part, yes, I am limited to mostly aesthetic modifications to my cars. It makes sense to me that as you make more money as an older individual, you would simply just buy a car with the power from the start instead of having to work your way up (and killing the resale value of your car in the process). But that doesn't change my penchant to never leave well enough alone. I feel like that every car I get would get a minimum of new wheels and some type of exhaust modification, even if I end up in a minivan. In fact, sometimes I shop parts to put air suspension on a Toyota Sienna just because.

 

Well then, the cost of not having to roll up your window for some diesel truck is having no import or modded car scene. Cause and effect.

But really, suggesting the state hunt down and fine people you don't agree with is pretty authoritarian. I'd prefer to just roll my window up and deal with the annoyances that come with personal freedom. Besides, if you know about carbon emissions its not the dark sooty diesel exhaust that causes a problem. It's the aggregate of thousands and thousands of vehicles which may not have catalytic converters.

I don't think a lot of people in CA really understand cause and effect. They pass all these laws that put their own values ahead of everyone else, but then get mad and ask why it sucks to live there now. The state just sees it as an opportunity to treat people like cash cows; CARB being the best example. It's just corrupt opportunism.

 

I value freedom until it interferes with other people's freedoms. Try rolling your window up behind some of these coal rollers and see if it makes a difference. I don't feel that having catalytic converters to have clean air is an unreasonable demand. I do believe there should be a reasonable exceptions to performance mods. I can see that you're just ranting against the purported evil liberals but this is one of the cases where I don't think" freedom" is violated whatsoever

 

Well it isn't that simple. What I'm saying is that the issue has been addressed by automotive manufacturing regulations. The individual cases (vast minority) of modified cars isn't going to make a significant impact to the baseline set by manufacturers.

I'm not just railing against anything. If you say your opinion is right, therefore you're going to forbid someone else to do something, it really is about personal decision making or "freedoms". What freedom are you talking about? Freedom to not have to smell or look at someone else's car? While we're at it why don't we just make salad bar spoilers and spinners illegal? Make classic cars illegal too while your at it.

It just goes back to the "Everything I like is a right, everything I dislike should be illegal" mindset. It's quite measurably clear that it leads to an unhappy population.

 

The state is not 'hunting down' and fining people we don't agree with, it's ENFORCING the law. There's a reason these laws have gone into effect. Quit complaining and crying, you don't reside in CA no more. Suggesting to roll up your windows when its spewing garbage out is idiotic to even say, have you tried it and seen if it actually works? (hint: it doesn't). I'm beginning to think from all your posts here that either a.) you're trolling b.) upset at the fact you had to leave California due to some personal reasons or c.) salty you got hit with some fines.

Either way, I'm completely fine with not having a car scene if that's the case. In case you missed the point, most of us have grown and matured and could care less about having the loudest fart can exhaust, or producing the most HP that you cant even unleash on the roads.

 

You think Cali is bad you would die here in Germany @taurran . They will literally tow your car if you get pulled over with any illegal mods which is almost anything. You can’t have ANY tint on the front windows either. Germany is all about safety on the roads because of the Autobahns so your yearly inspection consists of a legit multipoint inspection. You have a tiny oil leak? Fail. Your strut is leaking fluid? Fail. Your car is too low? Fail. I have yet to see any accidents here meanwhile in the U.S. I would see one at least everyday. The driving laws in Germany are STRICT and just to get your drivers license here you have to go through a bunch of classes and courses and it costs a bunch of money yet they have unrestricted portions on autobahns where you can go as fast as your car can go. I’m so glad us military members stationed here don’t have to go through their classes etc, but it explains why you hardly see accidents and at least in my immediate area when there is an accident guess who caused it? One of us lol. Either way you can never satisfy everyone if they made the laws more friendly for the ones complaining then the ones who were good until then would start complaining so tell me how do we make everyone happy?

 

So you take your niche-obsession of making your car 0.08% faster by making it pollute 300% more, wrap it in your political identity, and scream at the 99% of the population that doesn't want to live like that. freedom huh

As said, there's nothing nastier than enjoying a nice cruise w/ the windows down only for some bro to pass you up filling your car with soot and forcing you to roll the windows up. And being stuck behind him for miles due to traffic.

There was a 5,000 lb BMW of the M variety putting out tons of odor and smoke, it was a late model. I know the culture and the type so I know what he was up to. He decatted his 5,000 lb house on wheels so he can get the "gains" that was raved about "on the forumz"

Exact scenario I described. I had to roll up my windows cause of this rolling S pile. Also at times I have a small dog in the car. so it's highly offensive to me. Imagine those w/ kids. just cause some d-nozzle wants to gain a quarter of a second in the quarter mile he'll never run.

So I reported his *** to the clean air resources board. CA takes it very seriously and apparently brings the hammer down quick.

 

On the flip side, I would happily accept German car laws if everybody here drove like in Germany and the roads were maintained to the same standards. No complaints from me. But this isn't Germany, and there are countless variables that result in the way things are today, so this isn't really and apples to apples comparison. You can't make everybody happy, and I never intended to make that assertion.

My problems surrounding CA specifically is the enormous amount of taxes to simply own and operate a car, the extremely limited freedom to do what I wish with my own property, and the bias against modified cars versus all the terribly maintained death traps and poor drivers floating around.

 

Be happy we don't get taxed as much as they do in Europe on fuel, causing the price to be double. As a way to discourage personal vehicle use and encourage public transit and other alternative methods like bicycles. Automobiles are a simply an archaic way of getting from point a to b.

As for your "extremely limited freedom to do what what i want with my property," we know the laws apply to use on public roads. You can yank your meat, you can't just do it in public.

As for death traps and poor drivers, I agree. Cars should be restricted to a certain age or newer and driving privileges should be restricted upon passing stringent testing. A lot of us are for more restriction and oversight than they think.

I don't believe in absolute restriction/oversight, but smart restriction.