State Referee

[digatron]

Still is, for all those reasons. Cars have nothing to so with any of that.

CA used to be the hot rod capital. Now you're reprimanded for building anything newer than anything built after late 70s/early80s.

OP: You used to be able to just have a dB test at the ref and have the ticket signed off. I think they have changed it to a non-fix-it ticket. Can anyone confirm? If not, swap the exhaust and make a ref appointment. Or maybe leave it in Normal mode....?
Either way, you can pay the bail amount up to two times and leave the car alone. On the third offense, you have to have it fixed.

To everyone else: I'm kinda not surprised... A black MKV drove by me the other day and must have been straight-piped. The thing was fucking annoyingly loud and sounded like it had firecrackers in the exhaust. I'm down for people like that getting tickets LOL.

P.S. I have a '69 Charger that is plenty loud. I never get a second look.

If you pay the bail amount and don’t go to the ref 2nd time can’t they possibly tow for not obeying a lawful order

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[kaj]

every pound counts on the track even tho I’m slow ?

Agreed, to a point. I don't know if it's worth driving around without a muffler. There's a balance there.
I bought this car because It's fast enough on track, stock. I whoop on just about anyone who isn't basically a professional or in a car that is just obviously going to be faster. I don't worry about the ref, I don't worry about having my hood popped. I have zero law enforcement issues. At all. I don't even worry about warranty. No stress. Zero. Zip.
This thread is exactly why.
Good luck. I used to have to deal with this, back in my Honda days. It ain't fun

 

[kaj]

If you pay the bail amount and don’t go to the ref 2nd time can’t they possibly tow for not obeying a lawful order

I never asked the reasoning behind it. But if you get a third infraction, you HAVE to fix it. Paying bail does not get it tossed out.

 

[digatron]

Agreed, to a point. I don't know if it's worth driving around without a muffler. There's a balance there.
I bought this car because It's fast enough on track, stock. I whoop on just about anyone who isn't basically a professional or in a car that is just obviously going to be faster. I don't worry about the ref, I don't worry about having my hood popped. I have zero law enforcement issues. At all. I don't even worry about warranty. No stress. Zero. Zip.
This thread is exactly why.
Good luck. I used to have to deal with this, back in my Honda days. It ain't fun

Yeah I agree with you, but eventually I’d like to do global time attack / grid life and so hence I did those mods. I agree with the worry free but with how little I drive the car, it’s more of a gamble I was willing to take and at the end of the day it’s just pay to play when modding in California.

 

[Mr. Jonathan]

Yeah I could but problem is I own a house here and don’t want to relocate since I have a good job with good benefits and really good pto and perks

I hear you. We left the central coast last Oct. I miss paddling out after office hours, but thats about it

 

[Evolution]

Stock tune? If not, I hope you have a way to put the stock CVN back in the ecu. They will check for that at the ref.

 

[digatron]

Stock tune? If not, I hope you have a way to put the stock CVN back in the ecu. They will check for that at the ref.

Best thing I can do is just remove the ecutek tube and revert stock mapping but the cycles etc aren’t going to add up.

 

[kaj]

Stock tune? If not, I hope you have a way to put the stock CVN back in the ecu. They will check for that at the ref.

They are only *supposed* to check that the infraction was repaired. The Ref should not be hooking the car up to look for any other issues. It's a breach of... damn it. I have COVID brain right now and can't remember... but there's a term for it. They are not allowed to look for other issues with the car (though I'm 99% sure they do a visual).

Not trying to come across as a know-it-all in regards to this REF stuff, but I have many involved years with all this. I was involved with shops, ref appointments, discussions with local PD in regards to popping hoods, etc, etc.
I used to have all the .PDF ref documents.. the whole thing. I used to fight this bullshit on the regular. haha.

 

[digatron]

They are only *supposed* to check that the infraction was repaired. The Ref should not be hooking the car up to look for any other issues. It's a breach of... damn it. I have COVID brain right now and can't remember... but there's a term for it. They are not allowed to look for other issues with the car (though I'm 99% sure they do a visual).

Not trying to come across as a know-it-all in regards to this REF stuff, but I have many involved years with all this. I was involved with shops, ref appointments, discussions with local PD in regards to popping hoods, etc, etc.
I used to have all the .PDF ref documents.. the whole thing. I used to fight this bullshit on the regular. haha.

I think in California now when smogging they check for tampered ecu

 

[digatron]

They are only *supposed* to check that the infraction was repaired. The Ref should not be hooking the car up to look for any other issues. It's a breach of... damn it. I have COVID brain right now and can't remember... but there's a term for it. They are not allowed to look for other issues with the car (though I'm 99% sure they do a visual).

Not trying to come across as a know-it-all in regards to this REF stuff, but I have many involved years with all this. I was involved with shops, ref appointments, discussions with local PD in regards to popping hoods, etc, etc.
I used to have all the .PDF ref documents.. the whole thing. I used to fight this bullshit on the regular. haha.

Lemme get them ref docs ?

 

[kaj]

I think in California now when smogging they check for tampered ecu

Yes. Luckily, you're not smugging the car.

Lemme get them ref docs ?

That was three four years ago. I haven't had to deal with smog issues since then. But, I will look. I think they're on an old hard drive I pulled out of a laptop.
One of our favorite victories was having a smog shop Tell us they couldn't smog a car because it had the wrong engine. We had paperwork proving, per the smog ref, that engine swaps are allowed as long as that particular engine came in that model car no matter the trim..
We had a GSR motor in an Acura Integra RS. Absolutely all appropriate smog and OBD2 equipment was on the car.
Smog shops were refusing to smog the car. It was awesome showing them what's up lol

 

[Evolution]

They are only *supposed* to check that the infraction was repaired. The Ref should not be hooking the car up to look for any other issues. It's a breach of... damn it. I have COVID brain right now and can't remember... but there's a term for it. They are not allowed to look for other issues with the car (though I'm 99% sure they do a visual).

Not trying to come across as a know-it-all in regards to this REF stuff, but I have many involved years with all this. I was involved with shops, ref appointments, discussions with local PD in regards to popping hoods, etc, etc.
I used to have all the .PDF ref documents.. the whole thing. I used to fight this bullshit on the regular. haha.

I have never been sent to the ref so I don't know for sure. Just going off what others have told me. What I gathered from them was it didn't matter what the ticket was for, it was a trip to the ref who verifies 100% of your car is legal. It's like do you think they would let you go if you got a ticket for tint and showed up with a catless straight pipe exhaust?

 

[Carl - Driveway Labs]

I’ve always wondered what others on this forum would say if I talked about their state the way they talked about mine.

give it a try and let's roll with it

 

[kaj]

I’ve always wondered what others on this forum would say if I talked about their state the way they talked about mine.

I lived in other states. They suck more, so I always came back.

I have never been sent to the ref so I don't know for sure. Just going off what others have told me. What I gathered from them was it didn't matter what the ticket was for, it was a trip to the ref who verifies 100% of your car is legal. It's like do you think they would let you go if you got a ticket for tint and showed up with a catless straight pipe exhaust?

I guess it's possible that things have changed in the past three or four years. They weren't legally able to bust you for other stuff but, like I said, I could see them getting you on visuals because it's right in front of them. When we went in for noise violations, they read the dB meter and that was that. They never hooked our cars up to their machines to test ECUs or OBDII info.

 

[BraveDemon]

Yeah I love Cali. We have the some of the best roads (which we pay a sh*t ton in taxes for, which I will not deny), definitely the best weather and scenery, but life is definitely hard for a tuner out here now.

In my experience however, if the mods are modest and your car is not obnoxiously loud, usually you can fly under the radar here. I've certainly never been pulled over in any of my cars for the stock or factory "sport" mode burbles.

But back on topic: @OP I'd go with option #1.

Definitely don't do #3 - try not to give your hard earned money to lawyers... and this is coming from a lawyer.

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