No cats ticket

[Deleted member 10795]

Anyone ever get a ticket for not having any cats on the car? If so how did that go? Fine? State ref? Fix it?

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[MoTeC_R]

Being that you’re in CA, I can’t advise there. From what I have seen, don’t mess with modifications on emissions on cars registered in the state for sure and I would search for feedback from the state your car is primarily driven even if registered out of state.

I’ve never had any modification tickets fortunately; I’ve been doing it for over 30 years, but we don’t have to get smog certified in my current state and if I lived in a state that did, then I always found the shop that would pass my cars for the right price. I don’t drive like I want a ticket and they seem to not mess with me - even when it’s very obvious the cars is modified. some of them extremely obvious.

Good Luck!

 

[Patina]

Running catless is playing with fire in California, esp since they've exponentially stepped up enforcement and being state reffed is the new norm. Get pulled over and if a cop smells it, you're going to get reffed. Hell, even an aftermarket intake can/will get you reffed nowadays.

Just get a high flow cat like an AA unit.

 

[Deighvid]

Everyone's overly cautious. Unless you're going straight pipe and drawing a ton of attention to yourself, just don't be wild and you're mostly fine.

If you're on the Socal discord, there's always "a guy for that" when/if things do go south. Don't worry too much.

 

[Drnick]

Move outa Kalifornia if ya wanna do any mods to your car!

 

[MoTeC_R]

Move outa Kalifornia if ya wanna do any mods to your car!

 

[razorlab]

I ran catless and no front plate on my cars for 20+ years in California. People that say you can’t do it have zero experience and can’t even spell California correctly.

Just takes some smarts, and as we can see from some replies here, not everyone has that…

 

[Jakester]

I ran catless and no front plate on my cars for 20+ years in California. People that say you can’t do it have zero experience and can’t even spell California correctly.

Just takes some smarts, and as we can see from some replies here, not everyone has that…

You got some great luck then. I was born and raised in SoCal for 32 years until I moved to Arkansas 10 years ago. I literally got pulled over and ticketed at the very least 6 times per year for random stuff like no front plate, exhaust, light tint on front, or whatever crap they could make up like taillights out when they were clearly working upon inspection on side of road. It was exhausting and the reason I just lost interest and kept all my cars pretty basic until moving out of that rediculous state. Most all of my friends shared the same experience. These experiences were mostly but not limited to Riverside and Orange County areas.

 

[mmspider]

I think people are reading his question wrong. The question here is about no catalytic converter ticket, not about being pulled over for a loud car.

I believe its very hard to get this ticket from a cop pulling you over. Typically a cop will send you do state ref (in Cali) for modded exhaust. They would then test your car and you would fail the inspection.

Running no cats is a federal offense I believe.

 

[razorlab]

You got some great luck then. I was born and raised in SoCal for 32 years until I moved to Arkansas 10 years ago. I literally got pulled over and ticketed at the very least 6 times per year for random stuff like no front plate, exhaust, light tint on front, or whatever crap they could make up like taillights out when they were clearly working upon inspection on side of road. It was exhausting and the reason I just lost interest and kept all my cars pretty basic until moving out of that rediculous state. Most all of my friends shared the same experience. These experiences were mostly but not limited to Riverside and Orange County areas.

I grew up in Orange County. I will admit, SoCal is a little harder but doable. I was in the Bay Area for the last twenty years. Last car before I moved out of state was a 600whp Evo 10. Had zero issues. I use my smartz while driving and also how I built the cars. Extra effort for stealth mods is where it’s at. Car looked pretty oem under the hood. I also ran multiple mufflers so the car wasn’t crazy loud. No tint. Car looked pretty stock.

I see guys with a stickers all over, one big chrome fart can exhaust and dark tint and they wonder why they get pulled over.

Smartz.

 

[Uwatm8]

I was pulled over not to far back in socal.
I’m on catless, DP, and had the gunshot burble tune.

he pulled me over specifically for the burbles, and even asked if I was catless. I told him the truth, as at that point I’m fucked anyway.

he came back like a minute later and said “I’m letting you go with a warning, just be careful around other cops as they will issue you a state ref”

biggest wake up call ever.

even since then I keep the car in normal mode and have had no issues.
just be smart about what you do and when you do it, and you’ll be ok.

 

[Jakester]

I grew up in Orange County. I will admit, SoCal is a little harder but doable. I was in the Bay Area for the last twenty years. Last car before I moved out of state was a 600whp Evo 10. Had zero issues. I use my smartz while driving and also how I built the cars. Extra effort for stealth mods is where it’s at. Car looked pretty oem under the hood. I also ran multiple mufflers so the car wasn’t crazy loud. No tint. Car looked pretty stock.

I see guys with a stickers all over, one big chrome fart can exhaust and dark tint and they wonder why they get pulled over.

Smartz.

Yeah I tried to keep things on the low down as well. Stickers look stupid anyways. It just wasn't in the cards for me I guess. But it's not something that's an issue for me anymore so I am thankful for that.

 

[stormgreysupra]

You won't get a ticket for not having a cat specifically. But you can get a ticket for modified exhaust.

If you keep the stock exhaust system with a catless downpipes it won't be too loud and won't draw too much attention. That's what I would do in California.

 

[6SPDA91]

Running catless is playing with fire in California, esp since they've exponentially stepped up enforcement and being state reffed is the new norm. Get pulled over and if a cop smells it, you're going to get reffed. Hell, even an aftermarket intake can/will get you reffed nowadays.

Just get a high flow cat like an AA unit.

This is probably the best idea (if you're gonna modify), but it's only 49 state legal. I'll let you guess which state it isn't legal in...

 

[AJRMKV]

Anyone ever get a ticket for not having any cats on the car? If so how did that go? Fine? State ref? Fix it?

No. I spend a few months a year in LA & I’m ready for anything these days..

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