i've never had a problem in NY, and i've had headlight and tail light smokes on a camaro, a dakota, and now my cobalt...

PA on the other hand will rape ya for it

 

im gonna talk to mny 2 buddies. a cop and a lawyer and see wats up for u dude

 

What if you smoke out the tail lights but buy some bright ass LED tail lights??

 

Still illegal since you're covering the lens and it blocks the internal reflectors.

 

rusty get at me when you get a chance

 

quit whining, you gotta pay to play. im sure you knew this already.

 

he is whining rightfully so. the cop wrote him a ticket he had no right to write

 

The officer didn't have a "right" to give a ticket? They enforce laws our elected legislators enact and the tails are again the vehicle code and unsafe. Exhaust might be questionable. I haven't heard the car in person, but if it is loud enough to draw attention from inside the police cruiser they have every right to pull you over and send you to have it inspected. It sucks that you would be out your time, but that's a price to pay if you want a louder exhaust.

It doesn't do any good to "get angry with the system" or say that cops suck. A certain percentage of them do suck, but that goes with practically any profession. We all live in Southern California, we have access to the laws to figure out if what we're doing is legal or not, and we all take the chance when we modify our cars that it might come back to bite us. If you're too worried go trade your Cobalt for a stock minivan.

 

no eric im saying the cop wrote the wront ticket. He wrote him a smog device cvc. The cop nvr popped his hood or checked under the car for a cat so how can he right a smog device ticket? obsessive exhaust noise is not a smog device ticket.

 

Yes it is a "smog" ticket since the exhaust is part of the emission control system. If you get stopped by a CHP officer, nearly every major office has an officer who is specially trained in vehicle inspections (more so than the regular officers). More than likely most CHP officers will not pop your hood unless they suspect the car of being stolen (to check VINs and this is usually when the other officer gets called out) or if your car is grossly/obnoxiously loud.

The county and local law enforcement have historically been worse at underhood inspections. But no matter what officer attempts it, you have to understand that ll they have to do is suspect there is a violation and they can send you to the ref. The ref is specially trained and will then do a full inspection and/or tests to make sure your vehicle is compliant under the law. You can't expect every officer to be able to know every single modification and all the intricate health and environment codes the emission system falls under, which is why it is set up this way.

If you can come to terms with how that works and that they technically can write you up for it, it's next up to you to decide what you want to do with your car and how far you want to push your chances of getting their attention. Individuality is great and if you want to modify your car that's fine, but you have to realize that if you add dark tint, take off the front plate, install a bunch of graphics/body kit/spoiler, change the exhaust and make it louder and more noticeable, then you should expect to get more attention from everyone. That includes those law enforcement officers. If you drive a little more "aggressively" on the street that also going to greatly increase the chance you're spotted and singled out. That's why I try to drive reasonably, move with the flow of traffic, and haven't tacked on and done a bunch of appearance or exhaust stuff to my cars. Some of them are already too loud stock (i.e. the Neon).

 

theres no arguing with eric. even if ur a criminal justice major who spent a whole semster on the cvc's and modified vehicles.lol. Well u dnt have any illegal smog equipment do u mac? obcessive noisy exhaust is not a smog device mind u

 

no illegal smog eq beside whats in my vb garage ^_^

 

well i got another ticket but its vc 21453[a] i think and 21658[a]
goin to do a http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/documents/tr205.pdf
which is a written declaration on both tickets and see how it goes.
anyone know what i have to do for a contituance[sp] to change the
date of the court date, i wanna prolong it as long as possible so
when i submit the paper work i hope the officers wont remember
what happened clearly that day or they dont turn in the paper work
in time since i think its a 6 page thing they have to do.