I’m moving to Pasadena in a month or so, and I need to buy a second car. I’m toying with buying a second hand car here in Colorado and driving it out vs looking for a car out there. Is it difficult to get 5 year old + cars to pass the smog tests?
5 year old car should be no trouble at all if it’s in decent shape. My 15 year old 184k mile volvo still passes (although its close and it does have a new catalytic converter).
Just do what most of the folks with high end cars do there…title it in Montana. No smog tests to ever worry about.
Don’t do this. If your car is too dirty to pass smog you shouldn’t be driving it. Especially in Pasadena where air quality is a problem. Those rules exist for a reason, which we, as triathletes, are very familiar with.
“Those rules exist for a reason”
Yes, to generate revenue.
.
Concur…SCAM
Soon, they will be doubling our registration fees too!
“Those rules exist for a reason”
Yes, to generate revenue.
.
Werd.
They already boosted our registration 185% this year… It costs over $100 to register a 27 year old Datsun…
But, after I replaced the manifold gasket, my 83 280ZX passed smog easily. Depending on the age of the vehicle, the biggest problem is not having broken parts. Early 80s smog was so lax, its very easy to pass the sniffer test - it’s the visual test that might get you. I think my Datusn, with it’s original engine and auto w/ 200k+ on it had lass than half the max. emissions.
Do you guys somehow disagree with the premise that NOx, CO and particulate emissions are harmful to human health?
No, just the scam/money extracting surrounding it.
Do you guys somehow disagree with the premise that NOx, CO and particulate emissions are harmful to human health?
I absolutely disagree with some of the modeling. I disagree with the current regulatory levels and I disagree with those who would use them to promote certain philosophies.
Same holds true for arsenic, lead, asbestos, benzene, TCE, PRC and the PCDDs…you name it.
Well, I invite you to come down and ride in San Jose. After you acquire a nasty hacking cough from riding in terrible air quality from all the cars perhaps you’ll change your mind.
Well, I invite you to come down and ride in San Jose. After you acquire a nasty hacking cough from riding in terrible air quality from all the cars perhaps you’ll change your mind.
Ever think there just might be too many people there - and other places. I’d be more concerned about water.
Just sayin’, you know.
Well, I invite you to come down and ride in San Jose. After you acquire a nasty hacking cough from riding in terrible air quality from all the cars perhaps you’ll change your mind.
Ever think there just might be too many people there - and other places. I’d be more concerned about water.
Just sayin’, you know.
Air quality in California cities is much better than it was in the 1960’s when there were far fewer people here. The emission regulations have worked will and are not overly onerous. The amount of emissions from a 1960s era car compared to a modern car is staggering, literally if I’m cycling along and an old classic comes by.
I am concerned about water. Some of auto emissions end up in the water.
A huge amount of automotive emissions end up in the water. PM, oil drops, brake dust, and road dust all gets flushed by rain and goes directly into the water system (be it rain gutters or primary water treatment).
That’s a pretty glib answer. Yes population density and topography are absolutely part of the problem. As are urban sprawl and of public transit etc. I have a strange feeling you’d strenuously object to nearly any attempt to address these problems though. Policies like higher gas taxes, more investment in public transit, higher CAFE standards all run into right wing roadblocks.
My ex-gf’s dad was a professor of plant biology that swore DDT was save for humans to use in the quantities that were used for pest control. To prove his point, he’d ingest a spoonful of DDT at the start of each school year in front of his students. Things were fine for 5 years. He eventually had about every kind of cancer (stomach, gall bladder, prostate) you can think of. Granted, there were other things that could have caused this but you can’t help wondering if his pesticide addiction contributed to his death.
Generally speaking, I think CA does a good job of backing up their air quality regulations with sound science when it deals with human health (ie this does not consider climate change). I understand the process of how regulations are made starting with the health studies all the way to economic analysis and, really, the regulations that are made are fairly conservative in the grand scheme of things.
What’s tricky in all of this is the interpretation of health effects research which everything is supposed to be based on. These studies generally use animal models (mice, monkeys, pigs) to examine health effects and it’s a HUGE step to relate an animal’s exposure to human exposure.
I’m with you in that I hate folks trying to promote agendas. But, balancing that fine line between protecting human health and having a productive society is extremely tough. How much is 1 life worth?
Well, I invite you to come down and ride in San Jose. After you acquire a nasty hacking cough from riding in terrible air quality from all the cars perhaps you’ll change your mind.
Ever think there just might be too many people there - and other places. I’d be more concerned about water.
Just sayin’, you know.
You really have no idea what you are talking about. Smog was a huge problem when we had very little amount of people here. I live less than 5 miles away from mountains and you could not even see them most of the time. Smog alerts were the rule back then. I cannot even remember the last time we had a smog alert here. It would be so bad that your eyes would burn. If you rode a bike, then your lungs would start to burn and you would be gasping for air. And we get our water from several hundred miles away. Water contamination is the least of our problems.
To the original OP, it could be an issue especially if it did not meet California smog requirements when it was new. The car will have to meet whatever the smog requirement were at the time.
And why by a used car in Colorado? Cars last longer in California than anywhere else. We never use any salt on our roads and the mild winters and great summers makes older cars last longer here.
air quality regulations with sound science
Just a few points for ya’ll naysayers. This is what I do for a professional living, please don’t attack my comments with retorts similar to the ones regurgitated here: “right wing”, “no clue”, “better than the sixties” and my favorite - “sound science”.
Of course we’ve done a great job regulating emissions.
Of course we need to do so.
Of course air quality (and water, and soil) is better because of it.
Of course, current models are far too stringent (conservative) and will continue to become more so. The reason for this is threefold: Regulators and the scientific community which drives them need to justify their positions and grants; the “green” movement uses these to promote an agenda which should be obvious to the casual observer and the public has bought in on the current “sound science” and honestly believes the government is doing the right thing.
Somebody come back with a model, in full, which can justify the current levels protective of human health for, say, benzene in water or air, and honestly submit that its not insanely conservative.
Huh? Betchya can’t.
Don’t do this. If your car is too dirty to pass smog you shouldn’t be driving it. Especially in Pasadena where air quality is a problem. Those rules exist for a reason, which we, as triathletes, are very familiar with.
LOL, you must jest! What is awesome…in Chicago there are air quality rules. When I had my “Turbo Car” there was a stock exhaust, O2, ECU that was kept at a place near Barrington Il. When someone was due to re-up their sticker they would install the stocker exhaust (with PreCats and Cats), this would take about 30 minutes on a lift presuming that you didnt have custom headers. Get the sticker and put the aftermarket free flow exhaust back on.
Lucky for me where I live there were no such silly laws - I had no 02’s, no precats, no cats, no nothing but raw horsepower.
As for CA, there are entire markets of parts for folks to pass CARB, or just get your car listed as “Classic” or for “Off Road” (meaning racing) use only. The law quite seriously does nothing.
Well, I invite you to come down and ride in San Jose. After you acquire a nasty hacking cough from riding in terrible air quality from all the cars perhaps you’ll change your mind.
Ever think there just might be too many people there - and other places. I’d be more concerned about water.
Just sayin’, you know.
You really have no idea what you are talking about. Smog was a huge problem when we had very little amount of people here. I live less than 5 miles away from mountains and you could not even see them most of the time. Smog alerts were the rule back then. I cannot even remember the last time we had a smog alert here. It would be so bad that your eyes would burn. If you rode a bike, then your lungs would start to burn and you would be gasping for air. And we get our water from several hundred miles away. Water contamination is the least of our problems.
To the original OP, it could be an issue especially if it did not meet California smog requirements when it was new. The car will have to meet whatever the smog requirement were at the time.
And why by a used car in Colorado? Cars last longer in California than anywhere else. We never use any salt on our roads and the mild winters and great summers makes older cars last longer here.
Water CONTAMINATION might be the least of your problems, but water SUPPLY is the number 1 problem in California and the entire west. Even though here in the valley and the Sierras, were about 80% above normal, there still won’t be enough water to serve all you coastal people who don’t have your own fresh water and take ours…