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Omg...chp Impound My Car....need Advice

This incident and the discussion make me wonder how the car mags, especially those dealing primarily with imports, can continue to feature all these highly modified "street" cars. Are all these things technically illegal in Cal.? Around here we notice a definite difference in treatment by the cops of younger guys in imports and older guys in their Detroit muscle cars.

Yeah I always like how the cars are advertised in a way you could never legally use them. If they only could advertise cars in the way the car could be used then advertising would be useless.
 
What would prompt the cop to do a complete search of the car if he was only interested in the front plate violation?
 
Is'nt Cali. very very hard on street racers nowadays? Seems everyone is paying for that nowadays. I don't see it getting any easier for you guys over there in the future. But thats california for ya. BTW even with solenoids in place and the bottle completely out of the car, does that still make it illegal?:confused:
 
What would prompt the cop to do a complete search of the car if he was only interested in the front plate violation?
I don't think he was really intrested in the front plate since it's such a minor offense. The plate offense was an excuse to stop him and stir the shit pot. :rolleyes:
 
I don't think he was really intrested in the front plate since it's such a minor offense. The plate offense was an excuse to stop him and stir the shit pot. :rolleyes:

I'm not defending the CHP, but isn't it possible he was provoked to do the search? Maybe the driver was doing something that pissed off the CHP without realizing it, I'm just guessing. But, if that's the way it is California that really sucks. Do they do it to Ferrari and Lambo owners too, or just Japanesse cars that look like racers?
 
I'm not defending the CHP, but isn't it possible he was provoked to do the search? Maybe the driver was doing something that pissed off the CHP without realizing it, I'm just guessing. But, if that's the way it is California that really sucks. Do they do it to Ferrari and Lambo owners too, or just Japanesse cars that look like racers?


Maybe they just do it to anyone that pisses them off?:rolleyes:
 
well, technically speaking can't he just remove the bottle from the car, change the air filter and take it to the ref? the connected bottle is what makes it illegal from my understanding.

I am gonna be doing a direct port setup but not have bottles connected on normal days. contemplating a sneaky pete in the dash for the occasional I-5 porsche or viper :p lol
 
You sure I'm wrong?
YES :biggrin:

Cop: Your car sounds loud to me. I need to check for a Ca SMOG sticker.
Cop gets mirror from trunk. Without lifting the hood looks under the car.
Cop: No sticker on your headers and is that an aftermarket intake. Lift your hood.

ZO6 was leaving a car show. I watched the cop fill out 2 tickets (6 lines each) and flatbed/tow the car.

If your interested and want to know how it works sign up for a local PD ride along.

It's a big deal for PD/community relations so the Cop will be on his best behavior. I know I was :tongue:
 
YES :biggrin:

Cop: Your car sounds loud to me. I need to check for a Ca SMOG sticker.
Cop gets mirror from trunk. Without lifting the hood looks under the car.
Cop: No sticker on your headers and is that an aftermarket intake. Lift your hood.

ZO6 was leaving a car show. I watched the cop fill out 2 tickets (6 lines each) and flatbed/tow the car.

If your interested and want to know how it works sign up for a local PD ride along.

It's a big deal for PD/community relations so the Cop will be on his best behavior. I know I was :tongue:
Damn.:frown:
 
Right to stop with "NO FRONT PLATE". Than he sees a NOS solenoid = probable cause. We do have a LARGE window over our engines. He's done and the cop does not need a warrant.

Sorry but a cop thats been trained can stop ANY car on muddy Lic plate, or flaps, or check your tire tread......

+1 Having No Front plate or even a bra covering the plate gives them a reason to pull you over and see what other violations you might have ...sucks.
 
You sure I'm wrong? Doubtful since the original poster never said anything about whether or not he runs a cover. And as I'm sure you can see, yes we have a LARGE glass hatch over our engine, but there "generally" is a LARGE cover over the engine too. Unless he's superman, he's had to have gotten in there some how to search the vehicles. Also NOS solenoids "probably" isn't illegal, not sure, but he might of had it hooked up.

The OP did NOT state how the cop discovered the solenoids or if he was even hooked up or even had the bottles in the car. He also didn't mention if he had a cover or not. A missing front license plate isn't probably cause for searching his car or opening up the hatch and lifting the engine cover to search his engine compartment. That would be like getting pulled over for a missing light bulb having that be probably cause to search his trunk.

Then again, majority of cops will take advantage of people's ignorance (in terms of not understanding or know, NOT being dumb or stupid) of their rights and the laws. What cops do best is manipulating people into believing that yes they did commit a horrible crime, such as "I had to do 55 mph to catch up to you", when you were only 5 mph over and he was 1/4 mile behind. They WILL bank on the common ignorance of the comman man/woman to take advantage of people.

Remember folks, driving is NOT a right in the USA.

Bottomline is that u have less legal right than a rapists.

With that in mind just keep ur NSX stock in the engine bay.

Koolaid, go to the RX7club/forum and look up Jeff Shoots. If your smart enough and find the right info, u'll know that when it comes to matters like this ur way below his league.

Oh, and he's a FD guy too....
 
YES :biggrin:

Cop: Your car sounds loud to me. I need to check for a Ca SMOG sticker.
Cop gets mirror from trunk. Without lifting the hood looks under the car.
Cop: No sticker on your headers and is that an aftermarket intake. Lift your hood.

ZO6 was leaving a car show. I watched the cop fill out 2 tickets (6 lines each) and flatbed/tow the car.

If your interested and want to know how it works sign up for a local PD ride along.

It's a big deal for PD/community relations so the Cop will be on his best behavior. I know I was :tongue:



Hey Jeff,
His seloniods are in his engine compartment, so there is no way he could of seen it unless the OP had no tint and no engine cover. This happened to me just the other day. He was in front of me as we are both going to enter the 101S, I was right behind him and a car infront of him getting on the freeway; than he pulls aside and turns his lights on. I guess he saw my tinted window in the rear view miror, which I allready rolled down when I saw him pulling to the side before pulling me over. He walks up and says roll your window up, I did and I tell him I just got sited for tinted windows and front lic plate last week and give him the ticket. He than starts asking me about nitrous and where is it
WTF? I guess he saw my guage for A/f and ntirous pressure plus the switches. He asks me to turn it on I did, nothing turned on ( my car was off lol). He tells me to open my engine ( he knew nsx was a mid engine car, first cop i encountered that did) and also my trunk. I know I don't have to open the trunk so I ask why. He tells me to just do it or he will call back up and do it himself.
He see's the bottle and now takes 30 mins to look into his rule book and makes like 3-4 calls and comes back with a tint and front lic plate fix it ticket. But I tell him don't I have 45 days to fix it.
A cop can't keep giving you the same fix it ticket within the same month can they????????????
ALSO HERE IS THE KICKER
He tells me he will mail me a ticket when he finds the vechile code I broke once he finds it. and that I will have to go see the State ref.
CAN THEY DO THAT ?? if he doesn't even know what law I broke can he just wait till he finds it and mail me the ticket to go see the state ref????

ALSO DOES ANYONE KNOW WHATS THE LAW WITH NITROUS?? If the bottle is not hooked up is it still illegal to have the rest of the kit hooked up? Also if I go see the state ref about the nitrous will i also have to take of my aftermartket headers and AIS Scoop?
 
Yaynsx,

where exactly did this happen?

I got a no front plate ticket a few weeks ago by SJPD. I bought the SOS front plate piece that allows u to slide it underneath the car.

CHP is on a rampage. The economy sucks and CA needs $$$. CHP officers have to issue x amount of tickets for their performance review, so u bet that they will be all over u.

I think by CA law u don't have to have working side windows and u can say that it doesn't work. I knew a guy that had a RX7 that had a power cut off switch hidden so that when his windows were rolled down and the cop asked him to roll it up he said that they are broken and the cops could try to power it up and down while the motor power supply was killed.

yes they can give u a ticket for the same shit in the same day if they want.

Bottom line is that driving is not a right. I suggest making things look stock until the economy turns around.
 
Feel free to fill me in on what street-legal activity nos is needed for.

Are you aware of the existence of legal drag strips like the one he is on in his own avatar? Nothing illegal there! :rolleyes:

Consider yourself filled in.
 
Are you aware of the existence of legal drag strips like the one he is on in his own avatar? Nothing illegal there! :rolleyes:

Consider yourself filled in.

Yeah. I'm aware of those.

Are you aware that I said that he was an idiot to have it "hooked up on the street"?

Are you aware that I asked what "street-legal activity" you need nos for?

Are you aware that a street and a drag strip are not the same thing?

:rolleyes:
 
Feel free to fill me in on what street-legal activity nos is needed for.

well I am gonna have a direct port setup, and not run the bottle conected all the time does that mean I will be breaking the law? now yall got me interested I was told in the past as long as it cannot be activated no harm no foul.:confused:

I still record my traffic stops. I don't trust them anymore from experiences in the last 7 years.
do you just have a digital recording device? I assume you tell the office " this stop is being record to ensure customer service quality" ?
 
do you just have a digital recording device? I assume you tell the office " this stop is being record to ensure customer service quality" ?

Yeah, I have a 2 gig card in my cellphone that has a pretty sensitive mic. I just stick it into my pocket when I hit record, lock the phone so it'll stay on and if he looks at my phone won't see that it is recording. This is when the red/blues come on, well before I pull over so I don't get red hot lead for "looking suspicious" like they always say I do.

And no I do not tell them I am recording. I'm not certain if it's 100% legal that I record without letting them know, but they also record us without telling us when we get pulled over. I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about, some of the things they say, the threats they make, the borderline racist comments on various issues. If a problem ever arises, I'll have first hand evidence. I refuse to be another one of their victims, police corruption here runs crazy.

So even if it's not legal for me to present my recording in court, I'm sure the larger media won't mind.
 
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Yaynsx,

where exactly did this happen?

I got a no front plate ticket a few weeks ago by SJPD. I bought the SOS front plate piece that allows u to slide it underneath the car.

CHP is on a rampage. The economy sucks and CA needs $$$. CHP officers have to issue x amount of tickets for their performance review, so u bet that they will be all over u.

I think by CA law u don't have to have working side windows and u can say that it doesn't work. I knew a guy that had a RX7 that had a power cut off switch hidden so that when his windows were rolled down and the cop asked him to roll it up he said that they are broken and the cops could try to power it up and down while the motor power supply was killed.

yes they can give u a ticket for the same shit in the same day if they want.

Bottom line is that driving is not a right. I suggest making things look stock until the economy turns around.



It happened in Redwood City. Wow they can site you for the same fix it ticket the same day if they want to. I called and asked my lawyer.

So do I have to just remove the bottle or do I have to take the whole nitrous kit off for the State referee?
 
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What would prompt the cop to do a complete search of the car if he was only interested in the front plate violation?

A pretextual stop. He can even admit freely in court that he wasn't interested at all about the front plate, other than it gave him probable cause to stop the car. Quite legal.

Vehicles are your not residences, they easily move and the courts understand that any evidence is quite volatile Cars are quite searchable, with the exception of certain locked boxes or areas not normally accessible to the occupants during normal operation.

There are <b>nil</b> 4th amendment rights regarding safety or equipment violations. And safety can be ANYTHING that affects the operation of the car on the roadway: too high, too low, lighting, tires, poor condition, modifications and, in this case, NOS. Exposing the engine compartment is much different than a storage compartment. The police can even compel you to roll up the windows to check glazing/tint: not a search. A commercial vehicle has just about zero expectations of privacy.

And YES an officer can cite you for a violation that he does not know the specific section. He just describes the violation description in plain english ("viol kept right blinker on for 50 miles passing numerous right turns" [ok, there is no section for that]). He can amend the citation prior to turning it in OR he can let the court figure it out.

Yes, you can record the contact with the officer, there is no expectation of privacy by either party. You can bet he is too and you can go down to the station and ask for the recording to be played back to you if you are concerned about something.

For the OP: The chances of any court in CA finding NOS to be safe (or reasonable) is exactly 100% zero. The officer was allowed to stop and examine your car for safety or other equipment violations---you got no recourse. Arguing with the DMV Ref is an exercise in futility: you will have to return the car to 100% stock on any regulated areas.

Prepare for a hefty fine, big repair costs and lots of standing in line at DMV. Good Luck.

For those of you (not me) that like the idea of commissions based on performance--this CHP officer might acting along the same lines. The State is going to be really short this year and increased fines can only help keep his job. Real criminals aren't money makers for the state. You would probably do the same in his boots if your job was in financial jeopardy.
 
I just have a hard time defending drivers of cars that aren't street legal. I dislike fast and furious Toyotas or Subarus just as much as illegal NSXs. Sorry.

I would like more performance from my NSX, but anything I do will have to be legal in Texas.
 
Sorry, Jeff. Not to call BS, but BS. Stickers don't stick very well to headers :biggrin:

I'll let the "expert" read my "sticker". Should I drive my car on the street :tongue: :confused: :eek:

HKSOff-RoadONLY.jpg
 
I just have a hard time defending drivers of cars that aren't street legal. I dislike fast and furious Toyotas or Subarus just as much as illegal NSXs. Sorry.

I would like more performance from my NSX, but anything I do will have to be legal in Texas.

I have a hard time believing the world is such a different place then it was 10 years ago and the youth of the world accepts it that way. It's the norm for them and they are ok with it.
 
I have a hard time believing the world is such a different place then it was 10 years ago and the youth of the world accepts it that way. It's the norm for them and they are ok with it.

steve, (sorry for being so dense)

i don't understand what you're saying? 'splain, please?

thx,
hal
btw, how's the bride and new family member these days? :smile:
 
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