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It's hardly worth going aftermarket on cats in the Union of California Socialist Republics. You'd be better off getting OEM junkyard cats with warranties on them. For what it's worth, both cats on my 08 had failed before my car even crossed the 30K mile threshold.
Edit:
Just noticed you're in the Union of Colorado Socialist Republics. I assume your state went with Cali-spec before 2008 then. My county, in the Union of Washington Socialist Republics, went with Cali-spec in 2009, which means I have to get my 2008 (Cali-spec) emission tested every other year, while my wife's 2009 Rogue, which I bought on the same day, will never need to be inspected. If I lived two counties over in any direction, I wouldn't need to do an emissions test either. I should just buy the truck from the movie Duel and drive it around Seattle all day since it'd be emissions-exempt.
Government at its finest.
Last edited by zakmartin; Apr 12, 2017 at 02:13 PM.
Not sure about any legal aftermarket cats other than the ones the DMV approves of on the
air resources board website, buying OEM directly from Nissan, or finding a set of used ones.
But, I recently had to change my catalytic converters and went with the UR Metal Substrate high flow cats and I live in CA and had to get smogged. The Smog guy said my cats looked fine and I passed so I guess it also depends on who you go to because I thought I would fail for aftermarket high flow cats.
UR does have a Ceramic set of High Flow cats they sell that look very similar to OEM, might give you a better chance of passing the visual if you want to go that route.
Onkar - Don't you have to have a CARB sticker/plaque on aftermarket components that are emissions-related to pass? I've heard stories about CHiPpies in CA pulling people over for loud exhausts, opening the car hoods and handing out tickets for anything that didn't have the sticker (and sometimes, they'd ticket people even if they DID have one.) AEM used to make a big deal about this.
No guarantees you'll pass with gutted stock cats in CA even with no fouler mod. I didn't pass my numbers with my berk HFC's even though the guy said he didn't care about the visual, granted they were a bit old...
Cheapest option is probably just paying a shady smog guy.
Yeah, well, it turns out the state of CA's Air Resources Board rescinded a number of previous EO (Exec orders) that allowed a large number of Aftermarket cats including Magnaflow. I just don't get it..... if they were legal, what the hell?
Lame..... and what exactly is the diff between '07 and '08???? Lame. Just lame.
Onkar - Don't you have to have a CARB sticker/plaque on aftermarket components that are emissions-related to pass? I've heard stories about CHiPpies in CA pulling people over for loud exhausts, opening the car hoods and handing out tickets for anything that didn't have the sticker (and sometimes, they'd ticket people even if they DID have one.) AEM used to make a big deal about this.
To answer your question, yes you do need a sticker and CHP is really strict on handing out fix it tickets if you give them a reason to (driving around in a replica HKS HI Power from eBay for example lol), you are not aloud to tamper with your CATS at all in CA. You take the risk for not having a sticker for when you smog your car. It all depends on the smog guy, you could also ask the smog guy to do a pre check to make sure everything is in order before the actual smog so you don't have to fully pay and not pass. So yes it is definitely a decision you have to weigh in terms of if you want to take that risk. I have an Injen cold air and my UR high flows and have had no issues with smog [yet].
I was just just saying in terms of not having to spend $700 on a set of OEM cats. I was in a similar situation and luckily found the UR high flow cats which look similar to stock in ceramic and said screw it and went for it lol. If I get pulled over or don't pass smog at some point I'll cross that bridge when I get there but for now everything has been gravy!
You could also buy a set of used ones from here, plenty of members getting rid of stock cats just gotta keep your eyes peeled.
What year is your 350Z and where did you get it smogged at? Also where did you get the cats installed, my understanding is that service shops are not supposed to install anything aftermarket on a CARB spec car?
Originally Posted by Onkar02
Not sure about any legal aftermarket cats other than the ones the DMV approves of on the
air resources board website, buying OEM directly from Nissan, or finding a set of used ones.
But, I recently had to change my catalytic converters and went with the UR Metal Substrate high flow cats and I live in CA and had to get smogged. The Smog guy said my cats looked fine and I passed so I guess it also depends on who you go to because I thought I would fail for aftermarket high flow cats.
UR does have a Ceramic set of High Flow cats they sell that look very similar to OEM, might give you a better chance of passing the visual if you want to go that route.
My car is a 2004 enthusiast with 200k+ miles, I got my car smogged in Tracy, CA. I just brought the cats to the shop and asked if they could replace them for me and they did. Lol
