Just moved to California. I have read a few threads regarding this but wanted to get fresh and recent feedback from people who have actually gone through it.

Question, if you get hi flow cats (like Soul or Fabspeed) will you pass or fail CA smog? Let's assume the tech doesn't know what he is looking at and I get the cats unbranded... will the sniffer or whatever they do in CA pass the test?

Also, inevitably I know people will respond with the "glad (enter your state) doesn't care about smog.." etc. Thanks for your feedback. =)

Thank you to everyone ahead of time! Also, where are the cool cars and coffee in LA?

 

A friend of mine has high flow cats on his xpipe and seems to pass smog without issue. Might be up to the place you're doing it and how familiar they are with 911s to spot the difference in the visual inspection.

 

If the tech does their job and physically inspects the cats they will fail you regardless of the tailpipe results. If you get someone clueless they may not notice. It's hit or miss.

As someone who lives in CA, my advice is that the power gains from high flow cats are tiny and it's not worth the potential smog hassle every two years.

 

I am looking more for sound than power. But I totally hear you in terms of the visual. I'm hoping to ask around from others about where to go but figured that would be useless if it failed the non visual part of the test.

 

My car failed due to the cats being aftermarket.

 

Damn. visual or the sniffer/obd?

 

visual.

 

You can fail on the visual alone. It’s hit or miss. IMO, not worth it.

 

Okay, if you are not familiar with Fister or Gundo check the attachment. Big improvement in sound. If so, forget my post.
As an alternative you can change the genuine cells with cells of lower density. It's usually done when your cells are toast and you do not want to spend money for new cats. But that has to be done by someone how really knows what he es doing, the cats have a double wall and you have to know where to cut them; it's easy to produce valuable scrap ... ;-)
But then you have 200 cell cats in OEM housing, that passes emission tests and will not be detectable from outside.

Edit: I enclosed a sketch what I made for that purpose to clarify the complexity

 

Ah interesting, I didn't know people did that to the cats.

Oh and on the first note, yes I am familiar with the gundo. Had that previously and ended up switching to the Soul Valved exhaust.

 

The finish 9n Soul's products is likely your best shot vs the normal polished stainless. Maybe the could make you a set without the logo on them, which would help even more. Good, 200 cell versions will pass the emissions part.

 

If the visual inspection includes using a reference photo, the Soul cats will fail the visual--they're much smaller (and better looking) than the stock ones.

 

As mentioned, a visual inspection would show a difference from factory. At request we could leave them unfinished (raw finish) to give them a more OEM look.

-Mike

 

Good Vibes breakfast club meets at Newcombs Ranch Friday mornings

 

California does not do tailpipe sniffing on cars built after 2000 model year. OBD plug and visual only. However since they don't have to take the time to do the tailpipe and roller dance, there is lots of extra time for the visual which is encouraged by the state.