Moving to Los Angeles
 

So, I finally got my career restarted and got a job in Los Angeles. That is going to be a ~3000 mile drive and once I get there the number of laws regarding my car are enough to make my head spin.

I have to

1. Remove the window tint from my driver/passenger door
2. Remove a few intake/exhaust components (Good thing I planned ahead and kept the OEM parts)
3. Add a front license plate frame
4. Move my radar detector off the windshield

I know as soon as I get California plates on my car if I do not get that tint removed I will be pulled over once every day until I fix it because black windows really contrast against a white body :p

But it is number 4 that absolutely kills me. Where the hell am I supposed to mount my radar detector so that the laser sensor works if I am not allowed to have anything hanging from the windshield? If I mount it to the dashboard it will not have a clear line of sight out the rear. :shakes head:

Who makes these crazy laws in California and is there anything I am forgetting? :confused:

I'm ok on 4, mine is stuck to it. It technically has to be within the first 5" or the windshield or something.

And don't takenthe tint off until you get a ticket

I live in Santa Barbara Ca. I have my rear window blacked out, and the side window are 50%. I haven't been stopped as of yet, and I drive in L.A. a lot. The problem I have is my car color is CHP Red. But so far so good, and my exhaust made it threw emissions as well. Top Speed Pro1 cat system... I think your safe here until you get settled in..

congrats---you'll love the west (best) coast, if not so much LA, itself...

for my RD (passport escort), i bought a ridiculously low-priced (was $6, then) "rubber sticky-pad" that i placed just to the right and parallel to the last dash gauge...mine has the plug-in on the left which works out great becoz i brought the cord up along side the g-box, across the clock (but doesn't obscure it) and around the back side of the clock body...it looks like it belongs and it's never once come loose...and it reads between the seats...

Thanks all, I guess I was worried over nothing ;)

There is a lot of stuff to think about when moving cross-country and I've never gotten a single ticket in my life - I definitely did not want this to be the start. :icon17:

I take it they only test the exhaust gas during inspection?

I was under the impression that they also kind of take an inventory of the installed components. I have a few pieces that are not CARB certified and therefore illegal for sale in California - I don't think they actually have bad pollution properties, I think the manufacturer was just too small/lazy to be bothered having them certified.

Don't sweat it bro, as long as you're not doing anything rediculous on the road most cops won't even bother you. In my 15 years driving around LA and OC I haven't been pulled over for anything on your list. And the times that I'm stopped it's usually for speeding or some type of traffic offenses, and the cops don't evern bother with my tints, loud exhaust, or even lack of front plate, but I'm usually prety civil with the cops. If you don't give them a hard time then they don't have any reasons to **** you around.

I have a passport escort radar detector and it sometimes falls off the windshield and onto the floor but it will still go off if I pass a cop. Not too bad, these things are more sensitive than you may think. It doesn't necessarily have to have a direct line of sight to work

Keep a close eye out for Bruce Jenner on the roads out there, brother......

The folks in LA will do all that for free. Just park in the street or hell, even "secure" parking. Lol

No way in hell I'm parking in the street :eek: The condo I'm buying has a private parking garage and is far, far, away from Compton :bowrofl:

Yeah I wouldn't worry about the tint till you get pulled over, I've had 35% on the front windows of my G for 3&1/2 years, and on my Z for almost a year with blacked out rear. I haven't had a problem yet. I also drive with my radar detector on the windshield. I'm from the Central Valley though.


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This. When I had my old 240 I got a tint ticket. You have to have a law enforcement officer sign off that you removed it so I went to the Sheriffs station, parked with my windows down and got the ticket signed off. The cop literally only walked out far enough to see the car and did an about face before he even got within 50 feet of it. Ticket signed off and didn't have to remove tints.

Note: If you have the same tints front and rear it would be worth it to go a little lighter up front. Most cops wont hassle you for it unless they are already pulling you over for something else like speeding.

As far as smog goes... I don't know how it is now but when I lived in LA I always "had a guy" that would take care of my smog/registration sight unseen. Cost me $250 but it was the only way an SR swapped 240 would ever pass.

^I have a guy... $150, don't even have to go in

i luv LA. i hate the crap that comes with it.