I'm curious .. has anyone actually even been caught without cats? (or with gutted cats?)
Do they give you a warning, ticket, fine, haul your *** in?
I guess it depends on local laws, but still. Share your stories

 

I've been warned about my exhaust being "way too loud" (old 94 Z28, mac mid-lengths, 3" cat back, ORY, one chamber flow dumped) but I have yet to have a cop perform a visual check of any of my cat-less exhausts. What is the fine, btw?

 

Up here, it's around a ~$360 fine for missing emissions equip . I HAVE heard of some guys getting busted for such things, like no cats, etc. "Typically" it seems that they'll target older cars though (cars likely NOT to be fuel injected, and likely NOT original, including exhaust ). I'm curious if/how much more attention my car will draw this year with the LT's, cat-less Y-pipe, and Magnaflow cat-back??

 

I could have sworn the poster at the muffler shop said like $5,000 fine if you removed them,
and $25k to any shop who did it for you.
Maybe that's just meant as a scare deal, like maximum fine or something.

I mean, it's pretty obvious when a car is catless. You can smell that if you are behind it.
You would think people would be busted more often. All these cars driving around
that have somehow passed visuals every 2 years LOL (or whatever your state requires)

 

i sure hope i dont get caught lol

 

I'm cat-less, but then again, I'm emissions excempt. Sorry this has no bearing on the question, but I felt the need to throw this in.

 

I heard of a guy in my state with a Vette that removed his cats and got a 10K fine. Thats pretty scary.

 

There is a State Trooper in the Houston area that pulls over f-bods/Vettes/Mustangs etc to check for emissions equipment removal and tickets for it.

IMO, high flow cats are cheap insurance against this kind of problem. You can pick them up for ~$60 each and they only cost you ~2hp.

 

one of the few advantages of living in southeast Louisiana..they don't give a damn about emissions.

P.S. I have a cat for sale ($20) if anybody is interested.

 

I used to have a truck that had only glasspacks on it. I only got pulled over once in two years. In Illinois, I was pulled over because my exhaust was "too loud" while I was signing a written warning, I saw another office not in uniform from the corner of my eye looking underneath my truck checking for emissions equip. which I had none of. The truck was 16yrs old at that time. I never believed that what the other officer did was acctually legal... but who knows... sometimes Illinois state troopers are a little more strict.

 

I always go by the saying "it's better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission" but if there is any kind of real fine for removing the cat i will have to be legal on something.