I"ve been reading up on FI a lot since I got my S2, and I know that emissions standards in California make FI a bit of a hassle. But there are a few questions I haven't yet been able to get the answer to.

Is a FI car CARB illegal in California simply because it has a non-factory FI system on it, or will the system simply insure that it fails a smog test?

Secondly, how often do new cars need to get smogged in CA? From what I gathered at a random ass website,

Given I have a 2006, and I just had it smogged a month ago, I can safely bet that I have at least 2 years?

Thirdly, how do CA, non-CARB legal, FI owners deal with these regulations? Is it really just... take the system off for a day every few years? Maybe I should find a smog tech with no scruples....

And lastly, how does insurance handle claims regarding a boosted car? Will the insurance company simply claim "you had an illegal modification done on your car, so we are going to deny coverage?"

Thanks all. Happy driving.

 

smog in california is every 2 years. i'm also thinking of going turbo...been reading up on the FI section and california emissions is something we have to think about.

the only turbo kit that I know of that is CARB legal is the Greddy kit, but you might want to read up on other people's experiences with the Greddy kit.

I would suppose for smog purposes you would have to uninstall the turbo kit, put it back to stock and reinstall it after you pass the smog test (unless you have the Greddy kit).

good luck, let me know which route you take.

 

I've actually been leaning more towards a S/C kit. I know the CT Engineering (Comptech) kit is the only one that seems to be CARB legal.

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/aftermk...es/amquery.php

That's a really awesome site where you can browse all different kinds of parts and see which ones have been deemed legal.

 

Well each state is different when it comes to insurance. I'm sure it would say something in the California law code under vehicle insurance if something like that applied:

California Law Code

With that being said, I'm sure it would be easier to just contact your auto insurer. The biggest problem people have is they don't insure the vehicle AND insure the custom parts on it. When they decide to wrap their car around a tree they are out the custom parts and not reimbursed the actual cost of the vehicle. Just my .02