NY Inspection - 200 Cell Cats

Hi there, I recently installed new Fabspeed 200 cell cats (good stuff btw). New York recently adopted an inspection similar to California - there needs to be a CARB sticker on the cats to pass inspection. While this law went into effect this summer, the DMV site says that the law won't be enforced until Jan 1. Has anyone had recent experience with emissions inspection in NY with aftermarket cats? Even though the law gives us a grace period until next year, I imagine some shops/dealers won't know about that. I'd love to know of a good place to take the car for inspection that will "play ball". Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks

Fabspeed doesn't have these Carb certified?

They will pass the emissions test, but he new law requires a CARB sticker, so they won't pass a visual test. At least they won't starting in Jan.

what is the carb sticker all about, please? as I am just about to replace a bad cat with a Cargraphic x-pipe set up, or a fabspeed set-up.

Scott, The CARB label placed on exhaust components denotes that the manufacturer has certified their equipment to meet the california air resources board standards as set forth in their latest efforts to meet the 86 grams of carbon dioxide released per megajoule of energy produced by the year 2020. The Laws only apply to cars that are 8 years old or older and is directed at Aftermarket Equipment only (OEM replacement are not effected... already need to meet standard): A new After Market Catalytic Converter may be installed when the vehicle is beyond its warranty period and a legitimate need for replacement has been established and documented. Most vehicles in New York State are covered under the federal emissions warranty of 8 years or 80,000 miles. Also, the NYS law has a stipulation as follows: "The inspector may give you an inspection sticker anyway, without replacing the converter, but only if the cost of the exhaust repair parts and labor bill would total more than $500. In these cases, the converter would still have to be fixed before your next inspection comes due or the car will fail. Further: Anything older the 1993 is not effected by the CARB rules. Hope this helps.

big time, thankx Chris!

Always glad to provide assistance when I can.

The car only needs a CARB approved unit if the emissions specification from the factory is "CARB" or "50 State". I would bet that your emissions is 49 state and therefore an EPA converter is acceptable. Check the black emissions tag under the engine cover lid.

This sounds like a sticker that is going to be on Ebay soon. NY inspections are an effing joke anyway, I should know I did a million of them when they were $3.00 each and we pulled wheels. They don't check a lot of crucial things but they can fail you for wiper blades that have no tears, it's simply a judgement call, this is why it's good to know the shop doing the inspection. Other shops, will scrape the sticker first so if they find a point of failure you are basically screwed. After you leave the shop you drive on the highway with cars that obviously are unsafe and would fail inspection but they all have stickers because buying illegal stickers is a NY cottage industry.

^^^ That's Bloomberg for ya. He's just bitter that the super-size soda law failed and is now looking at any and all other avenues to generate revenue and make life miserable.

This precedes Bloomberg but like so many other things in NY it's a thinly veiled money grab packaged in a "we care so we do it" candy wrapper.

terbi - you mentioned one of the key things I was looking for: "it's good to know the shop doing the inspection". I usually have work done in either NJ or CT, my only NY state experience is at Manhattan Motorcars. Can anyone here recommend a shop to do the inspection?

It sounds like you are looking near the city, I have no knowledge of that area of NY, except to say Hoffman in CT has been selling Porsche cars since I bought my first. The thing is MJ, if you know your car to be mechanically sound then why go dealer for inspection? You don't need any special knowledge specific to car brand to do a state inspect, find a trusted indy. Now if you want to come upstate, I can route you to many, my dad had a shop there for forty years.

Who's to say that the shop is even going to know enough about your car to know your cats aren't factory? Factory parts don't have a CARB sticker. If you pass the sniffer test, it's doubtful they'll even notice the aftermarket cats.

NY =no sniffy as of yet anyway

NY is required to analyze the exhaust gases in all the major markets. What happens outside the city limits is another thing all together.

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Bloomberg wants everyone in the city on the subway or a bicycle. Vehicle inspection is state, not city. Up here in the Real World we just take our cars to a trusted indy mechanic.

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What happens outside the city isn't law breaking, I asked the technician that did mine and he said it goes by county, I don't know if that's right or not. They use the OBD II port but they don't attach anything to the exhaust and I can assure you this place isn't shady. I have not seen it done in any other shops either, as far as a sniffer is it a new change? I know NY has frequent revisions to keep up with.

All large city (can not find the population break down) shops must do the exhaust analysis as it is transmitted to DMV ... The smaller city / towns below the population guidelines are permitted to perform with or with out the exhaust analysis.

That's good to know, thanks, this guy has been at it a long time and his dad before him, very honest mechanics, I knew he wouldn't be placing his license in any jeopardy or compromising the tests.

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Thank goodness or there would probably be yearly registration fees based on engine displacement and hp.

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Current NYS DMV inspection brochure is here: http://www.dmv.ny.gov/broch/c-50.htm More about the emissions testing (basically, OBD II and visual inspection of emission control devices) here: http://www.dmv.ny.gov/vehsafe.htm#einspect Last I knew, what gets done and reported is different for New York Metro area vs Upstate. New York Metro is defined as Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland, and Westchester counties, plus the five boroughs.

I do no believe that their are any aftermarket manufacturers that have the certification at this time. As mentioned before, our Sportcats WILL pass emissions, it is only the visual which causes a speed bump.