MA State Inspection: Recommendations?
 

Finally got my O2 spacer dialed in on my JDL catless header so from an OBDII/"Sensor Readiness" standpoint I'm good, but with my header and MagnaFlow catback I've been turned away from a few shops outright; they say anything louder than stock they can't pass. Seriously? So what there are no modified cars driving around MA? This is some totalitarian fascist bull$hit...there have got to be some shops that leave this up to discretion? It's not an Invidia it's a giant muffler on there c'mon.

Here I was all worried about the cat and now I'm gonna have to put the stock exhaust back on because it's louder than stock *sigh* I thought CA was bad hah.

I live and work near Worcestor; did any fellow MAssholes get their modified car to pass? Any recommendations?

Thanks!!

California is pretty reasonable. I think if they would allow vehicles to submit to a rolling, dyno-style ,emissions test for cars with modified, high flow cats then I would be more happy. Besides that, the rest of their requirements are reasonable.

Your noise situation is odd.

It used to be very reasonable here in MA. If you had an exhaust leak then obviously it's a fail...but lifted Jeeps kept getting passed by people paying off the shops. So legislature was passed requiring shops to purchase thousands of dollars worth of cameras for the new RMV state government controlled initiative....

find a good shop in your area, there are quite a few in Mass. Ask them where they go for the inspection.

This is where it is a really good idea to find a local mechanic and build a relationship. They will choose to overlook things like this if they can and if you've spent years and money with them.

California does Smog Only to get around this. They check to see if a smog shop fails a car at a predictable rate. If not (if their averages are less than normal, especially for cars that should fail more often based on the average rate of fail) then that shop won’t qualify as a Smog Only center. Certain cars will get a Smog Only registration renewal based on if the car is likely to fail or likely to be modified or likely to try to circumvent the system by going to a shady place.

My Uncle recommended a place ran by gearheads and they didn't even blink haha I'm so happy! Plus the guys were super cool and I'll be bringing my car back there for work in the future so it all worked out.

Why are (or, were...) you looking for Mass inspection stations if your location says Hartford..? And what location did you end up using..?

might want to bring 40 or 60 bucks with you in your pocket, thats what i did to get by with tinted windows in mass. no problems about noise the places i went, they just put a device on it to measure tint and there's no gray area. if ur truly truly desperate dm me and ill tell you some shops that are not uptight, but with 60 bucks you should be good man, just tell them up front youll give them money. shops are in the salem mass vicinity if you want to make the drive.

there are tons of places that ignore tint without having to pay. Just need to find the people and ask around.

Laws are generally not discretionary.
Remember when dealing with a shop that is shady enough to break a law they can screw you over as well no matter how great they seem.

A long roll of chicken wire can knock out quite a few Db.

Same with a peice of sheet steel gasket with some perforated holes in it.

Both are cheap and quick.

I highly recommend Knights Auto in Southbridge MA. Great guys!

An OBD error cannot be ignored any more, but the subjective portions of a state inspection here such as sound levels are about the only item left that can be overlooked easily. Given the dozen or so cameras that are supposed to be in the inspection bay area, almost every other inspection item would be obvious if not performed or faked. There used to be a dozen inspection stations in Worcester alone that you could get a 'mail-in' inspection sticker, but no longer.