Originally Posted by dtaygolf
A follow up to my VI on Mar 17. So, brought car as is to Don Docksteader Subaru at Cambie. I live in Richmond, and purchased my car, a 2013 BRZ from Richmond Subaru. As the ticket noted, bring to Subie dealer. Well, Richmond doesn't do VI inspections according to their service counter. Apparently their certification lapsed, or I'm thinking they don't want the hassle of dealing with these issues? I dare say the majority of BRZ, WRX, STi's purchased there end up in someway " modified". That's generally what the buyer's of these types of cars do. Even Subaru intonates this themselves, despite the fact they'll void your warranty if you do bust something "racing" aka autocross or track day. But whatever.
So, the CVSE tech that inspected my car noted a few things. I'm running a EL header, and Invidia Q300 exhaust. A pretty common setup for those that want a sporty exhaust note, a few extra pony's, and a decent looking aftermarket look, not some "brappy" N1 setup, that wakes the dead. The tech did note the exhaust was quite loud on cold starts, but not unreasonable at idle, or even under load, regardless, the exhaust had to go back to OEM. It's no longer just about "loudness". If it's not OEM at the back, it won't pass.
Also I had clear JDM side markers, which are OEM JDM products, I even went to the trouble applying orange amber reflective tape to keep things legit, but nope, no SAE/DOT markings. And perhaps the strangest issue, my license plate lights, I swapped out the OEM yellowish standard bulbs for LED's, which seemed like a good move, brighter, and adds a little flare. hey're white, but according to the tech, "too bluish", what the heck?! There not even "blue", guess a little higher along the color spectrum, so as to not be dingy.
So be it, reverted back to OEM exhaust, thankfully I hung on to that , found my OEM N.A. side markers, and changed the plate bulbs.
My car sits about an inch lower than stock, with sports springs, not any crazy "hellaflush" stuff. The tech was ok with the ride height, which was within acceptable variation, but from a fairly long chat with him, it sounded like any kind of aftermarket coilover would "automatically fail". He also stated that all these aftermarket parts do come with the stipulation that they're for off road, (racing) use anyways...Car went back to dealer after all changed, and passed. The tech was a nice guy and realized the situation. According to the service guys and gals and this tech, they've seen lots of VIs lately. Gotta give a shout out to Docksteader, they at least kept my file open for my follow up inspection, so as not to "double ding" me. So that's it for now, got that ugly looking inspection decal on the corner of my window now. Unbelievable really, all for some pretty pedestrian mods. The war on cars goes on friends!
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