[Slikk]

Just wanted to chime in, I got VI'd in May on Powell St and Wall St (I was on Wall St turning right onto Powell) during my morning commute. I have an 03 VW GTI that was aggressively lowered, satin black wrap, aftermarket headlights and smoked side markers and fender repeaters. The officer wasn't a jerk about it, but he had issues with my tire clearance (he actually said to me that the tires can rub and heat up and explode without enough clearance - it was very low but nothing rubbed, but yeah it was too low), aftermarket headlights, and other smoked lights. This included the tail lights which have smoked signals from the factory - the officer claimed they were not certified as he could not find a marking on them to that effect. As far as I know my car has the factory tail lights (I bought it with the other modifications, so they could have been changed but they look factory to me).

Unfortunately for me this happened at a very bad time as it was a week before I left for Europe for 2 weeks, so I only had about 2 weeks of being here to get the car fixed within 30 days. Since it is my daily and I commute into Vancouver I had no choice but to fix it. Since my car was on coilovers I figured no problem I would just raise it... well no the coilvers were rusted and frozen and I could not raise it in the front. Time to replace with stock suspension $$$ (and if you don't know, stock struts and springs on a MK4 golf make it look like a 4x4). I also had to get OEM headlights and put them in (the officer claimed the aftermarket headlights were not certified - I later found out they actually are E4 certified, but at the time I had no idea), and stock side markers and fender repeaters.

I hoped my troubles were over and it would pass inspection at this point, but the VW dealership I took it to had other ideas. Even though I discussed the situation with them beforehand and they assured me the aftermarket exhaust would pass, their inspector failed it because of that and a laundry list of other items, and then quoted me $4k to fix it all (car is barely even worth that). Needless to say I took it elsewhere to get the major things fixed. That place also advised me, after making some calls, that since it has failed inspection at the dealership, I can now get it inspected and passed somewhere else as I have fulfilled the requirement on the ticket to get it inspected at a dealership - even though the dealership failed it. Somehow I don't think the next VPD officer I meet will agree with this assessment, but I can't afford to fix everything the dealer claimed was wrong with the car, and I need to be able to drive it. All in it cost me about $2000 which I really could not afford right now, but at least it has passed inspection.

This whole experience has ruined modified car ownership for me in a big way, I have owned this car for 7 years and it has been lowered like that for 5 of those years (it was actually even lower when I bought it, I raised it after a couple of years) and never had an issue until now. I just want to sell the car and move on with my life, the car is ruined for me now. Time to buy something that blends in with the masses I guess, don't stick out if you don't want to be harassed. Vancouver = no fun allowed.