I'm at Pope AFB, NC right now, and since we're moving out due to BRAC, I have to Base of Preference somewhere, and I'd love to move to California but I was wondering about emissions laws. I currently have Illinois tags on my car (home state) and I was planning on keeping them, but I had heard before that I would still have to abide by CA emissions laws or even go as far as to swap tags to CA as well. Does anyone have any info on this? I'm putting in my paperwork by this Friday (9 March) so if anyone can help me out that would be great. Thanks.

 

You can keep you IL plates but they will not give you a base decal unless you get a cali smog cert. You probably will still be able to get on base but it will be a pain in the ***. I hope that helps.

I was quoted.....what an honor.

 

HAHA. Yeah, well it was a good quote, I had to take it.

Thanks for the info, I guess I'll just skip CA then.

 

Here at DM, you can keep whatever plates you like.

Rat

 

Yeah I was at Nellis from 97-00, and when I bought a new car the guy tried to tell me I had to have NV plates. I kept telling him about the Solier's and Sailor's Act but he didn't wanna listen. I was gonna try to go to Travis, but I keep hearing people in Cali talk about how hard it is to pass emissions, and I don't even wanna deal with it. These are my choices so far...

MacDill, FL (probably won't get that one, no one ever does, ******** homesteading, haha)
Nellis, NV (I would LOVE to go back to Vegas)
Creech, NV (north of Vegas, I used to work there too, laid back as hell)
Charleston, SC ("right near da beach!")
Scott, IL (back home, not a chance in hell I'll get this one either since I hear they don't have my job there anymore, but it's always worth a shot)
Eglin, FL (I'll take just about anything in FL)
McChord, WA (I've always wanted to see what the NW was like, and Seattle is about as good a place as any)
Hurlburt Field, FL (see my answer for Eglin)

Anyone have any other suggestions?

 

I left Charleston AFB for Beale AFB and miss SC!!!! But the official deal is, you can stay registered in your home state. I keep all of our 7's tagged in NC and none of them are SMOG legal. But Drugblock12A is right, you can't get a base decal without passing SMOG. There are always ways around the SMOG part, but it will cost you $150 or so extra.

 

and you have to find someone with that deal.

 

So you liked Charleston? I didn't realize until today that it's so close to the beach. Do you have to get it smogged every year, so that it would be an extra $150 a year? Illinois doesn't even have inspections so I never have to pay for that, which is one of the reasons I have it registered there. If I could find someone to hook me up with that I wouldn't have a problem moving out there. The only other problem is it being expensive as hell to live there, haha.

I think this would be my biggest problem. It was hard to find anyone on Okinawa to pass a car for the JCI every two years, so I didn't build a car over there.

 

My boy lives in here in San Diego has FD RX-2 and a VR6 GTI, and a 10th ann. All of his cars are registered in Florida. All of the cars are have the florida plates and the cops don't give him any trouble. Oh and he doesn't have to do smog.

 

I LOVED Charleston!! No, you don't have to get it smogged every year. Only when your base decal expires. And finding someone to do that for you out here isn't difficult at all. What base are you looking at going to in Cali??

 

There still giving stickers for three years right? Just before you move to CA, scrape your sticker of and get a new one, say you had the windshield replaced. Then you won't have to deal with it for three years. At least all of the Marine Corps and Navy bases are like that I was stationed at camp pendleton and Miramar my sticker was from a spawar site. Then three years in you just get one smog hook up, or get someone else to smog there car, photocopy or scan and change the doc so it has your info, and get another 3 year sticker. The cops really don't seem to care. I have had friends get tickets for no front plate, and tint, that were just thrown out, when they went to court to show they had an out of state licence and registration. The actual process of having you register the car for a particlar base, while it may be technicly required, isn't. Oh and all of the base decal sites around here will issue you a sticker without registering your car to thier base.

 

slo makes a very good point. Renew your sticker at Pope just before you leave. Then after you get to Cali tell them that you need another sticker for your daily beater instead of the 7 and put that one on your 7. Or you could get really lucky like I did and have a lady at the Pass and ID place that just gives out the stickers to out of state cars. She thinks that the SMOG rule is stupid and doesn't enforce it.

 

Well Charleston is one of my choices, so maybe I'll get it. And my Flight Chief showed me pics of the girls that worked for him when he was there, and they are all still there right now...I've never seen such a beautiful shop, HAHA. I just don't want to go for that reason alone, that would be really stupid. I was looking at going to Travis, between Sacramento and San Fran. That's the only one really open for me (besides Beale) and I heard it's great there anyway.

Here at Pope they never really had a set amount of time for the sticker. My first one was for two years, this one is good til 2010. Every base I've been to, when I left they made me give back all the stickers and get them from the new base, otherwise that would be a great idea. With my luck I won't get Cali, Florida, or anyt of the ones I'm putting in for and I'll end up going to North Dakota or some ****. I'll let you guys know as soon as I get some orders. All this may be for naught anyway.

I can only hope to find someone that doesn't enforce these kind of rules, haha.

 

go to beale...and hang with Mr. RoosterSexxx ...lol

 

They no longer issue base stickers out so as long as your car has plates and you have an idea you can get on base. So don't worry about smog. I have florida plates here at nellis and no base sticker and I still get on base with no problems.

 

Yeah come to Travis. I hear it's a big base compared to others... not sure since i'm not in the air force but when I went on it it was pretty big. KillerDawg707 and I live real close to the base, we just hung out with a guy from Travis AFB with a 400RWHP single turbo FD this weekend...

 

Never had that experience. Just don't check out with that office, or when you do, tell them you sold the car. I'm telling you smog is not a big deal on any base I have ever been to, they don't have access to the DMV computers like well the DMV, so just get a copy of someone else's smog certificate, scan it, change it etc. If they do require you to get smog, then they will certainly give you a temp for a few months without it, so you can get things sorted.

 

Travis is a big base, and the bay area is awesome. About smog, As long as you have your registration, and your id you can get a temp pass. I don't know if travis needs a decal though. I know the meps station in mountain view you don't need a decal, all you need is a ID. Travis might be the same. Atleast that's what I hear. Anyone here stationed there? I know San Diego and Lemoore naval bases are strict as hell and require decals or temp passes. I'd go to Travis, and if they do require a decal for POVs, then I'd get a temp until I can find a *SMOG*.

 

Am I missing something? lol

I heard we were going to that but we haven't actually done it at Pope. Which one are they getting rid of, all of them or just the DoD sticker or what? It kinda makes sense though. If I get to Nellis I'll find you. Have you met apexsideways? He's there too.

Well I think I'm gonna put Travis back on there. Now my only issue is how expensive to live there. That and not getting my *** kicked by the 400RWHP FD, haha. I'm still pretty much stock right now, heh.

Well hopefully I'll never have to deal with this anyway. But I'll take this into consideration if I do. Thanks.

Well I don't want to keep getting temp passes, so I'll see what I have to do. I probably won't even get Travis, or any other base on my BOP.

 

[QUOTE=speedjunkie]

I heard we were going to that but we haven't actually done it at Pope. Which one are they getting rid of, all of them or just the DoD sticker or what? It kinda makes sense though. If I get to Nellis I'll find you. Have you met apexsideways? He's there too.

Nellis started the no decal thing march 1st. They Air force I know just stopped making all the decals so when your base runs out that's it. Nellis just stopped since we never had any, always on order. Nah I haven;t met any of the guys here except gonzz. Hit me up if you end up at Nellis.

 

speedjunkie, funkspectrum was referring to me. I'm the unlucky one stationed at Beale. But I commute to the base from Sacramento every day so it's actually not that bad. Travis is a good assignment as well. What's your AFSC? I have a few friends stationed there and they like it. If you want to email me then shoot me a PM and I'll give you my work email address.

Not to mention that the local 7 club, NorCal 7's, is a great club. There are a couple of really good rotary mechs up this way as well. Plus it's hard to complain about having several nice road courses within an hour or 2 drive from the house.

 

I think apex might work at Creech actually, I'll have to ask him though. How big is the 7 population there now? Do you guys have some sort of club and hang out? I'll hit you up if I get out there.

I thought he might have been talking about you, your SN was the only one that somewhat resembled RoosterSex, haha. My roommate in Tech School went to Beale, I heard it sucked up there. I have Travis back on my BOP, I think I'm gonna turn it in today like that. How long a commute do you have? My AFSC is 2A6X2, Aerospace Ground Equipment. What do you do? I do all my own work on the car but I'd love to be able to talk to some good mechanics though and get help if possible. One of the things that makes me want to go to CA is the road courses. Damn, might have to move Travis up to #1, haha.

 

Jesus.. There is NO FREAKING WAY I am going back to cali!

Maybe my orders to Hawaii came through?

 

^You were stationed in Cali or grew up there? My shop in Hawaii was civilian until recently, but I can't BOP there and I don't really want to be on an island again anyway.

 

Rat grew up in Cali. And if you weren't military it would suck to live here because of the SMOG *****. But as long as you're military you can skate around that.

I'm a 2A6X6 Aircraft Electro-Environmental Systems. But I work in the Global Hawk program so I really don't have a job anymore. I just surf the forums.

The road courses here are GREAT!! Off the top of my head you have Laguna Seca in Monterey, Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Thunderhill, plus the new track just outside of Reno. Can you say oh hell yeah??