[seanp2k2]

On #2, it's not just headlight elevation -- it's bumper height. Imagine that truck on 44s with a 4" lift kit and 2" body lift crashing into a standard car. If you guessed that their bumper would go through the rear window of whatever they crashed into, you'd be right. At worst, they'd shear the top off the car they crashed into, possibly decapitating the occupants.

A common reason to lift trucks is to fit larger tires. Larger tires roll further with each revolution. Many trucks with larger tires DO NOT also have larger brakes. That makes braking performance worse. Running soft mud tires on the highway and not changing them when they inevitably wear down after just a few thousand miles also yields worse performance. Combine this with the added top-heavy nature, suspension with more travel, worse visibility, and "king of the road" attitudes that many lifted truck drivers bring, and it's not hard to see that this is a recipe for disaster.

It's literally illegal in many places, but the enforcement is so lax that everyone gets away with it https://www.motortrend.com/features/0601st-truck-lift-kit-st...

I really wish that at least California would crack down on vehicle inspections and actually start refusing to register these vehicles, fine the owners, and make them reverse the mods or scrap the vehicle. If you want to build an off-road Tonka truck, get a side by side which is way more capable anyway, or get something with adjustable suspension and swap out the wheels and tires.

Lastly, it's also infuriating how many vehicle owners, but especially truck drivers, remove their catalytic converters and/or mod their diesel truck to not require Diesel exhaust fluid. When they register the vehicle for use on public roads, they agree to adhere to emissions standards. They then renege on this agreement. It's only fair, then, to disallow them to operate that vehicle on public roads, to stop them from polluting the public air that we all must breath at a rate far beyond what they agreed to. I don't wager that many folks appreciate hearing their loud exhaust at all hours of the day, either. We have a few neighbors in our suburb with big loud trucks and for some reason they love flooring them every time as they turn the corners in the subdivision. I'd love to see all those vehicles get crushed for repeated inspection failures, and that's probably the level we'd need to go to given the widespread flouting of the law that we currently see.

[fnordpiglet]

I drive a car that operates on maxwells equations rather than burning dinosaur juice, and I understand electricity a lot better than those fire chariot Rube Goldberg machines. Why do people remove the catalytic converter, diesel exhaust fluid? (I have to admit I don’t really know what purpose they serve either, IC stuff has been too complex for me to fully grok)

[WirelessGigabit]

Emission standards require you to maintain the car as it was sold to you.

So with DEF that means that since the car was sold with a DEF injection mechanism the car's computer will not allow the car to drive once you're out of DEF, as that will bump up the emissions.

As far as I know it kill performance, but you'll wanna have a spare bottle at the ready.

Catalytic converters on the other hand are much more impactful. They definitely reduce performance. And if you run rich you'll wear it out. So people cut them out.

California should massively increase their checks. Like pull people over for loud pipes. That would help a lot.

But you know, those people go to the smog shops that are open after working hours. And guess what, CA's government only checks them during working hours...

[maxerickson]

Catalytic converters are not really impacting performance most of the time, at least in terms of power. There are some efficiency losses from the restriction, but the net result is much cleaner exhaust. At peak power there is some reduction due to the converter, but it has been completely swamped by improvements in power density, so it isn't something anybody should be worried about. If you aren't running at peak power, the losses don't really matter.