My dad saw this coming, and hoarded torque wrenches until the day he died.

Regardless, California needs to be taken out. I recommend a pre-emptive attack.

Sure. It's all fun and games until some guy is running a Tire Rack, Maaco and Aamco out of his house.
"In summation, this law keeps car enthusiasts from completing more complex repairs which are outlined as jobs that would leave the vehicle inoperable for more than 24 hours. However more simple tasks like oil changes, tune-ups, tire changes, and brake changes, are allowed.

In addition, you are not allowed to work on another person's vehicle. Also, work done on any vehicle must be completed at the home the vehicle is registered to. Talk about red tape."

Having been to Sacramento a number of times I think this is the least of their concern from a property value and curb appeal perspective. What a bunch of morons.

I think we had a previous thread about this a year or so ago.

In a free state, what you work on with what tools you choose to on your property is legal. Torque wrenches and impact guns not allowed? LOL I own 3 of each- common and cheap.

Ca is not a free state, it's run by Communists. Good for them.

rjp

They will need a torquewrenchrectomy if they come try here . Who are these loons?
We clearly live differently on the other side of the continent.

Seriously, that kind of $*** ain't funny. CA seems like a different country. Who wants to live under those rules?

rjp

I live in Houston and own a 1/3 of an acre inside the city limits, so a relatively large lot for the location, I've lived here for 10-years now and have a detached garage, on some of the evenings and weekends I'm wrenching.

When I moved in 10-years ago, my closest neighbors were still working but now they are retired and are at home all day and watch a ton of TV (I know this as I can see the glare through the blinds from about 5am to 9-10pm) and feed the stupid stray cats.

Just last week, the husband who is close to 70 came over and asked me to stop using my die-grinder (which can be loud) and also asked that I turn down my music and any work that I am doing using power tools to move it to inside the garage or in the middle of my backyard away from their house.

I listened and asked why has this suddenly become an issue as I have always done this. He didn't have an answer and then accused me of running a shop out of my home, he was flirting with my "hot button". To maintain some level of harmony I am going to be accommodating and do as much of this work away from their house and in the backyard but there is only so much extension chord and compressor hose I have.

I know for a fact if I lived in Sacramento, this neighbor would be blowing up the authorities complaining about me. Their cranky asses need to move!

Cali working to be come the largest HOA in the world?

methinks we fail to appreciate the Micro Aggression of being Competent enough to fix a car/boat/plane...

If Competence is on display, our neighboring comrades may be triggered :eek:

Only the Progressive Wokeness of CA type Paradises can right that ship. - Kill competence NOW!

Good comrades remain incompetent for the good of the State.

gti

Sounds to me like some politicians are reading CL and have noticed all the adds for "we come to you" auto repairs. There's even a guy that has a whole tire changing/balancing setup in not that big of a van.

Long Beach has had laws about working on cars outside of the garage where the work can be seen. Absolutely not on the street and (gasp) on the front lawn. Inoperable cars are not allowed to be stored outside — anywhere.

The demographics in LB aren't that great. We have some nice neighborhoods and many that are over developed with cars everywhere. The density is too much for decency. It's not uncommon to see 2-3 cars lined up in a driveway that don't run. In the alleys too, just off the public part mainly parked across the garage door. So, no access to the garage.

Which brings me to another sore point, garages. At one time I took out a city business license to work from home as a contractor. I had to have a city inspector come out and verify that I could park 2 cars in my garage (of course a 2 car garage). I can count on one hand the neighbors on my street that use the garage primarily for parking. Street sweeping day in many neighborhoods is suck a joke that during the pandemic they stopped ticketing for not moving your car ($70!!!)

I'm not in any way in favor of more legislation however some of it makes sense. But limiting tools is totally ridiculous. Personally, I don't ever want to see any jackstands from the street. No HOA here but many places nearby even have a rule about how long you can leave your garage door open if it faces the street and is in front.

That kind of siht is not just CA.

They should allow tools that would make the repair go faster, not slower. How are you supposed to torque your lug nuts properly? I can see a wheel falling off and a lawsuit commencing.

What if I want to use my air compressor to replace the trim in my house? Can I not have an air compressor and nailer? I don't work construction but they sure are a time saver for stuff like that.

Yeah you're wrong.
You need to hire out for that... how dare you work on your own property

Paradoxically CA encourages the existence of a sub-class of illegal aliens who have to do this type of work to survive.

Not all of us are trying to run a repair shop. Some of us actually are doing this as a hobby.

rjp

This, or a similar case, was brought up by BMW.
They, unsuccessfully, claimed that EVERYTHING under the paint was proprietary and if you touched it you were infringing on their intellectual property.

If I remember correctly the court said, "hmmm, no"

There have been more attempts recently, stuff like. No aftermarket air filters, proprietary design. No aftermarket anything

Kind of goes with Honda's case on who owns the data in your ecu.

In an indirect way this even affects this forum. Can't work on your own car in CA, why bother buying parts for it?

rjp

Let me prefix this statement with the fact that I'm a minority in my neighborhood.
I, like Zeke, can count how many neighbors use their garage to park cars in. Street sweeping day front lawns and the parkway are fair game for parking on. I know of at least one house in the 'hood being used as an auto repair garage.
Do I wish I could move?
Of course.
Do I want to?
Not really. I enjoy the weather and for the most part the neighbors don't bother me.
I've worked on my cars in the driveway for years. Even had a Porsche parked outside for a couple months when I actually had two of them. I try to keep it cleaned up around here and use my garage for parking our cars. My wife's car took the whole garage while I couldn't drive due to my surgery so my car sat out. She can't park in the tight space when my car is inside so...
I feel for the folks in Sacatomatoes county. That law is idiocy personified. I would be forced to move if I lived there. I know it'll never happen here as they can't even enforce the single family in a residence code around here.

It is spreading to other states, mostly blue states but, now we see people felling California and other blue states in droves to friendly free states like TX, SC, GA FL. Many of the people bringing the same failed political views to the free states.

I live historically in a very RED part of New Jersey. Over the past ten-fifteen years it has turned purple with Philadelphia, N. Jersey and NY retirees moving to our area. The same is happening in other areas.

There is a one city that is surrounded totally by Oklahoma City or other small cities. They have a city ordnance, no one can park any pickup truck or a work truck of any sort overnight in view of the neighbors. Even a brand new nice 100K pickup must be in the garage, or out of the city for the night. No work trucks or trailers of any sort. And the average house there is very upscale. The only people that want to live there are wealthy, and they like the restrictive ordinances. Of course there is regular businesses in that city, except at the shopping center, next door to the city offices. The laws about parking have been on the books since the beginning, so no surprises.

The speed limit is 25 MPH in the entire city, and no one speeds. The cops will write a ticket for 26 MPH and that is a major part of the city budget. The have to low limit mostly to have through traffic just avoid the city, and go around, but it is a nice source of revenue. If you decide to take a walk through the city, you may well be driven to the city limits and dropped off unless you are a resident.

I know one couple that had a HVAC repair man working on the AC upgrade and his truck was in the driveway until late in the evening, and the cops were ready to write a ticket. The home owners had to plead with the cop to let the HVAC guy finish so they could sleep that nigh in the cool house. The entire system had to be replaced.