Once upon a time, tractor pull attendees who witnessed diesels churn out black smoke under the strain of a very heavy trailer decided to make their diesel-powered pickups do the same thing, sans said heavy trailer. The practice came to be known as “rolling coal,” and until last week, was nothing more than a potential subject for a country song or two amid lyrics about drinking lots of beer and getting with the blue-eyed blonde of the singer(s) dream(s).
However, rolling coal has taken on a political guise as of late, usually (and literally) aimed at Prius owners allegedly trying to force their asphalt realities upon the coal enthusiasts. Of course, the Environmental Protection Agency has something to say about the whole thing: No.
Jalopnik subsidiary Truck Yeah! reports Talking Points Memo got a hold of EPA representative Liz Purchia about the legalities of pretending to be a 19th century choo-choo train on the highways of the 21st century. In short: rolling coal is a violation of the Clean Air Act. The systems used to create black smoke on purpose, including computer software “that alters diesel fuel injection timing,” are illegally overriding emissions control, something the CAA frowns upon, to say the least.
That said, enforcement of the CAA is on the manufacturer level; thus, while it is illegal to roll the coal down that old dirt road, the only punitive action may come from the police officer who just had a ton of black smoke blown directly in their face.
No doubt this will be picked up by FOXNEWS as the Gob’mint interfering with the rights of people to pollute the air anyway they want. Next there will be “Diesel Dumping” where these same “Rolling Coal Clowns” will pour diesel fuel into lakes and streams stating it is their God given right to pollute where and when they please. After all, the founding father did not ban pollution in the Constitution and Jesus didn’t say anything about it either.
I think the driver of that truck was home skhooled.
You spelled skhooled wrong. The correct spelling is skoold. (West Texas)
This is what you get when you live in a state ranked at the bottom for education. Also poverty, racism and violence.
The Bible Thumpers and Tea Party (Baggers) will tell you that living in Texas is better than living in a secular run state. And if you flip the list around, you will see Texas is near top. It’s all in your perspective. Makes sense if you don’t think too hard about it.
Illinois?
Which state is that?
Ummm…. that’s an Ohio plate.
Well, most of Ohio outside of the Western Reserve aspires to be a southern state.
Crap. But it was close.
(Lack of)Education aside, if my wife were to see that photo she’d swear that man has the world’s smallest penis. She know these things, she’s a nurse.
She checks every male patient for penis size?
And what would lead you to think that?
I live in the sort of area where you’d expect to see these trucks clogging the streets (where they’re paved), turning houses, plants, and people pitch black from all the soot they spew as the baseball-cap-clad and Confederate-flag-waving rednecks and hillbillies pin the throttle every chance they get, laughing manically all the while.
It doesn’t happen. Frankly, unless this area is the utter pinnacle of civilized behavior, there are bigger things to worry about. The buzz-can-and-wing-bedecked ’90s Hondas are a much greater road menace, at least in my experience.
I’ve never seen “Rolling Coal” on the street here in Texas. I’ve seen video of diesel truck drag racing that generates lots of black smoke at the start of the run, but the smoke usually gets lighter as boost builds and/or nitrous kicks in.
This looks more like young men making noise and smoke than any kind of political statement. Sort of like a big smoky burnout without the cost of excess tire wear.
The diesel pickup political statement I have seen in the wild are prepper DIY modifications to run the truck on vegetable oil and homemade biodiesel. People who prepare for the death of money and breakdown of society want the ability to make their own transportation fuel. In addition, diesel fuel is considerably safer to store around the homestead than gasoline.
The funny part of rolling coal is that it’s supposed to be a political statement of sorts. That would be all fine and dandy EXCEPT that breathing in large amounts of diesel smoke is not healthy and in the case of those who “roll coal”, I bet you that some of them will end up developing cancer of some sort.
Even if it’s illegal, it’s the kind of thing that is selectively enforced. I don’t expect people to get tickets in areas where the police openly condone it. Defeats the point of it in the first place since no one is going to stop you.
Such morans…
:D
Idiots breed in both of the two party systems as you are well aware. The current problem with the extremist policies of both sides is that both fuel more and more extremist behavior. Only an asshole would think to do something like this and while he (they) would be within their respective rights they are breaking the non-aggression principle. The non-aggression principle does not discriminate. Not between black and white, male and female nor even between “likable empathetic person” and “absolute jerk.” A free society tolerates absolute jerks – as long as they don’t violate anyone else’s rights.
I’ve refrained from responding on political comments, but this… wow.
Before I begin, Fox News isn’t even redneck. It’s a bunch of people up in New York City, which is the total opposite of redneck.
I know several formerly homeschooled people; all are very smart. In homeschooling, you aren’t mixed with some of the idiots found in public school, and there are guidelines you have to go by. My public high school in Georgia has many Honors and AP classes (I’m in Honors. Made it into AP World, but opted out), but there are also classes for slackers. Yes, there is some Liberal swing in the educational system (such as Common Core), but it’s NOTHING compared to the northeast.
If Texas is “such a bad place”, then why is Toyota moving there from California? Why is California in so much debt? Why are auto factories moving to the southeast, where the UAW hasn’t come in yet? Why are so many industries moving to red states? Why did Detroit die?
Liberal management. That is all.
Business gravitates to the cheapest place. Because that cheapness comes at the expense of residents, having a race to the bottom is a terrible idea, particularly since we’re never going to beat the Third World.
Exactly this.
Ironically Texas has the third highest property tax and 12th highest sales tax in the country. They don’t permit open carry (surprise) and in order to get a CCP you have to attend 10 hours of class, on your expense, and proof proficiency with a side arm.
They made a terrible mistake when they made the class 10 hours long. Its 10 hours long because they go over the list of situations when you can legally shoot someone. The class only needed to be an hour long if they went over the situations when you can’t legally shoot someone in Texas.
Bullshit. We’ve always beaten the 3rd world. It’s all about productivity, stupid!
+1
@ turboprius: Check back with us when you get some real-world experience, preferably after a short-sighted corporation outsources your job to some newbie making half your salary.
Just for the sake of objectivity: California is currently running… BUDGET SURPLUS!!! I’m not making this up
You didn’t make it up. Jerry Brown did.
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/04/14/california-budget-surplus-nope-not-so-much/
What’s a $3 billion deficit between liars? Nothing, when you’ve convinced all the leeches that their roles in our state’s $80 billion dollar debt are just fine.
CJinSD
All your source points out is that there are different ways of counting budget vs. actuals and that California uses a cash based approach.
And on this basis, you call the governor a liar who makes things up.
He added 3 billion to our debt while claiming to run a surplus. You are fooled because you want to be. Jerry Brown won’t be bothered that I observed that he is a liar and I’m sure he has less respect for the people that vote for him than I do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIlzYD4tk78
That $80B deficit — is it the same one he inherited from the previous governor, a certain philandering, right wing bodybuilder/actor from Austria?
Nice Obama defense to being caught dead to rights as a hand puppet. Sorry about holding up the mirror, as it must have been a terrible sight for you. Arnie was just your typical anti-business, radical environmentalist, progressive, Kennedy-marrying right winger. Grey Davis buying his re-election from the government employee unions didn’t play a bit of a role in our plight either.
CJ,
You have a lot of anger.
Sir I call BS on your economic theories as well as your stance on education. If companies are moving to Texas due to the wonderful business environment, then why are companies also moving to Mexico? As for idiots in public school vs home school, at least in my public school, evolution was taught vs the fairy tales of creationism. As a kid, when I watched the Flintstones, I knew it was a cartoon, you thought you were watching a documentary. I remember Bible Thumpers telling me dinosaur bones were actually deceptions planted by the devil.
When your world comes crashing down, at least you won’t be bothered by comprehending why it happened.
Companies are moving to Texas because it’s cheaper there aka “wonderful business environment”. It’s all logical. Same for Mexico because NAFTA. Overall – everyone, as a sum, benefits.
People can be stupid regardless of political or religious ideology. Just sayin’.
This has got to be one of the stupidest forms of political protest of all time.
I also worry that this idiocy will bring about legislation designed to prevent “rolling coal”, but also winds up making legit ECU tuning more difficult or illegal.
Un-Intended Consequences will always accompany hastily (and even patiently) written legislation.
It’s not a political protest, it’s more of a class thing. Some people are subtle, others like to break s**t and make a big racket.
It’s absolutely a form of protest. As the article explicitly states, rolling coal is “usually (and literally) aimed at Prius owners allegedly trying to force their asphalt realities upon the coal enthusiasts.”
As annoying as the coal rollers might find Prius drivers, that doesn’t give them right to coat said Prius drivers in soot and smog.
Hating on Prii is not strictly political.
They’re bullies who are attacking those who they perceive to be weak.
That isn’t particularly political, it’s just dumb. Some people are just aggressive for the sake of it.
Excellent observation. +1
So say you and so says some article. I live in the truck happy Midwest, I see diesels every day (had 4 of them at the shop today on a fairly slow day not counting the two D-maxes owned by coworkers) and while most are modded and some produce smoke the idea that they are either aggressive or intentionally assaulting people is alien to me. I see a bunch of biggots jumping on a popular bandwagon gleefully ignorant that they and what ever interests they may have are next in line for ridicule. Just as soon as that ridicule serves someone’s narrative.
Prii should come with a bumper sticker: “Please keep driving your truck like a gun won’t fit in here!”
Very true. And they also probably claim to be Christian. Which they are living a very non-Christian life.
Just because Fox news says it is a form of political protest and that the people who do it do it to piss off people who drive a Prius does not make it true. For the majority of people who modify their trucks to “roll coal” are just doing it to show off.
Who is with me on a kickstarter for a armored truck with giant stadium speakers that will blast Celine Dion in front of their houses at 3am.
What? It’s my God given right to play my music as loud as I want on a public street.
Noise and stalking ordinances would say otherwise.
Just like the EPA says otherwise? What’s good for the goose, etc.
not i
I’m with you JMO as long as Celine is singing, “Power of Love”. I’ve seen her in Vegas twice and she makes me cry.
Uh oh, this might put GE out of the locomotive business :p
Modifying the emissions equipment on a commercial truck can easily get you a $10k fine, and a shop that did the work can get fined more than that. Doing the same to people who go out of their way to produce additional pollution just for fun seems reasonable.
Sidebar: can we also fine/impound trucks whose bumpers are raised above the original factory height? The DOT mandates bumper heights so that vehicle collisions less likely to cause injury, damage, and death. That makes sense. Getting hit by a pickup with a bumper 3 feet off the ground means the truck is going over the bumper and crumple zones of any vehicle it hits. That seems like a bad idea for everyone on the road.
Also, can we add in the issue of headlight adjustment? Living in the south I’m a minority (or so it seems) with a compact car. About once a week if not more I’m blinded by a good old boy who decided to lift his truck….and not readjust the lights so they don’t blind innocent folks like me.
Or insane tailgating. I’m not entirely sure what’s out my back window, as it’s usually filled with a giant grille and logo. No, I don’t drive like grandpa, in traffic there is no choice sometimes but to beep and creep.
You’re not alone down here (although yes, it does seem that one’s truck and fuel payments should be higher than one’s duplex rent for some reason).
let’s add using fog lights when there’s no fog, mist, drizzle or instead of headlights whether they are 1′ or 4′ off the ground …
Umm, the driving lights are to light the area directly ahead of the car according to the manual in my most recent 2 purchases. I know nothing of these “fog” lights you speak of that only work with greater than 100% humidity.
US headlight regulations don’t take into account vehicle height. Taller vehicles get a sight advantage.
ECE regs do take into account vehicle height. So if you drive in Europe you wont be blinded.
Having just switched from a truck to a car the headlight glare i get is way worse.
There’s no adjustment for headlights. Not since ‘seal beams’. But it’s not the lift that blinds you necessarily. It’s the truck that’s riding level from load etc. Or the rear is dropped pre-runner style. The factory sets trucks higher in the back and headlights aim slightly downward.
New cars most definitely have headlight adjusters. Look around you’ll find them.
The people who put leveling kits and then load up there truck are idiots.
My 2001 Audi has auto-adjust headlights. They’re a pain when they quit working. There’s also a manual adjust knob.
Now, why level a truck and then load it? Leave it as it is- then you can load more stuff to get the same ride height! ;-)
I haven’t seen headlight aim/adjusters on new cars, but OK. So what are the trucks with headlights that adjust, aim up or down?
All of my recent cars have had headlight adjusters.
Adjusting the headlights is a tedious exercise in precision, and is affected by the loading of the vehicle, but I’ve taken the time to get it right, and you can too.
In Florida those that drive the lifted trucks don’t actually get tickets until there is a fatality due to there truck. Then it is a manslaughter charge if I recall. Or a DUI manslaughter charge because the majority of those trucks have a drunk home skooled driver.
I see a few Rolling Coal vehicles from time to time down here in Alabama. Actually – most vehicles down here, whether gas or diesel, emit clouds of soot or blue engine oil burnoff.
Saw an old Mk3 Jetta TDI “Rolling Coal” not too long ago. Even had the window decals to identify it as such.
” emit clouds of soot or blue engine oil burnoff.”
Yup, same with New Mexico and the greater Southwest of the US, where vehicles last a lot longer because there is no rust in an arid climate.
A greenweenie friend of ours from the State of Oregon recently visited us in his Prius and had an apoplexy seeing all the antique smoking vehicles still on the road here polluting the air.
Environmental fruit cakes, rolling coal is nothing compared to what you see when I start up my Wacker 70KW diesel generator. Now THAT is pollution!
+1, same here in Utah
@HDC,
Its’s going to take replacing a lot old commuter cars with Prii and EVs to compensate for those smokers. Be prepared!
That said, every time someone rolls by without a cat, or with a mistuned engine old some sort, I’m amazed with the fact that my ancestors out up with that shit in their lungs all the time. I only breathe cloud of unburned hydrocarbons while jogging or commuting once every couple of weeks, rather than every 5 minutes, so the world is a much healthier place. It’s really amazing how much progress has been made!
I spend some time around airplanes, which still mostly run on leaded gas, and that needs to change. I love flying enough that it’s worth a little brain damage from the exhaust….. But we could do better if it installing 30 year old technology on private aircraft didn’t cost as much as a house.
But, damn, why are people so proud of pollution in situations where the problem has already been solved?
@HDC,
Its’s going to take replacing a lot old commuter cars with Prii and EVs to compensate for those smokers. Be prepared!
That said, every time someone rolls by without a cat, or with a mistuned engine old some sort, I’m amazed with the fact that my ancestors out up with that shit in their lungs all the time. I only breathe cloud of unburned hydrocarbons while jogging or commuting once every couple of weeks, rather than every 5 minutes, so the world is a much healthier place. It’s really amazing how much progress has been made!
I spend some time around airplanes, which still mostly run on leaded gas, and that needs to change. I love flying enough that it’s worth a little brain damage from the exhaust….. But we could do better if installing 30 year old technology on private aircraft didn’t cost as much as a house.
But, damn, why are people so proud of peeing in their own swimming pools, when using designs where the problem has already been solved?
Luke42, for years, nay, decades, I would mix in 5-10 gallons of leaded AVGAS 110/115, with my regular unleaded gasoline to keep my old pre-cat-conv cars road ready. Since ALL my vehicles now are FFV I don’t have to do that any more, but others driving antiques still do.
I grew up in Huntington Beach, CA, 1947-1965 when there was real smog and real air pollution. I remember brown-out days and acrid air during the santa-ana days.
All that’s changed, sure. Some say for the better, I say for the more expensive. Computers and ECUs in cars and trucks have done more for the environment by tailoring fuel/air mixtures than taking the Ethyl, Methyl, MTBE and Lead out of gasoline.
All that is considered progress, in retrospect. But the Chinese and Asians haven’t learned a damned thing from us, have they? Pollution there is much worse than it ever was over here, and it all comes drifting this way, doesn’t it?
To me all this regulation and mandates reeks of only the Americans having to bear the brunt of the expense for cleaner air. I may think differently if I could see some benefits to all this added expense we Americans have to pay for. Did you know that many Asians still cook with coal, oil or wood on open fires? Talk about pollution there, 3 times a day, at least.
I derive zero benefit for the windmills and solar panels dotting the desert near me, yet I’m the one paying for it in higher electrical costs.
So forgive me if I derive an immense sense of pleasure when I fire up my AC generators every Sunday at noon. My pollution is not even a drop in the bucket. And neither is the pollution of Rolling Coal.
I posted a similar comment to TruckYeah! yesterday. Your statement is not 100% correct:
“That said, enforcement of the CAA is on the manufacturer level; thus, while it is illegal to roll the coal down that old dirt road, the only punitive action may come from the police officer”
Actually, on the road level, the EPA has delegated the enforcement of the CAA to the states, and each state seems to take it with varying degrees of seriousness. For example, it would obviously be very difficult to get away with this in California or any locality with a rigorous vehicle inspection program. Odd enough, in parts of Texas this would be difficult (but not impossible) to get away with. Oklahoma on the other hand, which has no vehicle inspection at all, would be none the wiser unless you blow smoke in his face, as you said.
Since most of this is done with programmers that allow you to change the tuning on the fly, you would simply put it in the factory mode for your emission test, pass and revert into blowing as much smoke as you want. Annual emissions test aren’t going to stop it, even in California.
rolling coal? more like ‘farting trucks.’ but the biggest stink of all comes directly from the jerks running these rigs. luckily, it will be only a matter of time before this practice messes-up their motors real bad.
and in the meantime, seems like everybody has a smart phone. so it also seems like everyone who really gives-a-damn about this country / this planet / and/or its inhabitants needs to diligently document, record and report to the police, every single example they observe.
time to call these clowns out!!
Let me see if I have this straight. A few people have been doing this for years, because to them, big rigs belching black smoke are hawt. A couple days ago, Huffington Post had a piece claiming (it’s HuffPo, so take with appropriate salt ration) that they are actually protesting against righteous green people in their Prii. Now we have potential government action against the handful of people with their big pickups sporting longhorns and tractor-style exhaust stacks.
In other words, we now make public policy based on whomever the hipsters have decided to hate today. Reality-based!!!
re: “…we now make public policy based on whomever the hipsters have decided to hate…”
no. it is based on codified law and government regulations.
[don’t huff diesel fumes – it’ll destroy your ability to think rationally]
Either there’s a law against this already, or there isn’t. If there isn’t, and they pass one because of a blog post, then they are indeed making public policy based on whomever the hipster crowd has decided to hate today.
Quick question: do the coal rollers make any statistically significant contribution to air pollution, or is the entire public reaction based on coast-vs-flyover bigotry?
Each coal roller is putting out as many particulates (of all sizes) as a few tens of thousands of normal cars. So, yes, their contribution to pollution is meaningful.
And even if it weren’t, I think the reaction is more about having to breathe stinky clouds of acrid diesel smoke than about “coast vs. flyover bigotry.”
“Each coal roller is putting out as many particulates (of all sizes) as a few tens of thousands of normal cars. So, yes, their contribution to pollution is meaningful.”
Is it though? We’re many generations of standards past the point of diminishing returns to the point of absurdity.
“We’re many generations of standards past the point of diminishing returns”
No, we’re not. Airborne particulate matter still exceeds Clean Air Act standards in quite a few places in the country. Vehicles are responsible for a significant portion of that PM in all places, and for the majority of it in places where there aren’t old coal power plants. Just because LA doesn’t look like it did in 1969 doesn’t mean the problem is totally fixed.
CAA PM standards were revised in 2012, so of course there are still places that have difficulty meeting them. That’s their point for existing.
Aren’t these “coal-rollers” hipsters since they choose to spite Prii owners?
I fail to see what they’re trying to get at. If you don’t like Prii, then don’t drive one. I don’t like massive trucks with coal stacks and I don’t bother to drive a truck. Problem solved.
The latter.
They’re a ridiculously small minority (I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it – those that think they have seem to mostly be confusing normal hard-acceleration soot, especially if a little out of tune , with it).
Remember contra dal above, that *buses and commercial diesels* emit quite a bit of soot at times, even properly tuned.
Since people who are notionally, supposedly “rolling coal” turn it on and off, rather than having it on at all times, the effect must be minimal.
On the contrary, current buses and commercial trucks have close to zero particulate emissions. Any buses or trucks you see that are making visible soot are either from before 2004, way out of tune, or have had emissions equipment removed.
If any post-2008 pickup is making any soot at all, the most likely explanation is that it’s had the emissions equipment removed.
Dirk Stigler:
+1 on both of your posts
Thousands of vehicles “rolling coal” in urban or suburban areas would be a problem necessitating government reaction at some level. But a handful of people out in the middle of nowhere occasionally having what they consider fun is hardly a threat to Momma Earth or any human.
Making a big deal about this is very obviously elites who know what’s best for everybody denigrating flyover country rubes (as usual). This is very similar to making a big stink about the fuel economy & emissions of race cars. Like it really makes any infinitesimal difference in the atmosphere of the planet.
If you go to Tennessee (and probably other places in the South, but Tennessee is the only place I go regularly) you will see thousands of diesel trucks belching black smoke, in amounts they wouldn’t do if emissions equipment hadn’t been altered or removed. That is, exactly as you say, a problem necessitating government reaction. This isn’t five rural idiots; if it were, no one would know about it.
Naw,this is all part of the uber-left liberal greenweenie movement agenda.
They are against anything that they don’t believe in and foster.
Why don’t they try to outlaw cow farts? Or the smell of dairy, chicken and pig farms?
Oh there are plenty of people out there trying to outlaw the smell of dairy, chicken and pig farms. There have been a few problems around here which is a formerly rural area where they built new housing developments amongst the farms. Lots of the city dwellers who moved out here to “get away from the city” then complain about the smell of the farm that is behind them and have even tried to bring legal action against them in some cases. I say if you don’t like the smell of a farm don’t buy a house next to one.
Highdesert. I can always count on you for entertainment. Thanks I needed a little laugh this morning.
alsorl, I’m glad to oblige.
These are troubled times in the Kingdom. It is how we each choose to deal with these troubles that gets us through the day.
I, for one, am not going to change my lifestyle, if I can help it. The next big thing from the fruit and nut department is Global Warming, don’t ya know?
And I’m not buying into that either.
Neither am I buying into $3 bills.
Are you sure you’re not confusing “black smoke on hard acceleration”, which is *normal* for big diesels, or just age and poor maintenance, with deliberate modification?
Any number of *older* vehicles produce more soot, and more easily, than a modern one. DPF systems on light trucks in the US date to only 2007; trucks before then emitted more soot under normal conditions.
(Though many people illegally removed DPFs from modern trucks, not to “make smoke” but to improve fuel economy or power or for racing.)
I’m just counting post-2008 trucks that shouldn’t produce any soot at all. Lots and lots and lots of them do. Not all are deliberately trying to make more smoke, but many of them have had emissions equipment removed. People will tell you that it’s for fuel economy but given the tiny size of the improvement I don’t think that’s the real motive.
I live in TN. Driving from Memphis to Nashville 3 years ago in my Sky (top down) I was “rolled” by a jacked up RAM. I had little black particles all over my interior, and at the time was confused as to what had happened. I was driving in the right lane, minding the speed limit (rare for me), barely aware of the truck until it started fuming me. I dont think its JUST Prii that they are hitting up, its who ever they think it would be fun to be an a**hat to. Funny thing, three year later I no longer have the convertible, but I do have a hard top FR-S and a Prius… both with decent cabin air filters.
With all due respect to the shallow end of the gene pool. I don’t want to breathe the toxic soot from your derp-locomotive. If you want to “roll coal”, do it in the comfort of your own garage, with the door closed.
people vary widely in their susceptibility to pollutants. (For example, some people will never get lung cancer from smoking; others will get it without smoking, due to genetics.) An asthmatic getting stuck behind one of these things, or a baby in a car behind one of these things is going to suffer.
If someone is driving one of these and is truly in the middle of nowhere, there may well be no point in enforcement. But once other drivers are forced to breathe this stuff, it’s not a victimless crime
This is very simple. It is illegal to modify a emissions certified engine in any manner that will invalidate the certification test. This is true for mobile and stationary engines. The rolling coal folks not only break the law they mock it purposely.
You might get away with taking a dump in your back yard but don’t expect to get away with it if you choose the Ficus plant at your local police department.
Air quality, lung diseases and global warming are least of your concerns when everyone of your family and friends is dying at age 34 of meth addiction,. When I used to live in southern CT I had a neighbor who installed incandescent bulbs everywhere in his house and let them run 24/7 to “piss a liberal off”. I wanted to tell this dimwit that he is the one losing money leaving these lights on, no different from the gullible souls who spend all their money stocking up on guns thinking it will aggravate a President because the NRA told them so. The NRA only cares about brainwashing people into give all of their money to gun manufacturers. Sometimes I wonder how are we a first world?
The problem is always attacking someone for wanting to have more fun than you do. Going into the woods to appricate nature on a trail is more damaging than letting the trail grow over. Spewing soot on Priuses is stupid but I see no problem w gear heads having fun w emissions….
Fun? Only if your idea of having fun is taking a dump in the public pool.
But not just “a dump”: TENS OF THOUSANDS of them. An entire city’s worth of sewage in the public pool that the rest of the taxpayers spent significant amounts of money to build and maintain.
Looked fun in Caddyshack.
I believe that was a Baby Ruth Bar.
Fun? For who?
The poor soul that has to breath in this shit, should they stuck behind one of these clowns?
There’s just no way to justify this kind of behavior.
Most of the time, I think these rigs are obnoxious and their drivers are idiots.
Right up until I’m held up behind the spandex wrapped fruitcake crowd, the ones who regularly confuse themselves for Lance Armstrong and the road I’m using to get to work on for their personal gym. Then, briefly, I’d very much like to own one of these obnoxious rigs. The louder, coalier and more cancerous the better.
If cyclists bother you that much, then advocate for bicycle lanes.
Or learn to drive well enough to pass a stinkin’ bike. It’s really not that hard.
Bicycle lanes are an expansion of the problem, not a solution.
That’s a whole lot of anger for what will usually be less than 30 seconds of delay. Do you get that mad about every slow car driver you encounter?
I do. Get the F out of the way, whether you spank it to Lance Armstrong on a bike or Rachel Maddow in a Prius (shudder).
Last night I had to deal with a whole family of idiots who thought a 10pm bike ride in relatively dark clothes was a good idea.
They should have been thanking Jesus that I could see them.
“… idiots who thought a 10pm bike ride in relatively dark clothes was a good idea.”
Sounds like a set-up for a Darwin Award – I wouldn’t be too concerned.
Amish?
Amish? No way, this was in a development, I was dropping off a coworker on the way home.
I could only see these bicyclists because the development had plenty of streetlights and house lights on.
As inhabitants of a subdivision, it is their right to leisure about at night in any way they desire in the road, their yard, or neighbors yard/driveway. As a passer-through it’s your right to be sued when you hit someone.
I’ve done about 70,000 cycling miles in my life, and, well, I guess some people just aren’t that smart. Even in Cambridge, Massachusetts, one sees people dressed in dark clothes with no lights cycling at night.
@Dan: when cycling in the daytime, I always wear spandex–one of those lime green jerseys that’s visible from the International Space Station.
Anyway, you should be sorry there aren’t more cyclists on the road. If they were all cars, they’d really hold you up. (At least in the city.)
“As inhabitants of a subdivision, it is their right to leisure about at night in any way they desire in the road, their yard, or neighbors yard/driveway. As a passer-through it’s your right to be sued when you hit someone”
Everyone on a public road has a duty to be on it safely.
Even if it’s “in my subdivision”, I don’t gain a right to ride around without reflectors or lights.
(At least around here, it’s REQUIRED to have a front light, and either a rear light or reflectors.)
Yes, they can sue if he hits them. And they can lose, if he can show he was driving safely and they weren’t using required safety equipment or were riding recklessly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ogY3dgy_14
I’ll just leave this here…
I can only imagine that life is very stressful and unpleasant with all that anger.
Oh, come on. I am a cyclist and driver and see it from all angles.
Passing a few cyclists or even a group ride isn’t that hard. Wait for the coast to clear, make the pass, and continue on.
Even when I’ve been delayed, it’s been on the order of 10-15 seconds –– and I’ve often made up the time through application of boost.
As a cyclist, look, 99% of us riders are respectful users of the road are either trying to get to and from to work, run errands, or as you put it “spanking it to Lance Armstrong.” Many of us are also drivers and car enthusiasts and like all things with wheels.
I’d say about 30% of cyclists are willing to share the road, and those are the ones who are casual recreational guys just out cruising around. Once you wannabe racers strap the spandex on, all the sudden it’s riding 2-3-5 abreast and “I’m not going to stop for this sign/light” and the like. Spandex is like the big wing and fart can of the bicycling world; I know if I see someone with it on, the chances are good they’re going to be riding like a raging a-hole with no regard or respect for the traffic around them.
I don’t have any great respect for the brodozer crowd, but I do get a chuckle out of them dousing the Tour de Fags crowd in noxious gas.
One of my riding buddies is a cop. Please, for the love of God, run your rig up on us, rev your engine, then blow smoke on us. The look on your face a few minutes later will be YouTube gold.
Too bad your buddy was not among these victims.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbAhfThNoco
Strafer,
This link encapsulates the entire Rolling Coal mentality and if I could bump this YouTube video to the top of this discussion, I would.
Such ignorance, rudeness, inconsideration on the part of these truck drivers. And, I might imagine, in some of these incidents, a case for vehicular assault might stick.
And yeah, if we were “rolled” on our bikes by one of these asshats as shown in this video, the driver would soon be having one of the most unpleasant and expensive days of his life.
Funny that you mention that…HLN did a segment on Rolling Coal yesterday where one of the youtube clips shown was some halfwit doing that to a State Trooper on the highway then laughing about it. Didn’t show what happened after though….hopefully the Trooper wrote the tool a hefty ticket.
@Dan- if one of these “spandex-wearing fruitcakes” is enough to stoke your insecurity, then it makes me wonder what other psychological issues you have.
I videod a truck “rolling coal” (cool term) and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. In fact, when I see ANY vehicle producing smoke whatsoever I look at it like there’s something wrong with it.
Well, with really old diesels I sort of expect it…but to cause it intentionally?!? Bizarre.
But that’s probably the reaction they want. Anything those socialist liberals (i.e., people with cars instead of trucks, people who don’t live in the south, people who aren’t Christians) see as weird or stupid must be right!
On our old 1969 John Deere, we looked at the black smoke as no big deal.
Why, though, on a 2011 Chevrolet? Do you want people to assume your engine is wearing out?
Yep, “too rich, looks like you overdid your ALDA tweaking.”
I was always kinda glad my w115 had no ALDA, from what I heard about them.
Wouldn’t have minded the extra 40-odd HP from the turbo on the OM617.950, though…
(Mine never emitted meaningful soot, though it did make some white smoke under really heavy initial throttle or quick release of same.
It’s hard for the combustion profile to keep up with those changes!)
My 1990 F250 will have a slight exhaust haze if you floor it from idle.
It has a whole new fuel system and tuned correctly. Fuel hasn’t been messed with on the IP. Set just as it came calibrated from the local pump rebuilder. Had to buy some fancy tools to get the timing set.
My truck puts on 9.1% opacity according to emissions tests.
But, that thick dark smoke is all programmed or on the older diesels the pumps are turned up, or fuel plates, fuel metering valves changed. Someone screwed with them either way. People think its cool. It’s a waste of money and bad for the environment.
Interesting note: in some quarters, showing up on a diesel truck forum asking how to roll coal will get you booed and mocked mercilessly. The rollers seem to be regarded as the truck equivalent of ricers with fart cans and shocker stickers.
There is always going to be that one guy who messes it all up for the rest of us. The coal rollers are that guy.
At least they have the decency to aim the exhaust straight up or to the right. Not too long ago, we had Greyhounds, city buses and the absolute worse were Crown school buses covering you in thick black soot if you dared follow behind. The exhaust went straight at you. And especially with chicks behind the wheel of those rear engine monsters. Full throttle or nothing!
The cyclists it’s sometimes turned on for don’t share your love for the right side venting.
Not to justify this behavior kind sir, but just an anecdote. Way back when I was in grad skool (west tx spelling, see above) I took a job driving skool buses to bring in some cash for just a couple hours a day. The training to get my class B consisted of a very motivated fraulein sitting over my left ear screaming “DIS IZ NOT A CAR. GAS! GAS NOW!”. Apparently to deal with lack of horsepower-per-pound and tight schedules it’s all-on or all-off the loud pedal all the time, and feathering the throttle as in a regular vehicle got you repeatedly brow-beaten till you broke the habit.
Oh, the job sucked as much as you’d imagine, so I lasted four months.
The mental picture of your Teutonic motivator made me laugh. Thanks for that. GAS NOW! SCHNELL!
awesome anecdote. Thanks for the insight, school buses are like VW micrbuses. On/off. But the real gem is, as already mentioned, the image that comes with it.
When I was stuck in stop and roll traffic in Sao Paolo Brazil several years ago I learned that almost all trucks had their exhaust outputs down low and pointed to the side. Made being stuck in traffic with them a real joy.
And this is news why? Modifying the emissions system on a vehicle has been illegal for a long time, the only question has been if you are caught by a state emission check.
Unless you live in a county with no emissions test. If you do have to get tested, there are probably easy ways around the emissions checks.
Like Ohio, where only 12 or so counties have any checks at all. (Ohio plate on that ridiculous truck in the photo.)
Bypassing emissions equipment has been illegal for a long time and is nothing new. There is an entire industry of aftermarket parts that are not legal on the road, sold as “for off-road use only”. Lights come to mind first, but there are plenty more. All come with varying degrees of difficulty of detection by law enforcement.
To me, rolling coal on the road is one of the more obnoxious things to do on public roads. It only proves that you don’t know how to tune your engine properly.
Flip side of the coin: if the core issue is excess pollution, is rolling coal any more polluting than, say, an M3 or equivalent sports car ripping off a few 0-60 runs?
Depends on what you mean by “pollution.”
If you’re talking about stinky sooty smoggy black stuff (particulates), then one rolling coal truck at idle is worse than all the M3s (with stock emissions equipment) in your state.
If you’re talking about greenhouse gases, then the picture is different. But the clouds of particulates alone are reason enough to justify all the rolling coal hate we can dream up.
“But the clouds of particulates alone are reason enough to justify all the rolling coal hate we can dream up.”
Agree. I traveled to New Delhi last year and the air “quality” was simply unbelievable. My lungs burned the entire time and my boogers even turned black and dried up! I learned the PM2.5 concentration was something like 10x the acceptable levels in the USA. Send some of those coal rollers over there to breathe the air and they may change their minds. I certainly won’t take clean air for granted anymore.
Having grown up in LA in the 60s, I’ve never taken clean air for granted. I frickin love the EPA, warts and all.
[email protected] LaMansteve. India and Bangladesh are a mess. I worked there twice. Working in an enclosed office with all of that ripe BO made it a coin toss..better breathing inside, or out.
The epa super cracked down on tuning that disabled dpfs. Its nearly impossible to buy now a days.
Rolling coal is the vehicular equivalent of letting out a long, loud, stinky fart in a full elevator, except with worse environmental consequences.
Only *slightly* better are the ricers and meatheads who think the extra 2 hp generated by removing their cats justify spewing unburned fuel into the atmosphere and into the faces of all the drivers behind them.
I think vehicles that have been deliberately modified to emit more smoke should be subject to immediate impoundment and crushing. Harsh penalty, but appropriate given the egregiousness of the conduct.
This.
I’ve been on a few car and motorcycle forums and even among the less ricey (by and large, not that many ricers want to be associated with Miatas), whenever someone talks about removing their cat, and I mention that they’ll literally pollute hundreds of times more than leaving the cat in place for a gain that’s barely marginal at best, they respond to me like I just told them that dancing should be forbidden in town.
People still remove their cats and think it provides more performance?
It only helped in the 70s because 1970s catalytic converters were f***ing GARBAGE. They certainly aren’t now.
Another note. A few months ago I read a diesel mag that warned against people ruining the hobby for the rest of us and to keep diesel mods smart and respectful. I think they clearly saw this coming but it is odd how it has blown up in the past few weeks.
If you intentionally modify your vehicle to spew black smoke into everyone’s face then you’re a douche. It’s not a middle finger to the environmentalists, it’s a middle finger to anybody driving with their windows down or in a convertible…or pretty much everyone else on the road.
It’s not a political statement, it’s just stupid and impolite. Shaming those who do it should be the appropriate reaction.
Exactly.
Don’t forget motorcyclists and bicyclists. They have to deal with that shit too.
There are lots of youtube vids where voluntarily sticking your face right up to the tailpipe and getting a faceful of diesel soot is seen as cool/funny. Hopefully that genepool will get a little more shallow…
Yeah, those are a form of assault.
“Among study populations most likely to have had substantial exposure to diesel exhaust, the pooled smoking-adjusted relative risk was 1.47 (95% confidence interval = 1.29, 1.67).”
So 47% increased risk of lung cancer.
My idiot neighbor and his idiot kid have been doing this for several years now. Their piece of junk Cummins Rams always have the hoods up in the driveway. When they are running, he’s filling the neighborhood with smoke out of his stacks. He puts a 5 gallon bucket over the stack when we get a hard rain. If you have to grab a 5 gallon bucket, run outside, jump up in the bed, and put it over your stack every time it rains, don’t you think that you are making pretty stupid modifications to your vehicle?
I need to move.
How about running a garden hose to his stack while he’s sleeping?
Don’t have a garden hose long enough (it is 3 houses away). I’d probably also be shot.
When I was in 2nd grade some kids loaded a bulldozer that was “remodeling” the playground’s stack with dirt clods. The flap made it too appealing. They got distracted from finding out which kids did it by the investigation into why they were able to start it. Before skool. Without much effort. I miss 1970 sometimes. Then I remember 300HP is in the economy version of the Mustang/Challenger/Impala whatever, and the freaking Hellcat has 707. 1970. Pfff who needs it.
Apart from how stupid it is in general, you’d think he would, in emulating a Big Rig, put one of those rain caps on the stack…
Rolling Coal is only one of the many obnoxious habits of the brosephs up here – northern Alberta. To go along with the filthy soot, you have trucks that are jacked up to ridiculous levels with what looks like 6 inches of armour plates bolted on the front.
This is especially scary because the people that drive them drive like total di*kwads and can’t be bothered to put their dammed phone away while tailgating and swinging across all lanes of traffic.
Having moved from a place where I could safely bicycle daily to a place where bigger is better, I don’t even feel safe going for a ride around the block. Already some threatened and severely overweight goofballs have purposely buzzed by me at full throttle – or should I say full steam.
Driving a turquoise Fit around town doesn’t garner much more “cred” than does a bicycle.
I love trucks just as much as I love cars, but having someone’s exhaust pipe at window level spew that crud into my face is getting pretty fu**ing old.
“Come at me bro”
People live in Northern Alberta? I thought it was all moose and caribou. I guess the Athabasca oil sands probably changed that a bit. All I know is that I’ve been in Edmonton and Calgary during the winter, and that is rough enough.
@bball40dtw – at one time one could see vast herds of Hummers roaming the northern plains until they became functionally extinct.
Oil money trickling down to the common folk must lower IQ.
Tar sands.
And it’s really uncool to be behind one of these things while on a motorcycle. Not okay.
From what I’ve heard from my Edmonton peeps, nobody can drive ANYTHING in Alberta correctly, period.
Let me start out by saying I’m an ultra conservative King James Bible reading, gun toting guy.
I also drive a Smart car.
My opinion on the people who customize their trucks for the purpose of creating these cloud of smoke is that they are silly. It costs a lot of money to do this. It costs money for fuel every time they blow the smoke. I see this as wasteful.
I’m very far removed for typical environmental groups who say killing any animal is murder and we should all ride bikes made in carbon neutral plants. However, I do believe that we are stewards of this planet, and when we use or ‘damage’ the environment, there should be a reason. I’ve killed deer, which I ate. I pollute the air, to get to work and earn a living. I build campfires, to stay warm and so forth. There is no reason for this waste of money or pollution, which is why I think it is silly.
On the other hand, no media outlet is demonizing the people (like those who own media outlets) that own large boats and private jets that pollute the environment in a much more significant way than these trucks. They don’t demonize those who build bonfires for no practical reason, or joyride in regular cars, motorcycles, or ATVs.
This boils down to people having fun. Is using these trucks in a polluting manner any worse than cruising in your private yacht for a few days? If these people can’t smoke their diesel trucks, they’ll just go buy a diesel Kawasaki Mule that they can smoke.
So my opinion is there is really no definitive answer. There are many ways to look at this from both sides, but neither one is really right. I personally would not do this, because it is illegal and I choose spend my money on more guns rather than diesel and tickets.
Jaks, You sound like a guy I could sit down with and have a few beers.
I don’t know as much about diesels as I should but I gather you need to dump a lot of excess fuel in the combustion chambers for this to work, correct? Because the soot is non-converted hydrocarbon particulate matter caused by inefficient burning.
So what’s downstream of the exhaust manifold on a diesel? Aren’t there particulate filters and catalytic reduction units, etc that would quickly get clogged by said particulate matter?
And if you’ve got additional burning in the catalytic reduction units, mightn’t you have problems with high temperatures and burning out your catalytic units?
Seems like a thoroughly inefficient way to run your truck.
The first thing these mouth-breathers do is remove the DPFs and any other equipment other than open tubing between their turbos and the tailpipe (or, more likely, stack). Can’t have anything that might try to remove any of the precious smoke.
Trucks prior to 2008 don’t have DPFs.
Trucks Prior to 2003 have pretty much no emissions controls. Some had catalyst depending on the brand. Well they do but the limits didn’t require any exhaust, scr, or egr.
My 1990 Diesel f250 just has straight exhaust off of the engine and thats how it came from the factory.
The epa really clamped down on diesels in the 2000’s.
I don’t know the details of it all, but if you want to make 600 hp and 1200 lb-ft of torque out of your 3/4-ton truck engine, you need excess fuel and you’re going to generate some serious smoke. My buddy has a couple of 5.9L Cummins Dodge trucks and both are very smoky on the sort of tunes – and light physical modifications – that provide a 1/4-mile time in the twelves. We drove one across the Rockies while towing an 11,000lb trailer and it could easily maintain the speed limit in 6th gear the entire way. The smoke itself does not harm the truck.
He now drives them in a pretty much stock mode, to reduce smoke out of consideration for others. The exhausts are five inches straight open from the turbo back, which is legal here in Saskatchewan. They do have large Donaldson tractor mufflers that are quieter than most performance exhausts, though still quite noisy. The modifications don’t adversely affect fuel economy or reliability if you drive in a conservative manner.
600HP isn’t going to be going that fast, when it’s in a 6000lb truck.
That’s only got about a 60% bump in pounds per horsepower over my old stock 200hp V6 Ford Escape, and about the same margin over my stock V6 powered Toyota Sienna.
Those guys have nothing on a 330hp gas engine in a car, as far as drag-racing performance goes.
So, yeah, all of those modifications can beat my bone-stock 10 year old minivan off the line. But by a far smaller margin than saying “600HP” would suggest, because of the weight difference. And at what cost?
I bet that if I put the same amount of cash and effort into building a racing engine for my van, I could beat those guys on the drag strip. Without the smoke. With the kid seats installed.
But, alas, I really am a minivan guy and I have better things to do than school these guys. Like playing Legos with my son, for instance!
600 HP isn’t going to be what fast? Are you saying he’s making more power than that? Could be. Those are just estimates. You’ve got to remember though that this is not 600 HP of peak power like a naturally aspirated gas engine, this is about 600 HP across the entire usable rev range, due to the aforementioned torque. They’re actually 7000lb trucks, and they spin all four tires off the line.
This one’s a bit faster, but you get the idea.
youtube.com/watch?v=-NxxqTlCC7s
To go even faster you’ll be making serious smoke.
youtube.com/watch?v=F7kcdo9DEHw
There isn’t a lot of cost to make substantial power in the first place. $1000 worth of programmers stacked together takes care of most of it. The real expenses come shortly after, when you destroy the transmission and need a heavy duty rebuild, then melt the pistons due to an undersized turbo and a lack of gauges, requiring a “new” salvage engine that you build up a little better. But what else are you going to do with all that oilfield money. Pay a redneck in his twenties a couple hundred grand a year and he’s probably going to have some irresponsible fun with it.
Now his daily-driver work truck is just a stock half-ton.
I should add that the really bad smoke is due to an extremely inefficient burn. If you put these tuned trucks in a high gear and floor it at low revs, they’ll dump large amounts of fuel into the engine before the turbo has a chance to spool up and provide adequate air for combustion. As far as I know, he’s never done that to anyone.
I don’t think modern diesels should be allowed to produce smoky exhaust, and older diesels should be kept to a reasonable level, but at least his smoke was generated for the sake of power, not for show or confrontation.
And by the way, last week I saw a young family in a sedan get overtaken by someone in a jacked up pickup. The young man in the pickup stuck his middle finger out the window and cursed at them before cutting off the family and rolling coal. I suspect it was because the sedan had an obama bumper sticker. This was in Virginia.
I’ve been living in the deep South for a number of years and never saw anything like that. I feel sad for people who are so lost that they do things like that.
I agree, both parties in your story seem lost. The young man in the truck should have just completed the stereotype and yelled something to the effect of “Git-R-Done!” or “Prilosec OTC!”.
:-/
I don’t like bumper stickers, they are a royal PITA to get off and damage paint.
But, I’m going to totally vote for Obama, because his sticker was on the back of a Taurus.
Totally made me do a 180.
Arrogance, self righteousness, contempt, dare I say hate? Yup these are some well adjusted happy people doing this.
Pickup trucks are the locus of adolescent and post adolescent hoonery in any case. Monster truck wannabes, loud exhaust systems, truck nuts, and Calvin peeing on whatever stickers are pretty much ordinary occurrences in my experience.
“Rolling coal” trucks are few but obnoxiously visible. Rolling coal in commercial trucks means P going out the exhaust stack as diesel fuel is the major heavy truck cost. I’ve not seen a PU blowing smoke like the one in the pic because most states have diesel PU truck smog tests.
My MB 83 CDT, 5 cyl diesel mechanical injection controlled doesn’t smoke under hard throttle because it is maintained and adjusted not to blow smoke. Smoke, excess diesel, decreases turbo response. The turbo is a heat engine and the exhaust stream has less heat fuel rich than normal.
“The turbo is a heat engine and the exhaust stream has less heat fuel rich than normal.”
Am I misunderstanding how turbos work, or aren’t they a *flow* engine?
F it. Spew particles back. My preferred particles are 7.62 x 39. Sure it’s bad for their health, unethical , likely to impact a bystander and illegal. Any other similarities?
Well, they won’t get a murder conviction, and you will.
So there’s that.
Thats a really rational response to some smoke, do tell us more…… not surprised with the preference for a Commie caliber.
Well, it does make a distinctive sound when fired at us, kind of like a big Cummins does.
Wait, RATIONAL?!? On THIS thread? Are you off your rocker? I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt with that Commie comment that you’re in on the ongoing super-troll here.
I wonder how much of this is really going on. How much is diesel enthusiasts trolling environmentalists? How much is Huffington Post getting their left of center readers in high moral dudgeon? I’ve never seen such a truck in the Detroit area.
I also wonder how much of this comes from drag racing diesel trucks. Whenever I see diesels on the 1/4 mile strip, they’re pouring out huge amounts of black smoke. Perhaps the rolling coal folks picked it up from the drag racers.
As an aside, when I first saw a headline with “rolling coal” I thought it must have had something to do with running vehicles on coal gasification, like the wood gas powered cars used in Germany during WWII.
Here in Washington state, even in rural areas, you see very few of these guys.
In Tennessee where I have family, it seems like every other diesel truck is blowing black smoke. (They may not all be purposefully trying for smoke, but they ALL remove the emissions equipment because that’ll show the big bad gummint.)
I have no idea why you’re trying to troll with political silliness here – rude is rude (and illegal is illegal). That’s not a liberal/conservative issue.
And, yeah, I see these morons quite frequently here in Denver.
Off topic, but is is not about left and right, it is about right and wrong, and there is plenty of it on both side of the left/right divide.
One should use the words “correct” and “incorrect”. “Legal” or “illegal”.
The use of the word “right” in the context of this story has too many political overtones.
Right or wrong – those on the right think that it is their right.
They also believe that sticking to the right side of the road separates “muricans” from the rest of the world that hates us/US.
They think that they are staking out the righteous high ground.
Well, sure, TTACGreg, and generalizing pisses me off too, but if in this case, if we assume the “left” is the Prius / Eco mobile – driving folks that the coal rollers on the “right” are picking on, then one side’s doing nothing wrong…and the other one definitely is.
Now, I suppose you could find a liberal coal roller, but I have a bad feeling he’d never emerge from a cloud of black smoke.
@ Ronnie – This is probably as big a problem as bath salts, vodka soaked tampons, beezin etc etc. Anything to get the “there ought to be a law” crowd spun up. Just one of the many reasons why democracy sucks. The ignorant hear about something like this and go insane. I just think what an asshole and keep it moving. People doing this type of nonsense are just looking for attention. I think this sums it up for me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtF954pDECg
Yea, I’m not buying that this is some crisis. I’m from the country, live near farm country, and have seen this maybe twice in my entire life. Anybody trying to push the idea that this is a major thing is rolling something, and it ain’t coal.
“I’ve never seen such a truck in the Detroit area.”
You wouldn’t. I didn’t see this in Toronto, either. Since I moved out to a relatively rural area, I see it, oh, maybe once a week.
I think we’re talking about a distinctly rural, or at least suburban, phenomenon.
Larger urban centres are more likely to enforce “air care” regulations.
Frequently in Indiana also.
You really need to put this in perspective: EACH violator is outweighing the emissions reduction technology of huge numbers of stock vehicles (for ABSOLUTELY NO PURPOSE).
It was said fairly long ago that a “gross polluter” would out pollute 10,000 modern cars. But that was with much looser standards and was usually referring to old and poorly-maintained vehicles. When we compare much tighter standards to vehicles deliberately modified to pollute as much as possible, I wouldn’t be surprised if the ratio is closer a million.
I’m so torn. On one hand, the turd burglars who jack up their trucks and careen through traffic like an elephant on meth are mouth-breathing idiots and highly obnoxious.
On the other, the small-car (always something small, and generally underpowered) driving whiny bitches who complain about the brodozers tend to be insufferably self-righteous and in need of a good noogie.
“But the bumper height in an accident…”
“STFU let’s talk UFC and Tapout!”
“your carbon footpring…”
“Give me some Monster stickers foo\'”
etc.
Can’t we kick both in their tiny penises?
“On the other, the small-car (always something small, and generally underpowered) driving whiny bitches who complain about the brodozers tend to be insufferably self-righteous and in need of a good noogie.”
I see. So getting a giant blast of noxious fumes aimed at you makes you a whiny bitch?
Glad to know where you stand…LOL
No, whining about it like a bitch makes one a whiny bitch.
I see. Whiny complaints about how bikers need to “get the F out of the way” aren’t “like a bitch.” But whiny complaints about clouds of bro smoke are “like a bitch.” Apparently a bitch-like complaint is any complaint about a problem you don’t care about.
Do you not understand the difference between annoyance at a group of idiots and crying because someone is picking on you?
I don’t see anyone complaining they’re being picked on. I see you complaining about a group (bikers) and a whole bunch of commenters here complaining about another group (coal-rolling yahoos).
If some man child blasts a smoke bomb in front of me, I would hit the inside air button on the ventilation system, back off if there might be any visibility issues, and roll my eyes at the foolishness of it.
Pedestrians and cyclists don’t have that option.
Pedestrians and cyclists don’t matter.
+1 lol.
Dudes on motorcycles don’t have options, either. No “recirculate” option for us.
I’m frankly surprised it took so long for this kind of indignation to surface. Finally, a new crusade.
Want to shut these morons down? It’s simple – use the same method I use for tailgaters. Start pretending to take pictures of their rig with your phone, and then act like you’re calling the cops on them. Point at them, then your phone. That usually ends the bad behavior.
Failing that, I’d suggest reverse trolling. Maybe a Prius equipped with an emitter for noxious (but environmentally harmless) fumes. That, or a prepped Mitsu Evo with a bunch of anti Tea Party stickers on it. Good luck rolling coal on THAT, fellas…
Childish at best on the second point.
Childish can be fun…
@FreedMike – someone mentioned Celine Dion on loud speakers.
How about two huge bumper stickers on the back of the Prius “Roll Coal For Hillary” and “Hillary next Commander in Chief”.
That aught to kill it.
Because of the substantial mileage penalty associated with emission-controlled diesel engines (periodically, diesel fuel is injected into the exhaust stream ahead of the diesel exhaust particulate filter to help burn out accumulated deposits), it seems like a lot of folks are taking them out. Also, emission-controlled diesels use exhaust gas recirculation to control combustion temperatures, and these have proved pretty problematical, especially in the first two generations of the emission-controlled Ford “Powerstroke” diesel used in their heavy duty pickup truck. There are — and always have been — big fines for tampering with the emission equipment.
But at least there’s some excuse.
Changing the timing or volume of the fuel injection to make a bunch of smoke is, however, inexcusable.
This weekend, I happened to pull up behind a ’67 Pontiac Tempest convertible on a street. As we were rolling along, I could immediately smell the exhaust, although the car was not making any visible smoke and the driver was just toodling along at 35 mph with the top down and 3 passengers comfortably enjoying the Sunday ride.
Funny I never remember smelling that from 1967.
Clearly, the “effete corps of impudent snobs” (Spiro Agnew’s phrase written for him by speechwriter Vic Gold) have discovered some good clean redneck fun, and they don’t like it.
I’m not effete, impudent or a snob, but I don’t like it either. They should stick to bluegrass music, which I do like.
I can smell a 60’s car in front of me for a long ways.
Cars are so clean now compared to then, that I think we just now notice the smell that our brains used to take for granted.
Whenever I’m driving my GS around I can’t believe the operational odors.
Although, is the gas formulation different now? Perhaps our older cars put out things that wouldn’t have formed in the combustion process 40 years ago…
Anyone?
I remember getting in from heavy traffic in the 60’s, and having my clothes reek of unburned hydrocarbons, rather similar to being in a smoky bar, just a different smoking material so to speak.
Lead was removed from gasoline 40 years ago. We finally figured out it was leading to mental retardation.
A car from the 1960s emits more VOCs when off (not idle, but actually not running at all) then many modern vehicles will at WOT.
And yeah, lead. That was not a smart move. One of possible reasons that crime rates have fallen is the removal of lead from the atmosphere.
There’s nothing stopping you from running generic cats, just for your own sake. But I’ll smell what I think is an old car, scanning around traffic, see nothing and then spot the slammed Acura slicing thru traffic way ahead. Gutted cats no doubt.
Right, but…
1) Emissions controls weren’t required in 1967, so that point’s moot.
2) How many ’67 Pontiac Tempests are out there, versus current diesel pickups?
Seems to me the impact of classic cars trolling around on weekends is probably miniscule.
We have county agencies in Florida that enforce environmental standards- in construction, manufacturing and pollutant disposal. I go to my local agency frequently as a first step in construction permitting. In the lobby they have a variety of pamphlets and flyers covering their various programs. One of those flyers I read actually encourages you to call them if you see a vehicle spewing excess exhaust. They claim they will investigate and take enforcement action. The inspectors/investigators do look like like wanna be cops in their black tactical gear (badges but no guns)but I do believe they will make your life miserable if someone gives them your tag number.
Verboten*
Fixed. URL is fixed, as well.
The EPA probably thinks HUMAN BEINGS BREATHING constitutes pollution.
Remember, this is the organization that wants to regulate CARBON DIOXIDE as a pollutant.
Snort.
http://www.skepticalscience.com/co2-pollutant-advanced.htm
Wait, wait, what does your God say about CO2?
CO2 can be viewed as such or not, it depends on the situation and the factors involve. CO2 can be lethal. If grey area multifactorial thinking is beyond some one and they must view everything in simplistic absolutist black and white terms, then so be it.
Co2 produced on the level of industrial activities is a pollutant. When you say things like this it makes me think you’re an idiot. I’m sure you think you found a silly loophole in the logic but scientists would eviscerate you.
“Remember, this is the organization that wants to regulate CARBON DIOXIDE as a pollutant”
Carbon dioxide that you breathe is not the issue; it’s previous-locked carbon that’s been in the earth for millions of years.
Anything can be a pollutant (or rather, a significant environmental disturbance), in sufficient quantities. Consider what too much water does to arable land, which is why the EPA can take an interest in dams.
There are plenty of these morons in Montana.
I’d love to see them ticketed and fined.
I’m proud of you, B&B, they generally get this is stupid and crude! There is hope for humanity yet….
On topic though, actually the dealer or garage who sells you the equipment to modify your exhaust to ignore the catalytic converter can be fined and closed along with all such devices seized and destroyed. It’s not generally done because that’s manpower resources that can be used elsewhere. Not to mention any police officer who sees it can seize your vehicle and impound it because again, state DOTs ban the same devices across all 50 states. ‘Rolling Coal’ is so stupidly illegal I’m genuinely surprised more trucks aren’t seized because they would be a great boon to sell at auction once an impound mechanic strips off the offending parts.
@Xeranar – I’m sure that there is an “off road, closed course only” warning label somewhere in the packaging and/or a disclaimer stating “use may void manufacturer warranties and/or render vehicle illegal” which shifts blame away from the company making the product.
I’ve seen similar disclaimers on stuff I’ve purchased for dirt bikes.
If they sell you a part and you install it yourself they’re absolved, if they install it and you drive away with it installed you’re in a largely illegal position as many DOTs in the states apply it to if its on the car as an installed component and not if its active.
White trash will never be satisfied until we all wear gas masks when we drive our cars.
Rolling coal was cool about 10 years ago, when programmable ECU mods were still something of a novelty. Unfortunately, the practice has proliferated and the equipment is even more democratized. Fun time is over. Now it’s just white trash demonstrating that they can create Constitutional havoc by exercising their freedom in ways that harm others and public resources.
In fairness, the protest component of “rolling coal” isn’t a bad idea — people have an obligation to exert their political agency in order for a democratic country to function properly. The catch is that they’re doing it in the wrong bloody way and against the wrong bloody people.
Instead of blowing poisonous smog on pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers, how about learning something about how the government works, and then voting for people who represent your secular political interests rather than because they love Jesus and hate gay people?
EPA is an independent agency. That’s why people lose their minds over EPA regulations.
People don’t know that and don’t think in terms that sophisticated. People lose their minds over EPA action because it’s gummint telling them what to do. If you asked 1000 anti-EPA protesters I expect you’d be lucky if five could tell you 1) it’s an independent agency and 2) what that actually means.
You can really blow their minds by telling them who signed the presidential order to create the EPA: their right wing hero, Nixon.
This whole “rolling coal” pseudo-crisis sounds like a pretext for instituting California-style emissions testing, coast to coast.
Why don’t we just ignore the coal-rollers? Soon they’ll go away, along with “Party Down South” and flat-billed hats.
“Party Down South” It sounds like a woman with crabs.
The problem is that emissions testing won’t do a thing about this. You “flip a switch” to make this happen so you just don’t flip the switch when getting tested.
“White trash will never be satisfied..”
Now wait a minute, I don’t want this to become racial, but does anyone remember Bubb Rubb and Lil Sis?
The whistles go WHOO WHOO, know what I’m sayin’?
You supposed to be up cooking breakfast for somebody
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUXow3d3-b0&feature=kp
I didn’t know, which was nice.
Are white trash their own separate race now?
A few more generations of homogamy, and they might be.
Some day I hope to get to a point in my life where there is so little else for me to worry about that I can actually give a damn about this.
You are commenting on the article to say that you don’t care. I’d say you’ve reached that point.
Sorry Quentin, I have to agree with him, this is no matter of life or death, its avoidable, and a insulting way to waste funds.
I wonder how the term originated.
There’s no coal involved, and the only rolling is, well, the tires on the truck.
Well, the trucks usually do it on quick acceleration bursts (hence the ‘rolling’). Coal, presumably because it looks like old steam locomotives operated by firemen who are showing off for the crowd on latter-day excursions.
Light trucks before 2008 [introduction of DPFs] can emit soot on acceleration *without modification*, so that’s not “coal rolling” either.
The notional trend is that of deliberately generating massive smoke, as much as possible, not of normal acceleration-produced soot on an older diesel engine.
What these numb-nutted wankers don’t understand is that its going be harder for us to get the diesel cars we want. The manufacturers are slowly introducing diesels to passenger car market. Since the EPA can’t stick it to the individual truck owners, they’ll stick it the manufacturers. The car makers have 2 choices – make it impossible to remove the diesel particulate filters or quit selling diesel products. Since companies like to take the path of least resistance (which is usually the cheap way), we can say goodbuy to diesel automobiles. Way to go morons!!!
As a frequent bicycle rider in Colorado,I see these lovelies almost every ride. As a chemically sensitive person, diesel smoke bothers me ALOT more than it does most people. Usually the driver likes to give the
throttle a blip as they go by in an attempt to insult me and to discourage me from my pleasure.
The police could be a help, but they couldn’t care less about pollution. There is a visible polluter law in this state, but I’m sure the cops routinely turn a blind eye. They are usually rednecks themselves.
It is amazing to me that a 20,000,000# train rolling through town makes less visible smoke than a 5000# truck.
The government is to blame too. No diesel engine should be allowed to be manufactured without a turbo. The mfgs. have been lying about diesel emissions for decades now. And the gov. is complicit, slapping
virtually insignificant fines on mfg. fabricating test results on engines.
I see where the Edge product has been fined heavily. Glad to see that.
…
You are aware that no diesel light truck in America has been sold without a turbo in years, right?
The PowerStroke has been turbocharged since 1994. The various GMC engines (in trucks) have been since 1992, likewise the Dodges had a turbo from the start.
The only NA diesels sold in America in the past 20 years, as far as I know, were some late-90s Mercedes models (the 96 and 96 E300D), and some VWs until ’97 (though the turbos were available and I think much more common).
Any NA diesel you see on the street should thus be almost 20 years old, if not older.
Um, I don’t think a NA light truck diesel has been sold in the US since GM stopped putting the 6.2 in trucks. Compared to the turbo engines, NA diesels are weak, and really won’t “roll coal” like their turbo brothers.
How is a turbo supposed to help cut down on emissions? I really doubt the OE’s have been lying about emissions, they would love to get around the new rules if they could. What you see is either old “dirty” diesels or ones that have been modified.
I’m torn on this situation. I love Prii, but I support coal.
This rolling coal is too far, but people are overreacting.
How much does this even happen, I’ve seen 1 instance, and that was in one of the most liberal areas around, downtown Asheville, NC
A lot of ado about nothing it seems IMHO.
Everyone feels entitled to bitch and complain about so many non important issues, up and until they have to give some their way. Making laws and making it a big deal will only increase awareness and therefore the number of people doing it.
No one actually gives a darn about your Prius, sounds like the prii type at Huff(all?) just are starving for a little attention.
But it is fun to read so many people complain.
@Hummer – this story is making the rounds. I’m sure that it will spawn copycats all over the place but in the end who will get hurt by a bunch of pissed off “greenies” with political clout?
The best way to get laws passed is by shining a light upon something that “looks” bad. It doesn’t need to be bad, just look bad.
People are emotional creatures and pushing the right buttons (or in this case the correct left buttons) will screw the tuner industry and any enthusiast who is responsible with performance products.
Your blog name is a prime example – optics were a huge factor in killing that brand.
Sh!t , even the Chinese which are shining examples of PC and Environmentalism didn’t want to buy it.
I love being different, people get engrained with rediculous ideology so far from the truth. People will read or hear some “news” and believe it cannot be wrong, when something comes to challenge that ideology it wrecks them simply because facts can’t match up with fantasy.
On the other hand, the Chinese and 3 US buyers were denied the chance to purchase, while I believe the reason is one only GM execs know, I’m happy that the brand died, versus becoming what Jeep has became. Besides once AM General starts rolling out the new civilian Humvee we’ll be right back where we started… That and all patents revert back to AMG this year… And AMG still has all the H2 equipment stored…
But I agree with your post.
I’ve seen it on YouTube, just like everyone else. I lived in Asheville for a year, and that cracks me up. I’d have loved to see it. I wouldn’t stop laughing at the “non-conformist” uniform of jeans with Birkenstocks and mismatched socks. If one of them accidentally left home with matching socks he’d have to go home and change in shame.
Do you know where mellow mushroom is in asheville? It was right at that intersection.
I had to look it up, but yes. It was about 10 minutes from where I lived. I’m pretty sure I ate (and drank!) there. The clash of cultures is very real there. Although I was raised in berkeley CA, I found it easier to get along with “old NC” than the Ashevillians.
Nuclear option! Ban light duty diesels
Another nuclear option: require drivers to have CDLs, commercial plates and commercial vehicle inspections in order to drive diesel pickups with GVWR exceeding 6,000 pounds and bed lengths in excess of 6 feet. We can even go back to the days when truck owners had to put their name and gross unladen weight on the doors in some states.
Either that or adopt Euro VI standards for light-duty trucks and institute a “cash for clunkers” scheme for older diesel trucks.
You do realize the most ragged diesel truck can still hold a good $5000 in value? The only thing that would get scrapped in that scenario would be old VWs.
Besides everything else you suggested is a job killer, what about all the F650 trash dumpster trucks that the local high schoolers do for jobs? Your going to require them to pay someone at least $25 an hour to do a job not even worth the ~$8 or so being paid?
The current setup that requires CDL for tandem axle trucks is a PIA as it is.
Oh no, someone might make a living wage. Can’t have that.
Oh I’m sorry didnt realize high school students were required to make wages high enough to live as well as an experienced worker. Besides there driving trucks on back roads, there’s no heavy labor in sitting in a cab with A/C and a radio for a few hours a day.
But no they should be making $20 an hour for their sacrifice! After all whose going to play all those video games?
the steam locomotive foamer in me hates the coal reference here, since diesels are a dirty word when it comes to trains for me, so seeing a steam train reference used to describe a diesel irks me. That being said, while I still generally consider this sort of behavior “compensation”, I can, on one level, understand why they’d want to do this.. I no longer recycle; at this point, with dear Uncle Sam exerting ever more control of our lives, I’m gonna enjoy the freedom to make the decisions I still can. That being said, as others have pointed out, this is next to impossible to enforce, so carry on. You can call it fuck the EPA and fuck Obama all you want, I’m with you in that sentiment, but just don’t call it rolling coal. Leave my sainted steam trains on their pedestal.
Yes, because refusing to recycle is really sticking it hard to the gummint, and not the ecology surrounding the landfill nearest you. Idiot.
@koschei – the look of horror on liberals and environmentalists faces makes it worth it. It is also easier. no worrying about which goes in which bin, everything goes in together. One less day to worry about remembering to take out refuse as well. Life is simpler, liberals are angrier, so I’m happy. I’m one person in a county of a million. the landfill wouldn’t notice if I died and stopped producing waste altogether.
If the materials you recycle had any value then someone would pay you for them, or at least pick them up for free. Instead, we are forced to pay a company to consume energy and resources collecting, transporting, and handling those worthless materials so people can think they’re doing something good about our wasteful culture.
@rpn453 – the garbage truck is gonna be stopping at my house whether the recyclable materials get thrown in with them or not. However, the recycling truck isn’t stopping, so I guess I’m actually lowering its carbon emissions!
I’m only one person in a county of a million in a country of 300 million. My refusal to recycle my waste isn’t gonna have anything close to a measurable impact on anything. It’s like my republican friends and family who were all upset I “threw away” my vote for Gary Johnson in the last election rather than vote for Mitt Romney in an effort to help defeat Obama. As I point out to them, even if I had voted for Romney, Obama would still be President now (and I live in Florida, so my vote arguably “counts” more than others), so my vote would’ve been just as wasted on Romney, and in that case, I was voting for the candidate I didn’t agree with as much.
I know I’m late to this discussion, but the idiots who do this really need to take a minute for self-reflection (if they can figure out what that is — even chimps can recognize themselves in a mirror, so there is hope.)
Particulate inhalation can be deadly for people with asthma. A good lungful can trigger an episode in both kids and adults. And yes, people do die from the condition, all the time. It is a major cause of trips to the ER.
So, whoever said upthread that this was assault is more right than they know. Civilized areas (ie, with enforced emissions laws) should ticket the offenders straight away and force them off the road until the cars are cleaned up.
I would suggest community service for the offenders in the form of 3 months of working in a Chinese coal mine. That might give them some perspective.
May the morons who do this not only be fined but be afflicted with one of the many cancers associated with excessive exposure to PM10 and PM2.5.
I own an ’89 F250 diesel (non-turbo, indirect injection, rotary Stanadyne injection pump). Fairly simple, straightforward stuff, nothing sophisticated.
When accelerating hard (a very modest pace in comparison to traffic around me), it always emits some black smoke. Nothing like the above picture. I always think badly about it, as it is just unburnt fuel, and wasted money.
A question – where do these folks get the money for this ? Diesel are inherently expensive. Expensive to buy, expensive to maintain. What jobs do these folks have to afford the fuel and, I expect, considerable non-warrantied powertrain repairs ?
The same could be asked of those who live in trailer parks and work two minimum-wage jobs, yet still have the money for satellite/cable TV, a smoking habit, 3 beers every night, and a small fleet of non-functioning autos.
Here in the Canadian prairies, they’re called rig rockets because they tend to be owned by oil field workers, who make enough money that a new truck and the associated costs are minor expenses. The truck – along with the other toys, women, and drugs – are a shiny distraction from a job that basically purchases their life from them at a premium rate.
I’ve seen this topic batted around a few places and my question is, why are Chevrolet trucks generally shown? GM sells the fewest diesel pickups and is a distant second to Ram in the percentage of jerk owners. Seems like more “Government Motors” bias to me.
It might be that they are better photographers than RAM owners, resulting in the perceived “Government Motors bias”.