Depends on your neighbors. If I had some guy pounding out dents until 1:30 am and testing motors without mufflers at 6AM, Id complain too. SOme folks like their neighborhood to look nice and neat and that means no primer-mobiles in the driveway, and I can understand that.
Last 'hood I lived in was mostly retiree's and I had some guy that didnt appreciate my youth, I suppose. I knew who it was. He was a member of the HOA board as well. Official Rule was no auto repair in driveway. If your driveway and garage was full of cars already, you could park on the street overnight, else it was a violation. My DD at the time (a Lexus mind you) was parked in the street for a few months before I got rid of it after the Challenger was all done.....
ANYWAY.....
Worked on the Challenger in garage, during daylight hours. Nothing bigger than springs, axle work and head R&R and other minor things. Only ran air compressor and air tools with garage door closed. Intentionally Low Key. Didnt take long and apparently (according to neighbor across the street, 3months into it.....) I was one of the subjects of 4 months worth of monthly HOA meetings, where I was supposedly getting nasty letters in the mail about my abhorrent activities that needed to cease immediately. (I wasnt getting the letters though, and never did) Towards the end it Got to the point I would be nervous just checking the dipstick, and would wait till dark or do it super fast.
HOA finally Did have a letter go out to entire 'hood that STRONGLY admonished people who parked cars in the driveway instead of inside of their garage, and that garages WERE NOT meant for storage of ANYTHING else and all people should be parking their cars in the garage. Any cars on street would be towed no warning and that enforcement started next week. Most of the neighbors took strong offense to it. But it stuck.
Right before I moved, and had finished what little work I was doing, because this guy had a beef against me they amended the HOA Rules and Regs to state that the ONLY WORK that can be done to a car ANYWHERE on the property (including the garage) , was the changing of a flat tire. NOTHING ELSE, period :spank:
Now the trick here is, HOA R and R's can put whatever rules in them they want.... but that doesnt mean they can legally enforce all of them, especially since I didnt sign that version of the R and R's
New place Im at, which has far fewer Retiree's... has the standard ""no major work on cars even in garages, rules"".... but theres no hassle as long as you keep a low profile. When I scoped the nieghborhood before buying I noticed there were several other toy cars/bikes in the neighborhood that had to be having some work done on them in the garage so I knew I was going to be safe.
