Pulled over for "pop can" exhaust

NYSpeed Automotive NYSpeed Off Topic
1

I didn’t end up getting a ticket. But the situation was fairly amusing because I don’t have a “can” exhaust. I have a Bosal (Subaru Performance Tuning) setup. As in a real muffler shaped muffler.

Regardless, none of that is to the point of my story.

Trooper: Your “pop can” is too loud.
Me (in my most innocent voice): But sir, it’s a dealer installed option.
Trooper: Doesn’t mean it’s legal. Can you hear it from inside the car?
Me: Um…yes. But I could hear it before I put this exhaust on too.
Trooper: If you can hear your exhaust from inside the car it isn’t legal.
Me: !!!
Trooper: I’m gonna write you a ticket.
Me: What about a Viper, a Mustang GT or something like that, you can hear those from inside the car…
Trooper: But those are like that from the factory.
Me: Doesn’t the noise level determine whether an exhaust is legal? What’s the legal noise limit?
Trooper: I don’t know.
Me: Then how do you know those other cars aren’t illegal from the factory?
Trooper: Stay here, I’ll be back (walks to car with my license and reg.).

15 min passes, as I sit there with my window open in 0 degree windchill.

Trooper: You should look into the noise level. I know I will. If your exhaust is too loud you should take it off.
Me: I’ll do that.

Now before people jump on me and say “He’s just doing his job,” I know that. I agree with it. It was 1:30 am, I’m in a car with a somewhat noisy exhaust and tinted windows. I get it.

But if you’re ready to give me an exhaust ticket, know the damn legal noise limit. That’d be like telling me I was pulled over for speeding then not being able to tell me what the speed limit was.

2

:word: but i know mine is illegal so if i get a ticket… oh well

3

i still don’t get that…is modified exhaust illegal, or loud exhaust? because you brought up a great point…a lot of cars from the factory can be and are louder that many modified exhaust cars…

4

i for one think if u have a cat and a muffler they shouldnt harass u. its legitiment. i will put a inspection sticker on it then keave it the fuck alone

5

new york is fudged up…ny inspection regulation says u do not need a muffler (just a converter) to pass inspection and legally drive on the road but u can be issued a ticket if u have to loud of a muffler. Id like to see a cop give a ticket to some muscle car guy with a big loud cammed up motor

6

Dude your complaining about a decible limit but guess what their is no limit for NYS its up to the cop to pull u over for being to loud. And if it is dealship install which is made to keep the warrenty good then you should be fine, you will probally have to get it in writing from the dealship that its ok. but even then they still might give you trouble

7

last i checked, NYS states the law as “anything louder than stock”

and a few years ago, i thought it was something like 96db was the law…

8

i could have sworn that NYS says a modified exhaust is an illegal exhaust

and noise levels have NOTHING to do with “if you can hear it in the car” … hes retarded for saying that, as thats totaly dependant on whats between your head and the tail pipe for sound deadening

by his explination, i fyou have a stock car, and totaly gutted the interior, and now can hear your exhaust, your STOCK exhaust is illegal

9

Your sig is too big. And makes all the pages too wide so I have to scroll over, please fix it, it is very annoying.

10

your sig is wider than his.

11

yup, anything other then the stock exhaust is illegal. Doesnt matter how loud it is, if its not stock, its illegal.

12

i’m gonna pretend i’m the second post in this thread to skip all the bullshit. but anyways, nice social engineering on the ‘but sir… dealer installed option’

managing to eat 15mins while he felt stupid on something he should have researched and Known beforehand = awesome

yeah, he’s just doing his job.

but in this case, he sucks at it.

which is why i work on my shit after the workday’s done, and on weekends:

so i don’t suck at it.

13

:uhh:

my sig is 400x90, well within the 500x100 sig parameters

your sig is 489x96, which is also within parameters, yet also WIDER than mine

so the problem is on your end

thanks for sharing

:ham:

edit don’t forget 90 is not > than 96 :fyi:

14

btw:

15

Your wheels are too stupid. And they make all the S4s look too lame and shitty, and I have to look away when I see it. please change them back to stock, they are very annoying.

16

I think I’m destined to be stopped a lot for an exhaust ‘pop’ in the Esprit, it burbles and pops all the time under engine braking/reverse torqueing.

17

You got lucky he didn’t write you a handfull. Most troopers don’t give warnings.

18

Whether or not that’s true, the point of this thread is that the trooper HAD NO IDEA what the criteria for me actually breaking the law would have been.

19

There is a huge double standard between imports and domestics in regards to exhaust noise.

Its bullshit if you ask me. I have a thunderbird with headers, and 4 inch exhaust with a bassani muffler and cops actually give me the thumbs up at lights and shit.

20

JDRM2 posted the same stuff I’ve posted before.

DB DOES NOT MATTER
The statute is written, “Anything louder than stock”. Yes, it’s unfair for civics et al with their whisper quiet stock exhausts when compared with my stock GTO that I can hear rumbling inside my house when I leave it idling in the driveway. But that’s the law.

The only question is because the dealer installed it does that make it “stock”? Since it is a dealer installed performance part, not a factory installed option, I’m guessing that doesn’t qualify as stock.

As for the cop, he does sound like an idiot. Any professional that uses the term “pop can exhaust” is deserving of a baton beating. In his defense, he doesn’t need to know DB limit, all he needs to know is the fact that your model car, stock, is quiet, while your specific car is not.