I think the loud exhaust issue is a problem personally. yeah on classic cars and such i see it as being ok, the thing that bothers me is the people with the huge piece of shit cars that put the tips on them and basically make them sound like lawn mowers, thats rediculous. now the problem with this is how do you draw the line between the older performance cars and the shit-mobiles with the tips. if you pull one over and not the other it starts problems for the police.
My friend has a 67 newport with a full 5 inch exhaust system and has never been pulled over in it for its ungodly loud exhaust but when the october storm hit and ripped the exhaust off of his corsica he got busted for that. it makes no sense how one can be fine and not the other.
The only other thing that bothers me about the issue is when you get pulled over for a loud exhaust, is if you have a full exhaust system(headers back) and you go to court and they tell you if you remove the exhaust and put a more restrictive exhaust on which is not as loud, now you have to remove a 800 dollar exhaust system and find another one to put back on that is “acceptable.” i think they should rethink their approach to how they do things like this.
now if i get a 3 inch exhaust system and its fully emissions legal and i get pulled over for it being too loud i would be mad too. now if they made it part of the state inspection that the sound level had to be in a certain decibel rance in order to pass i think it could help resolve this issue for the most part.
but of course there will always be the people who have connections and can just get an inspection sticker from a friend who is also a shop owner/worker
thats just my .02