Tonight I was pulled over on the way home at 4am from a DJ gig in Santa Cruz. The officer said my exhaust was too loud and I should lay off the gas pedal when driving at night. I was administered a quick field sobriety test but thankfully I was smart enough not to drink and drive. He let me go with a warning.

The Alta turbo-back kit sounds great in the cabin but it's easy to underestimate how loud it is outside. Be careful and safe out there!

 

What a ****.
I've had problems with friends getting pulled over. Funny enough, I've purposely gone WOT by cops in my mustang (no cats, magnaflow exhaust) and its louder than any car I've heard and I don't get pulled over.

It just sucks, cops think that anything 4 cylinder is ricer and should be so quiet

Here (florida) is a silly law made in the 60s I believe that can't really be proven or disproven. Says a car must be as loud as it was stock. Are they going to go to a mini dealer and hold a mic to the exhaust?

Sorry my rant is over. lol

Have fun,
Josh

 

i think the problem is California! hehe....

 

and sound laws very by state. You COULD get or borrow a sound meter, and actually measure the sound. Then you'd know if you were in technical violation or not. Information is power.

Matt

 

I've got some friends here in SD that have removed the muffler entirely and have gone straight pipe. It is rather loud, but not "hey pull me over loud." Of course, we all know the police are just here "to protect and serve."

 

He was fishing for drunk drivers and pulling over people for any reason just to check i'd bet.

 

+1

yeah dont get pissed about it...getting pulled over for "no reason" keeps us all safer by catching drunks and those with warants. If you just remain calm and courteous you will not get a ticket. a warning really isnt a ticket, a warning just logs it so if you seem to have a pattern of it, then you will be more likely to get a real ticket for that offence in the future, so if you do have a loud exhaust take heed of the warning

 

Reason number 1,200,001 that I am SOOOOOOOOO glad I don't live in freakin' California.

 

Yea, I think the 4 AM had a lot to do with it.

 

Check you local laws, a sound meter isn't necessary here in Wisconsin. Any modification to the exhaust that changes it from stock is technically illegal.

 

It has always bugged me that motorcycles can shake the ground with noise and the police ignore it while the rest of us with cars.......if we deviate from stock just a little.......POW!!! Ticket!!

I live in Calif.

 

Motorcyclists says the noise is for their safety. I would say the same for cars as well because when you are in someones blind spot the noise will let them know that you are there.

 

I got pulled over once in coconut creek, fl back when I had my GTP.. The cop sat at the light while I took off slightly, threw up the lights, and said "your car made mine shake..it was vibrating when you took off!" I was like, sorry?! so he's like seriously asking me why it's loud and I said it was the mufflers and he's like, the things at the back of the car? Total n00b - no lie either! just some young cop

 

Once I found out that MINI designers actually seek to comply with noise-pollution standards in Europe I thought it was more cool to have a quiet MINI.

 

I always love this argument among the Harley/Custom crowd. So then why don't Goldwings, BMW motorcycles, Triumphs, etc... all have loud pipes?


My Irish friend had an 'altercation' with a harley dude and a piece of rebar after waking up his baby at 11pm every-night gunning it down his street. Several neighbors baked him pies and cakes when he got out of jail...also mowed his lawn, baby sat, ran errands for his wife...

 

+1

 

Word

 

The problem is California. Can't sneeze in public there without getting a ticket. Many Californians are now moving to Vegas & trying to screw up our laws here now!

 

Yes... my father used to be a cop, and he caught quite a few drunks by doing minor pull overs like this. He'd never give a ticket for loud exhaust, but you never know at four in the morning.

To him, you could have been a drunk kid zooming around after a party. Better safe than sorry. I've been pulled over once or twice for "stupid" reasons.

You never know... maybe a cop saved your life by pulling over someone for a loud exhaust?

 

I wasn't cited for the loudness so I'm sure it was just the legal reason to stop me and see if I was doing anything else wrong like drunk driving. He quickly changed the subject to questions about where I was coming from and had I been drinking. He complemented me on the exhaust and asked where I had it done. He was very friendly and took very little time before letting me go.

 

Sounds like a nice cop to me. I'd like to get pulled over by a nice cop for a change.

 

our laws stink. Our cops stink, the traffic stinks, the earthquakes stink. The polotics stink. The weather stinks. The beaches stink. The mountains stink. It sucks so bad, I just wish the 1/8th- 1/12th of the US population that lives here because it stinks so bad would just leave!

Matt

 

F* the police, they shouldn't have been fishing for ****. NO probable cause, no reason to administer a field sobriety test. Sheeple.

 

Absolutely! You have a right to move and associate freely in this country. If they are going to pull you over, they have to be investigating a crime. I am not advising that you be rude to the cops, that is not going to get you anywhere. Horrible, unprovable laws should be eliminated from the books if for no other reason than to prevent this sort of illegal fishing for offenses.

I am not sure about the state noise laws here, but the local ones i am familiar with specify a decibel level you may reach. Sometimes it is lower during the overnight period. Everyone I know of that has been pulled over here has been cited, has been shown the meter reading, and have subsequently paid the fine. No fishing nonsense, just action that actually may have benefited the public, and put a few dollars in the public kitty. They'll get you for the stereo, too.

 

The only reason traffic stops are done to check for sobriety, especially late at night, is because there is a long history of people driving drunk with lots of people being killed. If you get stopped and haven't been drinking then you don't have anything to worry about. If you have been then you probably deserve what you get checked for.

Regardless there isn't a need to start ranting on civil liberties here so be happy in the fact that the original poster just received a warning and he hadn't been drinking.

Mark