Mario_D

Must be my lucky week. Highway patrol gave me a ticket on Vasco road for a modified exhaust. To make a long story short the citation is for:

27150 Section A:
27150. (a) Every motor vehicle subject to registration shall at all
times be equipped with an adequate muffler in constant operation and
properly maintained to prevent any excessive or unusual noise, and
no muffler or exhaust system shall be equipped with a cutout, bypass,
or similar device.

The officer circled the "NO" for Correctable Violation. So it would seem that it is at the officer's discretion if the car is too loud. The car has an AEM intake (w/ E.O. number), DC header (w/ E.O. number) and a 5Zigen muffler (rear section only) and the stock d16.

Is there a way to fight this? The last modified exhaust ticket I got I was able to get out of it due to dB testing. That was with a b18c1 + Apex N1 exhaust. I'll have to dig up that paperwork to see if I have an out.

Thanks.

Mario-

Del Namco Solo

He can't just pull you over and say "your exhaust is too loud". Unless he did a DB test right there (with your permission and after he pulled you over) then he can't do ****. HE HAS to pull you over for a legit offense (not just "your exhaust is loud", cuz you could have a leak, and they wont pull over THAT person....)

Every state has a noise limit. For example, Maryland is 119 db. Luckily, 2.25 inch intake, 2.25 inch header, and 2.25inch exhaust only makes me 108 db. I am under the limit, and since I pass emissions every 2 years with the mods ON, I can fight them easily.

"The officer circled the 'NO' for Correctable Violation"

He was wasting your time and bring a dick (didn't hit his quota for the month). Just take it to court and show them the ticket where it says that he put "NO" for correctable violation and say "if its not correctable why waste my time." IF you cannot correct it, then its not a problem imho (according to the ticked ).

Other then that I don't really know what to tell you. People tell me all the time "even if your under the DB limit and pass emissions its illegal to put an after market exhaust on your car" yet I never get pulled over for it (108db isn't all that loud to be honest, its not as loud as other "ricers" out there). I've had cops threaten to write a "fix it ticket" but w/e. Come 3 more years I can get historic tags for my car, and then I can mod the **** out of it and they can't say **** (2 types of historic tags in MD, the first is the car is completely OEM with no modifications and all stock parts. The other is that the car MUST be modded and never contain original parts [weird I know]) so can't wait to do that....

EJeff8

Yes, you do need to be pulled over for a moving violation but that won't fly in court to say "hey, he only pulled me over for my exhaust!". The judge won;t care. I really don't see how you fight this. If he said it's non correctable, there is no way for you to fix it. He's basically set you up to fail. Unless the state allows the cop to ticket you at their own discretion without doing dB tests, then you're screwed. If he needed to do a dB test, you might have a chance.

ystop

Shoulda asked the dude if he pulls over Harley's all the time?! Dicks.

lunareg

might as well just pay up.. gotta pay to play honestly. Here in IL they can give you a ticket for having any modified exhaust even if it isnt loud.

EL Vap133

I would just pay it and be on my way. Unless you have the time to go to court and fight it and prove the officer wrong.

gjoachim310

I got a 27150 today, went to CHP and the guy said he couldn't sign it off (didn't even have me rev it, just start it up and idle for a minute), neither the cop nor CHP had a decibel reader (I asked). They referred me to a state ref, going in next week, but that alone is gonna cost $108 if he'll sign it off. My civic just has K&N intake and a 5zigen exhaust, that's it.

So basically it seems like the options are:
A) ref signs off and costs me $108 (assuming it's "quiet" enough)
B) Buy a stock exhaust or silencer of some sort and try CHP again
C) pay the fine and risk getting more of these BS tickets
D) contest it altogether, though it sounds like I can't use the argument that the officer didn't test the dB level?

Why is there no sticky on this topic, i'm guessing it's one of the more common tickets we get!!

gjoachim310

after my post an hour ago I went to my mechanic to ask his opinion, turns out I blew the 'O-ring' type portion of my 5zigen exhaust (~midpoint of the car, just past the heat shield), could see where it had corroded almost entirely away- so that's why my car was abnormally loud. He said that would cut down on a lot of the excess noise and that if I take before & after photos of it they should sign it off no problem. Probably gonna order up a new pipe section, said it'd be ~$140.

BlackCivicEX

iTrader: (1)

Can get a ticket for unnecessary noise. Don't have to have a Db meter to figure it out... I don't know how it is where u live. Can pull u over for anything and everything and find something to give you a ticket for....

Asked my teacher in my college ( i took police foundations ) and (step dads a cop ) because i was getting ripped over for noise, and luckily no tickets.