sol reaper

Most of us have some modification to the intake and/or exhaust system that makes our car louder, while giving us the desired performance upgrade we are lookin for. But why do the police find the need to give us the $134 ticket for modified exhaust or follow us around just to make sure we don't do anything out of line. What can we,as a legit car enthusist group, do to help change the minds of the general public and johnny law.

niterider96cord

Apparently there is no hope for us. We get the same thing here in wenatchee. I swear we are the "convicts" we get stopped for anything and everything. Apparently we are gang bangers too, says an old lady that drove by when we were parked just talking in a parking lot. haha.

nyuke

Haha, thats hardcore sterotyping of that lady... I put my silencer in my exhaust because I don't want cops to stop me and give me a ticket for some BS loud sound and go on to the window tint. My buddy was driving my evo and got pulled over for an exhaust being loud and we were going 35mph at low rev cuz he turned after us. There is nothing we could do, but I read there is a law for Db of the exhaust. If you test yours and its the limit, you could prove it to the police. Correct me if im wrong.

Ruben19

im painting my muffler black.
also getting rid of my loud exhaust on both of my cars. im just tired of them

carbon_si

you could have just ordered the noir world sport,comes with a nice black finish. as far as the rest of this post goes,you just pay to play basicly.ive been doin this over 10yrs and it dont matter whats done,if its a honda and it seems to be modified your gonna get messed with no matter how close you follow the law.ive been pulled over in simple lowered,rims,oem exhaust hondas just as many times as ive been pulled over in crazy modified builds ive had.its just profiling plain and simple.even now at 27 i still get follwed and messed with.not much you can do but have all your papers in order and hope you dont get screwed.there is a organization that has ads in HT mag that is fighting to protect our rights to modify but i cant remember the name.people just need to quit doin stupid $h!t on the streets"keep it on the DL and within reason" and thiefs need to quit stealling our cars and then maybe the honda scene wouldnt have such a bad public/police rep.

JaysHatcH

just make sure your not breaking the law. I got followed when my car was completely stock. it's not just the car, it can be the driver. sure i've got some tattoos and was wearing black sunglasses at the time, but it was 70 degrees outside. it really is all profiling. it sucks but it's the truth. cops do so many things their not supposed to, but they follow us to get the plate number and check the history of the car, if all checks out I'm sure they only continue to follow you to make sure you don't speed. I've had a cop follow me for almost 10 miles. I just kept at the speed limit, used my blinkers and didn't accelerate fast. you could tell he was really pissed when I pulled into my parents house and my mom was outside watering the grass and he saw that I wasn't just some punk car theif joy riding around.

CRacer21

Sema Action Network I believe.

chaggy

i got pulled over for my exhaust an then got bitched at cuz of how low my car is then he noticed my fly *** bmw wheels an let me go..

niterider96cord

/\ /\ /\ For the most part if you get pulled over for your exhaust (from my experience) they will let you go. Ive been pulled over so many times i cant even keep track but yet only have 2 infractions. So just play it cool and make the officer laugh any way possible lol. Oh and how do you get bitched at for your car being too low?? whats it to the officer? Whatd he say?

misterknowbody

I got pulled over on a Sunday at 9:30 AM on the way to get milk. She pulled me over for yellow headlights. She ticketed me for Headlights not being white, modified exhaust and obstruction of vision. There wasn’t a primary offence for her to pull me over, what ever. I tried to explain to the rookie deputy sheriff that I have studied and read all state laws pertaining to the modifications I have made to my car and that all modifications where within the confines of the law. She just gave me the deer in the headlights look, so I left it there and continued to be a pleasant citizen and took the tickets with a smile.
I got my milk, went home and went on line, found and then printed out the laws that I was cited for. From what I read I was with in the laws cited.

When I was at court I had my case/sh*t together, pictures of my car to include headlights, headlight bulbs, exhaust, windshield, view from my seat out the wind shield and from the front end of the car with me in the drivers seat.

Modified exhaust, the law is very vague. It states that ANY exhaust not OEM is aftermarket. To which I explained that if I replaced my exhaust with one from Midas, Sears, Goodyear…. it would be illegal under the law. Also I showed her that I have a silencer installed. And that I did a SEA Exhaust noise dB test, with a dB meter, and that I was within the level permitted. “NOT QUILTY”

“FYI” The judge noted that no note was placed on the back of the ticket stating that my exhaust was “Noise”. So it pays to be nice to the Officer and not have them put “extra notes” on the back…

Yellow headlights, I have Lexan yellow film over my headlights with the bulbs the standard white. I showed the judge pictures of the film, headlight with the film on them, the white light bulb, plus my car, at night, with the headlights on versus other cars with HID’s. The pictures showed that my lights burned white and that they where closer to white then the HID’s. She also could not find, in her very large law book, (she looked for 10 minutes or so) where it states that the lights have to be white. (I remember reading it somewhere but cant remember where) Anyway, I was within the law of what I was cited for. “NOT QUILTY”

Obstruction of vision, I had a crack in my windshield about 4 inches above the dashboard that has been there for 10 years. Me being long bodied and my head close to touching the headliner the, “Obstruction” is out of my vision and only obstructs my vision of the hood. With my pictures in hand I gave them to the judge. She agreed that the crack was not obstructing my vision but that I should fix it so that I wont have to go to court again. So once again, “NOT QUILTY”

I fixed my windshield within a week and keep a copy of the laws I was cited for, tickets and the court papers showing the “NOT QUILTY” verdict.

Not saying that I will not get pulled over again, but I'm prepared for it next time.

JaysHatcH

so were you "guilty or not guilty?" I couldn't tell cause you kept typing "quilty". sorry, had to give you a hard time on that one lol. damn man, props for being an educated Honda driver and doing your home work.
so far I haven't been pulled over and given that crap.
Was pulled over in my wife's old 4dr sedan completely stock at about 4:30 am after having just finished a paper route, which I showed the cop our route paperwork and the left over 10 or so Harold Papers in plastic bags in the back seat. He said that our paper work said that the car shows up as beige in the system, but our car is blue and that we should get that fixed.
It was a simple mistake, I know someone who works for a licensing place, and they said the colors have a drop down menu where you just have to type in the first letter of the color, B for blue, but if you don't scroll down to it since beige comes before blue and just push enter you'll get in the situation that we got into. he basically just gave us a warning but it was retarded because he thought he was totally pulling someone over who just jacked a honda and threw another plate on. First thing he says when he walked up wasn't "ID and proof of ownership" it was. "is this your car?" my wife and I look at eachother than back at him and say "yes." we show him the paperwork and he still continues to question us asking how long we've owned the car, if it's always been blue, and if we've ever noticed a different license plate on it.
I love it when the cops get that look on their face when they've realized that the white guy with tattoos and the little mexican girl in the passenger seat are actually "free to go" as they say lol

dumpsterbaby

exhaust law is easy to beat, theres many holes in the modified exhaust RCW just gotta read through it

nyuke

Dumpster could you bring up a site or where I could look at the modified exhaust laws please.
Also misterknowbody, could you bring up where you did your DB exhaust check. Im in Seattle NW area as well and want to do couple of things you did just incase and where I could read up o all those laws you read about. I wanna know all my rights and laws if I get pulled over for some stupid thing like that, which happened in the past. Would really appreciate it.

dumpsterbaby

(3) No person shall modify the exhaust system of a motor vehicle in a manner which will amplify or increase the noise emitted by the engine of such vehicle above that emitted by the muffler originally installed on the vehicle, and it shall be unlawful for any person to operate a motor vehicle not equipped as required by this subsection, or which has been amplified as prohibited by this subsection. A court may dismiss an infraction notice for a violation of this subsection if there is reasonable grounds to believe that the vehicle was not operated in violation of this subsection.

so theres your RCW. oh and theres no db testing/legal db limit in washington anymore as far as i know for exhaust. too many people got off on the ticket cause the db tester was always called in to question in court hearings much like when you get a speeding ticket by radar you just call in to question the radar gun an its calibration

niterider96cord

So if there is no more Db law in washington then the only exhaust law in place is you can not replace the muffler originally installed on the vehicle with aftermarket? Even if that exhaust is rotted, rusted, loud as h***, and horrible for the environment???

dumpsterbaby

i just posted the RCW, where does it say u cant replace exhaust with aftermarket equipment? nowhere

niterider96cord

ok so it says "you can not modify the exhaust system of a motor vehicle in a manner which will amplify or increase the noise emitted by the engine" but yet their are no db laws?? So in reality their is no exhaust laws period?

nyuke

Now im confused from both of your responses. Having read the RCW, I believe its saying that you cannot modify the exhaust so that it will produce louder noise. But I read many times as well that any aftermarket exhaust is considered modified and cops can ticket you for this.

dumpsterbaby

"No person shall modify the exhaust system of a motor vehicle in a manner which will amplify or increase the noise emitted by the engine of such vehicle above that emitted by the muffler originally installed on the vehicle"

this is the only part of the RCW that really matters cause its stating whats legal an whats not. so when you contest this ticket ask the judge some very simple questions like:

what constitutes a modified exhaust?

what is louder than stock for your vehicle?

are aftermarket exhaust allowed to be installed in washington? if not every muffler place would be outta business and ive never seen a muffler store that installs exhaust that are "approved by the state of washington" have you?

what were the conditions during the ticket? were you in rush hour or surrounded by alot cars or maybe on the freeway next to a semi? probably not, u were somewhere isolated where you exhaust was more noticable than normal

basically what this really means is a modified exhaust, like you have no cat, resonator straight through muffler or no muffler open dp and so on. but unless the cop went cali style an got a mirror to look under your car they cant prove any of that.

so tell them you got a cat resonator muffler and tell them u bought it an had it installed in the state of washington an they cant ticket what they tax thats double dipping baby.

oh an dress to court like its a job interview dress nice, it helps and have a shop look at your exhaust for leaks, bring this inspection sheet to court with you as well. remember if you throw enough crap at the wall something will stick! sorry for the rant

nyuke

Good write up. I have a resonator, its not a straight through muffler. Could I just drive without the silencer or will they ticket me for it being loud? By buddy's silencer flew out and he got a ticket for his exhaust being too loud, but i believe he appealed and won. Actually it was excused lol. I guess it all depends on the officer and their mood. About the RCW, it's to vague and not specific. Like you said there are shops that customize exhausts and thats legal, but they would produce louder noise, which breaks the RCW law. The question is, whats really considered too loud and too bad we cannot test the db sound.

JaysHatcH

there is a difference between an aftermarket muffler and an aftermarket (oem replacement) muffler. for instance, I have kyb GR2 struts on my car, they are considered "oem replacements" because they ride the same as stock. you can buy and replace a rusted falling apart muffler under law by one that is considered "oem replacement" and not get a ticket. really though, unless you have a muffler that sounds like you hacked it off behind the header I really don't think they'd go for that right away. I'd imagine the only time someone getting that kind of ticket it if the cop had a really bad day, or you gave him **** when he pulled you over for something else and he wanted to make you regret it.
that's the only times I've heard of it ever happening, and I know some people with shitty sounds exhaust systems

nyuke

Yup, It all depends on the cop and their mood, and if they hate these cars with mufflers because they look like racers.

RedEG2

get a ws2.

H22EG'z

i have a rear defuser, and a modified exhaust.. i get followed all the time but my exhaust is quiet so they leave me alone.. also it helps to drive a little bit below the speed limit.

also on the whole exhaust thing, i talked to a Seattle police officer and told him a Harley motorcycle with aftermarket pipes is retardedly loud, he replies they are offered by Harley. So in turn i asked him if i bought a SPOON sports exhaust which is a branch of Honda, and ran that could i get a ticket for modified exhaust.. he didn't know what to say. All in all i think you are safe if your exhaust isn't super loud.

Ruben19

i love my new apexi ws2 catback.
so quiet