New Loud Exhaust Law

[mustanghammer]

I have performed sound meter tests at Autox events and my race car is subject to SCCA sound rules when I race it. Sound db's are interesting and what sounds loud to the human ear is not "loud" on a db meter. For example my rotary powered race car is loud...really loud...but it meets 103db SCCA sound regulations. On the same track, V8 powered cars that sound quieter to your ears are more likely to trip the db meter than my obnoxious car.

Where sound is measured and what the car is doing when the sound is measured is also relative. A 11:1 Windsor powered autox car with a 4" Howe 2 into 1 muffler coming off of a corner at the bottom of a gear measured 101-102db at 75ft from the course. The same car measured at a faster part of the course, with the meter at the same distance from the course and the engine near its 7500 RPM red line measured 97-98 dbs.

I mention all of this because even with objective measurement processes "loud" can still be subjective. So the best way to avoid this kind of thing is to follow the advice offered earlier:

DON'T BE AN A-HOLE!

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[Mr. Met]

Don't wont to be bothered about your loud exhaust? Come to NYC, the police dont give a shit. Almost every weekend we get woken up by the sounds of artillery fire. I, as wells as many other people in the area, call the police but they dont seem to have any issue with these assholes waking the dead while they go 100mph down a city street at 2am. I guess it would be too much paper work to actually do anything.

 

[TrackMustang]

Don't wont to be bothered about your loud exhaust? Come to NYC, the police dont give a shit. Almost every weekend we get woken up by the sounds of artillery fire. I, as wells as many other people in the area, call the police but they dont seem to have any issue with these assholes waking the dead while they go 100mph down a city street at 2am. I guess it would be too much paper work to actually do anything.

I love that you act like it’s the coppers fault that NY has stopped them from doing any type of enforcement action of any kind… If they get involved and the car flees, they go in pursuit or even just turn their lights/siren on, the car crashes and hurts someone the officer is liable. Could lose his/her job and much more. Not to mention the fact that someone is hurt…

Pfff, I wouldn’t do anything either.

 

[Mr. Met]

I love that you act like it’s the coppers fault that NY has stopped them from doing any type of enforcement action of any kind… If they get involved and the car flees, they go in pursuit or even just turn their lights/siren on, the car crashes and hurts someone the officer is liable. Could lose his/her job and much more. Not to mention the fact that someone is hurt…

Pfff, I wouldn’t do anything either.

I love that you dont even live here and have no idea what your talking about. That's complete bullshit. Street racing is a problem here and there have been many deaths. Try using google. They are not stopping the cops, they are trying to crack down on street racers. Every time the police come they either report it as unfounded or gone on arrival (dont want to bother). Its probably because no one has died on this street, yet.

Pfff, then dont be a cop.

 

[TrackMustang]

I love that you dont even live here and have no idea what your talking about. That's complete bullshit. Street racing is a problem here and there have been many deaths. Try using google. They are not stopping the cops, they are trying to crack down on street racers. Every time the police come they either report it as unfounded or gone on arrival (dont want to bother). Its probably because no one has died on this street, yet.

Pfff, then dont be a cop.

Lmao, idiot. You completely unaware of anything that’s happened in the last two years? Any of the new regulations NYPD is restricted by? What happens when an officer goes in pursuit? What their policy does and doesn’t allow them to pursue? What happens if they have an out of policy pursuit? Have you even ever asked an NYPD cop about any of this? Or is it easier to just assume you know everything and they’re lazy. You assume because I don’t currently live there I couldn’t possibly know anything about NYPD cops.

Assume everything and don’t actually do any work to learn how/why.

 

[young at heart]

Right there with ya. Sounds like loud wet flatulence, only broke brained boomers like that. Like I'm not even a Harley guy but they sound half decent with a factory-ish exhaust or at least one that's not 100% straight through.

Also "loud pipes save lives" is horseshit. I've been riding for almost 20 years, people just don't look for/see bikes no matter what. One of my current bikes is an EV so is basically silent. No difference in people noticing me compared to when I had louder bikes in the past.

Based on your judgement I’ll stipulate to being a Triple B, and I honestly couldn’t care any less about what you think. I personally just really like the sound of loud pipes so that’s how I roll. I do try to be respectful where the circumstances call for it.

I don’t think loud pipes save lives, at least not these days. Youngsters can’t hear ’em over their phones anyway.

If you ride an electric bike there’s zero chance you’d get it, but just for the record a stock exhaust Harley sounds a lot like someone pi$$ing in a bucket.

 

[luc]

What about a balance between the desire of some people to have a loud exhaust and the right of the people not to be audibly assaulted by obnoxiously loud exhaust?
Respect for others and common sense seems to be in very short supply in this country

 

[Mr. Met]

Lmao, idiot. You completely unaware of anything that’s happened in the last two years? Any of the new regulations NYPD is restricted by? What happens when an officer goes in pursuit? What their policy does and doesn’t allow them to pursue? What happens if they have an out of policy pursuit? Have you even ever asked an NYPD cop about any of this? Or is it easier to just assume you know everything and they’re lazy. You assume because I don’t currently live there I couldn’t possibly know anything about NYPD cops.

Assume everything and don’t actually do any work to learn how/why.

OK, well, I appreciate that your whole rant was just questions. I could respond to it but I'm not going to continue this conversation since you just want to start name calling. Can you remain calm for like two seconds and anwser one question. If the anwser to all those questions is its NY policy not to pursue street racers (as you seem to infer), what could be the reason the officers always close the report as unfounded or GOA?

 

[Magnetic_]

As a NOVA resident my Cobb catback skirts just under the limit at 83db. I'm glad I didn't go with something louder given this new law, but I still feel like it'll give the police an easy reason to pull me over to ticket me for my 25% window tint. That being said I've managed to avoid getting pulled over through 3 years of ownership in the state, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out moving forward, but I'm not expecting enforcement to be too stringent as long as people aren't driving too aggressively.

 

[Mspider]

Don't wont to be bothered about your loud exhaust? Come to NYC, the police dont give a shit. Almost every weekend we get woken up by the sounds of artillery fire. I, as wells as many other people in the area, call the police but they dont seem to have any issue with these assholes waking the dead while they go 100mph down a city street at 2am. I guess it would be too much paper work to actually do anything.

I think its less about the actual state and more about where you live in the state. Every state has exhaust sound and racing laws. But how strictly enforced will vary.

 

[GoGoGadget]

It is really not a new law. The law always stated it had to be in good working order, no excessive noise, OEM or similar, no exhaust cutouts, etc, etc. 2 years ago they decided stopping vehicles with dead tags, tint, exhaust, etc was racist so they added language preventing police from making traffic stops based on that alone. In the 2 years since someone important got pissed about some loud car disturbing his peace and quiet so he got the law changed.

 

[Tim McCreary]

Just found out starting tomorrow in Virginia police can pull you if they think your exhaust is to loud. My Mach 1 is stock, I shouldn’t have to worry about being pulled over but now it’s up to the discretion of a cop what is to loud? And once pulled they can cherry pick other violations. How are y’all in similar states dealing with this?

A subjective test is the officer. An objective test is using a dosimeter. If you get a ticket, you get a lawyer and fight it.

 

[luc]

A subjective test is the officer. An objective test is using a dosimeter. If you get a ticket, you get a lawyer and fight it.

Sound good on paper but not in real life,,,
Want to spend a minimum of $2k in legal fee to maybe beat a, no points, $200 ticket?
Hopefully people are smart enough to make better financial decisions in their life….

 

[Garfy]

Most states have something like this but there is an official test that should be done to actually ticket for it. I've seen the little portable decibel meters and they set it up a certain distance from your car and there is a certain decibel number and you either pass or fail.

As I understand it, they must use an A-weighted sound meter and the proper way to measure it is to set the meter at the same height as the exhaust outlet and place the meter at a 45 degree angle from the centerline at a distance of 20 inches. If the sound level does NOT exceed 95 dbA then it's OK (federal standard is 95 dbA). My state has a "sound" law that says it's illegal to run an exhaust that makes it "noticeably louder than equipped from the manufacturer". Talk about vague. In other words, a Honda Civic with an aftermarket exhaust that's 90 dbA is illegal because a stock one might measure say, 75 dbA, yet my Mustang which measures just over 96 dbA is OK (stock GT without active exhaust). Sounds discriminatory to me because the Civic is quieter than my stock GT yet because a stock Civic is much quieter the "slightly louder" Civic is illegal.

 

[Garfy]

I'm fine with them finally cracking down on loud vehicles. Harleys are by far the worst, but it seems like everyone and their mother is now running catless, smelly with a crackle/pop tune. It's irritating and I don't know how anyone actually likes the way that sounds.

In my area I agree regarding most Harleys (especially the older ones who have NO mufflers and running drag pipes. You can hear them revving well over 1/2 mile away.

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