My friend was pulled over by the fuzz ( ouch ) last night on a dual carrigeway in his mod'ed "95" WRX ..... when he asked why they told him the exhaust was to loud , they then did a PNC check and drove of in their RS focus.... Is there an upper limit to exhaust sound?... id have thought as long as the emmissions test was passed at each MOT then you could have pretty much what exhaust you liked

 

no there is a dB level, not sure wot tho.

wot zorst has ur mate got?

wot r the fuzz doing in a RS focus? r u sure?

 

Found it

Here

Its to do with anti-social behaviour & a loud exhaust can be considered thus by some...

 

apparently it was definately an RS focus

 

I'll ask...

 

What about Harley Davidsons??

They've got the loudest exhausts known to man!!

 

It's 85db for a bike so I'm told, the same would apply to a car wouldn't it?

 

with bikes the decibel limit depends on age of bike ie pre 1982 no bs needed open pipes ok if a little naughty mines well loud and been pulled nothing that could be done ....

 

There is a limit for new cars which involves a car driving past the microphone at the rpm which corresponds to maximum power but this must be done under full acceleration in, I believe, 2nd gear. Which as you can imagine takes some doing.

I'm not sure what the rules are for aftermarket exhausts but I might be able to look it up.

Incidentally I was measuring noise once when a bloke in full leathers and with a big beard came on to the stretch of road I was stood beside on a Harley Davidson. He booted it past me, turned round and came back. He asked me, "Hey man, what'd I do man?"

"106dBA mate," was my reply. 106dBA - very loud, about the same noise level as a fairly loud nightclub in the middle of the dancefloor.

 

When my mate had his Westfield Megablade SVA tested the rule was (if I remember correctly) that it should be no lauder than 105db @ 3,500rpm 1.5 meters away at a 45degre angle from the exhaust pipe. Don’t know if this applies to mass produced cars or just kit cars??

Tim.

 

as afr as mot goes the only requirements are that the exhaust is complete which normally means it goes from one end to the other though i've heard of tw@ts failing people cos there was a box or a cat replaced with a straight pipe. there should be no holes till after the last mounting / box which ever is furthest from engine, it should pass the emmisions test


and finally and this is the good one

the exhaust volume / note should be in charector for the vehicle being tested

not exact wording but you ccan find it at

http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_710.htm

 

When I had my car SVA tested this year, the guy at the centre told me that I had to be below 101.5 decibels to pass.. They were all having a bet to see whether my Import would fail with my 3.5 Drager rear tail pipe.. The examiner tried hard but it only reached 98 decibels at the highest point.. which surprised them all.. and pleased me as I was sweating a bit..!!

OJ..

 

Damn there was a thread with the specific DB levels from different positions around the car on 1 thread think it was on five0 un sumwhere but there's a big similar thread on BIG BOY SCOOBYNET THREAD
Will cif i can dig it out on five n all
Si

 

AHA The eagle has landed
Si

 

I got a noise abatement notice from hillingdon council a while back if they see the 3-door in the stockley park area between 8.30am and 6am on any day of the week then they can have it off me.
The can ban you from an area even if its not too loud Mine has all the baffles, its just made out of stainless steel. If in their opinion its too loud then thats it they can ban you from anywhere they like.
Be careful out there people,
astraboy.

 

Scoobysport site states that the legal limit is 89dB.

Chris

 

i can get hold of a sound meter no problem! not sure i should be carrying it in my car tho! full de-cat scoobysports on the rolling road somewhere near 118db will have to try to see wot it would be if tested properly!
steve

 

<killjoy> At a noise level of 85dBa at work you can request hearing protection and your employer must supply it.

At a level of 90dBa you must be supplied with, and wear, hearing protection.

90dBa means having to shout to be heard by someone who is 1m away Any exhaust that produced this kind of sound level in the car would be pretty unbearable, and would make you go deaf.

</killjoy>

I guess a crash helmet is pretty good at reducing noise when riding a Harley (not that some do)

 

speak up lol
Si

 

A mate managed 149.7 db INSIDE his car with the ICE setup... That was "quite loud".

 

Got pulled as a neihbour complained 109 db....

Though the Police at the time said it was down to their discretion, they advised me to change it (very polite) and if i was to put the old one back they would be able to confiscate the car for causing a nuisance.

poke to my solicitor, this is correct and he advised me to keep the quiet one on......Although to date no cars have been taken it remains untested in court..

Watch out as the 2nd offence POLICE do not have to give you a 14 day ticket to change any offending items.

In Essex, Southend they have already been sitting close to petrol garages, whilst one officer ambles around the forecourt checking noise, if too noisy the car up the road stops the offending vehicle.

On one evening (Friday) on the A13 into Southend they had a noise meter at the side of the road in a 40mph area, 300 mts up was a police car pulled over......

Still some of the exhausts including my old one do create a nuisance, starting it up early, and putting the car away late. I cannot blame neighbours for reporting me whatsoever. These exhaust do cause hostility in the neighbourhood, so unfortunately the Police do have to investigate nuisance problems reported.

However my bike that revs to c15000 rpm, is road legal, noise legal and creates so much noise......but the Police, neighbours and anyone else are powerless to do anything.....(HEHE) can't wait till the summer, I'll take my revenge on my neighbours.......


The noise meter was manned by someone wearing dark clothes (no day glo giveaways) and had I not been fully observant would have missed the tripod device with microphone, (clutch engaged I slid past....)

 

Does anyone have an idea of 'pecking' order of backboxes, from quietest to loudest ?

Standard must be quietest, with standard STI (P1) BB next ?

I'm waiting to get pulled since my car always sets off a few car alarms when I drive through the local village, and it's what I thought was one of the quieter ones (Power Engineering).

 

MSA handbook states 98 DBA as the limit. Period!

Stu

 

QUESTION

At what revs are these tests conducted ?

At idle mine is quiet.
At 40MPH in 2nd its noisy.
At 40MPH in 4th its quiet again.

Also conduct the test in a garage its louder than it is in an open field !

Surely there is a get out of jail free card there somewhere

Cheers

Neal

 

Going slightly ( only slightly) off topic here, but I've got a full TSL de-cat and Firestorm BB and it's quite a good game when going into multi storey car parks and listening to the alarms going off as you drive by! Childish I know, but they shouldn't have such damn sensitive alarms!
( counted 5 last time) tuttt

 

Whenever anyone is having the noise of their exhaust measured to see if its within guidelines ensure it is with accurate equipment - I have seen as much as 7dB difference between a cheap £40 job and my Bruel & Kjaer.

Chiark - I take it your mate had his system measured professionally at a sound off? If your mate inside the car when that level was measured, 149.7dBA would have the effect of damaging his internal organs to the extent he may be killed - even with ear defenders on. The threshold of pain is 130dBA and since 150dBA is 100 times louder than 130dBA I dont think he'd have been listening to it. I was exposed to 138dBA which was uncomfortable

 

Hmmm interesting this. I've been wondering for some time what would happen if I got pulled for exhaust noise in one of my classics. Been measured at Castle Combe at 118db and hence failed the circuit noise check - but the exhausts are standard factory pattern items.

So is the car road legal or not?

Any thought gratefully received

Robin

 

What happens if you get pulled though? Do you get a producer or do you get a fine and points??

I have had police behind me when i have had the bung out of the Blitz. Just kept the revs very low indeed and drove quite slow. They didnt do anything, just smiled when they went past

Money on the pull........lmao!

 

if u read the previously mentioned threads & check out all links, yes i no there's quite a few, i believe u maybe able 2 get away with it if u ask 4 a vehicle defect rectification form (or sumin like that) which will need u 2 go 2 sum garage or wotever cant remember detail where they say yep tiz all good after u have stuck bung back
That's my back up plan anyway as well as **** kissing & general sucking up lol
Si

 

lmao. Ill remember that then