he said the exhaust was too loud and that the reg plates were illegal, pretty bizarre as the same place passed the same car this time last year.

because my reg plate has a border round it he says that it will fail, the font etc is standard

the noise thing, well as far as i'm concerned this wasn't really a problem.

i told him to stop the test and i'll take it elsewhere.

 

I had an advisory note on my MOT that it was loud, 70db, but it didn't fail for it. My car's quite a bit quieter than a lot of scoobs, so makes you wonder how they pass?

 

i've read contradicting reports on this problem. one which says they can only make it an advisory and others saying that they can now fail you for it.

seems a bit confusing.

 

When i took mine for test the bloke took one look at my scoob and said 'well thats failed' i asked why? 'coz i fekkin hate scoobs' was his reply i said
On a serious note tho, the reeg plate laws have been changed recently (not sure when exactly) but you've got to have the makers details on it ect, cant see noise being a failier unless he has the equipment to test and also knows the legal limits (which is another can of worms on its own). think you did right taking it elsewhere

 

so that means that everyone will have to change their reg plates? this isn't a problem really, just a pain.

 

Correct To be honest it depends a hell of a lot on the tester and also on the age of the vehicle and weather its an import or not, same as the noise level, as i said 'can of worms'

 

aye, i thought as much, he seemed to be a bit of a pleb to be honest, probably a touch jealous that i have a decent more.

booked into another garage now, they were the ones who put the reg plates on in the first place so we'll see!

on another note, what sort of tyres should i be looking at for a 05 sti ?

 

Dno about your tyres mate, i run a MY93 classic

 

cheers, thanks for your help anyway

 

You dont need any noise testing equipment at all. If an exhaust is unreasonably
louder than the standard exhaust it should fail, full stop. If it passed last year I would consider that a bonus!
Most test stations however are more discreet than that one but we do get in big trouble if something goes wrong ie, if you got pulled and ticketed on the way home from the test station by a copper with a problem for your loud exhaust I can safely say the next stop for said copper would be the mot station!

 

i wouldn't say its unreasonably loud, when its idling it burbles away quite nicely!
i've never had a problem with the police and they've been in my vicinity quite a bit

 

As the previous poster said, if its louder than standard, it can be failed. How on earth MOT testers are supposed to know what every car should sound like standard is beyond me but thats the law!

 

It does sound like they have been a bit daft towards you, I doubt you will use them again, so a little bit of dissgretion on their part could have earned them in the future?!
Bl$$dy idiots!!!!

 

Basically there is no legislation in the UK that sets a max noise limit for production cars so there for it is down to testers discretion .

 

Well put. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with a loudish exhaust - I used to run a 3" side exit system that was only about 4 foot long with one straight through silencer on it. But then I wasn't surprised when I got pulled for it! And that was a drag and track car anyway.

 

spot on , it can only be failed if its excessively noisy and that it down to the tester to decide .

 

Reg plates I can understand, but because a car is slightly louder than standard is bit harsh!

Hope your motor passes the next test

 

Yes its the testers discretion . Not sure why it changed.
With bikes its a joke .Most have race cans on for 364 days of the year and the standard one on for test day
I can see that happening with most Scoobies soon
I normally sound the Tester out when i book it in but most play it by the book .

 

that put a smile on my face , my sp1 had a full race system 364 days of the year lol

 

If a tester has a problem with noise then stick an sti back box on i have one on my car and it only makes around 80 db very quiet

 

my sp1 had a full race system 364 days of the year lol[/quote]

followed one back fron Donnington a few years ago. OMG nearly deafened me
STI back boxes could suddenly go up in value i think

 

Well thats me well and truly buggered then. I have a 3.5" straight through putting out 101db last time I checked and since then I have gone 20g with fmic lol

 

i can understand if it was modified in anyway at all, which it isn't !!

 

I believe there is recent changes on both exhaust noise and reg plates..

 

ridiculous if you ask me.
aftermarket exhausts will be a thing of the past unless they keep the noise down then, which they don't !!

went in past the dealer i bought the car from who is a subaru specialist, his own car has such a deep, loud burble that it sets off the alarms of a few of his cars in his lot. he told me that its the first time he's ever heard of that happening and that it sounds like the tester was having a bad day!

wouldn't be so bad if my car was extremely modified and i was some chav with asbo's etc who revs the car constantly whilst idling...but i'm not and my car hasn't had too much done to it and it sounds lovely ! (to some)

 

hi there, the latest vosa special notice states that the exhaust noise has to be of a similar level to the identical car with a standard exhaust. we have been told to pass and advise to cover ourselve, i would never fail on noise, i have full ppp exhaust on mine! also number plate wise , after 51 plate plates must have bs mark and post code of manufacturer. before 01 you can have a border etc

 

agreed yet VOSA failed my plates on 4 of the 5 criteria when I got stopped recently.. yet looking afterwards they were using the 51plate on rules despite the car being a 96.. perhaps it needs to look more like a 96 rather than shiny paint and a private plate
no point complaining mind as they failed the before 01 rule oops

Simon

 

cheers!

i think common sense prevails at the end of the day. like you say an advisory to cover yourselves would be sufficient. the number plate thing i'm not too fussed about as its no big deal, just a pain.

 

there is a europe wide noise act that says new cars (since 1996) have to be no louder than 74 db but off roaders and some diesels can be 1 db louder

 

think of the amount of cars that would be off the road if such and act was followed. you wouldn't be able to open up the throttle on a ferrari for instance.