Eddoe

I have had a letter of complaint from my council about noise levels of my scoob!! The next door neighbour has complained about it being too loud and have got the council on my back!!

I am about to write a nice letter back to my wonderful council but i need some facts before i do.

Is there a law for dB limits of cars and what is it ??
What is the dB for a MY99 with blitz nur spec r ??

any advice would be much appreciated,

cheers

S.B.

Any exhaust that differs from standard is technically illegal

Phil M

i'd like to hear the outcome of this.. a word with you neighbour maybe?

Chelspeed

Don't talk tosh. No-body can force you to fit an exhaust from one place or another, this is a "free country" after all....

If you'd said any exhaust that doesn't meet the same standards as the original exhaust then I might agree. Bikers are being pulled if there race cans don't have the right BS*** stamp on them, to get this stamp they need to meet certain minimum silencing standards. I'm sure something similar exists for cars but don't know what it is I'm afraid.

I know the SVA standard is 101dB(A) at 0.5m at 45 deg to tailpipe.

The MOT manual has no dB(A) quoted but says you will fail if your car has: "A silencer which is in such a condition or is of such a type that the noise emitted is clearly in excess of that which would be produced by a similar machine fitted with a standard silencer in average condition."

Looks like you'll struggle on that one.

Edward Vincent Osgood

In a very different situation I got served with a noise abatement order on me and my car by a local council (not where I lived).

The wording was as follows:

"The Statutory Nuisance arises from alterations made to the vehicle beyond the vehicle manufacturers standard specification causing excessive noise to residents of the Borough when the vehicle engine is running"

From this wording it appears that once you start to modify then you could be caught out, although 'causing excessive noise nuisance' is very subjective and will be judged by the Enviro Health Officer or ultimately a judge in court if you decide to appeal.

I guess one person's loud is another person's quiet, it's all about being able to see other people's point of view.

In terms of the order served on me, took my car to the council, ask them to point out the modification they were referring to (car is standard). Of course they were unable to.

Couple of months later, got caught by the police, who checked my reg, said that I was disobeying the order. The env health people were contacted, and confirmed that I was in fact complying with the order (car was not modified) and was allowed to go.

Ed.

scooby daz

put original exhaust back on,so it should then not be louder than leagal,then ask council to come out and meaure noise db,or take it somewhere that can measure db, get a print out and send it to council and sad neighbour.then put other back on.should the council or geek next door get back on your case,just batter him hopfully you my damage his ears, then everyone will be happy

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

has you car recently gone through an mot?

if it has then you can say quite clearly that the ministry of transport has approved the exhaust on your vehicle for use in the uk.

If they question this simply show them your upto date mot certificate.

they cannot do anything mate.

jamo

Eddoe

Jamo,

that was what i was thinking, it has passed an MOT after i had the exhaust fitted but wondered whether there was another law about the dB limit that isnt on an MOT.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I'd post some ear plugs through their letterbox

If you have some friends with very loud cars...invite them over at every opertunity, and put your car back to standard. I'd like to see them take proceedings against cars that do not reside at that address

I suppose they complain about the noise the bin lorry makes when it drives past

subarujimmy

iTrader: (3)

This is a really tricky law. And so many people are caught out by it. Basically it says if you have modified your exhaust as to increase noise (or words to that effect). But you can appeal asking how do the officers (enviromental or police), know the exhaust is louder than the official standard exhaust. And the proof that yours hasn't been deemed excessive, is because of your m.o.t test certificate. Basically, no-one will have tested the standard exhaust, therefore can't prove yours is significantly louder (unless its fully decatted etc) bearing in mind the scientific ways in which decibels are measured on the noise scale.
Hope this makes sense???

Geddon

Get the lawnmower out at 230 in the morning

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

id still say that if it went through the mot mate then basically the governing body for road going vehicles have agreed that this unit is safe and legal for you to use on an english road.

id stick with that, it worked with my tinted windows on my car, its a lovely little loop hole, what are they going to say? the ministry of transport are wrong?

the only way they can do you is if you sit outside your house redlining it.

jamo

just had a word with the wise father, he agrees with me! " he used to be a county director of the derbyshire dales" he suggests you approach the neighbour and ask how the problem can be rectified as to show that you are reasonable and willing to try and resolve the problem. "little do they know"

JohnD

iTrader: (5)

As usual with this type of thread there have been some really "useful" replies!
At the end of the day your neighbour considers your car a bl***y nuisance so aggravating him any further is totally pointless and could lead to a silly tit for tat confrontation.
Lets be honest, a Blitz exhaust is loud and deep, and there is part of the problem. Low frequency sound will penetrate walls much more easily than the higher frequencies, which is probably why this guy is pi**ed off! Maybe you need to compromise - don't sit there warming-up the engine, drive away slowly. Don't arrive home late and let the engine tick over. Cool the turbo down by driving slowly for the last mile or so. No matter what some others may say here, it's not your neighbour who is in the wrong!
I love the sound of a Scoob but there is a limit to the "noise for noise sake" thing. There are systems out there which will give you just as much power (probably more!) but will not drive the locals nuts.
JohnD

Father Jack Hackett

I'm with JohnD - there's plenty of places for you to make a noise, and there's nothing worse than having your peace and privacy shattered in your own home. The fact they had to go to the council suggests other routes have failed ....

Abbylad

iTrader: (4)

how do you know other routes have failed?!?!?!?!?! maybe his neighbour is just a c**t who likes causing trouble. The Revolution 3" full system isnt 'that' loud (quieter than a blitz anyway) and its only about £450-£500 i think. you might even get £400-£500 selling the blitz if you have a de-cat downpipe to go with it, so it wouldn`t cost much to change, if anything

scrappydoo

Hiya mate, just put the baffle back into the exhaust, im sure blitz supply these with the Nur spec. Good luck with your ar$e of a neighbour, i mean its probably about 10 secs of noise at most then its over. Some people are OTT honestly.

imlach

Yeah, what a ****. Have some respect for your neighbours FFS. There is burbly, and then there is annoyingly loud.

I suspect you are in the latter category. See the muppets with "too loud" exhausts on their cars every day, and to most, it makes them look like *****. It's exactly the same as the ***** that drive around with some stupidly loud hifi booming out bass. ICE is for exactly that - "in car". Not out of car.

Compromise.

As someone said, try and minimise the noise emission if you insist on keeping your muppet exhaust. It IS strictly illegal at the end of the day - you know it, I know it, but you're just looking for loopholes.

As I said at the start, have some respect.

AlanS

sorry mate, but if ya neighbours are complaining it's time to move, else replace the exhaust. Regarding the MOT issue.

An MOT is only evidence for the day and time it was issued. How many people have changed/modded the day following an MOT...

S@m

If you sit there for an hour reving your engine then your at fault, if its just driving to and from your house a couple of times a day then I'd say your neighbour just does not like you m8

Rant on
As usual with this kind of post the replies are mixed, some agree with the intial post, some disagree but the majority of people are polite, sometimes useful, even funny and then you get a reply that starts with "Yeah, what a tw*t"
Rant off
(flamesuit on)

spike69

iTrader: (1)

Ive only just got my scoob and was wondering the same myself.

Mine had the "bung" removed and was unbelievably loud.So much so,that travelling at 70 or 80 mph was headache stuff.Every person old/young would stop and stare when i drove past.

I decided to put the bung back in.If everyone could hear it,surely plod would have too.
Neighbours can be annoying,but can prob make your life difficult.

Why not put the bung in and take it off down the road.

davedipster

Looking at it from another view...
I work nights and would be most upset if I was woken up every day by the same noise. I've always gone for quiet exhausts for that reason.

Just another point of view.

The council could make you have a drive by noise test done surely, because the MOT is only valid on the day it is done and can't be used for any other purpose than that. They can take away the offending equiptment if complaints continue, they may be able to take your car if your neighbour continues to complain. Be carefull

Dipster

imlach

Read the two words in the subject line, and tell me what tone it set for the thread. I have to defend the man in the street from the muppets

Scoobydick

There are some ***** with noisey bikes down my road. Every time one goes past my house I want to go out and throw bricks at the rider. Show some ****ing respect you tossers!

BlueSimon

Sorry, i'll take the playing cards out from my spokes next time

Abbylad

iTrader: (4)

LOL, some serious handbag swinging going on here

scooby-si

wot time are u leaving the house m8?? if its after 7am and before 1030pm tell them to fek off,where do u live m8 if they think thats loud i can come round with mine full 3" straight through 4/5" bb and anti lag that will shut them up about yours being loud lol

db108 i think thats the max

juan

we have a bloke 2 doors down who works on his kit car. Its pretty annoying hearing it burbling then revvving away for half an hour at a time I gotta admit, and I like cars. Just don't need to hear them when I'm chillin in the house.

Do you leave yours running for a while on the drive? (warming up / down / just like the noise)?
Do you rev it / work on it out there?

If its just pulling up and switching off or starting up and driving off then I'm suprised he's bothered. If its starting up and waiting 10 mins then I can understand their frustration.

Same with the little sh!tb@g locally with the 206 full of ICE who insists on driving around the estate in the middle of the night on full blast.
Needs sortin

my94

Do u think it's the car.....?
I bet if u drove an old banger with a hole in the exhaust that was loud as..........then u'd get no complaints.
Just a thought............

BOB.T

The thing with this wonderfull country is that there's a million and one different rules MOT and SVA are completely different and there's probably other laws that neither cover!

I agree with some of the others, technically you probably are illegal

Why don't you pop round to your neighbour and try sort it out between yourselves, say bollox to the council tossers!

Failing that, if he does get one over on you, could you let me know how he did it, I'd love to get my neighbours bollocked, fookin noisy tin pot scootering b'stards

Eddoe

just to confirm some things, i only start the car and leave straight away and roll up and turn the car off!! i let it cool down in the final minutes of my drive!!

I come and go through the day like normal when im off and then when at work i go at 8.30 in the morning. It is my girlfriends house and so i go home most nights at about 2130 - 2200. i dont sit there revving like a t**t!

regarding some of the posts saying im in the wrong, how many owners have got the blitz exhaust??? r they all in the wrong aswell!!

i have spoke to my local plod and they have said if it passes an MOT with it on then thats ok with them!!!