Alright guys, I was pulled over last week in stillwater, received a summons (not a ticket) for having a muffler installed on my car that amplifies the sound emitted from the vehicle to louder than the original.
Here's the ordinance...
Sec. 29-244. Mufflers, cut-outs.
Every motor vehicle shall at all times be equipped with a muffler in good working order in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise and annoying smoke, and no person shall use a muffler cut-out or similar devices upon a motor vehicle operated within the city. No person shall modify the exhaust system of a motor vehicle in any manner which will amplify or increase the noise or sound emitted louder than that emitted by the muffler originally installed on the vehicle.
(Code 1966, § 20-29)
State law references: Similar provisions, 47 O.S. 1971, § 12-402.
Here's the question. I have 10 days from last monday to "fix" the car to make it quieter. I installed a resonator about 3 weeks ago to make it much quieter than it was beforehand. Since I don't have a catalytic converter anymore that is...How can I make the exhaust quiet just temporarily (long enough to take it into the police station to have them inspect it)
Can I install some sort of baffle into the muffler to make it quieter? I'd love to not have to make cut in my exhaust to install something else, plus I'm almost out of space after installing the resonator.
Not only do I not have a stock muffler, I don't have a bolt on anything in my exhaust. It's a once piece system because I never through I'd need to remove it.
Do you know anyone with access to a decibel meter? If you can prove that the car does not exceed stock noise levels, then you should be fine.If it is a lot louder, then you can try the silencer mentioned above.
Well for now it might actually be cheaper to take the non-moving (no points) violation ticket if it's <$100 and then do the whole decibel meter thing later to see how much louder than stock you actually are. Can anyone here with a dB meter and a stock Legend provide a baseline reading by any chance?
EDIT: I say this because if they have a dB meter they may have a hard time finding a stock Legend to get a reading from so you might not get the fine in the first place. Alternatively, they could take readings from "similar" vehicles (ie Honda/Acura stock V6 models esp 3.2TL's) with the same motor and similar exhaust setups and fine you based on that. I'm not sure how it works in FL but given the gray area in the wording (not louder than factory is debatable/interpretable phrasing) they might try to squeeze some revenue out of you any way they can.
VA has the same if not worse regs. Anything on a car that does not come the factory is illegal. they can issue tickets for RIMS here. But they never pull over a mustang aftermarket items just imports. I have fought these rule for many years with no luck. So now i just say F. it and go to court argue waste my time and everyone in the court rooms time pay the ticket in CHANGE and then i go hop in to my ILLEGAL car and leave tire marks all over the court house parking lot F- EM !!!
Change :lol: just keep your stock parts handy so you can throw them back on in a pinch and waste their time at the court without having to give them even your change!
If you don't fix it, what happens? Will you get a ticket? If so, I'd take the ticket, and then contest it with a JURY TRIAL. Here's my thought process:
You are innocent until proven guilty. The burden is on the state to prove your exhaust is louder than a normal Acura Legend exhaust. That being said, unless the state has access to a database with that information, (which doesn't exist) or access to another Acura Legend, they're not going to be able to. Do you think they're going to go through all that trouble? Make sure you get a JURY TRIAL b/c they're tired of getting poked by the cops, as well. They'll side with you, provided you can make sure you ask the right questions
Stillwater sucks. But i had the same problem awhile back with my prelude in Norman with OHP. Did you get pulled over by OHP, Stillwater or OSU police. OSU police suck the absolute most in that area though.
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