Fix-It tickets for loud exhaust have been restored in California. The exhaust laws remain as they have been, for a very long time. Recently, the "fix-it" ticket was what you got if you violated the law. That got taken away. It has been restored. Now, you are back to getting a 30-day grace period to fix the issue. Nothing more to report. Carry on. (SB112, effective Oct 1) "Since 2003, exhaust systems installed on motor vehicles in California with a manufacturer’s gross vehicle weight rating of less than 6,000 pounds, other than motorcycles, may not exceed a sound level of 95-decibels when tested under a Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) procedure. SB 112 does not change this."
On one hand I'm glad our insect overlords realized the error in their ways. However, there was a HUGE reduction in ricer exhausts around here. It's been nice. I just hope they don't return with fart pipes.
And while the cop is writing your fix it ticket, a herd of straight piped Harleys will blast by at deafening decibel levels and he won't even look up from his ticket book.
Yeah, I still don't get that one. Harleys at full 'song' sound like absolute shit to me. Just loud and obnoxious. I'd rather listen to a chorus of Piccolo Pete's than uncorked V2.
Well Harleys sound much better than the tuners.Nothing else sounds like a Harley OR Ford flathead.I'm just opinionated.
Actually, with all the weekend warrior yuppy Harley dudes and dudettes running around urban area's on weekends with their unmuffled hogs is one of the major drivers for the law that was implemented.
Funny, nobody will ride on my right side for long- and then at stops you hear "F'in' loud Indian". And it has cone baffles.
I remember an OT car with 16" Cherry Bomb mufflers (mufflers???). Course I "rapped" it out right in front of a Lynnwood, Wa officer who had someone else pulled over; then he came after me. This was an early 70's MOPAR with the square tip exhaust extensions. He wrote me up for execessive exhaust, and it was a fix-it ticket. Went in the first of the week to have the ticket taken care of. The lady cop asks if I had new mufflers; well yes, they were new, just 16 inches long. These square tipped MOPARS had a "hole" for condensation to drain from. I crammed the exhaust with Brillo pads, stuck a screw in the hole, and drove to the police station, choked up as it was. She did't even come out to check it out! As soon as I left, I pulled the screw out, and mashed the throttle, shooting the Brillo pads about 40 feet out. The ticketing cop was the SIL of the police chiefs daughter; Al Glandt (who actually got tossed out of office for selling guns out of the property room and pocketing the $$$). Cops are above the law, right? Years later I X-Rayed the SOB when his "mechanical penile implant" failed him; it did't fail, he was just that big of a pr*ck! I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
the law is a maximum 95 decibels @ 2500 RPM to be more precise... ask me how I know.... OK I'll tell you. had a cop actually hook up a Sun dwell/tach thing to my OT 4 cylinder truck after a rambunctious start after a red light. the RPM's in my tach in the truck and his dwell tach did not match up, according to his my truck was too loud, but since they were both Sun tachs he let me slide..... Sun Supertach .. I still have it around here somewhere... this was 30 years ago.
The technical procedure, if you wish to dispute an officer's judgement (editorial comments by Bob's Muffler): CA.V.C. 27200 (a) The Department of Motor Vehicles shall not register on a dealer's report of sale a new motor vehicle, except an off-highway motor vehicle subject to identification as provided in Division 16.5 (commencing with Section 38000), Which produces a maximum noise exceeding the applicable noise limit at a distance of 50 feet from the centerline of travel under test procedures established by the Department of Highway Patrol. (b) The Department of Motor Vehicles may accept a dealer's certificate as proof of compliance with this article. (c) Test procedures for compliance with this article shall be established by the Department of the California Highway Patrol, taking into consideration the testing procedures of the Society of Automotive Engineers. Part (c) of this section says that the California Highway Patrol shall set the testing standards in the for of California Code of Regulation, Title 13, Article 9, Section 1036 as denoted in letter from the Department of California Highway Patrol file 60.A9190.A9181.062.9610186. CCR 1036 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks and Buses Exhaust systems for motor vehicles, other than motorcycles, gross vehicle weight rating of less than 6,000 LB (2,722 kg) shall comply with the specified noise limits when tested in accordance with the following specifications: (a) Measuring Site. The vehicle under test shall be positioned either on outdoor pavement or on a shop floor ( but not over a hoist or pit) in a location where the exhaust outlets are near an open shop door. No sound-reflecting surface other than the pavement and the vehicle being measured shall be within 10 ft (3.0m) of any part of the vehicle. The testing is done in an environment in which there is minimal sound contamination. Please note that there is nothing stating highways or other public roads as being an exception to this criterion. (b) Microphone Location. The microphone for the sound level meter shall be at the same height as the center of the exhaust outlet. The microphone shall be no closer to the pavement than 8 in. (203mm) when the exhaust outlet is lower than this height. The microphone shall be positioned with its longitudinal axis parallel to the ground, 20 inches plus or minus 1 inch (508mm plus or minus 24mm) from the nearest edge of the exhaust outlet, and 45 degrees plus or minus 10 degrees from the axis of the outlet. For exhaust outlets located under the vehicle body, the microphone shall be located at the specified angle and at least 8 in., (203mm) from the nearest part of the vehicle. For exhaust outlets that make an angle of 45 degree or less with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, the microphone shall be outboard of the exhaust axis. For exhaust outlet angles of more than 45 degrees, the microphone shall be on the side of the exhaust axis to the rear of the vehicle. This denotes where the sound measuring device is relatively close to the exhaust outlet. Notice that it does not make any references to provisions for sound level testing done from distances greater than 21 inches. < (c) Engine Operation. The engine shall be at a normal running temperature with the transmission in neutral. System sound level measurements conducted for certification by exhaust manufacturers shall be made at an average steady-state engine speed of three-quarters of maximum rpm. Sound level measurements conducted by licensed muffler certification stations shall be made at an average steady-state engine speed of 3,000 rpm for vehicles manufactured before 1972 for which the station does not have a maximum rpm data. Please notice that the engine is supposed to be running and the law has no provisions for parked vehicles. Note that the certification can be done by the manufacturer of the exhaust system. There is no requirement that the manufacturer sound test each individual vehicle. Re: "licensed muffler certification stations," the letter from the California Highway Patrol file Number 60.A9190.A9181.062.9610186 states in the third paragraph that these facilities were canceled in 1978 due to budgetary cut-backs. (d) Exhaust Sound Level Measurement. The recorded exhaust system sound level of a stationary vehicle shall be the highest reading obtained during the test, disregarding unrelated peaks due to extraneous ambient noise. When there is more than one exhaust outlet, the reported sound level shall be for the loudest outlet. When there are two or more exhaust outlets separated by less than 12 in. (305mm), measurements shall be made on the outlet closest to the side or rear of the vehicle. (Figure 4). The sound level for the motor vehicles with the manufacturers' gross vehicle ratings of less than 6,000 LB (2,722 kg) except motorcycles, shall not exceed the following limit: The statement stating extraneous ambient noise refers to noise coming from places other than the exhaust. For this reason, testing cannot be done in a sound-contaminated environment. It would be logical that a roadside or a highway would be a sound-contaminated environment. (1) Sound Level Limit. The exhaust noise shall not exceed 95 dB(A). This is very straightforward and should leave nothing to interpretation. (2) Exemption. The exhaust noise of vehicles manufactured after 1967 may exceed 95 dB(A) if the replacement parts are no louder than the original equipment or "factory duplicate" system and the total sound level of the vehicle when tested in accordance with Sections 1040 through 1049 of this title complies with the limits in Vehicle Code Section 27205 for the year of manufacture of that vehicle.
Very similar to my story, circa 1978, with my avatar car, which is a gennie 406-6V 500XL. Had the 14:1 427 in it then, .660 DeLong cam and Edelbrock cross-ram with 650 dp's. Hookers into dead straight 3" pipes, through straight core truck resonators and 45 tips- booms pretty good like an FE wih a lotta squeeze can. So I gets a fixit ticket. Drop the pipes at the collectors, and round up a dozen soda cans and churchkey holes in both ends of each, and stuff 6 in each side. Start it up, and it's VERY unhappy, chuffing and gagging like a bezerk Electrolux. Drive it to the CHP station (5.14 gears) and ask for forgiveness. The 30-ish officer tried his best to look stern and unapproving, but finally broke out laughing, signs the ticket and says "Get that thing outa here before it frags itself!" Yessir, thank you sir! So I get home and back it in the driveway, not wanting to climb under and drop the pipes, so I floor it, and then BOOM- BOOM- BABABOOM as the cans made the 45, bounced of the ground and ricocheted off the garage door
I can hear cars driving by my house for 15 seconds or so, with my neighbors FREAKING LAWN MOWERS, I hear them blasting away, for hours at a time!
I don't care if it's a Harley or a Honda , 502 or 02 ,if its obnoxiously loud and hurts my ears , it's too damn loud.,........and get off of my lawn !!!!
I don't know anyone who's been pulled over for loud exhaust. alot of cars in my town are quite loud. Mostly newer cars. I don't mind it most of the time, I'm a car guy, I like hearing the engine. But there's some folks that will go WOT down a stretch of my road with what sounds like open headers on a newer V8. They do it every time they pass by. I'm assuming their buddies live on that corner or something. It gets annoying after a while, but whatever. I'm sure I'm annoying someone at some point too. haha
Never got pulled over in 70's for open headers in CA. when I ran them. But I did get a CHP fix it ticket on the I-60 going through Pomona in 1980 when the oil line to my oil gauge sprung a pin hole and dripped on my headers. Smoke was very evident as a huge ass cloud. Gave me the ticket for polluting. Go figure.
I'm not too keen on the morons driving around in low gear, on and off the gas, at 3 or 4 am with no or very little mufflers. Especially in the summer when the house windows are open.
In the mid-90's I got busted for loud exhaust in an slightly OT Dodge Dart with a 273 in Oceanside... The kind officer gave me a fix it ticket. Added a cross-over and got it 're-certified'... still drove it like a heathen until the crazy little lady with 6 kids in the car ran the red light and tore the front end off of it.
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