While I was at work, my mom called to warn my brother and I that my dad saw a bunch of motorcycle cops pulling people over by our shop (family business). After closing up, my brother and I headed home in our cars. He was driving behind in his FC and I was driving my FD. We didnt see any cops in the area and carefully drove home.

A few minutes later I was pulled over by a motorcycle cop. He said I was pulled over because of my exhaust. Rather than sit there and argue with him, I signed my fix-it ticket for V.C. 27151 and went home. Naturally I was pissed off because I just received a BS ticket. My FD is VERY quiet and always passes smog with this exhaust. Getting F'ed in the A from the law isnt an option for me. I wasnt ready to buy/install a stock exhaust just to give them $10 dollars because the officer didnt know what the hell VC 27151 is. For those who dont know, this vehicle code pretty much says that nobody should operate a vehicle whose exhaust is louder than 95db.

After some "googling" I came up with the phone number to my local State Referee office. I called them up and scheduled an appointment for an exhaust decibel test. This test measures the sound your exhaust makes using a calibrated decibel meter. If your exhaust is under 95db, they put a sticker on your ticket stating that your exhaust is legal and you get a certificate with the test results. The referee station is located in the automotive section of Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga. I forgot the exact percentage but something like 90% of the cars cited for illegal exhausts pass well under the 95 db sound test. The other 10% are probably ported n/a rotary engines with straight exhaust up to Apexi N1s

I showed up the next day at Chaffey College and got my exhaust tested. I passed at 92db. The limit is 95db. From what I hear, for every 3db increase in sound, the sound doubles. Not sure how accurate this statement is but I was just glad I had a shiny sticker on my ticket saying my exhaust was good.

For those thinking "HEY! I'm going to schedule a dB test for my exhaust before I get a ticket!" you will be surprised to know that in order to get this test done, you have to get a ticket for your exhaust. So much for innocent until proven guilty eh?

Now I have to wait for my court date in April to finish this stupid process. Does anyone know if I can get out of the fix-it ticket fee by seeing the judge? I'll keep this updated and hopefully this can help others out in a situation like this.

 

I believe you can get out of it too just by waiting for the ticket to show in the mail and just pay for the w/o correction fee. it's like $150.00 as opposed to $10.00 w/ correction. freakin sucks...

 

got one back on November 14th the fee is $117.00

not that bad

 

Yeah just call the court system and ask if your ticket is in the computer if it is there is a time window you could go in to c the judge and from there the judge will dropp the charges or just charge you the 10 bucks. Done this many times with the tickets i got on my sa.

 

At the test did they inspect anything else or just strictly measure the db level? If someone got cited for modified exhaust and other misc things (removed smog equipment) I can see it being a little more difficult.

 

carry one of these around...

 

no way around the correction fee, that is their way of slapping you in the face regardless of innocence and to help pay their wages even though you already do that in taxes..

 

dB are relative to a given measurement.

-3 dB is half power and +3 dB is 2x the power of that relative measurement. Your car needs to be 2x louder in order to fail the 95 dB test.

**** it go to court. Claim not guilty get a trial date. On the trial show your proof of innocence but stress how concerned you are on how innacurate the officer's judgement is on what is 95 dB really is. Because 2X as loud is a huge difference and that gross error in judgement has caused you and most importantly the court's time and money. Be smart though, say it after the judge has given you a verdict of you innocent .

Don't forget to show proof on what 3 dB of difference really is.


dB = 20 log (Aout/Ain); Ain is preset amplitude into a system and Aout is the amplitude out of the exhaust.

That's your payback to cop and the system.

 

Cops are lame. They should have decibel readers embedded in their ears and be able to test DNA samples from **** on their belt.

 

lol well damn... the hks ti exhaust for the supra does 192 db... welp... there goes that idea.

 

yup. maybe you should suggest this to the PD, fu.. your suggestions are simply awesome!

 

Yea while they are at it, a mobile polygraph machine would work wonders too.

 

Only if they were forced to carry them rectially.

 

I just carry a Radioshack Db Meter that I picked up on Ebay a couple years back for $50. Does both A and C scales.

If you get pulled over for that, pull out the tape measure make off the correct distance and hand the Db meter to the cop and ask him to tell you what it says.

 

i doubt carrying around a decibal meter is gonna save you from the hassle of having to go to the ref or court. they'll just say your meter isnt calibrated or not approved by whatever sanctioning body

 

Same thing happened to me once. I went to the ref and got my car to pass, but when I went to court. They told me the cop marked that it couldnt be fixed. So I got gayed with the 120 bones even though my exhaust passed

 

it's always the 2nd gens and 3rd gens that always get pulled over... i've never heard of the old schools and 1st gens getting pulled over ever and my RX-4 is as loud as a harley bike and i'm already running 2 resonators and 1 exit on the d-bridgeport! and it's nowhere close to quiet.. and yes, i too am getting annoyed by it as well.

i did get pulled over couple of times when i had my 1st gen, but not due to loud exhaust note nor mods. i also got pulled over in the rx-4 but that wasn't also about the exhaust. got pulled over many times but here's the catch 22; i have 0 tickets and a clean record (thank God)!! they do compliment me about the 1st gen and the rx4. maybe they just like the way my cars look? lol

cops look at me when i drive the loud RX-4 and they just give me thumbs up, while i shift as low as i can so i can pass by as quiet as i can. i've also spoken to a few cops without any remorse, and many of them are just like us; down to earth folks.. it really all depends of the time of the day i suppose and how you carry yourself (sp?)

fu, do you think there's a correlation about cops liking old schools in general? from mazdas to chevys?

 

I heard NoLuck is an illegal alien (not from a different planet). Anyone know how much is the snitch fee nowadays?

 

or maybe they felt sorry for you.

 

i heard wackyricer likes to swallow and polishes good with no teeth! GOOFYROTOR can readily vouch for wackyricer fellas since GOOFYROTOR is a loyal customer. so if ya'll need help from the aforementioned, hit wackyricer up!

 

I like da old school. My 510 is going to be loud as **** with my f20 engine.

 

depends on how dB is defined. If you take the standard definition for acoustics (intensity of sound), you'd have

dB = 10*log(P2/P1) = 3

You'd get the sound intensity ratio P2/P1 = 10^(3/20) = 1.995 ~ 2 (double the sound intensity for a measured +3 dB difference)

If you took (you could also write it like dB = 10*log[(A2/A1)^2]), I think this comes from an amplitude ratio, hence the square of the argument of the log since power is proportional to the square of the amplitude)

dB = 20*log(A2/A1) = 3

You'd get A2/A1 = 10^(3/10) = 1.414 (not quite double the sound amplitude)

Check out the wikipedia for more info.

 

I got a loud exhaust ticket in my RX-2, but at the time it had basically straight pipes into a magnaflow muffler so it was pretty loud. Had a 2nd muffler welded in, took it to the ref. and it passed the decibel test, although barely. I think it was still 89dB even with 2 mufflers, still though that passes so I just had to pay the $10. Plus the cost of the muffer of course, but it sounds alot nicer now.

I keep that dB printout in the car now, so if I ever get harassed for it again I'll just show them that.

Mike

 

You CAN get out of the $10 dismissal as you have proof you are NOT guilty. Just go to the clerk window and plead not guilty there (you'll have to post the full bail) and get your court date. Then, go to court and just present your proof (most likely the cop won't even show up for a ticket like that) you got from the ref. Open and shut case, and you get your full bail back in the mail.

The problem is, isn't all that time worth more to you than the $10? Also, you'll be out your bail money until you get through the process and the slow court process finally returns your bail.

They get you either way. Me, I'd go to court JUST to rub it in the cops face for giving such a undeserving ticket and wasting your and the courts time in front of the judge. Trust me, that cop will be seeing that judge again, and again, and again as part of his job.

 

Which one?
the 510
OR
the F150 that is towing the 510.