A sign of things to come...?

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Not a bad idea IMO, provided it is only enforced during certain hours i.e. 11pm-6am

However, even if your exhaust can produce 90dB+, you might not be stupid enough to drive around red lining it for it to be that loud, so a bit unfair in that sense

"Vehicle noise levels should be between 82 and 89"

Do you get fined if it is too quiet as well then??????????

:)) be quite interesting if that's the case

How the fook would you enforce it "between hours"? You'g be expected to swap your backbox over each time you wanted to go out.

To be honest, they should bring in an MOT failing blanket ban on anything louder than x dB over a certain amount.

Quite what the attraction is, ive never understood, living on a bus route, but quiet road, and being able to compare them, most loud exhausts simply sound like an Arriva bus!

But I guess loud = speed & big balls or summit lyk that.

More than Three times the aceptable level, which in this case is apparently 89db...

Hmmm.. So Id make that over 267db! Of course he should be fined


Thats a bad bit of reporting there, 267db is impossible for a car, unless it had like a Jet Engine or something, and Boeing 747s only produce around 140db.

I know for a fact that these sound meters are ridiculously unreliable. Theyre used for scrutineering at Race Weekends... and never give a set level. Maybe if they inrease the allowed sound levels to around 108 db (Motorsport levels) then the problem would be solved. Older cars (Like Metros) I always rememebr being loud because of the choke etc, much louder than modern cars and most modified cars.


What if your driving a rally car around as your daily driver (Like I know some people do) What then? The car is road legel, otherwise theyd have been informed during MOTs etc.

Maybe they should ban Aftermarket exhausts on anything under a 1.8, that would stop most of these anti social Modded Corsas

wow no way lol i best sort mine out lol haha lol

summit lyk that < haha - good one!

db is a logarithmic scale .... with power everytime the power doubles it adds 3db.

3 times the limit would be 89 + 4.8 = 93.8db.

One convenient thing about db is that 10db increase is an increase of 10 times.

One of the reasons a logarithmic scale is used is to reduce the massive figures to a readable/reasonable level. The limit is 89db above the 0db reference level (which is not silence!) this is 7943282347 times louder than the reference.

Construction and use regulations used to be quite loose on modified exhausts - the manufacturer of the vehicle had a specified limit they had to meet. If you replaced your exhaust the regulations said the noise had to be no louder than the original exhaust (I think this was in the MOT as well). Comparable wasn't specified as measured by instruments or by hearing, nor was it specified as an average or a peak noise level.

The same as you would if it wasn't during restricted hours?!





Decibels are a logarithmic measurement, so 3 times would be more like 100dB

Beat me to it DD lol

....and me

200+ Db

If you car is any louder than the original exhaust then it is illegal, you can not change the exhaust for even a slightly louder one.

why sell them then and if your emmisions are in the legal spec it,s ok

No MOT test station tests the loudness of your car

as yet

us bikers have been dealing with these fines for years, throughout the country, and now getting loads of shit over our plates.... I'm surprised its only being enforced for cars now....

The words in the MOT bible are ...

"assess subjectively the effectiveness of the silencer in reducing exhaust noise to a level considered to be average for the vehicle"

reason for rejection

"a silencer in such a condition, or of such a type, that the noise emitted from the vehicle is clearly unreasonably above the level expected from a similar vehicle with a silencer in average condition"

MOT law is totally different to Road law. No speedo is required for an MOT, yet it is illegal to drive a vehicle without one.

It's in the Construction and Usage Regulations that says that it is an offence to modify an exhaust so that it is louder than standard

MOT is a subset of Construction and Use Regs.

So we gonna see Feds with a db meter at 1 meter away from your exhaust while you are driving past?...me thinks not!

The noise (not necessarily from exhaust)produced by loads of wagons,tractors and other agricultural vehicles is much louder than a lot of exhausts!...so these gonna by banished as well?? NO!

The problem is when the noise made, is louder than std - if you have a loud exhaust from std, they are ok - TVRs have done this for years.

No new car makes have developed this active exhaust - where is opens a butterfly valve in the exhaust, making it louder only when you put your foot down - when the car is stationary it is very quiet.

TBH Its very easy to fit these valves - they just need connecting to a vaccume / pressure source to operate

I dont care to be honest. Im not changing my exhaust. My cars not a kids corsa, my exhaust is there for a reason and thats to produce optimum flow. I cant afford a fancy high flow race silencer as ive got more important things to do / spend money on then making my car quieter. Boo hoo if my car makes too much noise, how about stop complaining and get a life? Are you going to tell the planes flying overhead to fit silencers now? Didnt think so.

As Token said its been happening to bikes for years, and on plates and anything else. Its called victimisation, its easy money. No wonder so many bikes run instead of stopping when they get a pull. It gets ever more tempting to throw a coat off battleship grey on it, whip the plates off and let them try to catch me.

IMO bikes should be allowed loud exhausts.

Sometimes its the only thing that gets you noticed on the road.

If I get a fine for my race can, I ain't paying it.

RE: loud exhausts on bikes - I only have one thing to say;

LOUD PIPES SAVE LIVES