View Full Version : Legality of noise on road.....
MattBrown
22-02-10, 02:33 PM
Right, from what I am told there is no legal noise level in decibels on the road?
Its at the discression of the mot tester, and at the discression of the police and vosa!
I was informed by a traffic officer I was talking to that the only thing they can do is give you a £30 breach of the peace/disturbance fine?
No points, is this true?
Its more for the motorbikes, but would be good to know, as an xe is quite loud anywayslol
An xe can be as quiet as you want it
agreed,obviously straight through to a cherry bomb is just going to be a police magnet
blue_peg_16v
22-02-10, 05:36 PM
ive never had a problem and mines 2.5in straight through to the back box
if your driving sensibly in built up areas the car wont be that loud so the police wont bother you drive like a tool and they will pull you for anything they can.
There are euro regulations about noise pollution etc, but a VOSA probe by the exhaust in a lay by is not sufficient to satisfy decibel testing requirements
basically, if you drive past my house & annoy me, then i will personally shove a potato up the tailpipe
If you take the piss, they'll bust you.
MattBrown
22-02-10, 08:26 PM
Cheers, so theres no laws?
Mines gonna be under 100db, but bigger engines seem to make more of a crack on full chat lol
Police round here (North wales) Write there own rules, you do as they say, or they arrset you:(
CoolTiger
22-02-10, 08:47 PM
dont worry just follow me they will pull me before you with what i got planned ha
ste porter
22-02-10, 09:40 PM
the exhaust on my 4x4 is going to be a 2 foot long 3 inch diamiter pipe straight from the turbo straight out the side of the front bumper as im not going to have a lot of choice so dont worry about it
Right, from what I am told there is no legal noise level in decibels on the road?
wrong! the limit is 86db, but they allow upto about 90db
i found this out by paying them a nice £30
basically, if you drive past my house & annoy me, then i will personally shove a potato up the tailpipe
expanding foam mate:thumb: works a treat at any angle and if put in far enough ( OOH ERR ) you dont see it!
but dont do that, its not nice :p
ste porter
22-02-10, 09:47 PM
is that in a silent enviroment at what distance exactly should the probe be is that taking into acount general road noise while driving at what rpm is that while under a pre set load theres so many variables that for them to say thats exactly 91.6 decibeles that its imposable to enforce in that way i have never had any trouble and i have had some seriously loud motors but if you take the mick as already said and remove your manifold or something stupid not only will you set light to your car but your going to get nicked use your head and you will be fine
George g
22-02-10, 09:58 PM
is that in a silent enviroment at what distance exactly should the probe be is that taking into acount general road noise while driving at what rpm is that while under a pre set load theres so many variables that for them to say thats exactly 91.6 decibeles that its imposable to enforce in that way i have never had any trouble and i have had some seriously loud motors but if you take the mick as already said and remove your manifold or something stupid not only will you set light to your car but your going to get nicked use your head and you will be fine
each level up the decible scale is twice the loudness than the previous, so 2dB is twice 1dB, 3dB is twice 2dB... so there is a very large difference in the "normal limit" and "allowable limit".
in motorsport (i can imagine similar to normal ones) noise is normally tested in 2 ways
Static -
measured 0.5 meters away at 45 degrees to your exhaust pipe at 2/3rds of the max RPM of the vehicle.
Drive by -
measured 2m whilst you drive at a set speed/revs past the meter.
most cars on a standard system get no-where near that level. a Mk 2 escort, 2 litre Pinto, on a Split 45, 4 branch with a sports exhaust system can hit almost 90dB... :thumb:
ste porter
22-02-10, 10:05 PM
yeah i know all that already mate but what im sying is when was the last time you see a copper stop someone and say your car is over 90db sir would you please drive of and drive back past while i get my sound leve equipment set up!
at the end of the day if its in your face and pc plod is having a bad day your gonna get a fine if you use your head keep the revs down dip the clutch and back off when the plod go the other way you shouldnt have a problem
i would say bubba caught them on a bad day or they couldnt find anything else wrong so they did him for that
mine was tested 1m back and 1.5m across from the exhaust. readings at tickover and 4500rpm...secretly i was hoping my engine would go bang so i could properly kick off
wrong! the limit is 86db, but they allow upto about 90db
i found this out by paying them a nice £30
90? Is that all? You sure? Mines more than that...
yep, mine is as well, hence my £30 fine...he did advise me to change it...
Sure some one else said it was 100.
I know mines 94db.
dumpycorsa
23-02-10, 09:31 AM
This is what a local engine tuner had to say after a few local people got busted for loud exhausts -
I dare say some of you have heard about the latest Police tactics of stopping cars and measuring exhaust noises using a decibel meter. Apparently five owners were issued with £30 fixed penalty notices this week in Plymouth due to "excessive noise". The limits they are operating appear very low, certainly compared to normal motorsport levels, and it's my view that a huge number of standard cars, the likes of Aston Martin, Ferrari etc would fail their "test".
Ignoring all the obvious pitfalls with accurate noise testing, background, barometric pressure, humidity, temperature, wind direction etc. there's one obvious problem from the actual lawbreaking point of view. What is it the Police are complaining about? is it the actual noise, or the ability of the car to produce it? Could they issue a penalty on the appearance of the tailpipe, or does it actually have to make a noise?
I've heard it goes like this. Plod one stands at the back of the car while Plod two revs it up. If Plod one's little needle goes over 89db on his meter, they issue a fixed penalty.
What's the penalty for? the Plod with his great flat hoof on the throttle made the noise! should HE be liable? if they make you do it yourself, is that coercion? what happened to the right to silence enshrined in law? it sounds like they are making you make the noise they are complaining about.
If you shout loudly in the street, and they ask you to shut up, and you do, I wouldn't expect you to be fined. what I also wouldn't expect is for them to ask you to shout again like you did before, then fine you for that! It's like doing you for speeding because the car is CAPABLE of going over 30 mph.
Considering it's possible to drive up and down at only 1500 rpm, I can't see how they can fine you for having an engine that makes a certain noise at 4000 rpm or whatever.
A classic Morris Minor makes a hellava noise if you rev it up to 5000 rpm, then let it idle again. It's a WURP that comes from its peashooter tailpipe, that would easily exceed 89 db.
I've just discovered something, having never looked before, but apparently there are decibel limits stuck in log books for cars after 2002. Is that what they are on about? where did that come from? if the limit isn't listed on your import car, can you tell them to Sod off?
As far as I'm concerned anybody who doesn't like the sound of a decent car engine wants flogging.
The whole thing is pathetic and I can't believe we aren't all on the streets rioting about it, as it's the biggest threat to the car enthusiast since the man with the red flag walking in front.
How many car fanatics are there in this country? Time for a change of Government? what do you reckon, Tory? UKIP? BNP? who is going to listen to us?
Alan Jeffery
I'd be interested to see the law that states the dB limit. Until then, plod can suck my remaining bollock. As far as the MOT is concerned, it says if the noise level is excessive for "a car the same but with a standard exhaust" it should fail - find me a "standard exhaust" for a V6 nova and then we'll talk :p
btw, 90dB is nothing. I know a chap who got recorded at 93dB (at Castle Combe) on a GT4 with nothing more than an air filter, Blitz Nur Spec-R cat back exhaust (albeit with knackered baffles lol) and decat pipe. Which is the same as mine, and I don't think mine is loud at all.
we did db testing in college for hgv's. eu standard is 1.5m up 7m back . in a clear area with no wall over 10ft within a 50m radius of the vehicles exhaust pipe. reg's hereare 86db which i think is the eu norm.
MattBrown
24-02-10, 07:55 AM
Meh, a lad round here runs 104db out of his 1400 8v corsa, no cat, no boxes, cut and shut backbox! lol
dumpycorsa
24-02-10, 08:06 AM
My 535 has just been through it's MOT. My back box bracket corroded away from the box so being a ****ter I simply cut the back box off and welded on two straight peices of pipe. I tested how loud it was the other day and it's 84db's on tick over and peaks at 118db's when revved. Holding the decibel meter 1 metre from the exhaust. The MOT tester put on an advisary note the "custom exhaust" was intrusivelol
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.