So this was originally a response to a PM but turned out to be a larger size read, so I thought I would make a dedicated post.
The following is just my opinion, nothing more.
I'll tell you what I know. Like I said I'm not an expert, but have fought and won many many tickets. I don't know if I should be proud to say or not, that I've gotten pulled over, and gotten tickets more then everyone I know combined. The good news is that I've only ever be found guilty on three in my entire driving career. Sounds kinda crazy. Anywho, the whole exhaust thing, it's funny you ask, because I myself have gotten pulled over and cited for the same exact thing. And just got the issue resolved a couple days ago. I'll tell you what happened to me.
I was driving to work one day bout 9am ish and sure enough a police officer was tailing me for about a minute. He pulled me over in the middle of traffic, which was dumb, but he did it anyway. Walked up to the window and said do you know why i pulled you over. I of course said no. (always let them talk and say what they want. don't argue or say much of anything, just fight their ass in court.) he said you know your muffler is kinda loud. I just looked at him and squinted. Being that it was not a question he asked me I of course was not obligated to answer anything. Cops will friggin do that shit, they try to get you to admit guilt by saying something like, yeah I know I was speeding, but im just sorry I wasn't paying attention. That right there is the WORST thing to do. Because THAT's the kinda of situation you CAN'T fight. When you admit to speeding, and then he writes you a citation, and then you take it to court. you can't plead not guilty, because then the cop will just say something like "well, he admitted he was speeding." bam case closed. Getting back to what happened to me, I didn't say anything, he asked for my drivers license and registration, standard procedure crap. came back and wrote me a ticket for the modified exhaust, and no front license plate. I just followed my regular procedure for stalling the hell out of the ticket and waiting till the last second to get it taken care of. Here's where it gets strange, right as I was in the middle of stalling the crap out of the ticket, I moved to northern California, so now I was 600 miles away from the courthouse I was supposed to fight it in. After the calculations I came up with showed it would cost more to drive there, win and drive back then just to pay the fine, I finally realized that I could do a trial by declaration. Which is ALWAYS available to everyone regardless, I just never used it, because all of the tickets I got were in the local area. Here's where all the details come in. The officer cited me for two things, I'll just go over the exhaust, because that's what you're dealing with.
I'll betcha that on your ticket, in the middle somewhere the officer wrote the infraction number "27151 section (a)" Then he probably wrote "modified exhaust" next to that. The California vehicle code, which I should add, will become your best friend if you're obsessed with cars like I am.... the CA Vehicle code yes, it does state:
"No person shall modify the exhaust system of a motor vehicle in a manner which will amplify or increase the noise emitted by the motor of the vehicle...."
in provision 27151 section (a)
HOWEVER...
if you read further, to section (b) the code says:
"...exhaust systems installed on motor vehicles with a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of less
than 6,000 pounds...." which is civics like us "....a sound level of 95 dbA......complies with this section." !!!!!! WTF! if you read even FURTHER INTO THE CODE YOU FIND:
"A Motor vehicle exhaust systems or parts thereof include, but are not limited to, non original exhaust equipment."
NON ORIGINAL EXHAUST EQUIPMENT!!! I think we all know what that is.
Here's the bottom line, if your exhaust is under 95 DB, which most systems are now you're good. People will argue the fact that it's not approved by the "Society of automotive engineers standard." It doesn't matter! if you get a ticket for an exhaust and the police officer DOESN'T ask you for certification of Decibel level, or even ASKs what db your system is, then he's citing your vehicle wrongly!
After I stalled my ticket, I wrote a trial by declaration, (court trial thorough the mail) and argued that the officer never asked for proof that it was compliant, or even asked to test it, and that the exhaust itself though non original still complied with section b of the provision. I also wrote in more words of course, taking an entire page up just on the argument. I sent it off and hoped for the best.
In the end, I received a letter in the mail telling me that the case was dismissed and a bail refund was going to be issued to me. I was excited because for both fix it's, it was 200 bucks. I got the check in the mail a couple of days ago. You can fight, you can win.
I don't make this stuff up. Go here and look up whatever code you want. (just check the box that says vehicle code and type in the code number in the field):
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html
Here's the link to the exhaust section:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/ca...+27151&hits=20
I'm not going to beat around the bush, law enforcement HOPES you don't read the fine print. They HOPE you don't go online and look up the LAWS of California. they just write write write and collect collect collect money from the people who DON'T FIGHT for their rights!!!
If you don't know the rules you'll never know what's ok and what's not! Do you REALLY think you can trust the police to tell you what's right and wrong when they get PAID to find things that are wrong!!??
You can make your own decision, I've made mine and I'm sick and tired of being told I can't do things like change my exhaust.
Like i said before, all of this... is just my opinion.
