Thats kinda like when i used to get pulled over back in the day for having "clear" taillights. Now a toyota has them stock and they dont get pulled over. Crazy shit.

 

thats why I believe that the laws should be based upon measurable readings and not how something looks. Laws should be designed to protect the public not replace probable cause.

 

Found this to be interesting from SEMA's website. There is a group in our government that is called the "Congressional Automotive Performance and Motorsports Caucus" that was created in recognition of the automobile. Apparently Virginia has two members on it, one of them is former senator and now representative Virgil Goode. I believe this is a place to start but we have to do our homework first.
here is the link to the causus and its members

 

Virginia's Exhaust Law:

§ 46.2-1049. Exhaust system in good working order.

No person shall drive and no owner of a motor vehicle shall permit or allow the operation of any vehicle on a highway unless it is equipped with an exhaust system of a type installed as standard factory equipment, or comparable to that designed for use on the particular vehicle as standard factory equipment, in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise. An exhaust system shall not be deemed to prevent excessive or unusual noise if it permits the escape of noise in excess of that permitted by the standard factory equipment exhaust system of private passenger motor vehicles or trucks of standard make.

The term "exhaust system," as used in this section, means all the parts of a motor vehicle through which the exhaust passes after leaving the engine block.

Chambered pipes are not an effective muffling device to prevent excessive or unusual noise.

(Code 1950, § 46-305; 1952, c. 455; 1956, c. 651; 1958, c. 541, § 46.1-301; 1960, c. 120; 1970, c. 266; 1972, c. 66; 1989, c. 727.)

 

were the DOT approved? if not, they were illegal. if so, the cop checked, and more then likely didnt issues a summons.

 

I really admire what you guys are doing because I don't know how to go about fighting such laws and am 100% behind you. I'm sure if you guys need funding for getting a good lawyer and court fee's we would all be able to pitch in some money b/c in the end you would be save us all more money and the hassle of everyday driving worrying about if you see a cop, he will pull you over.

One thing I don't understand is how do V-8 Mustangs and Camaros and such cars/trucks pass the decibel limit? They seem as if they would be close to, or over 100db's from the factory.

 

Not to mention motorcycles.

 

If your talking about 18 wheelers, them and their drivers go under a completely DIFFERENT, usually more severe and stringent, set of driving and inspection laws then the average car and driver.

For example, in VA if you are driving an 18 wheeler at 10 MPH over the posted speed limit, you are guilty of Reckless Driving. Even if you have a CDL and are driving a car and you get nailed for a moving violation, I believe it would be just as severe as if you were doing that in a 18 wheeler.

There is NO decibel level rule in VA. You want to know where the manufacturers get "50 State Legal", its because their system passes CARB's stringent guidelines. They assume that since it passes CARB's guidelines (which are the strictest in the country), it will pass everybody's laws. Note that ASSUME is used, not WILL.

And I'll clear up another myth. CARB Legal doesn't mean ANYTHING in VA. CARB ONLY HAS JURISDICTION OVER CALIFORNIA.

There is no rule that determines whether a cat-back is 50 state legal. The 50 State Legal Stickers and sayings you see thrown everywhere IS PURELY MARKETING

And a few months ago after a friend of mine got nailed for exhaust and me and some others approached SEMA at that time (that's where everybody is getting this "didn't somebody go talk to SEMA" stuff from). Basically, SEMA said that they were short-handed and didn't have the necessary political pull in VA to encourage a 95 dB law to be passed. So they didn't pursue it at the time b/c they had much more promising agendas in front of them during that time.

At the moment, the only almost sure way to do this is to get the specs on the exhaust system you are interested in. Print out the specs, the pictures of muffler. Go show ALL of that to an officer and ask him/her flat out "Is this legal for my car? Will I get cited for an exhaust violation with this on my car?" If the officer says its all good, get his/her name and badge number and keep it with your car.

 

this is the subjectivity of the law...FUCK THAT, because one officer can say one thing, and the next asshole might have his panties in a bunch and have every right to write the ticket after all, asking one cop and getting his name is just the same as driving down the road past one cop that doesnt pull you over, while the next one does...it makes no difference. this is the point we are getting at. camaro's and mustangs ride around ALL the time with aftermarked exhausts, and since they dont attract huge attention even though they are loud, they dont get hassled. 1. they arent as flashy, and 2. i think cops are more biased towards domestics for several reasons. first being that there was never any stupid ass ricer movies about domestics in the theatres, and 2, they dont understand that not all of us are idiots.

this brings up another statistic i would like to see. of the exhaust tickets written, what percentage are imports and what percentage are domestics...that would be another staggering statistic.

 

Well, I posted what the law is for VA about exhausts which is very vague but basically means that if it didnt come from the stealership, you run the risk of being pulled over.