I have a real old school Greddy muffler. The tip is so big it literally gives rise to the "coffee-can exhaust" term people use. I was installing new headers and a down pipe on Aug. 25th and didn't finish connecting the down pipe to the catalytic converter because of some issues. The following week, Sept. 4th, I was pulled over one block from my house, leaving my house to go to the gas station. The cop was a total jerk. I don't blame him for giving me a ticket cuz of the noise necessarily, but it could have been at least a warning. I told him it had been 11 days since working on the car and I thought I needed to bring it to a shop to finish the down pipe to cat. He called me an "a**hole car enthusiast" to my face, saying I was disturbing my neighbors sleeping at 9 AM in the morning. The ticket said "Local noise ordinance and loud muffler." Those exact words. Uh, how can you hear my muffler if exhaust isn't even making from the down pipe through the hanging 1 inch gap to the cat?? I decided to fight the ticket after having the down pipe to cat bolted at a shop, so I would have legal proof for the judge that it was done. I'm hoping the judge will also throw out the ticket cuz of the cop writing "loud muffler" on the ticket when I told the cop the sound was coming out of the down pipe.

So now I'm all paranoid, not wanting to draw any attention to my car and thinking I should get a new muffler. Definitely not gonna get a Honda OEM muffler though. Sent my friend, a mechanic at Mercedes-Benz, a few worried emails over the past couple weeks about all this and this is what he said:

"You should be ok with showing your exhaust repair. You could show a judge any receipt for a muffler, they don't come as "legal mufflers". It really is at the discretion of the cop as to how loud is too loud. You are so stuck on the muffler when that is not the issue. You had an exhaust leak that you repaired. Even if you show a judge that you took it to a Honda dealer to have an entire stock exhaust system installed, he can still uphold the ticket you got."

What do you guys think about this, besides the obvious fact that I'm paranoid as hell now.

Thanks.

 

You can fight the ticket, but it will come down to what the judge feels like doing. I am sure there are local ordinances in place for noise pollution. Where I am from, if a cop can hear you 50 ft away, he has a right to pull you over. I have gotten pulled over for exhaust noise three times. Only once did I get a ticket for the noise. The other times, it was for my tinted windows.

I fought the noise pollution ticket and the judge ended up lowering the fine by $50 somehow. Having a receipt showing you got it fixed proves guilt IMO, however, could show the judge you are being honest with everything. Maybe you can refer to a local lawyer and see if the cop needs to prove that he hear you disturbing peace.

The cop writing "loud muffler" has nothing to do with anything. I would not bring this up in court.

Also, I have had A-hole cops pull me over. Don't get too worried about it, as whenever I was presented with an A-hole cop, I always fought the ticket and ended up not showing to court, throwing the ticket out.

 

Thanks, cvcrcr99. I feel a lot more at ease now. As for a local lawyer, I was talking to a woman at the courthouse earlier over the phone to ask if there would be free representation there like in traffic court for advice. She said I could go to the Kane County (my county) Law Library and there are free volunteer lawyers there that can give advice. I'm not gonna take this too seriously (after I talked to her, but before I got your reply) by looking up local ordinances and decibel levels on exhaust systems for Illinois. But I'll ask one about what you said about the cop "hearing me disturbing the peace."

Thanks again.

 

There is an exception that allows someone to drive an illegal car directly to a shop to have the problem corrected (except of course where it would be totally unsafe, such as having no brakes). So showing that work was done would be a valid defense. This is typically called a "fix-it ticket."

The same thing exists for airplanes, which is a little scary.

 

Keep in mind if your defense is that he wrote on the ticket that you had a "Loud Muffler" and your defense is that it wasn't even hooked up, then they will change the ticket to running an illegal exhaust which will carry a much larger fine.
Just show the repair receipt. (as long as it was within 24 hours of the ticket) If it was a week or more later, they will probably uphold the ticket since you were driving a non-legal car.

 

isn't there something about cops having to be respectful? or is that just around here. ><

verbal assault or something... directly insulting your way of life.

 

Did you stop and think that maybe you were waking your neighbors up for over a week? Not saying the cop should have said those things....but did you really deserve respect if you weren't giving it? I would man up, pay the fine because you were probably disturbing the peace, and move on.

 

Did you ever stop and think that maybe I didn't drive the car for over a week? I'm out of work right now and that was the first time I had started up the car since the Thursday that I put the new headers and down pipe on. True, no BS. I needed to go get gas for a trip to the Department of Human Services, so there.

 

I feel for you man, but I hope you realize cops hear dozens of stories every day...and you were driving around without a downpipe connection which was probably loud as hell. You rolled the dice and lost, no reason to try to wiggle out of it. Maybe I'm just tired of hearing cops get bashed for no good reason. Good luck.

 

Thanks. I don't hate cops. And I'm not one of those people that thinks all cops were kids that were picked on in high school and are now doing what they do to get back, that they're all jerks, and I don't refer to cops as pigs or say "I smell bacon" when I see a cop. Seriously. They do deserve respect. Before I put my first post on here, I thought, "I wish I had just paid that ticket and gotten it over and done with." But I'm not fighting it because of the cop. I decided to fight it because I thought that perhaps when I got the pipe attached at Meineke and showed proof to the judge, that he'd throw it out and I'd just pay court fees. That's all. But my court date just came in the mail...I don't think I can cancel the not guilty plea, cancel the hearing, and pay up. I can call and see, but I may learn a thing or two if I go ahead to the hearing, no matter what the judge says. I have no plans to bring up anything the cop said to me. It may have been truly unnecessary and he could have just given me the ticket without adding a bunch of fluff, but I can't give "evidence" to the judge that I don't have (word of mouth).

Thanks for everyone's opinion on the matter. I'll get back on here after Nov. 1st and say how it turned out.