ok, so this cop sees me get off 280 onto wolfe road toward cupertino village. i've come back for the weekend from purdue university, so i'm not even taking it that fast.. not in the mood to deal with cops now. he pulls over my sti, and says that i have a modified exhaust and window tint. the window tint i can understand... but modified exhaust? my friend told me it is illegal, but doesn't EVERYONE have one? shiet.. well, the cop says there was another call in, so he let me go. but still... modified exhaust is illegal now in cali? i think i've been gone too long o_O;;

sjice

 

technically its not illegal, as long as you have your cats and its under 95db's. some cops just like to abuse their power. qwere u driving erratic, or attracting attention in any other way? ( like your exaust being REALLY loud )

 

it's legal. In fact, there was a law that was trying to be passed to make modified exhaust illegal... but, for now, it's legal

 

I bet he got noticed because of the tinting. Enough probable cause for the officer to ask.

By the way because everybody has them does not make them legal or acceptable.

Anyways you got lucky so count your blessings.
Most officers will ticket you for modified exhaust and the let you take it with the referee.


Cheers

Nick

 

what exhaust do you have?

 

Technically and legally, I thought everything from intake to tail pipe needed to be CARB certified.

 

Technically and legally, I thought everything from intake to tail pipe needed to be CARB certified.

 

Intake is a CARB item. A catback is not a CARB item since it does not affect emissions.

Noise level is what one should be concerned. If the cat back is above 95db you are legal in CA. But you still may have to take it to the ref and have it test it and approved if you are ticketed for it.


Cheers

Nick

 

No matter how many CARB approved stickers you have, if they want to d!ck around with you, they will send you to the ref.

 

Cali sucks sraight up ! worst place to have a modified car !

 

Nick meant if it's above 95 db you are illegal (not legal)....
just correctin his post so i don't have to read confused responses :-)

 

All catback exhausts are legal as long as they are under the legal noise limit. Cops can pull you over at their discresion as long as they deem it to be too loud. They dont give a **** about your cute 50-state legal printout, save that for the judge. As long as the exhaust is under the sound limit the judge will throw it out. Sucks but thats just the way it is.

 

a quiet Catback isn't illegal. Everything else probably is

But if they ever pull that again, just tell them to go re-read subsection B of Vehicle Code 27151. This is the code they probably would've ticketed you with, so make sure u read it well. They usually forget about subsection B which states the under 95 dB law.

 

wait i thought it was ILLEGAL. theres a cvc code i read somewhere where its illegal to MODIFY your exhaust at all (of course unless carb approved). there was a seprate cvc code for modified emissions.

what kinda catback?

 

As long as the kitties are in place and you are below the db level, you should be fine. But if you have someone with the power to send you thru the courts for no reason gets on you, you are pretty much screwed. Too bad not all cops out there is like RC51.