I just bought a brand new wrx on saturday, and I am trying to plan out my mods in advance for when the break-in period is over.

I have been considering 2 likely upgrade paths that I will take, but I am not sure which will work better for me.

1. a cat-back and ecu mod
2. a turbo-back and utec.

I know that #2 will give me a lot more power and torque, but I am concerned about a couple things. First, is how the cops will react to this setup.

I have been considering getting a street-legal cat-back and carying the certificate with me, just in case I get stopped. I figure this should at least get me out of a fix-it ticket for exhaust.

My other main concern is that I drive a lot. I am an outside salesman, so I am in my car 4 or more hours a day. I like the fact that my car is nice and quiet, and I can do business on the phone while driving. How much of a difference will a turbo-back make to the in-cabin sound volume?

My last car was a 95 civic with some basic mods, and the exhaust was very loud. I could not effectively do business in the car, and I got a headache from the noise if I drove for more than an hour at a time. I would like to avoid both of these circumstances.

Even though I did get 2 tickets in 2 years in the civic, I have never had a cop mention my exhaust at all. I am white, so maybe that helps

These are the only power mods that I have planned for the near future, I will also be adding wheels/tires, and a coilover kit to round out the suspension.

I would be happy to meet you local scooby owners and talk cars. If anyone is going to D1, let me know and we can hook up, you guys can meet my little car club too

Thanks for any tips you can offer.

 

it depends on the kind of exhaust you are getting. i have hks turboback w/ perrin uppipe...its loud but its the deeper toned loud. so its not so obnoxious. i haven't got stopped for my exhuast yet *knock on wood. so choose your set up first because the volume of the exhausts varies . oh..and i dont think exhaust tickets are fix-it tickets anymore...i'm not sure..but that's what i heard.

 

get the turbo back and save for a cobb ecu utec sucks

i can talk on teh phone the dronning isnt bad

 

ill give you a ride in my car if you want to hear what its like with the windows up and down and through a tunnel

 

that would be great sigma pi. Where are you, and what exhaust set-up do you have?

 

i go to LBSU and i live in bellflower

let me know when is good for you i could swing by autobacs and meet up

i have 3 inch turbo back and a muffler.

 

it isnt that bad. the sound is a bit loud but i still freak out when i see cops cause i know it will be a big hastle and a very expensive ticket.

 

That is correct. They are no longer fix-it tickets. It is a non-correctable offense (which is so wrong in so many ways). I myself am in the process of fighting my ticket.

My exhaust is very deep, and is borderline of exceeding the legal limit of 95dbA. I've been popped 3 times. Maybe it's because I'm Filipino that always gets classified as Hispanic .

I'd go for option one. As soon as the State figures out how to charge for participation in the program, I'm sure things will change to where instead of being cited, you are mandated to get tested, then possibly cited. The program I speak of is that currently, when cited for violation of the "Modified Exhaust" law, you are able to schedule an appointment with a State referee for them to certify whether or not you exceed the legal limit. This is still currently free!!!

They take down your VIN, cat-back model, DL, and other pertinent info for your certificate. If you've got other "illegal" mods that aren't CARB certified, well...that's just adding to your citation. What's to stop them from reporting you as having illegal mods.

 

yeah put cats back on b4 you go to the referee

 

If you have a big can it’s almost ticket every time...the fact that the muffler is so noticeable it makes the car stand out. I have had cops make a U turn follow me for less than a minute and then U turn and go the other direction, now if I had large can say some sort of grape fruit launcher I would have been pulled over right away no matter how loud the exhaust was...and if it’s so loud that your car is nuisance and you drive around like an *** revving your motor every chance you get then cops will bust you for loud exhaust also...

areg