Exhaust Noise - Laws? - No Muffler

[Lebatti]

Hi guys, just a quick one. one of my mates thinks its okay to drive around without the rear muffler on the exhaust tube.

Obviously he still has the cat and the mid section muffler but just an open pipe at the end.

It is no where near as loud as the majority of performance exhausts and apart from the problem of some fumes possibly entering the car.. is this legal in the UK?

Is it a matter of the amount of noise, pitch or just the fact there is no muffler?

If anyone could advise me on this it would be much appreciated!

Cheers!

[JazzJPH]

In terms of noise I wouldn't have thought it was a problem if you're saying it's quieter than performance exhausts..

My Punto's exhaust went and that was very loud. Then one day it was twice as loud and the car vibrated a lot as a result. I didn't get stopped.

I don't think it's a problem, you just look daft really.

[Lebatti]

Okay mate! Cheers for that! I took mine off the other day to see what it sounded like and it didn't sound too bad or loud in fact.

I would just be worried about going over a bump in the road with the police behind me and seeing i have no exhaust on it if i was to do it as well. So whether they would class that as un roadworthy i don't know.

Maybe it would be alot louder under load.

Suppose i could always ask a copper!

Someone told me that it was down to the amount of decibels it puts out. but i don't know the limit!

Cheers anyway matey

[john_h]

when my 307 backbox dropped off due to the fubbar rubber mounts rotting it did make the car sound louder and had that back fire rally cars have that i like.

but everyone else who realised what had happened thought i was a massive twat and a racer wannabe and i did at times...so i bought a new one to become normal.

there is a few boy racers around darlo that have took their backboxes off or drilled their exhausts for this sound...well i think whats the point...its a gayboy corsa...get over themselves...they are not fast and not clever and my stock focus will flog them up and down...even gives audi drivers a hard time

im not pointing fingers, just more of a rant really . if people want that sound, get a decent fast car and do it properly.

oh and on another note, it will definately fail its MOT due to emmisions as the back box is the bit with platinum and other stuff to cut the emmisions further...the heat and fumes will not be clearing the car as it should and your mate, could have a bonfire if he is unlucky.

oh and as for noise level i beleive its 70db...dont quote me on that though

[chopper1192]

Originally Posted by Lebatti

Suppose i could always ask a copper!

You just have!

Any alteration, intentional or unintentional, that alters the volume above the manufacturers standard part constitutes an offence.

This also applies to aftermarket exhausts - it doesn't matter how many "E" marks it has, if it's 0.00001 dB louder than standard you're a villain!

More modern cars have the noise level printed on the V5, to make roadside prosecution reporting easier.