Modified Exhausts - The Last Word

TheBazman

Did anyone hear the piece on The Last Word on Today FM with the politician giving out about the noise from modified exhausts (Jim Higgins I think)

Bloody politicians!! Let me say that I dont have a modified car, nor have I any interest in owning one, and I do agree that there are serious issues with boy racers acting the maggot. However the solution to all our problems according to this guy is to fail cars on the NCT if their exhausts are modified in any way.

I sent in a text asking about standard sports cars that have loud exhausts (ie) not modified, and someone else asked about motorbikes and trucks. Despite being asked by Matt he just went off on a tangent about road safety and didnt answer the question. Matt should have pushed him more.

It just irks me that most politicians think they have the solutions to the worlds problems, solutions that if they spent 10 seconds thinking about they would realise dont address the problems.

Rant over !!

tuxy

Very true, mods that do not pass the NCT will just be taken off and put back on after the test.

peasant

There are actually regulations that cover that kind of thing ...EU homologization.
Both for OEM equipment as for aftermarket parts.
Under these rules there are maximum permitted noise values for exhausts.

If you want a "legal" exhaust, buy one that has EU approval. Still plenty loud ones out there that have.

It would be possible to check for that EU approval (usually a stamp on the exhaust itself and additional separate certificate) come NCT time, or by the gardai at the side of the road.

Personally, I have no problem with a nice throaty sports exhaust ...but I hate the overly loud ones ...especially at 3 in the morning, when they wake me up as they thunder by and upset every person and animal in the house

mikemac

It's a typical politicans response.
We have great legislation in this country but the problem is it often isn't enforced and then we bring in yet more legislation.

I'm not going to knock what Jim Higgins was saying as I detest boy racers acting the maggot around my area so it's good that this problem is getting more attention.
Not sure what the solution is but it certainly isn't more legislation

Besides the loudest driver on my road is a teenager on a 50cc moped. Now those mopeds can be seriously loud, no wonder they're called hairdryers. Ban him from the roads I say:p

cianclarke

I'd really love to see some decent enforcement on the decibils being outputted by car exhausts. If it means that silencers on some motorbikes need to be improved so be it.
You mention sports cars with loud exhausts - the vast majority of sports cars aren't anywhere near as loud as the tin cans put on boy racer cars, but if they are I wouldn't see any issue with forcing the owner to quieten the thing down a bit, as much as I love the sound of some of these beasts!

Caliden

If you're going to have a loud exhaust make sure its on something that has an engine size bigger than 1.4.

Soem of those cars that have loud exhausts wouldn't even have the power to pull you out of bed.

Del2005

micmclo wrote:

It's a typical politicans response.
We have great legislation in this country but the problem is it often isn't enforced and then we bring in yet more legislation.

AFAIK there still isn't any legislation dealing with exhaust noise, or window tints for that matter. But they are doing consultations and will be doing something soon, but I heard that last year.

Esel

What about Hardly Davidsons that sound like badly tuned cement mixers as standard?

su_dios

I have a sports exhaust on mine but had it imported from Italy which was made specially for my car. Its not loud at all but just sounds more sporty and throaty but came with a cert saying it complies with the db output set by the EU. I carry it in my car just incase too. Maybe they should introduce it that you have to carry this so if stopped you can prove it is legal?

BTW I hate those loud exhausts that sound like theres no exhaust on the car at all!

watchinpaintdry

An article on BreakingNews.ie this afternoon...

Boy racers have until next July to get rid of modified exhaust pipes on their cars, under an EU directive on noise pollution.

The law which comes into effect next year will ban the exhausts as part of a range of measures aimed at reducing noise emissions.

But it's not yet clear how the government will enforce the rule, or whether drivers could face fines for having enlarged exhaust pipes.

Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins says it should be made part of the NCT test.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mhcwgbojcwid/

su_dios

watchinpaintdry wrote:

Boy racers have until next July to get rid of modified exhaust pipes on their cars, under an EU directive on noise pollution.

The law which comes into effect next year will ban the exhausts as part of a range of measures aimed at reducing noise emissions.

But it's not yet clear how the government will enforce the rule, or whether drivers could face fines for having enlarged exhaust pipes.

Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins says it should be made part of the NCT test.

So I guess this means they have to comply with the noise limit already set up by the EU? If not then I don't see how it would work because most decent spec cars now have uprated exhausts as they would be considered sports models?

I think its funny though when you see those soup bowl sized exhausts on cars and wonder how they think its decent in any way?? They look horrible and sound even worse.

GoalsGoneWild

Personally I don't have any issues with regulations being put on aftermarket exhausts. Not all of them are offensively loud - but the ones that are should be banned. I'm not quite sure what benefit they're supposed to have other than annoying the s*** out of most other road users.

I was always of the impression that all new cars had to pass some form of EU noise regulation before they can be sold in the EU. Regulations covering aftermarket exhausts wouldn't affect this at all.

Just to stress again, I don't have a problem with aftermarket mods - I had an Induction Kit/Sports Exhaust on my last car - but the ones that sound like a grown up version of the old "milk-bottle-stuck-in-the-back-wheel-of-a-pushbike" are a dose...and just a bit embarrassing.

RobAMerc

this is a load of crap - has that idiot nothing better to be doing with his time?

it just goes to show those clowns have nob all to be doing until something wakes them up literally - eg a loud exhaust.

I absolutely hate these load exhausts (I'd love to put a basket ball in a few) but there is no way you can associate them with road safety.

The lad from driver.ie made this lad look like a proper nunce fair play to him, leaving the politician simply nattering crap at the end - he is rolling up his annoyance with the road safety brigade and trying to gain some popularity.

PS Have you ever heard a Ferrari 430 when the butterfly valves open in the two stage exhaust - people run for cover ! - I doubt that would pass the nct.

Del2005

All them big exhausts are already banned. Most of them have "Not for Road use" stamped onto them as they are for race use only. And AFAIK there already is an EU kite mark for legal after market exhausts, on bikes anyway. The Gardai don't enforce the fact they aren't road legal and I've no idea how the NCT deal with them. But if they do ban them it'd just go like the UK where people take off the noisy exhaust for the MOT and put it back on when they've passed.

maidhc

RobAMerc wrote:

PS Have you ever heard a Ferrari 430 when the butterfly valves open in the two stage exhaust - people run for cover ! - I doubt that would pass the nct.

It will pass the NCT if it passes type approval. There won't be a rule saying that a V12 on full throttle should be as quiet as a 660cc 3 cyl engine.

Sizzler

Does this mean that all the skangers in their 15 year old jap import shítboxes will have to get rid of their poxy exhausts

stevenmu

I hate the way this gets dressed up as a road safety issue. In at least 90% of cases these exhausts are providing a negligible performance increase, if someone's a poor driver with a 'sports' exhaust, they'll be just as bad a driver without one. This kind of stupid scapegoating is the reason we still have so many road deaths here each year.

It is a nusance issue for many people too, but afaik there's already noise pollution and nusance legislation there to tackle that, if they're not going to enforce that why introduce new legislation which won't be enforced either.

Henry Ford III

Waste of time. Won't be enforced.

GoalsGoneWild

Agreed on all the above. It's politicking pure and simple. No need to look into an actual solution - just find something that annoys/scares people and nail your colours to the mast.

Yawn...

Steve

The decats that the "boy racers" are using are already illegal - they just replace them for the NCT and put the hornpipes back on afterwards.

Nothing sounds worse than a 4-pot 1.3 sh1tbox at 6.5k tryin to send the pistons out the exhaust pipe - muppets the lot of them.
OK, there's a minute performance gain - ha ha ha - no point really when it's got no power to begin with.

On the other side a 2L V6 Mivec at 8k is probably louder on the factory exhaust but the sweet roar isn't is in a different league.

Most of the fuppin egg beater scooters with 50cc engines make a hell of a lot more noise and sound more like a constipated 12ft mosquito trying to work one out...

Seriously though,
The last thing we need is more legislation when they cant even enforce the current laws. More cops with video cameras to catch the muppets and take their cars off them.

Better stop now or I might be labelled a "boy racer" - oh wait I can't be cos you need a modded car and all modded cars are boy racers....

Wossack

loud pipes save lives!

5500

It could actually be a good thing,
If a certain Decibel noise limit is set and you are pulled over by the garda who then procede to tell you its an illegal exhaust ect ect,waving a piece of paper at him showing your exhausts noise level under said limit would be nice.

su_dios

eireal wrote:

It could actually be a good thing,
If a certain Decibel noise limit is set and you are pulled over by the garda who then procede to tell you its an illegal exhaust ect ect,waving a piece of paper at him showing your exhausts noise level under said limit would be nice.

Exactly what I said above. I carry the piece of paper that came with it. Its well under the limit.. but I'm not sure how well this would fly with the gardai or NCT crowd. They may just make up their mind on it and the piece of paper will mean nothing to them saying " its not standard" even though they could not possibly know what type of exhaust would be standard on the car without comparing

Atomic Pineapple

yeh are all non standard exhausts going to be made illegal? what about the proper systems that are just nice exhausts and give a nice note rather than the 4inch yokes on seat ibizas and the like?

antodeco

Question! If you no longer have your original exhaust, how can you remove the "modified" exhaust, without putting a non oem exhaust back on??

tuxy

antodeco wrote:

Question! If you no longer have your original exhaust, how can you remove the "modified" exhaust, without putting a non oem exhaust back on??

It's probably possible to get one from the dealer once the car isn't too old.

antodeco

Hmm! So if you import a Jap car for example, and either the exhaust has been modified in japan, or here, how can you replace it?

Plus! If you buy a second hand car from a dealer, and the exhaust is non-standard, surely the garage then have to pay for the replacement if the legislation comes in??