Went to get MOT 2day, and the guy was like NO!!! when he heard my exhaust and sent me packing

First car putting threw an MOT so wasn't expecting that

In the end had to plead with dads mate to put it through.

Anyone shed any light on this?

Cheers

as far as i know there is no legal limit, but it is up the the testers discresion

Like a dB (decibel) limit?

the police can test you exhaust for noise polution which legal DB level is 90 i belive but some depending of area you live in will do it for discrestion but for MOT they cant deny you thats bit harsh but like above i guess its there place there rules so to speak cant you get a baffler you can stick in the end

But I am sure some exotic sports cars have exhaust notes higher then 90dB. My dads mate compared my cars exhaust to a scooby he had earlier that week, so how can they define a limit on the noise when some stock exhausts have much higher dB :S. This seems like a very grey area LOL

Yeah, it's a total grey area. The criteria is that is shouldn't be unreasonably loud. Most testers would take the tact that they'd reasonably expect a road going rally car like the scooby to make a fair bit more noise than a small hatchback.

yeah its at the testers discretion, it should be no louder than a car of that class. i.e. if its a high powered exotic like a ferrari it can be loud, but a hatchback should be quiet. total bollocks if you ask me as at the end of the day it causes the same amount of "distress",as a "nice" policeman told me my exhaust did the other week, to the public no matter what car it is.

But for an MOT all passenger cars (upto 8 seats) go through the same test :S Class 4 right? And when I went to my dads mate, he had no equipment for measuring sound level :S Oh well, if i see a police car, i m just put the clutch down

I thought they decided on whether it was much louder than standard.

A Lambo out the factory is loud but

A polo out the factory is quiet

Therefore you cant make it much louder!

Again all down to the mot tester, at the end of the day they dont want to be questioned for letting a car the police see as illegal or unroadworthy through its mot!

At least you got it done mate maybe swap your exhaust back for the next one :p

i work in a garage n yeh they can deny u a test, for being too loud, (i work for pug) that said my mate at work has an astravan with a big bore (useless i know) n that got thru an mot, and its 98dB for drive by noise

My MR2 has a pair of very loud cans on the back, basically straight pipes.

I havn't ever been refused an MOT on it, but they do write an advisory saying "exhaust system noisy" or "non standard exhaust system fitted" every time.

I'd just walk on, probably a bunch of miserable old blokes :-)

i work in a garage n yeh they can deny u a test, for being too loud, (i work for pug) that said my mate at work has an astravan with a big bore (useless i know) n that got thru an mot, and its 98dB for drive by noise

I'm 99% sure mine exceeds 98db on idle lol, and I have never been pulled over or had any problems at MOT time.

And that isn't at a "freindly" MOT place either, thats at various different ones.

yep

the police can test you exhaust for noise polution which legal DB level is 90 i belive but some depending of area you live in will do it for discrestion but for MOT they cant deny you thats bit harsh but like above i guess its there place there rules so to speak cant you get a baffler you can stick in the end

i got told by a traffic officer its 95Db. i'll be F**KED then mines well above 95Db!!! i'll have to pullin to the garage just idling.

yea i had the same problem but this was wired, the first year with the exhaust on it passed and went back to the same garage a year later and they failed it as it was louder than the standard exhaust twats

I failed an MOT for it. They said "the exhaust noise is clearly well in excess of that produced by a standard system".

Edit: To be fair tho it was a straight through to a cherry bomb!

Edited 7 March, 201016 yr by jam3983

Ha, my old VTR had the loudest exhaust in the world, along with a 4 branch and foam filter, and the tester just gave it a bit of a rev and told me it sounded nice. He was fully old enough to retire as well