I got pulled over by cop today in Lake Forest,CA and I have an catback magnaflow exahust. As far as I know catback exhaust are legal but he still gave me ticket and gave me court appereance date or get it signed off. What should I do? Should I just go the CHP station and get it signed off since its legal exhaust?

 

Did he measure with a DB meter. I fought 2 of these tickets in PA and won both times cause they did not measure with a DB meter. I am not sure about CA law but I would fight it

 

No he did not check DB meter. According to CA law you can be cited based on officer's guess.

 

Fight it.. Also say you bought the car with it on there. Such BS with this nonsense. I get pulled over a lot in my car just cause it has a wing. When they look at my lic and see I am 38 they are puzzled and think mid life crises.. IDK I would fight it and go from there I really dont think they have anything to base it on. There has to be something stated that the DB cant be above a certain DB level

 

have you researched the law or taken someone's word for it? That doesn't sound like a law to me, but a rumor.

fight it and use the angle of discrimination based on having a big wing and an import.

ask the officer in court " sir, how loud was my exhaust exactly?" and when he cannot give you a DB value, (if he says a DB value ask him how he measured it) then ask the judge to dismiss based on lack of evidence.

every state is different, true, but things such as "uhh I think it was too loud" do not fly in a free country.

continuously fighting tickets like these is one way we keep it free.

 

^^^^no it is at the officers discretion. Not to worry man, ive gone through this process a few times. Now whats your mod list?? I ask because to get it signed off thanks to new stupid ca laws, you have to get it signed off at State Ref, whereas before you can go to CHP to sign off. If you have only a catback meaning stock downpipe and cat in place. I would take it there, and have them test it to see if it passes the DB test which iirc is 95 db. If it passes you get a certificate then you take it to the court on your day, pay i think 10 or 25 or somethin then thats it. One one ref ticket I had to go back twice to get it signed off. First time i swapped stock downpipe and cat on and it was still too loud. haha, Damn Espelir exhaust haah, second time i went back with the silencer in the muffler and still barely passed as the area echoes really easy at the SB state ref. But I just keep that certificate in my car, anytime I get hassled I show them to the cop saying im in compliance been there done that. But to quiet my exhaust down after the first catback flange, I had two 18" preforated resonators installed, quiets it up quite a bit cruising at hwy speeds. But loud when I want it. All I can say is good luck, dont just pay the ticket, cuz when u get caught again and you probably will, the fine I believe doubles.

 

Thanks for the explanation. The thing is I live in bay area and if I get it signed off at state referee how am I suppose to appear court so I am far away. Do I need to come down here or I can just mail the proof to the court after getting it signed by state referee station and chp station

 

My other question is will I have option to just pay fine for modified exhaust fix it ticket. How much will be it if anyone has got it?

 

i live in irvine and that is such BS. i have a borla exhaust, which i think is a little bit louder than the magnaflow cat, and i luckily havent been pulled over. *knock on wood.

pigs now a days.. got nothing else to do than patrol on jamboree

but a modified exhaust ticket should be no more than $275. depends on a bunch of other things too though.. so might be different

 

I had this happen twice to me but I'm in IL so the laws may be different. I was pulled over for something else and the loud exhaust was just an add on. Went to court and just said I had it fixed (hell naw I diiant) and that was it. The courts are too busy to follow up on petty stuff like this. They already got your court fees so that's enough for them right now. I think they do that on purpose so they can get you back for another court cost.

Does CA really require a sign off?