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Pulled over for illegal exhaust...

17K views 30 replies 18 participants last post by  koolpaul1082 
#1 ·
Yesterday I got pulled over, I was going 48 in a 45. I had my radar detecter and everything on and the cop pulled out behind me so I knew right away. I was going the speed limit pretty much at least. Anyways I almost got ticketed for my exhaust but I got a warning and I need to fix it. Problem. I spent $400 on a cheap ebay exhaust. Full 3 inch piping with a 4.5 inch tip. Catless. Now I need to get the quietest exhaust I can. Money isn't really an issue but onviously cheaper is better. Any suggestions for as 'street legal' of an exhaust as I can get, but still full turbo-back and quiet. I was thinking the cobb tbe and maybe even weld another highflow cat in there.... I don't know. Help me out??
 
#4 ·
I have a insert in there right now which makes the hole about an inch. Its pretty much stock quiet right now. But im not hitting anywhere near the right boost targets and its real laggy.

If you decide to get a mad-expensive cobb turboback, you can get one with a cat in the downpipe already.
I know it comes with one cat but i need this new exhaust to be really reallllly quiet. I was thinking adding another cat to that, my friend owns a racing shop and he put one on a car a few weeks ago and it quiets the exhaust a lot more and barely restricts flow.
 
#8 ·
well if he sent you off with a warning.. and no ticket...... i wouldnt fix it unless you got pulled over for it agin.... why pay madd$$$$$ for a new exuast...???
iff you get a ticket next time just get an inset to quiet it and bring it to fuzz within 24 hours and show them you got it fixed and they will waive the ticket... if not its like 120$ ticket no biggy
 
#15 ·
well problem there too... the cop is the captain in my town... and I live in a VERY small town. our highschool has 900 kids in it. Theres a few WRX's but mine's the newest and just seems to piss the cops off the most. My dad knows the cop and the cop basically told my dad I had to fix it or I'm getting ticketed soon... so my dad's heated and he doesnt really care about the price of the new exhaust. so if a whole new downpipe thats catted and whatever else is what I need thats what I'm going to have to get.

My friend suggested the turbo xs with the 5 inch bellmouth and 4 inch downpipe... it has a resonater and muffler and a high flow cat. do u agree??
 
#10 ·
SPT, Prodrive, and Borla Hush are the three quietest I know of. Is the ticket for noise or is it for emissions? That makes a huge difference. If it's just for noise, yeah, just get a new cat back and you're good. But if it's for emissions, you're in a whole new mess of things because everything is debatable.

A turboback is techically illegal. You cannot tamper or remove/replace any cats unless it's been deemed defective by a mechanic. If you have a cat in the downpipe, many places won't question you as long as it passes the emissions test, assuming your state has one.

More detail on the ticket would help.
 
#12 ·
Sorry for the hijacking the thread, but how is an officer going to determine that you've tampered with anything past the cat and give you a ticket for an illegal exhaust?

and I agree with mosc, (but it's because every other 4 cylinder (and some 6) on the road has to have a gigantic coffee can for an exhaust and they're always obnoxiously loud and raspy :( )
 
#14 ·
actually the radar did do its job seeing as he told me i was going only 48... in case you didnt know what a radar detector does, it simply tells you when a cop is running radar, not scamble it or make it so he can't clock you...

and

the cop had a little handheld decibal reader and tested it right there. The ticket would have been for an illegal exhaust because of the noise... I don't have emissons for a looong time. Basically I just want to get the quietest exhaust I can but not lose any power. My friends tell me the borla hush isnt that great of a cat-back because it may be full 3 inch piping but it tapers to 2.5 ... so i need an adapter pipe just for that and I'm still getting robbed that half an inch. Would the borla still make as much power???
 
#16 ·
The Turbo XS is a nice exhaust, but it's still pretty loud. Make sure you get a cat on there. High flow is good, I've seen dyno results that show they make little difference if removed.

As far as getting hassled I know what you mean. In St. Louis where I grew up there was a van with the emissions testing unit in it. They used to take it to all the gathering spots for Mustangs. Back in the day everybody took the cats off their Mustangs including me. They would impound your car if it didn't have cats on it.

They also had a little device for measuring the tint on your windows. They would make you scrape it off on the spot.

BTW I have the Borla Hush with the twin tips and I think it's the perfect exhaust. I've left everything else stock. It sounds great, deep rumble without pissing anybody off.
 
#21 ·
The hush doesn't HAVE to taper. It comes with a removable flange that you can swap with a 3" one (don't know if it's included though, but you said price doesn't matter). Even if it did, wrxkid is right. There's no way you'd be able to tell the difference. Also, look into the maddad whisper too.
 
#24 ·
well thanx for the help everyone, and i was under the impression that the 3 inch adapter didnt take out the 2.5 inch taper it kinda went over it... i dont know. i'm thinking the turboxs stealthback system and a borla hush. quiet and the twin tip should make it 'invisible' to the cops.
 
#25 ·
I have the invidia n1 race turbo back and ive never had a problem with cops. i even pulled out in front of a cop and shot a flame out shifting into second and he still didnt even care. I had the borla hush on the car when i bought it and it didnt quite do it for me so i got this one. the hush isnt bad though.
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#28 ·
wut up everyone. I finished installing my cobb downpipe (street) and borla hush. Fit like a glove. The only thing was the cobb isnt full 3 inch... it tapers down to 2.5 inch at the end and uses the factory donut gasket... weird. I didn't know that. Thats alright though. The hush is real quiet. Only a tiny bit louder than stock but with a nice rumble. Perfect because the small town cops here are assholes. Almost the same power as my previous loud exhaust. Not much of a difference. As far at fitment goes, i have plenty of ground clearance. as much as stock, everyone with those tin cans on the back of their car (like my old one) is definetly gonna hit something sooner or later. I'll get pics up soon and let you all know how it looks. PS: mudflaps are badass... just puttin that out there.
 
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