Loud exhaust, does the general public care?

[93EB_SXR6]

Hi all,
I often hear complaints from car owners being personally confronted by people about their car's loud exhaust system.
I also hear about people getting defect notices because of excessive noise from their exhaust all the time.
I have never had this issue.
Do loud cars really bother the general public or is this just another way for enthusiasts to brag about their car?

[Dave R]

It would depend on where you live and how tolerant your neighbours are to noise. I have heard a number of stories about people living in townhouse or apartment complexes being confronted by neighbours because of the noise- early morning/late night would annoy people. One story involved the EPA and it was an expensive exercise as the car was cammed.

I personally hate people that brag about their cars. If exhaust volume= bragging rights then the person bragging is a fool.

[93EB_SXR6]

Yeah good point I hadn't even considered townhouses and apartment complexes.

[cowboy]

The only time I've been defected for noise I was dobbed into the EPA by a private citizen. That was an expensive exercise too as I was cammed and running side pipes.

[Crazy Dazz]

I like the sound of a V8, and one of my gripes with my GT, was that it did not sound enough like one. That said, there is a huge gap between a tuned exhaust and some of the ****** boxes that people drive. The problem with these cretins seems to be that they fail to understand that without mufflers even a 2cylinder Suzuki mighty boy is impossibly loud, so removing the mufflers form your commode ute does NOT make it “hot” or “tough,” it just makes you look like a moron.

What’s REALLY funny, is that you can almost pick the nature of the inconsiderate bogan ******** by the sound his commode ute makes.

[BHDOGS]

I think they should limit the exhaust noise on motorcycles some of them are ridiculous and make your ears bleed but hey its all about safety right pfft.

[tex]

Depends on the car, and how the car is operated.

(Potentially) Loud, sharply presented and tastefully done car, operated within sensible / considerate limits I think people generally respond well to. A loud car driven gently sounds great, and most people - even none car people will tolerate such a car / owner.

Loud, ridiculously low, bogan inspired heap of puss operated like a race car blowing peoples ear drums on the road..... people generally want to burn.

Hardly any surprises there.

[pottery beige]

i must be getting old.. I'm over the 4.11s and big diff dumpers thing...

[damo6]

My exhaust I had on my ve ss ute was a twin 3' with headers,outlaw cats etc.. and used to boom when I started it but it settled down to a nice modest note,I live in units and only 1 neighbour used to whinge,everyone else it didn't bother them at all. Try living next to a Harley owner I used to tell the whinger then you'll have something to complain about!

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by damo6

My exhaust I had on my ve ss ute was a twin 3' with headers,outlaw cats etc.. and used to boom when I started it but it settled down to a nice modest note,I live in units and only 1 neighbour used to whinge,everyone else it didn't bother them at all. Try living next to a Harley owner I used to tell the whinger then you'll have something to complain about!

negative.. as i sit the dude next door just pushed his Harley out the front, kicked her in the guts and off he went...

poor old girl fluffing its way off around the corner cold as hell..

theyre not all dhs..

[tex]

My car is about as loud as a modern GT can be, and I have never, not once, had any neighbours say a single thing negative. Not once.

I drive past the front door of the local plod shop almost daily, drive to work, pick my boy up from child care in it (you should see all the kiddies run to the window to check it out when I pull up outside lol)

Attitude. That's a biggy, and if an owner has a bad one, his loud car is going down....

It ain't hard to TRY to be considerate.

Having said all that, I'm actually swapping hardware around to quieten my beast down. Like the beige, I'm getting old, and maybe, just a tincy bit softer than I was.

[mikeeman_ford]

You do have to be considerate in units and apartment blocks

My friend got a Varex bimodal exhaust for that very reason

My brother in laws mate is a cop, and i was chatting to him about modified cars, he said that when there is a nice car, big rims, exhaust, guages, whatever that screams summernats or auto salon only attract attention when the person is driving faster through corners or having a "spirited" drive

If someone is rumbling down the road in their V8 that is loud, generally they just say "that's a guy who loves his car and respects it not to flog it on public roads"

So if you can afford a Varex, go for it.

We had neighbours with a silvia and an EXA, every morning at 5am they would fire them up just to run them, we cracked it asked them to either drive away or do it later. they apologised and did it later

[GQ_Smooth]

I does annoy people, it annoys me, it annoyed my neighbors when I was a d/head and had to have twin 3" exhausts going to 2 x 4" tips. 120BD at 5000rpm. Felt like a hero, christ I was a d1ck. Couldn't make it quiet if I tried. Over then next 2 years of ownership the car got quieter every 6 month, (4 mufflers and 6 resonators later, but it was still to load).

Can't stand load cars now, joys of getting old.

[kenz]

Ive lived in an apartment complex for a couple years, leaving for work at 5.30am and never had one complaint. Tried to be as quiet as possible and crawled out the drive and up the street everywhere I've lived, cruised around like a normal person really. Only ever had one neighbor have a problem when I lived in a quieter street but found out she had a problem with everything anyway. Consideration and respect goes a long way, theres always a time and place

[Kable72]

I've only ever been hassled twice, once when my neighbours and my family were butting heads over something trivial and they were just picking at whatever they could and once when I was sitting at the lights, had some soccer mum have a go at me that my car is to loud and that I'm a hoon and that me sitting at the lights just idling is dangerous to everyones hearing blah blah blah blah, stop doing your makeup while you're yelling at me and I might have listened.

I don't give it any when I'm around where I live for obvious reasons, only time I give it some is when I have room on a main road and even then it's 3000rpm in second gear..

[Alan D Segal]

Originally Posted by 93EB_SXR6

Do loud cars really bother the general public or is this just another way for enthusiasts to brag about their car?

My view is that absolutely everything will bother someone out there, but if you're not doing anything too outlandish then you won't have any problems on a regular basis. Most people probably don't care about loud cars, but there is always the vocal minority that you might live next door to, drive past regularly, or who might be driving the police car behind you. Don't have a ridiculously loud exhaust and drive reasonably and you won't upset the 'general public', but you'll upset wowsers no matter what you do IMHO.

[mik]

i have a 3 inch zorst on my xr6 , at low revs its hard to pick from an 8 and has a deep bassy note, when you get into the power band it could wake the devil down there in hades, but in the burbs driven appropriately no ever hears it and its not offensive, .......... unlike the halfwit in the vs v6 commodore across the road that beeps his horn on leaving the premises and tears off down the 50 kph street at 2 am in the morning....... every week day .
The answer is yes.

[damo6]

yes i must admit that stepping out of a v8 and into my turbo which has the (std)exhaust note of a cats fart has not really bothered me at all,its whats under the bonnet now that puts a grin on my head. i was considerate to the neighbours with my ute,one just didnt like the start up boom it made,told me i'd ruined my ute,turned it into a s**tbox.bit hard to explain to him that the exhaust was not on it just for the sake of it even though it ,the exhaust, was worth more $ than his dirty old korean crapbox!!

[TC200six]

Loud exhausts can be a nuisance. There is a V8 Holden that lives near me, the guy lives in a unit complex and the garage is just underneath the neighbour's bedroom. The neighbour of this 253 Holden say it vibrates the room when he starts it every morning.

Other times people can just be whingers. I've been to a house of a Mustang owner and he says it annoyed the neighbours whenever he started the car. But he doesn't live right on top of his neighbours. Also this Mustang is not loud at all, the 253 powered Holden I mentioned would have to be twice as loud. There must a stigma of owning a classic V8.

[Maka]

Loud exhaust, does the general public care? I believe yes, whether its a bike or car - its up to the vehicle owner to do the right thing not to flog their vehicle when they know their exhaust is over the legal limit - the true enthusiast will do the right thing, the drongo who dosent give a rats wont. Why tempt fate & run the gauntlet of getting busted in the first place

cheers, Maka

[Spurious]

If you have a potentially irritating exhaust note I think it's a good idea to befriend your neighbors and have a regular chat. That way they won't just view you as the bogan type based on a single aspect. Ironically I moved into a tight nit block of 5 units about 3 months ago. ALL my neighbors are in their 50's/60's. my AU2 has headers and a sports exhaust and it does boom out a low tone on first start up, plus a deathly bowel moving note at 3000RPM. After it warms up it's as quiet as a stock mouse on idle. Even the realestate agent who offered me the unit had to question me about the "potential" for annoying the neighbors with it. I gave a demo & she was pleasantly surprised. So before I even got the keys I went round and introduced myself to my soon to be neighbors. The 2 old gossips nearest to my unit were having a pow wow at the time anyhow so it was good timing on my part. I told them when I was moving in so they knew I'd be blocking a roller door with the trailer for short periods & also explained that I start up at 8.30am on the knocker every weekday to get my boy off to school. My garage also ajoins next doors & both are attached to the units, so I was a bit worried the first few times I fired the car up. I also drive off in the street very slow to avoid the death note (at least 'till I'm out of range..he' he') They have proved to be great neighbors. I've even found myself having a good 'ol gossip with'em!. No-one lives in silence but must be within reason and with consideration for locals who know exactly where you live! Basically I think we all appreciate a nice exhaust note but a full throttle bike, car or boat WILL annoy someone.

[FPV+fteT3]

My car has a nice note, however I dont race where I live. The bloke 3 doors up has a VE GTS its got a nice crackle on over run and sounds nice changing through the gears I know when he's coming up or going down the hill, neither of us thrash our cars along our street. They are louder than standard but IMO in a nice way.
I cant stand the sound emitted by milo tins on 4cyl buzz boxes a product of the rediculous slow and stupid movie franchise, whats with a long bellowing fart following your car around?

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by tex

Attitude. That's a biggy, and if an owner has a bad one, his loud car is going down....

It ain't hard to TRY to be considerate.

And there it is. Even if your car is loud, the old saying is: don't crap in your own nest.

Try explaining this to the pack of muppets several houses down from me who seem to want to drive flat out every time they go to/leave the house. Mostly on motorcycles with obnoxiously loud straight through exhausts (regardless of what you think, a 250 Hyosung with no muffler does not sound 'cool' or anywhere remotely like it). These guys must be extra special drop kicks though because they seem to drive everywhere flat out and feel the need to go to/from the house 50,000 times a day. I've subscribed to the theory that if their riding behavior is like their driving behavior, Darwin will sort them out soon enough.

[The Yeti]

I have no problem if they drive like a normal sane person, but if they drive down my street at 3am and give it stick, I want to throw a brick through their ******* window,

[Kable72]

I don't want to drive my car that early in the morning. Not only will I wake up everyone in my house with the boom but most people in my street when it's cold lol. I steal mums Navara if I have a maccas craving lol.

[350125GO]

Dont mind loud exhausts as long as it sounds good, but bogans who drive around 12am flogging their commies need to go away.

[Alan D Segal]

Dont mind loud exhausts as long as it sounds good, but bogans who drive around 12am flogging their 6 or 4 cylinders need to go away.

Fixed ^^^

[Lotte]

Originally Posted by 350125GO

Dont mind loud exhausts as long as it sounds good, but bogans who drive around 12am flogging their commies need to go away.

This. It's 3am on weeknight for me.
And Dave needs to stop putting the boot into it on my Friday off when he goes to work, because it wakes me up. At 8am. I live a hard life

[Polyal]

Well mine is pretty loud and Ive never had a complaint, as above, I drive like a grandpa around town and only really give it a run when I can on highway on ramps etc. Honestly I wouldnt break 2500RPM around town.

BUT.....BLOODY MOTORBIKES!

I would be a happy man if someone would finally crack down on Harleys! I could go on forever about them but no doubt they are some Harley lovers here so Ill play nice.

And I have some w@anker that drives down my street every mon-fri morning at 5.30 on some little buzz box crotch rocket revving the bugger and holding gear the entire length (~100ms)...Im so close to meeting him at the intersection and finally saying something or taking his rego. He comes through the street to avoid one damn traffic light too.

So as above, its all about how you go about it.

[superfly]

My old WRX was pretty loud and with straight cut gears you could hear it coming a mile away. But I always drove respectfully and never had any compaints. I did feel a bit sorry for the neighbours when I'd come home at around 1am for a week straight whilst on night shift.

Originally Posted by mikeeman_ford

So if you can afford a Varex, go for it.

I'm not sure about other states but in Qld you'll get defected with a Varex.