Noise levels at M.O.T

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Fri Mar 17, 06 8:39 pm

Has anyone ever encountered problems with noise levels when M.O.T'ing?

My setup is dual flowmasters(one silncer per side) hooked up to a set of headers and its reet loud....

If I had to fit a quieter set up, would I loose performance?

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Fri Mar 17, 06 9:03 pm

As long as you have a full exhaust system I don't think there is any law that specifically states how quiet a system should be.

However I believe that if the noise level is considered a public nuisance then you can get a pull for it.

That is my understanding but there are members here with a lot more knowledge in this area than me.

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Fri Mar 17, 06 9:04 pm

Oh and the more quiet you make the exhaust - the less power you will make. But not to the degree that you will notice much on the street.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Fri Mar 17, 06 9:05 pm

Yeah, that sounds fair to me.

A lot of these cars must run the same set up as I have....I presume most of us on here?

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Fri Mar 17, 06 9:19 pm

Put it this way. I have fired up and made small children cry.

Mick70RR · Post by **Mick70RR** » Fri Mar 17, 06 10:03 pm

I once started up just as a girl was walking past the back of the car and she screamed.

Holly · Post by **Holly** » Fri Mar 17, 06 10:20 pm

You know its loud enough when it sets off car alarms ...

IIRC the noise rule for the MOT is that it should be suitable for the type of vehicle, so you just need a Yank friendly tester.

charger01 · Post by **charger01** » Sat Mar 18, 06 12:18 am

I have a 3" system with morosso silencers fitted just b4 the tail pipe,sets off car alarms as i drive past in town,if i fire it up in Sainsburys all the car alarms sound off..its very loud but i have no problems with the mot,i think alot depends on the tester,been pulled by the police a couple of times,both times just to look at the car...

Kev · Post by **Kev** » Sat Mar 18, 06 12:57 am

I have fired up and made small children cry.

Did you forget yer paper bag, Dave?

db · Post by db » Sat Mar 18, 06 9:24 am

:sign5:

Careful you dont get pulled by the Fuzz

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Mon Mar 20, 06 9:21 pm

The way I read that is if your car is pre 1970 there is no sound limit and as long as it actually has a full exhaust system and as long as the silencer has not been "altered" then it can be quite loud as long it is not open pipes and the noise level reduced "as far as may be reasonable" by the silencer.

One way I would interpret "as far as may be reasonable" would be to say that any quieter and the performance and fuel efficiency of the vehicle would suffer if the silencer were more restrictive.

Or to put it another way. If I run around on open pipes it would not be unreasonable for me to expect to get pulled.

But if it is only as loud as a Bus or large HGV I would not expect to get pulled.

Then there will be a grey area between those two points on the scale.