I got screwed over by the cops today

Okay, heres my issue and what I need advice/help with. (This has nothing to do with crazy driving, etc.)

Driving today through mound, going exactly the speed limit, as I always do, I was tail gated pretty heavily, and then pulled over by mounds finest. The guy immediately came off pretty harsh, so I was polite and went along with everything. Before anyone draws conclusions, I have the utmost appreciation for officers. I had 2 cops virtually save my life when I rolled a subaru I had a couple years back, so dont take any of this negatively. I am simply trying to figure out what my best option for getting this taken care of is.

I was written a warning notice on two items. One, for not having my registration transfered within 10 days of owning the car (it has Texas plates currently). I was pulled over for not having a front plate, even though it HAS texas plates. His reason for pulling me over was that my rear plate was too dirty to see the number/lettering. I guarantee they are visible, but I guess theres nothing I can do to prove that, so dead end there, I give up on that part.

The second ticket was for my exhaust. I am running borla headers, and a 2.25'' catback with a magnaflow tip made by nathan. It is probably the quietest aftermarket system on any of our subarus, any of you guys at firestone can probably back that up. Is there a decibel rating in mn this has to comply with?

My current problem is that I'm incredibly low on cash and am even thinking about selling my car to be able to pay for my next semester of school. (due on the 20th.) I have a guy from willmar comign to look at the car in the next 2 or 3 days, and now I have to have this crap happen. I am not allowed to sell the car to anyone, because I have to transfer the title and have this "exhaust violation" fixed.

What are my options? What would you guys do?

The violations for any of you in law enforcement were:

Loud muffler/exhaust

168A.10 Fail to transfer title within 10 days
168.09 Unregistered M.V.
169.79 No front plate

My current thoughts right now are, fast track title, put it on a credit card. Get plates and go get it taken care of at the police station. The exhaust I'm not sure what to do with, I dont have the stock stuff. I guess I can just do a bill of sale and as soon as the title shows up, send it to the guy who wants to buy the car.

 

its not supposed to be any louder than moving traffic basically. btw, i too have been bent over and rapedby the cops recently

 

On the exhaust, I think the law says anything louder than stock is illegal.

 

But is there a decibel rating? My boss' stock escalade is almost as loud. exhaust essentially gives them a right to pull over anyone running anything aftermarket, correct?

I have heard other states use decibel meters?

 

Stock what? Harley? Someone made a comment somewhere... Why don't Harley's and Pickup Trucks get pulled over for extremely loud exhausts.

 

No decibal rating that I know of, when I looked at the laws the wording just said that it is illegal to modify the exhaust in any way that would make it louder than the original equipment that came on the car. So according to the law you can't just say that your car is still quieter than car X. I'll see if I can find a link...

 

Your options are limited. There is NO Minnesota law on decibel rating. I personally went through this last spring with a MN trooper and Hennipen court system. It's up to the police to decide whether or not it's too loud.

If possible, I would personally get a stock muffler on the car, take a picture, and bring it to a private hearing officer for review. Most of the time they will wave the fine. Bring a picture with the stock on there and explain the current set-up was on the car when purchased.

No front plate- I used to do that as well, but our cars (some of us) stand out and no front plate is thowing up a red flag for cops and just give them a reason to pull you over. When you get the MN registration I would advise you to put on the front plate...especially if you decide to stick with the current exhaust set-up.

 

they do.... but think about this...young kid, fast car......usually spells "pull me over, you know I'm doing something wrong!" Whereas typical Harley rider is older and not as easy of a target.

 

Sorry, it was minneapolis city ordinance I was thinking of, not mn state law.

389.190. Mufflers.(a) No person shall operate, nor shall its owner permit the operation of, a vehicle on a traffic way with a motor the exhaust system of which has been altered, modified or repaired in such a way that the noise emitted by said motor's exhaust system is increased above that emitted by the exhaust system with which said motor came originally equipped from the manufacturer.
(b) The burden of proof shall be on the owner and/or operator of a vehicle with an altered, modified, repaired or reconstructed motor exhaust system to submit evidence that said system meets the provisions of subsection (a) of this section. (Code 1960, As Amend., § 948.060)

 

^^^I guess that's where the SPT Exhaust system would come in handy...."LOL, I'm sorry officer, actually this system was designed through manufacturer specifcally for my car!"

 

Hmm...then should I still go for my Cobb TBE that I'm planning for this spring?

 

okay, I bored...

heck yeah you should....I run Invidia up/down catless AND an Apex N1 with 35% tint, etc, etc, etc..... (My car yells pull me over, but I drive carefully so I haven't had any issues in a long time.)

Here's the trick I always pull, unless it's Eden Prairie since they don't mess with me.

See cop, shift into higher gear, get close to cop, put into neutral and coast by....works everytime. If they're right behing you in traffic? I just keep it below 3K rpm....

 

Well this is what I guess I'm stuck having to do.

I will be getting dynapar's stock L exhaust to go get it looked at, after I register it. I will then (if the buyer is okay with it) make a bill of sale, and then transfer him the title whenever it shows up.

In the mean time I'll be trying to figure out a way to pay for my tuition thats due in 7 days...

 

It's all about revenue generation and not really about your offenses. Go to the Hennepin Co. hearing examiner and plead your case but put your front plate on and he/she may well dismiss. I speak from experience with front plates and window tints.

 

LOL, what's this???. you set yourself up......

less than a month ago you were ranting about NOT getting pulled over....below is your post from November 26th....here's the post

wned:

Sorry man, just had to do it.


Police Officers of the Law
Okay. I just have a quick question to ask.

WHY HAVENT I BEEN PULLED OVER YET?

I know this sounds very silly, but coming from my background of cars, (lifted jeep, 300whp talon tsi) I really dont understand it. I'm a younger guy, driving around without a front license plate on a sporty car with aftermarket exhaust thats obviously lowered. I have tallied up 13 cops that I have driven past in the last 4 nights, all of which I have seen at past 1:00am. I havent been radared, followed, even looked at twice (if they even looked once to start with).

The car is a 99 aspen white 2.5rs coupe, magnaflow exhaust, eibach's, v5 front grill, coupe spoiler, and is debadged (really the only asthetic stuff). I dont speed, and I dont make stupid moves out on the roadways, so I'll give myself +1 for that.

I'm not complaining at all (actually I love it) its just an interesting thing to feel ignored by officers.

Huh.

I guess what I'm getting at is, is this a common thing?

 

Irony?

http://mnsubaru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13804

oops, too slow...

 

hahah dave: last time when there was a cop right behind me, so i shifted like around 2-2.5 rpm, but finally, i still got pulled over...lol

 

heh, I was just going to bring that up.

Yep, very ironic.

 

I didn't read all the answers, but here what you do: Take your car and the exhaust ticket to the local cop shop. Let them listen to your car at idle in the parking lot and they'll probably right it off. Mount a front license plate and register your car so that they give you the Yellow forms to drive on, If you have the option make sure you right under 3000 dollars for how much you paid to get the car. Then right a letter to your local states attorney explaining what happened, have his office sign off on the proof of registration , and asked that the tickets be dismissed as all alogations are now moot.

It's then up to them to **** you or not.

 

man dude i heard about that at wills. sorry dude.

 

I have the stock exhaust for your car in my garage if you want it. for a nominal fee of course. But i guess when I think about it the L exhaust is probably the same

 

I never get pulled over...I'm all Stock :roll:

 

about exhaust

jsut my two cents but i belive that there is a decible rating which you cant excide and i believe its somethin to the tune of 90 but i could be way off. my point if i were to take it to court is get the decible rating off a stock srt-4 and compare them. i had my friend get 2 tickets for his srt cuz cops thought it was "way too loud" to be stock... but cops will pull you over on the smallest things jsut to see if they can snag you with other charges....i've been a victim twice soo im sry..

 

It's a stock Lambo, y0!

 

Smile on your driver's license. Its amazing how much I've gotten away with just by doing that, it seems. Sorry about everythign that happened tho. I guess I don't really know what to tell you.

 

Not in Minnesota. It is the discretion of the officer. If he/she says it too loud then its too loud. Not a fair way to judge exhausts but that is what it is.

 

You know, with this **** about loud mufflers, I'm about to go to them damn motorvehicle lawmakers and slap a statment saying

"Here you have pickup trucks and SUV's, which apparently are DOMESTIC GM/Ford vehicles running with aftermarket mufflers and exhaust tips which are LOUD and some even BLASTING loud, and your CITY WORKERs don't give a DAMN. Heck most of them are V8 motors and apparently anything less than a V8 you tag for LOUD exhaust. Apparently your CITY empoyees know EXACLTY which cars to give a citation to for such a LAW that all your GM/Ford vehicles with modified exhaust are breaking. Even your GM/Ford Sports cars such as Mustangs/Cameros/Corevetts run aftermarket exhaust systems which are LOUDER than stock and yet your CITY EMPLOYEES don't site them. We as automotive enthusiasts feel that we are being targeted and sited for when other vehicles such as pickup trucks and SUVs with aftermarket exhaust systems are not even when they are breaking SUCH A LAW."

You know, if I made this petition, I wonder how far it'd go to. I remembered SEMA making something to prove that aftermartket exhaust systems increase efficiency of the engine and it is going somewhere with that. But I would LOVE to make this Petition.

 

:+1: I'd love to sign it too. Freaking stupid that a SUV with rampant exhaust doesn't get pulled over yet PRA4SNO does? PRA4SNO's exhaust isn't even annoying compared to those SUVs. I remember hearing it at Firestone last Friday. :squint:

 

you have to take it out of the garage and drive it to get pulled over.... ha ha ha

Jack mate, that sucks... I dont quite get it as your exhaust was NOT very loud at all... I guess daddy didnt get his donut rations that day (I jest)...

and no sell your truck before your suby... ha h ah

 

yes sell the truck and not the suby! i always wanted a white suby so keep it so i can admire it a lil longer. plus wanna give me your headers? please!

 

heh. I'll give you the headers, no problem. Just gimme 7k for...everything attatched to them and we'll call it even.

I will probably be back into the suby community soon enough, I'll be selling my rs, paying for school, selling my truck eventually, and hopefully getting a wrx sedan or wagon eventually. Might I add, EVENTUALLY. haha

 

I goto court tomorrow for using the shoulder of the road to avoid being hit by a car, and put into a wall...

I Guess because I can drive, it becomes my fault.

 

BTW you need front plates in TX so if the officer happened to know that then they can still ticket you for it in MN. If you had MI plates then you can point out that MI does not require you to have a front plate, or even acquire a second plate at all. If you lied to them about TX only needing the one then you could also be charged with misdemeanor obstruction which is a bit worse than all of the above. Be careful...

As for the sound issue it is up to the officer's discretion when stopping you since there is no possible way of him knowing the exact sound levels your car is putting out (unless it's just obscenely loud) while driving along with you. There ARE noise pollution standards which apply to all vehicles except motorcycles. I got into this in detail with my state rep when I bought had the turbo RS. The PCA laws are federal so I'm sure they're the same for the entire US. IIRC it's measured from a point behind the vehicle. But who actually has your vehicle show up to a facility to test for that on a cheap ticket? It's the same conundrum the emissions laws run into: it exists but nobody enforces it really.

The other thing against you is having out-of-state plates. I'm still a resident of MN and my plates still reflect that but the Dallas police have pulled me over thrice since moving here last spring. I've never been ticketed but it's annoying nonetheless. I'm sure it's due to my plates, I'm just as aggressive a driver as the locals now.