Well,

My time arrived this evening. Coming home from an after-work retirement party on I-95, a state trooper flinked his loverly blue lights into my rearview mirror . Yup, I got pulled.

"Know why I stopped ya?" he hollared over the droan of traffic. "You were doing 70mph [in a 55]." "But more than that, I pulled you because of that exhaust!...that isn't OEM Toyota is it?"

"Sir, this is a Honda; but no sir, that's not OEM." "Buuut, if I may say, it *is* OEM-like ...and I've never had any issue with it in the 4 years I've had it installed on my car. I mean to say, I'm 40 years old...not like I'm a kid that's tryin' to shirk the law or anything...."

"License and Registration please"... [while I'm getting these items in order he compliments me on The Bruised Banana] As I hand him my Registration card, I notice that one of my two "06" tag stickers is still stapled to the Registration card . He notices too...and walks around to the front of the car . "Where's your front plate?!"

"In my trunk. I'm fabricating a bracket for that aftermarket bumper you see up front. I just have not yet finished the project. I can show it to you if you'd like?"

"I'll be back..."

[minutes are hours and all that...... Then he shines his spotlight on me ( THAT got my nads to shrink a bit!) and walks back to my car.]

"I'm going to give you a BIG break here. In fact...two! But I'm still writing you up on your exhaust (wha ...so no speeding?...no front tag issue?...Thank you God! ). David you have GOT to put baffles in that exhaust!"

"Sir, I understand that if you could hear them, then you have an issue with them. However, I *do* have baffles installed. They're just covered in carbon. But the baffles have been in there for 4 years now."

"Well then [and for a second...oooh, it looks like he's looking hard at his ticket he'd written...but...]...well then the baffles have ROTTED out or something. David I could hear your car from a 1/4 mile behind you...with all this other traffic noise...in my cruiser! You need to do something about the baffles. Sign here...your court date is April 14th."

[as I sign] "So, if I can take a minute to ask, you're just telling me that the exhausts are alright, if I can tone them down?"

"Well, what I'm telling you is that your exhaust needs to state that it is DOT certified." And if your baffles have worn out, you need to get them replaced."

---------------------------

He then complimented me on the car again. Asked me if I show it a lot. To which I told him, "Nah, not really. With 130,000 miles on the odometer...its simply my daily driver. But I love it & love Honda." Another positive banter, and then I shook his hand, apologized for giving him reason to get out of his cruiser this evening, and proceeded on my way [as gently on the throttle as I could muster & still merge into traffic].

Soooooooooooo... I need to get my Invidia baffles into some better shape. Figure 4 years and easily 100K miles of exhaust run through them...they probably aren't in the best of shape. I remember when I'd first installed them that they seemed to be comprised of a metal insert/frame, with a dual-layer of screen that sandwiched what looked to be a layer of steel wool in-between the screen. I'm thinking I can "re-steel wool" them . I'd like to think I could keep the exhaust...and keep running into this decent state trooper...and know that he could recognize that the sound has been toned down. Rather than consider returning to the OEM stock exhaust .

As for the front plate... That really has been on my mind to reinstall. Our property we're building on has me passing a state police OFFICE...daily. Ain't much of a chance I'd get away with no front plate for too long. I've designed a frame that mounts from under the car and does not actually attach to my Distinto bumper. And if I can just live with that for a bit...maybe the State will come around and finally get off this ridiculous front plate requirement.

But anyway...I'm not a BAD BOY...so I'll be tryin' to get right with Johnny Law. And again, I appreciate that I had a very decent state trooper pull me over this evening.

- Dave

 

Dave, I've got the silencers if you want them. LOL

 

Sure (did I entertain you? ).

Seriously...SURE Peter! I'd pay you for the shipping (guessing you don't get down around Richmond often, huh?).

 

If he doesn't want them....I might good story and nice that he was an okay guy and didnt just screw you like he couldve.

 

Yea I have them at the shop. I might be cruising through Richmond on the way to the Hampton Roads area soon if you want me to hang on to them til then. Or I can just ship them to you. Pm me your address if you want to go that route.

 

PM headin' your way

 

Silencers might be your best option.

It sounds like you were very professional and respectful to the State Trooper. I would imagine that he gave you every break he could... and wrote you for the exhaust because he really COULD hear it from a 1/4th mile away. VA has a sort of ambiguous law... it's pretty much anything that the officer deems "unusually loud." From the way this officer responded, I'm willing to bet that he wasn't just picking on you though. It still kind of bothers me how it's rare that you hear about or see a Harley getting written up for their extremely loud exhausts, but that's another subject entirely. Breaking the law is breaking the law.

If you show the officer that you bought the silencers to correct the problem before your court date, or on the morning of, there's a chance he'll make a motion to dismiss your case at court. Good luck!

 

Good story Dave, glad to hear that it wasn't too bad. State tropper sounded like a good guy!

 

Yup on all counts. vbeachboy, let's remember...my silencers *are* in my Invidia. No fibbin', etc. But like mentioned...and I said it to him as well...If he could hear it, then he could hear it. I cannot argue with that.

Under the circumstances, perhaps a better way for me to express the apparent condition of my Invidia might be that my inserts are installed...but perhaps there's not much of a "silencer" left in them [presently]. While I can try to refurbish them...I'll undoubtedly move into better territory with them replaced. Thanks again Peter!

 

No prob.