Should MOTs have noise limits?

Samtheman1k

Samtheman1k

Samtheman1k

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Joined
15 Dec 2005
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2,403
It really annoys me that I can sit in my flat, watching telly, and some big hairly arsed biker drives down the street on his bike, shaking down the houses, shattering the windows and generally bursting everyones eardrums*.

Even walking round town, chavs in suped up cars, chavs in 50cc bikes with no exhausts etc., they are really starting to **** me off how they seem to think it's cool to have a car/bike that is louder than a Guns n' Roses concert on the Heathrow fly path, and then persist to drive round town multiple times think everyone's looking at them thinking that they are cool, when in fact, they are thinking that you are a No swearing!.

So to that end, why doesn't the MOT have a noise measurement to prevent bikes (predominately) from having excessive levels of noise? Some bikes are so loud round town, that you see the little old ladies quaking in their boots.

Don't these people have anything more interesting to do than annoy everyone else?






*Actual effects exagerated for impact!
 
i like to put my music on full blast at the traffic lights, and open the windows and have 2 girls in the back and a mate in the front so everyone thinks im top dog.
 
Neon said:
i like to put my music on full blast at the traffic lights, and open the windows and have 2 girls in the back and a mate in the front so everyone thinks im top dog.
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Windowlicker wannabe?
 
Ok, it appears that this is the MOT noise test:

As far as the noise is concerned the regulations are quite wordy but boil down to the Tester being able to fail the exhaust if the noise emitted is “clearly in excess”, of what would normally be expected. MOTT.
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Great. So if the MOT tester likes loud noise, s/he'll just pass it anyway! :mad:
 
Samtheman1k said:
Ok, it appears that this is the MOT noise test:



Great. So if the MOT tester likes loud noise, s/he'll just pass it anyway! :mad:
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Shouldn't there a DB restriction on the pipes? :confused:
 
There is no actual "noise limit" for the MOT - noise testers are only used during scrutineering at competition events/track days and during SVA testing.

Many bike end cans (Micron for instance) say "For race use only" or "Not for road use" but people fit them anyway because they sound cool.
 
Well even if there is one (And Gilly is correct on this one) they could just tune it down (or whatever they can do I am not a car person) and just pass, then after just put it back to it's usual levels!

Rich
 
Sp00n said:
Loud is good, makes me smile :D
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Some cars sound good loud, 1.1 Fiestas and Renult 5 campus's are not included though. Just because the exhaust is blown or the cheap rubbish "performance" one they shoved onto thier debadged XR3i doesn't mean they can go any faster, they look any better or they are any cooler.

Personally I think there should be a noise level limit, it's daft that some people drive around with obviously knackered exhausts, one of my neighbours has one like that and doens't get home until 1am most nights then spends 10mins trying to park his car. Wakes most of the street up.
 
There is a noise limit, trouble is its just quite loud.

I had a note 'noisey exhaust' on my MOT cert but it isn't loud enough to fail the car.
 
titchard said:
(And Gilly is correct on this one)
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Sort of.

"Reason for failure:

b. a silencer in such a condition, or of such a type, that the noise emitted from the vehicle is clearly unreasonably above the level expected from a similar vehicle with a silencer in average condition"

A "limit" is a defined number/amount, as there isn't one (because a noise meter is not part of the MOT testing equipment) then there is no "limit" other than what the tester feels acceptable.

And it isn't possible to "tune down" the noise level of an exhaust without packing the silencer heavily with wire wool - which is not the best idea in the world. You can still buy those cherry bomb exhausts with adjustable resonators but they don't do a great deal.
 
Sp00n said:
There is a noise limit, trouble is its just quite loud.

I had a note 'noisey exhaust' on my MOT cert but it isn't loud enough to fail the car.
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Jesus people - There is NO defined Noise Limit in dB (It is up to the tester to decide if the car is "too loud" or not) on the MOT. They CANNOT set a noise limit because to do so would need every MOT station to have a noise meter which is NOT part of the MOT testing equipment.

There are only a few items of equipment that test specific numbered limits on the MOT

Brake testing machine
Exhaust gas analyser

That's it! No speedo measurer, no noise measurement, no light-output measurement....

A police officer can give you a VRN if he thinks your exhaust is too loud - normally for defective not design reasons. If you take the car to an MOT station they will listen to it, decide if it is too loud or not using their own judgement (no machines because there is no MOT noise limit) and then stamp your VRN if they feel the noise level to be acceptable.]

There are EU regs for this sort of thing too, but nothing on the MOT test.

I've drunk too much coffee this week.
 
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