OHTA.ca

Hi,

I'm curious if those loud aftermarket mufflers they sell are illegal in Ontario. Is it officer discretion to determine what is "improper" or does there have to be some type of sound measurement done?

Thanks,

Cruz.

The muffler itself is legal to buy, but most owners do not install all the parts that come with the muffler. The parts that are typically not installed is the "baffle" or "silencer" that is to be put at the very tip of the exhaust. Without a baffle/silencer installed the muffler is a "straight-thru" muffler which is illegal.

Here is a picture of a muffler MINUS the baffle. You can see the "bolt hole" where the baffle is to be installed.

more importantly......I would not want to constantly "tick-off" my neighbours by roaring down the street with a loud muffler. Nothing like relaxing in the backyard and hearing a vehicle go by......or worse be sleeping and be awaken by this vehicle.

I don't want one. I actually find them quite irritating and wonder why there are so many around. Hence my question.

Yup, mee too. Apparently some people think that "louder is safer"...

racer wrote:... some people think that "louder is safer"...

Yup. That's me!!

I , too, don't care for the sound of a "coffee-can" muffler stuck on to the back of a Civic, but I DO love the roar of a big American V8 blowin' noise out the back of an old car.

I have a pair of vintage Walkers for my GTO (as in pic, below). The caption in the ad explains everything!!

I thoroughly "get it". Those noisy ricers DO get attention from the opposite sex (my teen daughters always look when one zooms by). It's all about the "look-at-me" thing. They're teenagers. That's what teenagers do! I might not agree with their style of noise, but I'm happy to see kids still play with cars. I respect them WAY more than kids that lay around on the couch playing video games all day.

Turns my head too. Usually as in "I hope that joker ain't gonna fire up his engine when I'm sleeping" though.

racer wrote:Yup, mee too. Apparently some people think that "louder is safer"...

oh yeah....that excuse......if that is the alledged reason then all these people should put their exhausts facing forward so it transmits ahead to let traffic and pedestrians ahead know they are coming. Not behind so all they are doing is annoying others after they have went by.

Some motorcyclists insist that their loud pipes are a safety necessity, so that people will "hear them coming," and react accordingly. Yeah... sure... Doesn't work too well for emergency vehicles with the siren blaring so I don't know why they think a loud muffler will make any difference.

Radar Identified wrote:Some motorcyclists insist that their loud pipes are a safety necessity, so that people will "hear them coming," and react accordingly. Yeah... sure... Doesn't work too well for emergency vehicles with the siren blaring so I don't know why they think a loud muffler will make any difference.

Loud mufflers on MC = bad riders as they think the loud compensates for their own inadequencies in skill of riding. Now how deaf are you at the end of your ride?? I know with 12hrs on a Harley, my ears are a little buzzy, at that is with proper pipes!

Exactly, don't hear a siren either.

Also similiar is a fighter jet, one of the most loudest sounds, but fly towards you, don't hear a thing until the jet is over or past you...by then it is too late!

In my case it's just being cheap. The p.o. (maybe even the one before him) blew the packing on my pipe. The way it's installed, it's not really practical to repack so either way it'll run me $500, so I'm leaving it as is and keeping the rpm's low at night in residential areas. I'd prefer a stealth setup.. Less police attention

I have a disability that makes even normal sound levels painful. As such, I live as a shut-in. There were about 400 motorcycles that drove by my house this weekend that has made my pain even more unbearable. If these cyclists insist that loud mufflers increase safety, they should recognize this disability which they could easily get from their own loud mufflers and they can disable someone else.