I am going to address the 50 state legality issue first. The 50 state legal tag only refers to its emissions legal status. I have never understood why any exhuast would be anything other then 50 state legal if it is a cat-back system. After the exhaust gases have gone past the catalytic convertor your tailpipe emissions will not change regardless of pipe diameter, presence of a resonator, or presence of a muffler. So really, any exhuast that still has a catalytic convertor should be 50 state EMISSIONS legal.

Now decibel level is another issue. I would have to agree with Keiichi on this. If the noise level is noticably louder then stock, you should probably get a ticket. If we are talking straight pipes, cherry bombs, SLP Loudmouth systems, or an unsilenced Apex'I N1, then your sound emissions will be considerably louder then stock. If you go with a more mild setup like a Borla system, and Apex'I WS, or Greddy SP, then most likely your exhaust note won't be much louder then normal. However, you would still be in violation of the law as it is written. With that, I must concede to Keiichi.

Moving away from fact now, over to opinion. I wouldn't think that most people driving imports would have any problem if their exhuast systems were either silenced or made to keep noise levels to a minimum, i.e. some of the previously mentioned systems. In the case of my friend hatch77, the first instance that he was pulled over was probably around the same time that he decided silencers were "gay" and buried his in a mound of dirt. I am also pretty sure that second instance was after he realized that silencers prevent tickets and he should probably find his. His system was not silenced (correct me if I am wrong John) and he was pulled over. I really don't know of all that many people who have been pulled over for their exhaust though.

Anyway, I really don't see any problem with an aftermarket exhaust if it is fairly mellow. I guess the real issue is sound level more then anything else. I was only looking at the physical exhaust rather then the sound produced by it. I was more under the impression that people were being fined because their exhaust looked different then stock. I wonder if anyone with an RSR ExMag has got pulled over. That particular exhaust looks a little nicer then stock, but the sound output is on the same level as a stock system for the most part.