Just fyi for everyone, motorcycles have different exhaust laws. I asked a Va Beach cop that same question. He also said that according to Virginia state law he could go to a car dealership and go up to a brand new car and find something illegal on it. ANYTHING you do to your car is illegal. Its just depends on how bad of a day the officer is having.

Advice for OP: a few options to avoid tickets, sell the tokyo dorifto attention getter that every cop is gonna look at or keep it as a project that stays in the garage and buy a bone stock daily and hope you dont get pulled for low tire psi or some sh*t.

 

Just replace it and take some pics, take to court and show them you have fix it
or
you can pay de 30 bucks plus court fees and a total of 90 bucks will cost you

 

gotta pay to play

stop bitching

 

Long shot but run the actual citation number through google and make sure you got written the proper ticket (cod section). You can't get a ticket thrown out for minor errors (like spelling or plate # error ect as most people think), but it will be dismissed if it is the incorrect citation. LONG SHOT-but takes 5 minutes.

Then-I would personally resort to the "fixit ticket" and actually fix the damn thing otherwise you will just risk getting the same ticket again.

 

Thats Pretty shitty man.....
Sorry to hear about it
I would fork over the loot for the Court Bullsh!t or just get a new cheapo muffler and take pics
If the judge starts giving you grief....Gerard Butler him.........
Good luck....

 

So what exactly can you find illegal on a completely stock vehicle that is still sitting on the lot (not any dealer installed items)? I am curious about this, because I would call bullshit. VA's laws are shit, but not that out of this world. Even Cali wouldn't go so far as to claim this and they are freakin nazi's when cars are concerned.

 

Im not a cop so i dont know all the laws by heart, but he said a few things like the lowest part of the front bumper can be no lower than 9 inches from ground and no higher than 34 or 36 inches i think. Even down to the dealer putting their dealer sticker on the trunk is a "modification". Im not sure where to find all these laws, im pretty sure its just gonna be a brief "no modification" rule or something and they leave it to the officer to decide.

 

The bumper law you are referring to is 46.2-1063. And it says the lowest edge of the bumper reinforcement on a car has to be between 14-22 inches, not the bumper cover. So take off the bumper and measure, something they can't do just by looking at it. And it does specifically state that it can't be modified to be that, not affecting cars that are that way from the factory. And the only place stickers are really referenced is in relation to the windows, and even that is allowed to a degree. Hell, if you swap out your tires to be a different brand and tread pattern, then you are 'modifying' your car and it's certainly legal.

Modifications of cars is limited, but definitely within your legal rights in Virginia. Every single violation a police officer can use his discretionary powers to enforce, is an ACTUAL LAW. The cop doesn't decide what a law is or isn't, he can write you a ticket for a stock exhaust because he thinks it's modified, but the judge is the one that decides whether or not a crime has been committed. Don't buy into the paranoia that cop's make up their own laws about cars. Every single thing they can write you a ticket for, can be found in actual law that the average citizen has access to. If they don't make the law accessible, then how can a citizen know and follow those laws?

Edit: Here's a link to see what is legal and what isn't. http://www.vsp.state.va.us/Safety.shtm

 

Is the rule of thumb "If it ain't OEM, it ain't legal"?

 

i dont get it, i have a LOUD miata, but my exhaust looks stock, yet people with tips get pulled over. im not complaining, oh, and i work right in front of the vb courthouse