A car modification is classed as any change made to a car that enhances it in some way and isn’t part of the original manufacturer’s specification.
The most common modifications made to cars include louder exhausts, tinted windows, neon lights, and improved sound systems.
People primarily make modifications to cars to improve their aesthetics or performance but there are a growing number on individuals making modifications just to be annoying and anti-social. What am I talking about? You got it, those awful popping and banging exhausts that sound like the car needs a tune up or it’s timing fixing.
We have all heard those cars that seem to only come out an night with the annoying popping and banging exhausts and most people just think that the car must have some fault or timing error to make such an dreadful noise, however, most people are shocked to hear that immature car owners are paying to make their exhaust make such a dreadful noise.
At one time a popping or backfiring exhaust meant that your engine was running too rich with too much fuel and too little air or that the timing was out on your valves. When this happened you immediately took your car to the garage for a tune up before any lasting damage was done.
However, in recent years car owners have been paying to have their cars sound like this.
So What’s The Current Obsession with Popping Exhausts?
For some unknown reason there seems to be an obsession in the UK with having the loudest popping, crackling and banging exhaust and it seems to be with insecure males between 17 and 25 years of age, living at home, whether these insecure virgins believe that the loud banging noise their sad little Citroen Saxo or Ford Fiesta (It’s never a Lamborghini or Porsche) makes will attract the girls or whether having the loudest crackling and popping exhaust make them leader of the Chav’s for some reason is still being debated, but one thing is certain.. Most people over 25 basically think that the car needs a tune up which should make the whole thing hilarious if it wasn’t so annoying.
These loud popping exhausts are not actually legal on public roads in the UK due to their excessive noise levels and extra emissions and drivers caught with an excessively noisy exhaust may receive an on-the-spot fine of £50, and could have their car taken off the road until the offending exhaust is fixed.
This is the reason that most of these offensive vehicles stay clear of the main roads and tend to drive around housing estates and residential areas where there is less chance of them getting pulled up by the police
So do the girls come running when they hear a popping exhaust?
Why these adolescent boys are paying to have their car sound like it belongs in the scrap yard is beyond me and nobody I’ve spoken to seems to have the answer either. It’s as if these sad individuals really do believe that when they drive around their local estate with their annoying popping exhausts the girls will come running as if the sound acts like some sort of pheromone.
Yes heads do turn when these losers drive by, people do look out of their windows but no one is impressed except for other sad adolescent boys. No girls are throwing themselves at these losers and if any girl did show the slightest bit of interest I doubt these losers would know what to do anyway.
Most people are hoping it’s a passing fad but some Police forces are now cracking down and buying new sound monitoring equipment in a bid to crack down on loud vehicle exhausts.
PC Kurt Allen of Cambridgeshire Police said: “Noise pollution is a concern for many people living in our villages, towns and cities and Fines will be issued to help reduce anti-social motorists and make our communities quieter, safer places to live.”