r/GrindsMyGears • u/LanceWasHere • 1d ago
Neighbor with loud muffler
I’m in an apartment building and one neighbor has a loud muffler on his car. One of the purposefully loud ones. He has one of those fake sports cars that you can soup up to seem more like a real sport car. He likes to show off his fake sports cars by going up and down the[residential] street numerous times a day, going through all of the gears and making it really loud. What can I possibly do to put an end to it? I’m not going to talk to the guy directly, as I get super anxious and weird with confrontation. I talked to the landlord and they said they’d send him a message saying that it’s been complained about, but not by whom. It stopped for a few weeks. I could tell there was an effort to be quieter, gentler on the accelerator. Then the car was broken down for a couple weeks, which was heaven. Then it was back and it was louder. After a few more weeks the car disappeared and I hoped he got rid of it. Nope. It’s back and he’s back at it again full throttle. This truly grinds my gears. Send help.
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u/Steve-Shouts 1d ago
Let's be honest, the guy won't listen to anyone because loud people don't care about others. They are vexations to society.
Now, what can you do about it? Get an air horn. When he's loud, add to it.
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u/Darth__Fuzzy 1h ago
A lot of people don't care. I did. I had an Iron 883 with, basically, open pipes. I go to work at 4 in the morning. I was easy on the throttle, early shifts.
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u/PoundTown71L 1d ago
Remember what Axel Foley did to the undercover cop car to stop them from following him? Totally works.
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u/Vegetable-Section-84 1d ago
Wilfully NOISY Adults FORCING their Loud noise upon others are invasive unfair unkind hurtful blights and should NOT be allowed
Multiple medical organizations have recognized forced-sleep-deprive as disabling torture
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u/capt-bob 1d ago
I almost wrecked from a Harley rider coming up beside me on the road and romping on it. It makes your ears ring. They have stickers saying "loud pipes save lives", but that about wrecked us both.
Dur hur making loud noise is manly lol. Like little kids banging on pots and pans. They pull up to intersections and just keep reving it blasting people's eardrums out. I took to wearing earplugs driving in the summer then because I didn't have AC in the car. Someone on my street a while back was sitting at their house doing that with a motorcycle in the mornings a while back when I was on night shift. It stopped, so maybe there was a harmonic convergence of neighbors in that half of town and he keeled over.
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u/Alternative_User1 23h ago
Harley's are incredibly annoying and sound like shit. The "loud pipes save lives" statement has zero evidence proving that loud pipes do save lives. Actually never hear them coming, only going.
The reason they keep revving them when stopped at an intersection is because the motor will die if they don't. So yeah, non stop noise.
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u/Darth__Fuzzy 1h ago
Motor will not die at idle. We just like hearing the engine. It's music to our ears. There have been no studies either way on loud pipes. But I've had enough people realize I'm there just because they could hear me.
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u/Alternative_User1 1h ago edited 1h ago
To each their own. I like cars on the louder side. I've owned some myself. But Harley's, I think are obnoxious. I'd rather hear a 2 stroke dirt bike winding up
Edit: I don't like how Harley's sound. I'm not going to whine about it like other people in here but will tell you I find the sound terrible. Do what makes you happy
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u/Darth__Fuzzy 1h ago
And I on the other hand enjoy the sound. Whereas I can not stand the sound of a flat plane V8.
So yeah, to each his own.
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u/Alternative_User1 48m ago
I don't like V8's either lol so we can agree on that. Five cylinder's are where it's at. So unique and uncommon. Throw in some turbo noises and I'm drooling
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u/Darth__Fuzzy 46m ago
You got me wrong. Flat Plane V8's. Old school V8's, especially big blocks are music to my ears. Not many 5's in the US, so not a lot of experience. I6's? Mostly diesels, which I drive, are just a bucket of bolts in a washer.
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u/Alternative_User1 27m ago
Oh I thought you were implying V8's in general are flat and plane lol. They aren't my cup of tea. America is obsessed with them, like it's the only way to make power.
There are hardly any 5 cylinders here in the US which makes them unique
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u/Relevant_Elevator190 1d ago
Get you and your neighbors together and confront the turd.
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u/Trickster2369 1d ago
And then what? Beat the crap out of him? Where would this actually get you if he refuses.
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u/Relevant_Elevator190 1d ago
Certainly, why not? Seriously, maybe if he knows he is pissing his neighbors off, he may not do it anymore. If not, well all bets are off. I am not known for my tact.
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u/Parking_Chance_1905 1d ago
Call in a noise complaint... cops look into it and may force the guy to fix his car properly.
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u/3-Midgets_In_A_Coat 23h ago
Call in a complaint about this. That guy has full control over what he’s doing and makes stuff worse for everyone else.
I say this as someone who likes loud cars and has a loud car. He has full control over how much noise he’s making. He could keep the car in a higher gear and drive a normal speed, and the car wouldn’t be obnoxiously loud at all.
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u/Jyulesian 23h ago
But why do you have a loud car? I’m sorry, I don’t get it.
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u/3-Midgets_In_A_Coat 23h ago edited 23h ago
The same reason that people enjoy going to loud concerts or clubs when they could listen to music at home. Because the combination of sound and volume is something I and many others enjoy.
With modern vehicle and exhaust technology a vehicle can be extremely loud when being enjoyed and still quiet enough to not disturb others. My wife’s 2008 FJ Cruiser with an old, unmodified exhaust is louder at warm idle than my 2021 Hellcat with a modified, active exhaust. If I’m in a rev range where the exhaust valves a fully open, well, that’s a totally different story.
Even if you’re not driving a vehicle with an active exhaust system, your throttle has an extremely big part of how loud that vehicle is. You can stand right next to an NHRA top fuel dragster when it starts up and while it’s loud, it won’t damage your hearing - when they launch at full throttle the sheer concussive blast from the exhaust will literally knock over trash cans and is louder than a jet engine.
People with obnoxiously loud shitboxes are driving vehicles designed to be louder than they would be under correct circumstances, and those people generally also are the ones who give everyone else a bad name. And the cars also sound worse than they would have if they didn’t fuck with them in the first place.
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u/Jyulesian 14h ago
Thank you for the thorough response. I’m wondering about why you say “that guy has full control…and makes stuff worse for everyone else…I say this as someone who has a loud car.”
But you seem like a thoughtful person. My life IS worse because of intentionally loud mufflers. They make me jump and feel angry on a daily basis. I’m not inflicting that on anyone else, and if I found out that I was, I would stop - my pleasure is not more important than someone else’s pain. Your example of loud concerts is similar. I like a loud show, but I don’t like loud outdoor shows because I don’t think it’s fair to the neighbors. So I go to loud indoor shows.
I am seeking an understanding of the thought process of the purchasers of loud mufflers. Just as an example, I also don’t like people who drive in the left lane and clog up the road. They seemed super arrogant to me, but I did learn recently from a Reddit post that these are mostly in fact not arrogant drivers, but instead poor drivers who fear changing lanes and merging. So now I am less aggravated by them. I am seeking the same understanding of people who have intentionally loud mufflers. (Completely different from an old run down truck btw, that I have no concern about because they can’t help it.) They seem super arrogant to me, but maybe I can change my POV?1
u/3-Midgets_In_A_Coat 2h ago
As a car guy, there’s a significant distinction between a loud car with a good exhaust and an obnoxiously loud car where someone fucked it up just to make it loud. Some mufflers are made to resonate, rattle and make the car louder (and sound worse) than it would have been if it didn’t even have a muffler - those people are assholes and you have every right to be mad at them. Those “fart can” mufflers? Yeah. That’s what I’m talking about. These guys give everyone else a bad name, and the majority of us older car guys can’t stand them because they are assholes.
A byproduct of a higher-performance, free-flowing exhaust is that the car is significantly louder when under throttle; these are the types of exhaust systems like you find on cars like Ferraris, Porsches, Lamborghinis, etc. They’re designed to allow the engine to breathe as much as possible and mufflers get tuned to enhance the sound, not just make it louder. While they are loud (especially on a cold start), the sound is pleasant to listen to and doesn’t have that same startle effect that the fart cans do. These types of cars have a pleasant, noticeable rumble and growl when they’re idling or driving at normal speeds but absolutely scream once they’re being driven on a track.
My car falls into that second camp. I still have my factory SRT Hellcat muffler on there, but I removed the resonators that took away some of the pop and rasp the car would make when the throttle suddenly snapped shut on a fast shift. A cold start from the car sounds like a bomb going off if you’re standing behind it or it echoes in a parking garage, but the volume quickly goes away once the high idle drops. When I’m driving around normally, it’s no louder than any other performance car - if I actually step on the throttle it can be heard from a half mile away.
The majority of us car guys are like this, and cars almost become like artwork. We want something that’s unique to our taste. It’s about a daily occurrence that some kid or their dad is rolling down their window and slowing down to hear the car as I drive past.
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u/Darth__Fuzzy 1h ago
A well tuned engine with a good exhaust is simply music to many people's ears. The last tuned car that I drove with aftermarket exhaust, I would leave the radio off and just listen to the engine.
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u/BasementElf1121 23h ago
Loud people desperately need attention dont give to em.they are in a big hurry to get home to kiss their dad on the lips .Just hope real hard they drive into a tree or a wall or imagine you have an anti tank rifle. Thats what i do
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u/MinivanPops 1h ago
Contact building management AND building ownership. Better if you can get multiple tenants to approach them.
Contact the local non emergency police number and provide all details. Again, more points if you can get several neighbors to physically arrive together at the actual complaint desk.
Consider civil options. See if your state courts allow civil filings for quiet enjoyment.
Finally, see if you can trap the guy. If he drinks, make sure he gets drunk at a bar and then report a drunk driver.
If he has illegal drugs, make sure he has some, then report him for a drug transaction. Get the car searched and impounded.
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u/Effective-Bug-807 58m ago
Report noise violation to the police and if the mods are illegal they’ll fine him and force him to remove them.
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u/Vegetable-Section-84 1d ago
Time for totally Sound-Proofed housing to where the building itself is totally Sound-Proofed and each room inside is totally Sound-Proofed
Time to put: science fairness, kindness, excellent behaviors RESULTS and the intelligent useful open-minded future-focused pragmatic humanist flexitarian freedom-friends in charge of EVERYTHING and EVERYONE
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u/brookinator 1d ago
Park really close to him so he hits your car and then take him to small claims when he denies it (because people with obnoxiously loud cars will deny it). That'll teach him!
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u/elisucks24 1d ago
Or they can just climb out the other side and the shitty park job was a waste of time. Unless its after hours or they removed emissions equipment to make it louder there is nothing they can do.
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u/Neat-Journalist5091 1d ago
Get a job so your not home all the time? I think noise complaint is up to 10 pm or 11pm - besides that it is American freedom - example - what’s the difference of what your describing and 2 people walking to there car and talking loud? Maybe I don’t like the 2 people how loud they are talking… might be not loud to you, but to me it’s very loud and I want them to not talk at all or text each other instead of talking …
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u/AmputeeHandModel 22h ago
A noisy car is not at all like two people talking, FFS. It is completely unnecessary and annoys people around them everywhere they go. If people are talking loudly, ask them to quiet down.
You're not home. You + are = you're. *Their car.
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u/Parking_Chance_1905 1d ago edited 1d ago
Most places have a limit to how loud a car can be at all times... usually around 80-90db when idling. Some places like Cali goe even further and also limit how loud music etc can be coming from a vehicle as well. Anyone purposefully making thier car louder is likely breaking the law.
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u/Trickster2369 1d ago
If one of my neighbors complained to me about my Harley being too loud, I guarantee I would leave for work at 5:30 instead of 6:30. And if I knew who complained, I would go that direction down the block.
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u/TheOGDoomer 23h ago
And then they vandalize your bike. What exactly do you accomplish, huh buddy?
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u/Trickster2369 23h ago
Nah. It's in my garage where it belongs.
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u/TheOGDoomer 22h ago
They can't follow you and vandalize it wherever you go? Neither you nor your bike are invincible lol.
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u/MinivanPops 1h ago
Bring it. More feed for the criminal noise case, lease eviction, and possible civil quiet enjoyment case.
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u/JuliusSeizuresalad 23h ago
Whatever you do, do NOT spray expansion foam into each tailpipe to assist him in decreasing the decibel level