Race can .... legal or urban myth
 

Hi,

Two different people over the last weekend have told me a tale about Race Cans and how they can be "legal" for MOT's. Can this be true or is it an urban myth ???

The claim is if a can say's "not for raod use" then it can not pass a mot etc etc. However, if the can has no markings at all then it is up to the discretion of the tester. I find this difficult to believe as I thought that a can must show the "E" markings etc to be MOT'd.

Any one had experience of this "urban myth" or is it just that an "urban myth"

I had exactly this situation on the weekend. The guy looked at my (extremely loud) silmotor cans and said "If they don't say 'Not for road use' then they pass"!

A couple of months back I read that it has now been passed to the MOT centre to decide wherther an exhaust is antisocially loud. It's a bonus that most people like the sound of dukes :D

Cheers,

Ali

Yep, thats what I`ve heard, if it doesnt say "not for road use" then it is up to the MOT tester.

I got my bike mot'd on good friday with race cans on it.
I spoke to the tester on the phone previously and he told me that the law had just changed to what you said.
If the can does not have any markings on it which say 'not for road use' or 'race use only', then subject to the discretion of the tester it can pass.
However, it is a very new thing and some stations may not yet be aware of it.
There's certainly no way I could have got through otherwise as I have no standard cans anymore, and even if I did, they would not fit 50mm headers!
I fitted the db killers off e bay and they work a treat, went straight through the mot with no problems.

From what I remember, it used to be the case that cans had to be "e" marked to pass the MOT test. However, given the rise in stickers and self-stamping of the cans to avoid this, I think this rule has now been revoked so it's back to the old way of being at the tester's discretion.

There has been a change in the MOT regs for exhausts from June 2004 , The new regs are simpler on paper but also open to more interpretation

All Systems The Exhaust system should be in good condition (no rust holes / complete and secure ) and be correctly fitted (ie: not blowing from the joints ) durable repairs are acceptable providing the exhaust is structually sound.

There should be no leaks which cause excessive noise

The next part I will quote direct from the testers manual

Section 7.1 reason for rejection 2

" A silencer that is in such a condition OR is of such a type that the noise emitted is clearly in excess of that which would be produced by a similar machine fitted with a standard silencer in average condition "





IF the EXHAUST is marked NOT FOR ROAD USE or TRACK USE ONLY or similar words it should fail an MOT.

Mine passed with race cans

OK OK .... looks like this urban myth may actually be true.

So, if a Race can that has no markings at all can be MOT'd is it then legal on the road .... if it can be mot'd can the police have a go at you for having a noisy can with no markings ?

What you need to do is find a nice friendly tester who says "have you got your standard cans at home?" You say yes and he passes the race cans anyway.

Well, he knows you'll only swap them back over again so he's basically saving all the faffing about :)

[Edited on 4-4-2005 by Desmondo]

Just because it gets through an MOT does not make it road legal. Some forces do sound checks at the side of the road.