Loud vehicles?

[Fox]

I'm fairly new to the forms looks like a great place and also new to overlanding.
But what I'm wondering is what are people's opinion on vehicles that are overly loud?
My rig I know is very loud, old truck 460 cubic inch big block that's roughly 7.5 for those medically minded running through a performance exhaust system that the previous owner put on

 

[Raul B]

I'm good with it. My f150 is pretty loud too.

 

[Anak]

My '73 Suburban is also loud. 454 with ported heads and a Crower cam feeding through a very low restiction dual exhaust. Pretty good at setting off car alarms.

Biggest downside would be if it impacts communication.

Biggest potential upside is that folks are more likely to hear you coming up the trail and thus less likely to come barreling right into you head-on. As the Harley crowd says, loud pipes save lives.

 

[Dakota Houligans]

To me it all depends on if it sounds good. Loud just to be loud or crappy popping crackling exhaust I can do without. Now the nice low rumble of actual power I have no problem with. My f250 has 3 inch mandrel bent exhaust and a high flow straight through muffler but it isn't very loud. The engine is pretty much stock. Just a few tuning tweeks. Now my currant bronco is rumbly and loud. High flow exhaust with long tube headers and a strong engine make some fun noise. But you can't hear the wife or kids while going down the highway.

 

[Fox]

To me it all depends on if it sounds good. Loud just to be loud or crappy popping crackling exhaust I can do without. Now the nice low rumble of actual power I have no problem with. My f250 has 3 inch mandrel bent exhaust and a high flow straight through muffler but it isn't very loud. The engine is pretty much stock. Just a few tuning tweeks. Now my currant bronco is rumbly and loud. High flow exhaust with long tube headers and a strong engine make some fun noise. But you can't hear the wife or kids while going down the highway.

I would like to think mine has a decent sound to it other than just being loud for being overly loud, it's got a free-flowing performance exhaust system I believe Gibson predominantly stock engine with a mild cam

 

[Dakota Houligans]

I'd bet it sounds pretty good. Just seems like around here anyway everybody likes to cut out mufflers and put on chrome exhaust tips and pretend they have a race car. I once drove a truck for 3 months with open headers while I saved up for the rest of the exhaust! Overpasses and tunnels would make your ears ring.

 

[Arailt]

Loud exhausts make sense on muscle cars, especially classic muscle cars, where the sound of the car is its identity. In my experience on the trail, overly loud exhausts are just an inconvenience (can’t hear spotters, radio, passengers, etc.). Same with camping. There’s nothing worse than trying to sleep and someone pulls into the camp site with a loud vehicle.

That said, I do love the sound of a nice V8 (who doesn’t). I live in a suburban neighborhood, so anyone with an exhaust louder than a Tesla is immediately labeled an asshole. That made my decision to keep the exhaust on my GX stock a very easy one... even though I would love to hear just a little more rumble.

 

[Dilldog]

My general take on loud exhaust, I love it at the track, it depends on the street (basically the sounds I like are good running built V8s, straight six diesels with opened up exhaust, and my favorite 2stroke Detroit diesels), and I really dont like it in the woods.
Edit to add: I will admit though that my opinion on loud exhaust is greatly influenced by the habits of the driver.

 

[JCWages]

Loud exhausts make sense on muscle cars, especially classic muscle cars, where the sound of the car is its identity. In my experience on the trail, overly loud exhausts are just an inconvenience (can’t hear spotters, radio, passengers, etc.). Same with camping. There’s nothing worse than trying to sleep and someone pulls into the camp site with a loud vehicle.

That said, I do love the sound of a nice V8 (who doesn’t). I live in a suburban neighborhood, so anyone with an exhaust louder than a Tesla is immediately labeled an asshole. That made my decision to keep the exhaust on my GX stock a very easy one... even though I would love to hear just a little more rumble.

That's my take as well. I come from a drag racing background and feel there is a time and a place for loud exhaust systems and IMO the average trail isn't one of them and definitely not in campgrounds. Loud exhaust is more than just annoying it can actually be disruptive to natural systems as well since many animals rely on accute hearing to eat or avoid being eaten or for reproduction. This is especially important at night.

https://theconversation.com/human-noise-pollution-is-disrupting-parks-and-wild-places-78074

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8305000/8305320.stm

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/Environment/noise/noise_effect_on_wildlife/effects/wild04.cfm

https://www.iflscience.com/environment/how-noise-pollution-changing-animal-behaviour/


For humans too...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1253729/

 

[Todd & Meg]

The problem with overlanding is there are a LOT of new people just starting out exploring the back country. Which can be a good thing. The bad part is they don't know what it is like to get public and private areas shut down. Since I was a kid I saw place after place get shut down to dirt bikes, mudding, 4x4ing, shooting, you name it.

People need to realize there are environmental groups that are looking for any reason to close down access to all public lands. Don't give them a reason with a loud exhaust to call and make a complaint.

Myself I don't want to hear it on the trails, or campgrounds. Same with big light bars. If you are running 100+ MPH in Baja in the middle of the night you need all the light you can get. If you are overlanding you probably arn"t driving fast enough to be out driving your headlights, you don't need all that light.

Todd

 

[RainGoat]

The problem with overlanding is there are a LOT of new people just starting out exploring the back country. Which can be a good thing. The bad part is they don't know what it is like to get public and private areas shut down. Since I was a kid I saw place after place get shut down to dirt bikes, mudding, 4x4ing, shooting, you name it.

People need to realize there are environmental groups that are looking for any reason to close down access to all public lands. Don't give them a reason with a loud exhaust to call and make a complaint.

Myself I don't want to hear it on the trails, or campgrounds. Same with big light bars. If you are running 100+ MPH in Baja in the middle of the night you need all the light you can get. If you are overlanding you probably arn"t driving fast enough to be out driving your headlights, you don't need all that light.

Todd

Personally, I like a quiet exhaust. I’m not out there to hear my engine. The idiots I find barreling around blind corners on trail weren’t going to hear my exhaust - often it’s theirs that is deafening. And loud exhausts after dark are really annoying.

To be fair, desert environments require a lot of light regardless of speed but light bars are generally not a great way to get it (too much hood reflection actually making it harder too see). The availability of cheap light bars & their ease of application has really made them be far more present than necessary.

Finally, trail etiquette is everything. Honestly, environmental groups probably save more land than they close off by a wide margin. Try having your trails on public property closed off for “your safety” while a mega Corp mines it or cuts it all down. This is already happening after we lost Bear Ears & parts of Escalante. Everything is a balancing act & bad trail behavior helps no one - though I saw bad behavior decades ago so it’s hardly a new thing.

 

[BlueLineOverland]

My dodge was pretty loud. 5.9L with a magnaflow. I was good with it and so was everyone else I camped with, however if I needed to start it for something at camp.....I always felt bad lol

 

[RainGoat]

My dodge was pretty loud. 5.9L with a magnaflow. I was good with it and so was everyone else I camped with, however if I needed to start it for something at camp.....I always felt bad lol

Well yeah, some engines are just going to be loud - no way around it.

 

[Fox]

Well yeah, some engines are just going to be loud - no way around it.

That's going to be my problem to some extent a big block V8 is only going to be but so quiet, so I just have to be mindful of others and how I use it

 

[Arailt]

Well yeah, some engines are just going to be loud - no way around it.

Except for not installing a Magnaflow, of course

Bottom line is there are some vehicles where loud exhaust is unavoidable to some extent, like older carbureted V8s. However, I feel like the first mod on every fill-size pickup owners’ list is an aftermarket exhaust (regardless of whether they off-road), which is completely unnecessary and annoying to 99.9% of everyone else. It’s 100% of the reason I don’t slap one on my GX.

 

[Anak]

Except for not installing a Magnaflow, of course

Bottom line is there are some vehicles where loud exhaust is unavoidable to some extent, like older carbureted V8s. ...

There is nothing about an older carbureted V8 that gives it any reason to be louder than a modern fuel injected V8. It is all a matter of choices.

It may be hard to fit enough muffler under a small chassis, but other than that, a restrictive muffler should quiet an exhaust down. And if one doesn't do the job, add in another. The Bride's Impala has 4 mufflers in addition to the two cats.

Now if the Dodge with the 5.9 is a Cummins, there is another issue with the engine noise itself. Good luck trying to quiet down rattle-power. You can get the exhaust tamed, but not the engine itself.

 

[TreXTerra]

I prefer vehicles to be as quiet as possible. I don't want to disturb others and I like being able to sneak up on wildlife to get photos.

I go out to the wilderness to get away from traffic noise, not to bring it with me or listen to other people's loud or broken exhaust.

 

[grubworm]

I prefer vehicles to be as quiet as possible. I don't want to disturb others and I like being able to sneak up on wildlife to get photos.

I go out to the wilderness to get away from traffic noise, not to bring it with me or listen to other people's loud or broken exhaust.

I'm with you on that. I go overlanding to get away from the noise and enjoy some peaceful nature. Personally, I try to go as unnoticed as possible. I even went and bought a battery operated chainsaw just because I don't want to be creating all the noise of a gas chainsaw.

 

[JCWages]

I wanted to say I'm not trying to disparage any members who have loud vehicles. I'm simply stating my opinions and how I prefer to enjoy the outdoors. I do, however, think this is a good thread because it shows there are more folks, like me, who prefer quieter vehicles and you don't need a loud exhaust on your rig to be cool. In fact, a loud exhaust might make you look the opposite of cool. :)

 

[RainGoat]

I’m guessing it might be an age thing.