The streets of California may have become a little less welcoming to modified car owners. A new state law now registers "excessively loud" exhaust systems on cars and motorcycles a finable offense.

Before now, police would issue what would be playfully referred to as a Fix-it Ticket if a vehicle was obnoxiously loud. That's because such vehicles were considered a correctable violation, and the offending driver could free themselves of any fines and fees by getting their car fixed.

In comes Assembly Bill No. 1824, which changes the official practice from the fix-it to an immediate citation and hefty fine. The California Highway Patrol posted on Facebook (a post that has since been removed) stating that this trumps the fix-it ticket option.

It's important to note that drivers who are pulled over and issued a citation may still be required to get said issue resolved in what they call a "notice to correct." Should a driver be given this notice, they are required to show proof that the component in question was fixed before a certain date.

For those who haven't checked already, California regulation requires that exhausts produce no more than 95 dBa for any vehicle weighing less than 6,000 pounds. The loudness measure is made at 20 inches from the exhaust while the vehicle is running between 2,000 and 5,500 rpm in neutral. To compare, this is about as loud as a belt sander or a food processor.

This leads to an interesting look at the difference between broken mufflers and intentionally modified mufflers. If your car is too loud, odds are you know about it already. If its a broken muffler, then the simple solution is to get it fixed as soon as possible. If it's intentionally modified, then you don't want it "fixed" and will be hit with a fine.