OAKLAND (KRON) -- Oakland police have begun a crackdown on whistle tips - the notorious noise makers that people install in the exhaust systems of their cars. Undercover officers are citing muffler shops that install them, and giving drivers with them $91 tickets.

Driver Bubb Rubb bragged about having the noisemakers, "The whistles go woo... woooo."

Neighbor Roxanne Bruns said, "They think it's a fad and it's going to go away. It's not going to go away."

But Oakland traffic cops say it wasn't hard to discover that the whistle tips were never legal in the first place. By law, you can't alter a car beyond the auto manufacturer's original design. So police are tracking down violators.

Tamani Fontenette got busted. He didn't install the whistle tip on his vehicle. He says he just bought the car.

About the ticket he received, Tamani says, "I'll spend another 100 and get that tip taken off there."

And undercover cops are citing muffler shops.

One muffler dealer told us he is relieved. Muffler shop owner John Rodgers has installed about 30 whistle tips. "I find it annoying, but I would rather take their money than have them go down the street and go to the next shop," he says. "They [the police] bring it to a stop, that's great, 'cause I don't like it."

So let the noisemakers beware. The loud and noisy ride is no longer free. On the second citation, your car will be towed.

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