Do you know about the NSW 2" rule?

[Zuffen]

A new road rule will commence on 1/8/2009 in NSW (and all people travelling on NSW roads) to the effect you cannot operate a vehicle that has been raised or lowered in excess of 2" from the manufacturers specifications.

For most NSW members of Lextreme this would mean they can't lower their vehicle by more the 2" or 50mm.

For 4x4 drivers you can't go over 2" or 50mm in any combination of tyre size, suspension lift and/or body lift. This effectively outlaws 35" tyres.

In my case I run 35" tyres, 2" body lift and 2" supension lift. My car will be unraodworthy unless I unwind some of the mods.

The Fun Police are out to see us all drive bog standard cars.

Worth looking into.

 

[shallis2]

Welcome to Australia!

Ive owned cars that sagged that much with age.
Law makers are turning everyone into law breakers.
Car wise the Americans have got it good.
Not only bog standard cars now they want to introduce vehicle stability control as compulsory.

Whatever happened to teaching people how to drive and control cars!

 

[XR8tt]

Ohh that 2" Sheesh !! I thought I was in trouble!!!

Just goes to show you are a closet hoon .. Rod.. Lol..

 

[Zuffen]

The stability program bit is to keep cheap Indain & Chinese vehicles from entering Australia.

They dont ESP so they can't be sold.

One way of limiting imports!

I think I can get my car to comply but it will mean some serious chopping up of the floor to get everything to fit.

 

[shallis2]

Rod, i see that you have body and suspension lift and 35in tyres.
do you need to change all 3?
Send a bill to the government, he,he

 

[spf_lexus]

ADJUSTABLE AIR-RIDE SUSPENSIONS

 

[ed_ma61]

is it just a new RTA definition in their list of user modified vehicles or whatever that category documentation is? if so, then modification outside of those bounds is then deferred to an engineering signatory, and has never been a problem to get around

or is it now a regulation handed down to to the certifying engineers that prevents them from signing off on it? get a second opinion from another engineer? theres goign to be a lot of illegal 4wds getting around if thats the case, and i find that hard to believe?

 

[Zuffen]

Ed,

This is a new rule effective 1/8/09.

You can't increase the overall height of a vehicle by more than 50mm nor reduce its height by more than 50mm.

There appears to be a 15mm tolerance that I'll exploit.

Shallis,

Yes I have the lot.

I figure I need to find 80mm. I can drop the body 25mm if I cut up the rear floor for the trans to fit into. No problem.

I can drop the suspension the remaining 50mm and keep my 35's as the car is engineered with 33's.

Air suspension is starting to look good as I could keep it all as is and just drop it down when needed. I'm sure I can work a way to stop it going over the correct height should they want to check it.

Just so you know the specs on the English system say 1910mm height so add 50mm and I get 1960mm and I'm at 2040mm.

One thing if I drop it I can then drive into my local Westfields and cruise around setting off car alarms and terrorising the locals.

 

[madmont]

As far as I can see it only applies to vehicles modified or presented to AUVIS after 31 July .

 

[Cobber]

I would agree that the laws can't be changed to include existing vehicles. What if they change the emission laws next......

I would be double double checking Rod before I got to it with the gas axe.

Just another example of the FINE"" states we live in.

 

[JustenGT8]

yup, if your car has existing rego then they have bugger all chance of making this retrospective. They'll get caned in court 1st time they try. As Ed says an engineering report would get you around this anyways...and good luck trying to enforce for inetrstate vehicles? There's no system currently to clear defects issued in one state that are actually defects in all states, so for a vehicle that is legal in it's home state this has zero enforceability

 

[v8soarer_1991]

goodluck to all when renewing you rego.

There might be a hidden clause when you re-rego your car if the car needs engineering for the 1st time and if an engineering slip has been done previously to the car. It will need an engineering slip every year to pass rego

 

[JustenGT8]

Hidden clause? This isn't Duke Nuke Em

 

[XR8tt]

goodluck to all when renewing you rego.

There might be a hidden clause when you re-rego your car if the car needs engineering for the 1st time and if an engineering slip has been done previously to the car. It will need an engineering slip every year to pass rego

Rego is for road worthy.. If has previous engineers cert your fine!!
Helps if you don't have P plate and don't wear a base ball cap backwards.. Lol..

 

[Zuffen]

I recently went to re-register the Rover and the Website said I had to attend the registry office with all my paperwork.

They renewed the rego no questions asked, but I noticed the sticker had a code on it the original didn't.

As I had a traineee serving me I played dumb (easy in my case!) and asked what it meant.

The code tells any Copper that the vehicle is subject to an existing engineering certificate.

This could mean they won't look too hard or they may also look for the engineers report on the mods. I have the 1UZ conversion and 33" tyres but the body swap was lost somewhere in the last 14 years.

Who knows what it will mean at the end of the day.

 

[JustenGT8]

I reckon you are sweet Zuffen. If you are ever pulled over it'll come down to attitude anyways...the most legal car in the world will still get a defect if you act like a tool eh. Once they get you in an inspection bay it's open season

 

[ed_ma61]

agreed. if the wheels/tyres, body and suspension lift are covered in your existing engineers report, then you have zero issues

 

[Zuffen]

People power have won the day but not the battle.

The Government has decided to postpone the introduction of the change pending more investigation.

---------------------------------------------
For all those who do not know, Greg Redfern is the President of 4WD NSW & ACT.

http://www.4wdnsw-act.asn.au
___________________________________________________________
NSW MINISTER FOR ROADS
MICHAEL DALEY MP
N E W S R E L E A S E
MINISTER AGREES TO FURTHER CONSULTATION ON CAR MODIFICATION LAWS
Wednesday 29 July 2009
Minister for Roads Michael Daley today met with representatives from the 4WD communityand car industry who asked for the introduction of proposed vehicle modification rules to be delayed and for more time to consult.
Mr Daley said he agreed to put the rule changes on hold and that more consultation was needed following the meeting.
“I’ve listened to feedback from the industry and the community, and have agreed to set up a working party to look more closely at how we are going to address this road safety issue,” he said.
“All of those who attended today’s meeting agreed that safety is paramount and that unsafe modifications of vehicles do need be stamped out.
“The working group will include representatives from the NSW Centre for Road Safety,
Four Wheel Drive NSW-ACT, Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association, the
Australian 4WD Industry Council as well as other agencies and experts,” Mr Daley said.
Executive Director of Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association Stuart Charity said this was a terrific outcome.
“We’re passionate about road safety and we understand the intent of the regulation is to make the roads safer,” he said.
We’re looking forward to working towards a practical solution that meets road safety objectives while also taking industry views into account,” Mr Charity said.
Greg Redfern from Four Wheel Drive NSW-ACT also welcomed the outcome and said the working group would have their full support.
“We want to eliminate unsafe practices in the driving community and we’ll work with the government to make sure these new regulations meet those objectives without any adverse consequences for the motoring community at large,” he said.
“We all agree that there is no place for extreme and illegal modifications, but the clubs in our association follow a strict code of conduct and ethics, and we want to make sure they’re not punished,” Mr Redfern said.
Contact: 9228 5665

 

[Siddley]

As a Brit I've got a perception of Aussies and New Zealanders being tough, self reliant folks who take no crap from anyone - what's happening with you guys getting pushed around by your government ?

It's what I'd expect here with the socialist EU messing us about and most UK folks being sheeple.....

 

[edz]

2" rule - has more problems

A new road rule will commence on 1/8/2009 in NSW (and all people travelling on NSW roads) to the effect you cannot operate a vehicle that has been raised or lowered in excess of 2" from the manufacturers specifications.

The motoring council and car clubs in the ACT have complained about the ridiculous nature of this law as ACT RTA are looking at it. I've been involved in the protest.

Rod, there is a way around it for some- the words are 50mm from the trim height - defined as 'wheel centre to top of wheel arch opening' - simple, drop the wheel arch opening - with a bit of cut and shut! (might be tricky on the 'no bling beast')

There are 2 major points that have been missed in this discussion - if your vehicle deviates from the specified trim height at all, it must be engineered, blue slipped (have a registration inspection) and then have the change in height noted on the registration papers. This is noted in the 3rd and 2nd last paragraphs. If not, the Police can defect it! Saying you're okay if your vehicle is already registered is incorrect, it clearly states that if you modify the height, this change applies!

That brings us to the final point, the police and RTA use data on your vehicle height that has been recorded wrongly. All Australian manufacturers enter the data on cars on a Federal Govt website (Dept of Infrastructure) with up to 5 variants recorded in the same page. However, due to a poorly designed site, the only trim/ride height shown is the first of the 5 variants entered. - here's the site called the Road Vehicle Certification System (RVCS) so you can check this out yourself. It's a bit 'unuser friendly' but this a link to a VE commodore http://rvcs-prodweb.dot.gov.au/perl/35628_696760R_RVD_08Sep2006144439.cmd to see what I'm talking about, note V6 and V8's mentioned, yet at the bottom only the first varient is shown under Suspension'. I know this for a fact as the guy I am working on protesting against this with in my car club used to enter the data on the webpage! This is the one the police/rta see when checking your car.