Larger tyres - they can't all be legal...?

I ran larger than standard tyres until my last tyre change and spoke to my insurers and were happy.

My reason for going back to the standard size was I had previously had the turning circle increased on my D2 and the tyre fitter told me on full lock the tyres would rub on the vehicle if i continued with the same size.

So i fitted standard size Bridgestone 694's and the size difference saved me $250 over the quoted price of 694's in the larger tyres so I was quite pleased

The tyre manual at Bridgestone advises that you can run the next size up but if you have the turning circle increased you run the risk of rubbing against the vehicle.

harry

I would be more inclined to ring Vic Roads and ask for a list of there Engineers and go and pose the questions to them.

In most cases they will give you the info without charging you.

The mods can get tricky when Vic Roads get technical.

Get advice for engineer do the mods get it inspected by engineer and then you have no recourse if your unfortunate to have accident

Most people on 33in+ tires would be running around illegal. Whether the insurer has it listed on the policy or not is irrelevant, they will list a 6in body lift, but laugh at you in the case of a claim where that product affected the accident.

If your car was parked on the side of the road on 35's and got smashed into, insurance should cover as it had nothing to do with the accident. However as mentioned earlier if a ferrari pulls out and you cant stop in a reasonable time because your braking is impaired then you will be paying someone off for a while.

To get them engineered most will require to pass a swerve test and a repeat braking test, some will not even look at 35's anymore too.

Rob

Insurance co's don't really care about the RW laws, as long as the car is in good safe running condition and you told them about all the mods on the car they don't care.

I had 35's and a 4" lift on my 80 series when it was crashed, RACV paid out no questions asked and we bought Casper, they new what mods were on the car and because of that they had no problem.

Obviously they wouldn't insure you with stupid mods like tractor tyres and 12" susp lift with a 12" body lift on mattrax hanging out of the guards of your VN commodore on a Pootrol Chassis bolted together with bolts from Bunnings as that is not safe.

They have the option of not insuring you if you tell them what you have and you pay for it.

Cheers Casper

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Casper

Insurance co's don't really care about the RW laws, as long as the car is in good safe running condition and you told them about all the mods on the car they don't care.

I had 35's and a 4" lift on my 80 series when it was crashed, RACV paid out no questions asked and we bought Casper, they new what mods were on the car and because of that they had no problem.

Obviously they wouldn't insure you with stupid mods like tractor tyres and 12" susp lift with a 12" body lift on mattrax hanging out of the guards of your VN commodore on a Pootrol Chassis bolted together with bolts from Bunnings as that is not safe.

They have the option of not insuring you if you tell them what you have and you pay for it.

Cheers Casper

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I guess you were lucky

Straight from 2 car insurance PDS's:


You are not covered if your car (including any attached caravan or trailer) was:
in an unroadworthy or unsafe condition that contributed to the
accident being a condition that was known to and disregarded by you
or the driver of your car.
carrying more passengers or loaded above the legal limit or loaded in
an illegal way.
being used for hire or reward.
being used during your full-time, part-time or casual working period as
an integral means of earning an income, unless you have told us about
this use and we have agreed in writing to cover it – see ‘Use’ page 29.
outside Australia.

And

We will not cover
Undisclosed or illegal modifications
if your car is modified and:
• you did not tell us and we would not have agreed to cover
your car had you told us; or
• the modification is not permitted by any law in Australia.

Rob

P.S. I have run 35 simex and 36 swampers before

It's only illegal when you get caught!;)

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registrati...vsi09_rev4.pdf

The NSW regs are in the doc linked above. Tyre diameter can't be more than 15 mm larger than the largest listed on the placard. Rim width can't be more than 25mm larger. There must be heaps of illegal 4wds around. Nobody seems to be policing it at all.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mikehzz

Nobody seems to be policing it at all.

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That is probably true but what we don't know is how many claims are refused due to oversize/illegal tyres and rims.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tuffrangie

I guess you were lucky

Straight from 2 car insurance PDS's:


You are not covered if your car (including any attached caravan or trailer) was:
in an unroadworthy or unsafe condition that contributed to the
accident being a condition that was known to and disregarded by you
or the driver of your car.
carrying more passengers or loaded above the legal limit or loaded in
an illegal way.
being used for hire or reward.
being used during your full-time, part-time or casual working period as
an integral means of earning an income, unless you have told us about
this use and we have agreed in writing to cover it – see ‘Use’ page 29.
outside Australia.

And

We will not cover
Undisclosed or illegal modifications
if your car is modified and:
• you did not tell us and we would not have agreed to cover
your car had you told us; or
• the modification is not permitted by any law in Australia.

Rob

P.S. I have run 35 simex and 36 swampers before

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These are the key lines in that paragraph,
a.Did the modification contribute to the accident
b.Did they agree to insure you with the said modification.

My wife ran into the side of a WB 1 tonner who pulled out in front of her from a side street, she hit him at 60kmh didn't get on the brakes at all before she hit him.

The assessor actually said that if we didn't have the bull bar the other driver would have been dead and the fact that we had the 35's on it did not contribute to the accident and they were aware they were on the car.

By the way, they were 35" BFG all terrain's not muddies so that may have helped a little as well.

The car had just 6 weeks earlier passed a RWC with the tyres and all mods but possibly now it may not have passed with the new laws but I would have just got it engineered.

There is normally always a way to get your mods passed as long as they are really safe, if they are not safe they wont get passed by an engineer.

All these rules and regs are Guidelines and to work outside the guidelines you need an engineer on side which is extra cost but how much would that Ferrari be that you might T bone one day? The extra Thou doesn't sound like too much any more does it?

Cheers Casper

There is normally always a way to get your mods passed as long as they are really safe, if they are not safe they wont get passed by an engineer.
Not so sure there are too many engineers out there who would sign off on a mod which is in direct contravention of the relevant legislation, it places his arse well and truly in a sling of anything happens. His Professional Indemnity insurer would take a very dim view indeed.

Personally I'm just outside the rules with 235/85/16's on my D2a. Puts me over the allowance by about 1/2 inch I think.

I'm actually in favour of the new laws since frankly things were getting bloody ridiculous. Everyone got 35's so they could get up the tracks chewed out by the 33's, now you see 37's to get up the tracks chewed out by 35's what 's next? 40's?

It seems to be forgotten that many of the tracks made virtually impassable over the last 10 years or so are the same tracks used by rangers and more important, our fire fighters. They don't get modified vehicles and they run standard tyre sizes, usually no bigger then say 32" if that.

I hope the tracks gradually get back to something that a standard, or near standard vehicle can use under these new laws.

Now I'll duck;)