Outer Limits 4x4 Board

stopped at a set of lights this morning, police drive past then do a u-turn and pull me over. They tell me my tyres are sticking out to far.....BY 8 MILLIMETRES! and then tells me that 33 x 12.5 tyres are illegal and to take them off, bingo $75 fine and 1 point. I suggested very diplomatically that he should open his f*****g eyes and see that every second 4wd on the road has 33" tyres and that the qld. police force will be very busy enforcing this. His reply was that he can only look at one car at a time but in time will look at them all.............? Has anyone else heard of this or does this copper just dislike swb patrols? i suppose i shoud be thankful he didn't look at the body lift or know anything about modified control arms etc.

yours truly,
I HATE QUEENSLAND VEHICLE LAWS.

If they stick out then they are illegal. In Qld you can increase diameter by 26mm over the largest size specified by the manufacturer for that vehicle, and increase width by 50% for beam axled 4WD's. So for Patrol's where 32" tyres on split rims were available, 33" tyres should not be illegal.

nah, they are all like that, i got done last dec here in vic during the flares blitz cauz my 31 all terrains were sticking out next to nothing, cauz i had taken the standard flares off so i didn't rip em off 4being


edit - oh yeah, also in a shorty patrol

yeh qdot and the cops here are arseholes ...

uqunder10s wrote:If they stick out then they are illegal. In Qld you can increase diameter by 26mm over the largest size specified by the manufacturer for that vehicle, and increase width by 50% for beam axled 4WD's. So for Patrol's where 32" tyres on split rims were available, 33" tyres should not be illegal.

You are allowed to go smaller by 26mm - larger you are only permitted 15mm. I rang the vehicle modifications section of Queensland Transport 07 3253 8779, and they simply do not want you to have larger tyres - they specifically mentioned:
Increases COG but 2" body lift is OK, and suspension lift is only limited by original bump stop clearance
Throws out the speedometer I can change the gears over
Decreases braking efficiency just like crappy brake pads do

They said the only way out is if the Manufacturer issues something approving that size of tyre for that model of vehicle - effectively a new tyre placard.

For the purposes of calculating you are allowed to use the quoted OD of the largest tyre on your placard/in the owner's manual i.e. if the BFG M/T is the largest 32" you can find, that's the figure you start with, then use the actual OD of the tyres on your car. If the difference is 15mm or less, you're in!

And yes, all those Patrols, Cruisers, Hilux running around with 35" tyres and Qld plates are illegal.

Queensland really does suck sometimes

Scott

33's are legal.

If you want you can pursue this claim in the court if you want to tell the cop to shove it.

Look up the leglislation in the qld govt website and print a copy of whats allowed and whats not allowed with 4wd tyres.

From memory you're allowed 2 inches extra width and height.

I went from 31's to 33's and width from 10.5 to 12.5 - making it legal. Cops have passed me with no problems

Print leglislation, take a photo of your tyre placard and show the magistrate. he'll throw the case and the book at the cop who booked u.

Tom

I drove past several cops and waived at them in july last year, I was in the 80 with 37's. Maybe something to do with the NSW rego plate

NJ SWB wrote:You are allowed to go smaller by 26mm - larger you are only permitted 15mm. I rang the vehicle modifications ...

I stand corrected, I thought it used to be increase or decrease by 26mm.

I drove around in QLD for nearly 2 weeks over xmas, and wasnt hassled once about my 33" tyres, no mudflaps, and chopped flares, i had cops following me, and was giving them showers of waters off the damp road,

ozy1 wrote:I drove around in QLD for nearly 2 weeks over xmas, and wasnt hassled once about my 33" tyres, no mudflaps, and chopped flares, i had cops following me, and was giving them showers of waters off the damp road,

My understanding is its a Qld Rego thing - other states allow the taller tyres (under conditions e.g. engineering certificate?) and so the car might be legal in the state in which it is registered, and it is legal to drive it in Qld. The Qld regs only apply to Qld registered vehicles.

When I looked about 2 years ago Qld, NSW, Vic and SA (only ones I checked) ALL had the 15mm upper limit. Some states allow taller tyres to be engineer approved, Qld doesn't.

Scott

from QLD modifications booklet...

The overall diameter of the tyre must not vary by more than +15mm or
-26mm.
[[it can be argued that this is for the maximum optional size by the manufacturer...overseas nissan somewhere use a 245x85x16 i think]]

The maximum width is 1.3 times the widest manufacturers optional tyre.
[with front and rear beam axles it is 1.5 times]

The track may be increased by 26mm beyond the max specified by the manufacturer.
[with front and rear beam axles it is 50mm]

shane

GQ wrote:33's are legal.

If you want you can pursue this claim in the court if you want to tell the cop to shove it.

Look up the leglislation in the qld govt website and print a copy of whats allowed and whats not allowed with 4wd tyres.

From memory you're allowed 2 inches extra width and height.

I would love it if this were true, but it's total crap.

Jason

chimpboy wrote:

GQ wrote:33's are legal.

If you want you can pursue this claim in the court if you want to tell the cop to shove it.

Look up the leglislation in the qld govt website and print a copy of whats allowed and whats not allowed with 4wd tyres.

From memory you're allowed 2 inches extra width and height.

I would love it if this were true, but it's total crap.

Jason

Must be wrong then. Just read Bigred's statement.

So practically everyones illegal on the road atm :S

Tom

Cops are all Cookie. Drive on whatever tyres you want!!!!!
If the pricks want to, they will bust you for something, no matter how trivial it seems.

big red wrote:from QLD modifications booklet...

The overall diameter of the tyre must not vary by more than +15mm or
-26mm.
[[it can be argued that this is for the maximum optional size by the manufacturer...overseas nissan somewhere use a 245x85x16 i think]]

I think you'll find it states "+15mm larger diameter over the largest size listed on the vehicle's tyre placard"- or words to that effect. In which case it's pointless arguing that Patrols came out overseas with whatever tyre......

I recently went through the same headaches here in SA- gave up trying to get it engineered as they were talking braking tests, emissions tests, slalom tests, drive by noise tests etc etc. It's all too hard!

Most states seem to have the same ruling on size, but it's always interesting to read what everybody thinks is the law!

Carl Coight wrote:Cops are all *****. Drive on whatever tyres you want!!!!!
If the pricks want to, they will bust you for something, no matter how trivial it seems.

All ***** until you need them cause you got robbed or beat up. They got a job to do.

Yeah, they shouldnt be pickin on the flavour of the month, but should they ignore you doing 50 in a school zone!!!!!!!!!!! its only 10k's over, what difference will that make.

I agree there has to be something done about the state of the regulations not allowing a single thing, and then make them uniform rules for the whole country and all vehicles.

The way i see it, if you can insured for the mod, then you should be able to drive on the roads with it.

chimpboy wrote:

GQ wrote:33's are legal.

If you want you can pursue this claim in the court if you want to tell the cop to shove it.

Look up the leglislation in the qld govt website and print a copy of whats allowed and whats not allowed with 4wd tyres.

From memory you're allowed 2 inches extra width and height.

I would love it if this were true, but it's total crap.

Jason

A mate of mine actually just took this exact ruling to Court and he won.

RUFF wrote:A mate of mine actually just took this exact ruling to Court and he won.

What, that you can go 2" wider and 2" taller with tyres?

Cool if true. Can you tell us more?

Jason

Surely your allowed 2 inches more than the tyre size on the placecard

You are all starting to sound like my wife,NEED MORE NEED MORE(money)

This is a good thread as my next move is Suspension and Tyres, for a Middy Cruiser, was going to put 60 Series Diffs under it as they are wider, probably increasing track by too much, but also making it more stable, so with flares it should be right.

I have also been told, about a rule change recently about only having to cover 85% of your tread, can anyone verify this if so, where do we get it in writing - TO KEEP IN THE GLOVEBOX.

chimpboy wrote:

RUFF wrote:A mate of mine actually just took this exact ruling to Court and he won.

What, that you can go 2" wider and 2" taller with tyres?

Cool if true. Can you tell us more?

Jason

No he has a GQ Ute that is running 33/12.5s and a whole load of other mods. Most other mods he had had to be changed/replaced but he took the tyres defect to court and won.

This was on a GQ. Im not saying this is legal on any other vehicle.

Meldge wrote:
I have also been told, about a rule change recently about only having to cover 85% of your tread, can anyone verify this if so, where do we get it in writing - TO KEEP IN THE GLOVEBOX.

I dont think so, they got the bloke that started this thread for 8mm...

Can be picky bastards, a mate got pulled over and booked for having 205 tyres on the front and 215 on the back, cop reckoned he spotted them a mile off.
I got followed 2km around suburbia a while back and booked for no rego sticker, but drag racing up and down the same road all night is OK.

Locky got pulled up in the work Ute, 7inch lift 37's the lot.. they didnt mention one thing about it.. only that it wasnt regoed.. someone forgot to pay it

My brother got pulled over into a RTA inspection station, went right over his 76 Landrover, completly missed the fact it had a Non-complianced Holden 6 cylinder in it, mind you it looked like it had been in there since 76 and was even the engine number on the rego papers, probably reregistered with it in.

My belief from what I've read and have worked in the QLD tyre selling bussines is that the 15mm up and 26mm down rule are for passanger cars and soft roaders. If it has a chasis it is classed as a offroader and a commercial vehical and you are allowed to increase the diameter by 11% or by 2 sizes. This is my two cents worth and what I think is true. 33's on a Gq should be fine.

HeathGQ wrote:

Carl Coight wrote:Cops are all *****. Drive on whatever tyres you want!!!!!
If the pricks want to, they will bust you for something, no matter how trivial it seems.

All ***** until you need them cause you got robbed or beat up. They got a job to do.

ie, 99 times out of the 100 that you come across them, they are *****.

RUFF wrote:

chimpboy wrote:

RUFF wrote:A mate of mine actually just took this exact ruling to Court and he won.

What, that you can go 2" wider and 2" taller with tyres?

Cool if true. Can you tell us more?

Jason

No he has a GQ Ute that is running 33/12.5s and a whole load of other mods. Most other mods he had had to be changed/replaced but he took the tyres defect to court and won.

This was on a GQ. Im not saying this is legal on any other vehicle.

Some Patrol utes (might be GU's) came with larger tyres than teh wagons. I believe you can buy that tyre placard as it has a part no, that may well then squeeze tyre size to under +15mm.

As someone else has stated, if you read the booklet the +15/-26mm diamater rule refers to low profile tyre & wheel combinations. The tyre width, track increase etc. specifically addresses beam axled 4WD's. Maybe there is no limit on diamater change for beam axled 4WD's

uqunder10s wrote:As someone else has stated, if you read the booklet the +15/-26mm diamater rule refers to low profile tyre & wheel combinations. The tyre width, track increase etc. specifically addresses beam axled 4WD's. Maybe there is no limit on diamater change for beam axled 4WD's

You could give it a go - if you get away with it, let us know

I interpreted the booklet that if 4WD are different, they say so. If it doesn't list an alternative regulation, the passenger stuff applies.

When I rang and asked, the lady I spoke to said this was the single most common question, (larger tyres on 4WDs) and the 15mm rule applies. I was asking about a Pajero, which is still a passenger vehicle. I don't know if utes would fall under different rules as commercial vehicles?

Scott