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How legal is it to drive around without doors!

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 12:50 am
by Aerenandmel
i think that covers it......81 sierra

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 7:35 am
by moose
heap of us went through all the bull sh*t down here in Vic , about 5-6 years ago !!
basically IT IS LEGAL !!!
as long as you have ...........
a.... a side mirror !
b.... a lap/sash seat belt !! (i.e ...your every day normal retractable!!)

on the quiet , Iv,e been roofless , 33 swampers & doorless , had cops pull up next to me at lights , look at car & me , nodded there heads & smiled , then drove off !!!! :D :armsup: :D

p.s..check with your local/state laws though !!! :?

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 9:48 am
by Vineboy
I used to drive around Sydney in my 350 Chev short 40 (Tough guy days) with no probs'.

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 9:57 am
by zooker
Would you have to have 2 mirrors or would one on the drivers side be enough to get away with having no doors

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 10:08 am
by Dee
zooker wrote:Would you have to have 2 mirrors or would one on the drivers side be enough to get away with having no doors
I asked the same question in the jeep section not long ago (re: no doors) because I saw a tough as lookin cj driving round without doors.

Id go 2 mirrors, just to be on the safe side, especially if you have an illegal lift/bigger tyres. It might help with cops attention...

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 12:13 pm
by markil
I started a similar thread some time back

http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/PHP_Modul ... l+doorless

Since that I have been pulled over with doors off (had mirrors relocated) and was asked where my doors were. I said they are at home, I take them off sometimes and wasn't further questioned. The reason I got pulled over was because my rear blinkers, brake lights and tail lights weren't working. I fixed my lights in front of the the cops on the spot and they were happy :)

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 12:15 pm
by Aerenandmel
sweet...........i to have seen an fj40 driveing around without doors but thought it may have been just plain ballsy. I will try and see if I get a ticket................Im in NSW

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 12:28 pm
by "CANADA"
so that would make tube doors legal????

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 12:56 pm
by nicbeer
I would say yes going by if u have mirrors and they were latched ok (not likely to open by themselves on the road) and also have a openable latch from outside the vehicle as per normal doors.

nic

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 3:37 pm
by ausyota
Yeah they need to be able to be opened from inside or outside the vehicle.
Im in the process of chopping the buggery out of a pair of standard doors to make some half doors (probably should call them quarter doors I have chopped them so much :) )

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 3:49 pm
by "CANADA"
my next set will have the stock latch in them...got it mostly figured out...

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 5:37 pm
by muppet_man67
I believe cheezy was looking into it for building a road legal tube frame buggy. He said that it would have to have doors off a real car.

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 5:56 pm
by Nev
i thought you couldnt run tube doors as you cant run side intrusion bars (in qld anyway) in case u need to be cut from the car

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 6:41 pm
by Rainbow Warrior
So you could just pull all 4 doors & tailgate off a GU or 100 series & drive around as long as you relocated the mirrors? :D

Hate it when a CD falls on the epoxy bare floor & slides out the doorway while driving.

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 6:43 pm
by dreamz
what would b even better is if someone had to cut the doors off to fit tyres :armsup:

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 6:43 pm
by nicbeer
Rainbow Warrior wrote:So you could just pull all 4 doors & tailgate off a GU or 100 series & drive around as long as you relocated the mirrors? :D

Hate it when a CD falls on the epoxy bare floor & slides out the doorway while driving.
No, AFAIK as per the previosly mentioned thread. Zooks were offered from factory without doors and also have a sunken floor unlike the patrols.

Nic

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 7:42 pm
by Rainbow Warrior
nicbeer wrote:
Rainbow Warrior wrote:So you could just pull all 4 doors & tailgate off a GU or 100 series & drive around as long as you relocated the mirrors? :D

Hate it when a CD falls on the epoxy bare floor & slides out the doorway while driving.
No, AFAIK as per the previosly mentioned thread. Zooks were offered from factory without doors and also have a sunken floor unlike the patrols.

Nic
Anyone actually seen an Australian sold late leaf sprung or coil sprung zook without doors for sale at a dealer or on the factory options list? :D

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 8:16 pm
by lay80n
Nev wrote:i thought you couldnt run tube doors as you cant run side intrusion bars (in qld anyway) in case u need to be cut from the car

It depends on the ADR that the car was built to comply with ( i forget the exact number and revision sorry, will try to look it up when i next in workshop though ADR27a comes to mind, but so does beer and boobs :D ). All new cars come with side intrusion bars now, but older cars were not fitted with them.


Layto....

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 9:08 pm
by Bad JuJu
ADR 29 was introduced in 1977 for passenger cars, 1996 for forward control passenger vehicles 1997 for off road passenger vehicles and some light goods vehicles. It is a significant occupant protection requirement that tests vehicles' ability to resist intrusion into the passenger compartment during a side impact.

Check your complience plate for your vehicle. Evey ADR listed on your complence plate must be adhered to.

Any ADR listed can be researched on the net using google.
Just search using the terms: ADR xx site:.au where xx represents the ADR number you are looking for.

Or Go here http://www.dotars.gov.au/transreg/str_adrindx.aspx

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 9:17 pm
by "CANADA"
i would say my doors would stop a hell of alot more than stock...

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 9:22 pm
by Bad JuJu
I hear you... But you must prove it to the satisfaction of the DOTARS knobs.

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 9:32 pm
by Gwagensteve
This gets mightly greay quickly, but here goes:

Landrovers, Suzuki's (up to coiler) and Wranglers are, to the best of my knowledge and according to Canberra (i.e department of transport) LEGALLY ABLE TO BE DRIVEN WITH THE DOORS REMOVED

Greg did all of the research via Canberra and has the piece of paper with the coat of arms on it.

It has nothing to do with the depth of the floor. Landrovers are legal doorless too and they have completely flat floors.

All of the above mentioned cars have external hinges and non structural doors, as far as ADR's are concerned.

I cannot comment on Landrover or Wrangler doors, but up until the coiler came out there were no intrusion bars inside sierra doors. They are almost entirely cosmetic.

I cannot comment on the rationale of Canberra, only the result.

I assume that the hidden/integrated hinges of more "sculpted" (read "soft" :D ) cars like patrols etc mean the powers that be see tham as having integrated doors.

Looks to me like if you want doors off on a patrol, you woul dhave to drive a G60.

I too have driven past cops, doors off in a sierra.

Ps the intrusion bar thing sounds like BS to me - I think that the real tube door problem might be occupant injury from the tube (tube is more damaging than a flat door trim to limbs) and the possible lack of an anti burst door lock.

Its a bit like the spare tyre thing - IT can be RWC without a spare at all, but if it has a spare it has to have legal tread etc.

does that make sense?

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 9:50 pm
by Bad JuJu
Do ya reckon a scanned copy of Gregs doco could be made available somewhere ??

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 10:03 pm
by Gwagensteve
I actually thought there was a copy of this doc somewhere on line, bit no, Greg doesn't seem to want to let it out of the glovebox :D It is real though, along with the piece of paper that says there is no ADR covering vehicle colour (this was in relation to flat black being illegal) I have read them.

This info is freely avilable. I believe there is a 1800 advice number for ADR enquiries from the Federal Department of Transport or something. They pay help desk engineers to assist police depts, engineers, manufacturers etc with ADR problems.

When they have told you it is legal, it is legal australia wide.

No, I do not know what the number is, and without a piece of paper from them, you have got nothing when it comes to a grumpy traffic cop.

Steve.

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 10:36 pm
by Nev
just to clarify on my comment on the tube doors/side intrusion as it could be interpreted in a different way....what i meant by side intrusion bars was tube style ones that have been added to the vehicle as part of a roll cage etc. AFAIK and am told but yet to clarify, these added intrusion bars are not legal in qld in case u need to be cut from the car in an accident....i do believe u can have no doors on a suzi as it came out on some model with removable half doors or something and they have no built in side intrusion bars until coily model as Gwagensteve said.

Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 4:49 pm
by karmic
Gwagensteve wrote:I actually thought there was a copy of this doc somewhere on line, bit no, Greg doesn't seem to want to let it out of the glovebox :D It is real though, along with the piece of paper that says there is no ADR covering vehicle colour (this was in relation to flat black being illegal) I have read them.
Steal it and scan it in - I'll put it up on suzukiinfo for ya :)

This appears to be links to all the ADR's online as well:
http://www.comlaw.gov.au/ComLaw/legisla ... trument-Ve

Kyle

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 10:38 pm
by --sinner--
does this apply to all states??

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 10:52 pm
by --sinner--
nevermind........did a search.........heaps of info....

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2006 4:40 pm
by NIK
After reading previos threads on this I spoke to the RTA and the gave me a number to ring. The guy I spoke to said if the vehicle didnt have adr 29 (side intrusion bars) stamped on the compliance plate you could take off the doors as long as you put the mirrors back on. This was only a few months back that I spoke to them. I would be a bit hesitant to do it though if you had other modifications that arnt engineered as was the police pull you over and find they are wrong they might pick at something else. Just my opinion mines engineered though.
Nik

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2006 4:59 pm
by muppet_man67
so all those people with coilers can forget about it.