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going doorless, is it illegal?

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 11:10 pm
by markil
i basically wanna know can i legally drive around in my zook with the doors off. this was the first mod i did to my car and wanted to know whether i can get done by the cops.
yesterday i was driving with the doors off and the cops drove past and didn't seem to mind, but it got me thinking that if they did care, what could they do? defect my car?
i haven't got mirrors on my car when i run it doorless, but if i did would it be still be illegal? :?

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 11:24 pm
by N*A*M
i haven't heard of anyone getting done for it
i've done it a couple of times

i think victorian rules allow it but not sure about nsw

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 11:37 pm
by Gutless
I think you can get away with it if its a delivery vehicle, or a commercial vehicle. Just put some newspaper stickers on the back panel and you'll be right :cool:

BTW

Anything is legal in VIC. Pitty I live in QLD :?

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 8:24 am
by bubs
Gutless wrote:I think you can get away with it if its a delivery vehicle, or a commercial vehicle. Just put some newspaper stickers on the back panel and you'll be right :cool:

BTW

Anything is legal in VIC. Pitty I live in QLD :?


I thought you can get away with it in a zook, you can in a jeep cause it is factory, but i thought it had something to do with having a 100mm lip or something between the floor and the bottom of the door :?

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 8:37 am
by skippy
bubs wrote:
Gutless wrote:I think you can get away with it if its a delivery vehicle, or a commercial vehicle. Just put some newspaper stickers on the back panel and you'll be right :cool:

BTW

Anything is legal in VIC. Pitty I live in QLD :?


I thought you can get away with it in a zook, you can in a jeep cause it is factory, but i thought it had something to do with having a 100mm lip or something between the floor and the bottom of the door :?



this is a hotly debated topic. everyone seems to have their own view on what is legal and what isn't.

as summer is pretty much here, the soft top has already been retired and pretty soon the doors will be too. I am going to be ringing the department of transport later today for clarification but to my understanding the doors can be removed in any state because there are no factory side intrusion bars in the doors themselves.

I have heard about the 100mm thing before, however the zooks have a sunken floor pan where the foot wells are.

hopefully this afternoon I will be able to post up "actual fact" for the qlders.

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 8:41 am
by grimbo
the main thing is you must have side mirrors on. If your car came with 2 factory side mirrors then you must have 2 side mirrors when going doorless. i have been pulled over twice for no mudflaps and a couple of other things whilst being doorless and never had anything said about the no doors.

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 10:26 am
by bubs
skippy wrote:
bubs wrote:
Gutless wrote:I think you can get away with it if its a delivery vehicle, or a commercial vehicle. Just put some newspaper stickers on the back panel and you'll be right :cool:

BTW

Anything is legal in VIC. Pitty I live in QLD :?


I thought you can get away with it in a zook, you can in a jeep cause it is factory, but i thought it had something to do with having a 100mm lip or something between the floor and the bottom of the door :?



this is a hotly debated topic. everyone seems to have their own view on what is legal and what isn't.

as summer is pretty much here, the soft top has already been retired and pretty soon the doors will be too. I am going to be ringing the department of transport later today for clarification but to my understanding the doors can be removed in any state because there are no factory side intrusion bars in the doors themselves.

I have heard about the 100mm thing before, however the zooks have a sunken floor pan where the foot wells are.

hopefully this afternoon I will be able to post up "actual fact" for the qlders.


Yes please keep us all informed

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 10:42 am
by grimbo
what does the sunken floor pan have to do with the doorless issue?

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 10:44 am
by moose
the gold fish wont die , cause the water is deeper !!!! :D :D

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 10:49 am
by greg
grimbo wrote:what does the sunken floor pan have to do with the doorless issue?


Safety - perhaps if things are on the floor in the car they cannot roll out onto the road? Kind of like the tying down the load on a trailor rule?

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 11:01 am
by Wendle
grimbo wrote:what does the sunken floor pan have to do with the doorless issue?


your empty stubbies can't roll out onto the road when cornering.

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 1:00 pm
by skippy
greg wrote:
grimbo wrote:what does the sunken floor pan have to do with the doorless issue?


Safety - perhaps if things are on the floor in the car they cannot roll out onto the road? Kind of like the tying down the load on a trailor rule?


it's to do with covering the feet. Just like it's illegal to drive barefoot or in socks. yes I realise these issues are Grimace, but we as drivers have to put up and shut up.

unless of course someone knows someone who knows someone who can make special laws for 4b freaks like us.

about to ring transport now.

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 1:28 pm
by skippy
ok here's the deal folks.

it's still a bit grey even from the modifications dude. he was really helpful, which is strange for government.


---------------------
- if the vehicle came with removable doors or a factory option you can pull them off

- it has nothing to do with sideintrusion bars or anything like that as I had previously been lead to beleive.

- you can remove your doors, however you need "Specific Approval" which can be obtained by filling out a "Motor Vehicle Modification Application". You can get these forms from any Transport Department Customer Service Office.

You will need to tell the why you are doing, provide photos and diagrams.

- If you want to run tube doors with canvass covering(or not) that integrate into the existing hinges and lock mechanism you will need to complete the above mentioned form for "spefici approval"

- If you wish to run no doors you can use netting, but this netting needs to adhere to the ADR standards for absorbtion and restraint which I think are covered under General Saftey in ADR 42.

Again you will need to fill out the above form for "specific approval"

-----------------------

so at the end of the day, it's a big fat NO. :bad-words:
unless someone can provide evidence that suzuki provided the option for removable doors.

the floor pan being sunken is an urban myth. I asked him about this and he basically said someone has been feeding BS to us.


I have him sending me a list of mods that can be approved along with the application form which I will pdf for ya'll.

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 1:39 pm
by markil
it's illegal not to have mudflaps?
i took mine off a while back, maybe i should put them back on.
somebody said something about being legal if ur doin deliveries. i'm a part-time pizza hut deliverer driver, does that count? :)
is there somewhere we could find out for legite whether it is legal or not in N.S.W? if sombody knows please share with us.

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 1:40 pm
by skippy
markil wrote:it's illegal not to have mudflaps?
i took mine off a while back, maybe i should put them back on.
somebody said something about being legal if ur doin deliveries. i'm a part-time pizza hut deliverer driver, does that count? :)
is there somewhere we could find out for legite whether it is legal or not in N.S.W? if sombody knows please share with us.



tires not only need to be covered by flares but mud flaps also. so wider tyres would technically mean wider mud flaps. mind you having something there is better than nothing at all.

in nsw it could be different but I doubt it.

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 1:46 pm
by greg
With regards to mud flat size, I've heard something about not having more than half the hight of the tyre (i.e. it's radius) visible from behind the car...

But again - this is only hear-say.

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 1:56 pm
by Gutless
Greg I think you are right. Half the hieght of the tyre can be exposed, but no more.

As for the doors markil, you would have to fill out one of those forms mentioned by Skippy, and then you would still probably need some sort of consent from your employer, and even then I think your case would be very thin. Posties are allowed to have doors open cos they are constantly stopping, as are/were garbos (before the days of automated booms).

Perhaps if you had the vehicle inspected with a set of those quick release door hinges from the US, you might be able to fool them into believing they were a factory option. Problem is most people at DOT have seen a billion sierras and will know you are just dribbling $hit :?

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 2:00 pm
by -Mick-
Just like it's illegal to drive barefoot or in socks.


WTF :shock: :lol: Is that for real :? I'm a little hungover (again :roll: ) so if I'm missin the sarcasm that's okbut otherwise I don't get it.

Can the cops defect your feet and ask you to present your feet at the DOT in roadworthy condition within 14 days :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 2:11 pm
by stu
ive been running without mud flaps for ages, never had anyone say anything to me.......i understand the problem with not running them on because the two wet rooster tails from the mtr's that shoot up in the air behind me is an absolute laugh, easly seen from the rear view mirror. This ensures that there will be no one sitting close behind me in the wet.

Secondly since the tyres stick out slightly i often had road crud on the sides of my car and under my arms.....but since then i have thrown on some 65mm flexi flares and my road tyres back on.......i will have to fix the mudflap problem soo too.

does the average road cop know all the rules for running doorless, ADR rulling on tub doors or netting. Would they be a suzi nut and deny that the zuk may of come out doorless if you were to tell them so?

Hell all the bolt heads are on the outside so as far as i know they were made to come off.

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 2:15 pm
by stu
Can the cops defect your feet and ask you to present your feet at the DOT in roadworthy condition within 14 days


do they have to get plated if approved?[/quote]

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 2:16 pm
by greg
stu wrote:does the average road cop know all the rules for running doorless, ADR rulling on tub doors or netting. Would they be a suzi nut and deny that the zuk may of come out doorless if you were to tell them so?


I've heard that a certain someone on this board got their car road-worthied when it had swampers on it... Considering this, I think it would be fair to think that if some road-worthy officers don't know what is/isn't okay, I'm sure there would be police in the same boat...

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 2:19 pm
by skippy
police don't worry me. its the poofs with the purple lights on their roof that are the ones to watch out for. seen heaps around my area lately.

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 2:23 pm
by stu
sound like they're looking for ya!!

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 2:25 pm
by Gordo
In ACT it's model/make-specific.

TJ Jeep Wranglers can run legally doorless if :

they are manufactured BEFORE 1/7/97 (when rules changed) AND

you have minimum of two mirrors (eg 1 internal 1 external).

I've been running doorless on and off for 6 years with no probs.

It pays to check with your local ADR regulations

Why don't we have common ADR guidleines for this country ??

very stupid...

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 2:31 pm
by greg
skippy wrote:police don't worry me. its the poofs with the purple lights on their roof that are the ones to watch out for. seen heaps around my area lately.


who has purple lights on their roof?

The only purple lights i see on cars are the ones connected to the windscreen spayers...

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 2:39 pm
by stu
D.O.T

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 2:40 pm
by greg
I didn't even know they had cars... Always thought the police did all the hunting and gathering :?

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 2:49 pm
by stu
generally they hunt for trucks doing the wrong thing, but when they're borde.

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 10:41 pm
by OVERKILL ENG
I was driving around ond day and got pulled over by the police and he had a new recruit with him and wanted to show him how to defect a car and he said as long as I had 2 mirrors then I could drive around with no doors. Apparently he had a problem with my flipped rims and 33's hanging out about 4 inches. :shock: :shock: :shock:
SAM

Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2003 8:05 am
by Bazooka
I too have never had a problem while driving with the doors off. I have relocated the mirrors off the doors to make it all look proper and have had no problems with the cops.