Flares & Mudflaps - Whats required by law

[gwagensteve]

Yes I can see the logic in that Steve - its seems strange when the common police interpretation seems to be "fully covered" that
a perfectly legal OE car might not pass the "standard test", but can't fault the logic.

Will see if I can find the downloadable checklist ( thanks Muppet_Man )the whole thing is getting more interesting by the minute.

I was following a stock height alfa 147 GTA yesterday and it would have failed the "straight line from guard to ground" test both front and rear but the section width was covered at the top of the tyre.


I am aware though that a TOG officer will shoot first and ask questions later - I have heard all the horror stories about this stuff - door speakers in commodores attracting a "structural defect" etcetc. IMHO best to comply with 300mm (or better) and the vertical line from guard to ground and then you are surpassing any interperetation of the law.

Don't even start on tyre coverage from the front. I have heared of cars being canaried for inadequate tyre coverage viewed from the front even when the tyres were covered from above. I have never seen standard in relation to this.

One point - I have a theory that police know when a car is too heavily modified to easily get through an RWC so all they have to do it put a yellow bird on the screen and by their reasoning they have taken an unsafe/illegal car off the road regardless of how spurious the reason. They know that the car won't pass a RWC even if the one item they nominated is fixed.

Steve.

Steve.

[mightymouse]

Have requested a formal response from VicRoads, just to see what they say (company letterhead has many uses.... )

But I think you are right, just put up and shut up, but it could allow larger tyres to be run on engineered vehicles if the answer turns up in our favor.

Will let you know what they say ( if anything ).

[mightymouse]

Ok - got a reply - and quite quickly ( perhaps the letterhead helped...... )

And I quote from VicRoads.....

"In accordance with attached Australian Design Rule (ADR) 42/04 General Safety Requirements, Section 14 - Wheel Guards (Mudguards), the overall width of the wheel guards must be at least sufficient to cover the tyre section width "b" of the tyres fitted to the vehicle when the wheels are in the straight ahead position, taking into account the extremes of tyre/wheel combination as specified by the manufacturer (see Figure 1, "b" is measured at the top of the tyre)."

End quote

Looking at the refered to "Fig 1" shows that it does indicate the top of the tyre. So there is agreement then between VicRoads General Roadworthines Requirement and the ADR.

SO now all it takes if a brave man or a fool to have an argument at the roadside with the police. As others have intonated - good luck, your going to need it!