Newcastle Police Attention

[callan]

Just wondering who in Newcastle has been defected, what for and did you have an eng certificate??

I was defected at 8am on a sunday morning (30/12/07) driving to work- got signalled into an rbt station with 2 officers, female officer rbt'd me and i blew 0.0. I was about to drive away when the male officer came over and tapped my boot, telling me to open the bonnet (OH SHIT METHINKS)

He then spent 5 minutes looking thru my engine bay for stuff to defect (didnt really look like he knew much about engines)

After closing the bonnet and him finding nothing, he started to walk back toward his patrol car, and said something about me having a 'bit of a cannon exhaust'. He got down under my car and measured the ride height from my 3.5" exhaust to the ground.

He measured it to be 80mm from the ground, with the legal requirement being 100mm, and defected me for it (no fine). He then tried to give me 48 hours to get it cleared, and I pointed out that it was the middle of the holiday period, and gettin anything fixed would be near impossible. Ended up giving me 14 days to clear it.

[callan]

Oh, and I didnt have an eng. certificate.

[**RB2530**]

Well I feel better now...So

So far we have more Newcastle people not being defected than people being defected...

And I am not having a go at you callan but an exhaust that is 80mm off the ground is very noticeable and asking for attention...I appreciate that 3.5" is tight under the rear subframe but I would have thought you could of got it higher than 80mm unless you car is horribly low...Once again I am not having a go and I hope you got it sorted...

I am just trying to find out what sort things the cops pick on in Newcastle...I have standard height GTSt and the stats so far suggest I will be fine (or lets say ok instead of 'fine')

[Xmetal]

youse are all soft...i was there last Sunday trawling the strip. No attention at all (the lower hunter commander has even attended Autosalon to see our car on the dyno)

So was this a one-off or are we likely to see you again soon? I've been wanting to see your wild beast up close.

[**RB2530**]

So was this a one-off or are we likely to see you again soon? I've been wanting to see your wild beast up close.

+1 from me...

[Swiper the Fox]

So was this a one-off or are we likely to see you again soon? I've been wanting to see your wild beast up close.

will be attending the cruise on april 13th so you can have a squizz then.

[wrcboi]

think someone ought to write to the member of the parliament for newcastle or the mayor regarding the police not paying attention to serious crimes like robberies, thefts and etc....probably could write to the herald too

[steve33]

its not just newcastle either. i just got defected about 2 hours ago in blacktown by a orange typhoon

[**RB2530**]

its not just newcastle either. i just got defected about 2 hours ago in blacktown by a orange typhoon

What did you get defected for?

[callan]

And I am not having a go at you callan but an exhaust that is 80mm off the ground is very noticeable and asking for attention...

Yeah i know

Most of the exhaust was fine - 120mm clearance, but where it dipped under the rear axle, it dropped a few cms, and whoever had fitted the exhaust didnt do such a great job (was how I bought the car)

It's all sweet now, have a custom 3" on it now, tucked right up and painted so shouldn't be drawing any attention anymore

[Swiper the Fox]

I had some wankers last Sunday pull up along side and yell "fu(king whipper snipper" out the window as i was turning left.

Its about the only heat ive had in Newy.

The only time ive ever been pulled up was when i was back living at the Bay, and that was Christmas time. They followed me in an unmarked car from my home at Soldiers Point into Nelson Bay. Just before they were about to turn off i gave it a little squirt up a hill, they pulled me up and said "oh you were doing oh so well until you did that...see that block of units there (points to a block of units 1/2 way up the hill) well the people that live there are all now awake!" Told me to take it more steady and behave myself. I think the fact i was a local and from a well known local family hepled me a little. I think if i was of ethnic origin from Sydney i may have been treated very differently.

[steve33]

What did you get defected for?

just rims and height. and by height i mean where the exhaust goes under the diff it was 9.4 cms off the ground and the limit is 10cms. if they let me take the passanger out of the back i would have been fine. nothing big tho cleared it this morning

[Trust33]

defect stations: the baine of any car enthuisiests existence.

[scathing]

just rims and height

What about your rims got you done?

Its amazing how many cops don't know the law when it comes to rims.

I think everyone with big aftermarket wheels should print out the RTA's Vehicle Standards Information #09 - Guidelines for Alternative Wheels and Tyres and leave it in their car.

There's no rule about diameter changes, just width and offset, and diameter of the tyre.

I quote:

An important requirement for all replacement wheels is that the wheel track must not be increased by more than 25mm beyond the maximum specified by the vehicle manufacturer for that vehicle [as listed on the tyre placard].

Which means you can run an offset 12mm lower than the stock wheel while retaining compliance.

Wheels up to 26mm wider than the largest optional wheel recommended by the vehicle manufacturer for the vehicle can be fitted without the need to notify the RTA.

The outside diameter of the wheel and tyre combination must be no more than 15mm over the largest diameter wheel and tyre combination specified for the vehicle and not more than 15mm below the smallest diameter wheel and tyre combination specified for the vehicle.

(Emphasis added)

The VSI's used to say that you can only run tyres 26mm wider than the widest available on the placard too, but it doesn't anymore.

You can run 20" rims on your R32 if you want, as long as they're no more than an inch wider than stock and you get tyres with a low enough profile to match the original outside circumference, and as its a "minor change" it does not require registration with the RTA nor an engineer's certificate.

Highlight those bits, and make sure you do the calculations on paper to prove your new rolling stock is with 15mm circumference of what's on the placard.

[d-d]

i gave it a little squirt up a hill, they pulled me up and said oh you were doing oh so well until you did that...

Mum told me that happened after you spoke to her hehe.

Have you been into their new office? Its now got a widescreen and PS3 in the waiting room for clients to use while they wait!!

[Shaddow]

I've had a cop try and book me the day my car got a blueslip. I was literally driving home from the RTA, with brand new plates on the car, the blueslip in the passenger seat. I did kind of wave it in his face, snatch my license back out of his hands (he was being an arse) and say some unflattering things. Not one of my better moments. That car sort of got victimised for RBTs quite alot till it died. IT kind of became amusing as everytime I drove it through warners bay I'd get pulled over. A young cop was always seeming to be doing the RBT and he was always so apologetic about it and seemed nervouse about it all. I used to just look in the mirror and see who was riding shotgun. Oh this car was a Datsun Stanza with no mods at all by the way.

Other then that the average age of the cars I currently own is 70 (hell currently I own 5 cars with an average age of 30. Oldest is 70 and the youngest is Dec 07 - Totaly will soon be down to 2 registered cars and one project. My wife hopes anyway) and I've been through a few of the blitz in newcastle. I've found three things happened. The cop would look at the car and me the driver and wave me through (usually what would happen in the zed - Older cops like those old girls (76 260Z), they would pull me over open the bonnet do a walk around, comment on trye wear and send me on my way (they have no idea what they are looking at and unless its spitting fluids there isn't alot they can do as the car predates most of the ADRs they book people on) or if its the old girl (the 38') want to have a look at whats done cause they have always wanted to build one.

Its the newer cars that kills you in defect blitzes. So many rules and regulations to abide by and unless you build out there cars you've probably never even seen half the rules and they know that. So they defect to that. You'll never see them try and defect a hotrod as most owners of hotrods know the ADRs back the front and sideways as they have built their cars to get around the ADR problems unique to them. It would be a costly conversation if they did try though.

[scathing]

Its the newer cars that kills you in defect blitzes. So many rules and regulations to abide by and unless you build out there cars you've probably never even seen half the rules and they know that. So they defect to that. You'll never see them try and defect a hotrod as most owners of hotrods know the ADRs back the front and sideways as they have built their cars to get around the ADR problems unique to them. It would be a costly conversation if they did try though.

Aye.

One of the guys I worked with had a 1969 Mini Cooper S. Extractors, straight through pipe to a Lukey rear muffler. The thing sounded really mean.

Because his car was manufactured pre-ADR enactment he can get away with almost anything. Its not like the cops would be aware of what the rules were back in 1969.

[steve33]

What about your rims got you done?

Its amazing how many cops don't know the law when it comes to rims.

I think everyone with big aftermarket wheels should print out the RTA's Vehicle Standards Information #09 - Guidelines for Alternative Wheels and Tyres and leave it in their car.

There's no rule about diameter changes, just width and offset, and diameter of the tyre.

they are 19s n he said they were too big for my car. the offset and width are the same.

[SmittyR33]

Yeah the old school cars are easy to get around adr's cos there wasn't any back then. I have a 1970 val ute and I don't think I even need to have seatbelts in it!

The funny thing about the defects blitzes and stuff is that there have always been hoons on the road, its just these days there is a whole lot of media hype giving car enthusiasts a bad name. So the government has brought in more laws yadda yadda yadda. My old man used to tell me stories of when the boys would be on the piss at the pub and before they DROVE home they would lay a few skids and do a few doughnuts in the carpark!

[Shaddow]

The foreshore or its proximaty has been a cruise strip for near on 60 years as far as I can tell. My mother and father told stories from their childhood about it too. It is all media hype. Mind you if I owned your val Smitty I'd put retractable belts into it. Didn't need to put them in the hot rod but she got 5 retractable seatbelts (2 front 3 back) with pre tensioners, the pillars in the shell reineforced to take the impact from a crash and double burst proof locks. I like to hoon but I like my passengers to be safe too.