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Hi all,

Last night i was looking for a parking spot on nepean hwy frankston , i pulled over and parked then this tmu cop car who was behind me pulls in spot in front off me then get out and come to me and says "routine vehicle Inspection" They then proceed to go through the car like a laxitive, They got me for exhaust which is very quite, luckly the cop tested my exhaust db's by ear because you just cant trust db reading machines, he then goes aah its just a tad over the limit, Then he rekons the car is too low, Funny that it has stock supension. He tried to get me for pod but its not an oil based one, I was also done for boost controller, Bov i know the bov is illeagal but i wasnt driving on boost and i don't go around eveywhere going psssh, It just pisses me off that there are 100's of shitboxes driving around and ppl who look after there cars get picked on. The Cop then nicely gave me a $165 fine for drivng a modified vehicle and then as he was leaving he goes "If your gonna drive around Frankston make sure your car is leagal he said it in a real smartass tone acting as if he's a sherrif or something, he also said that yeah your friends may have cars like this but it only a matter of time before they get caught. Yeah i know i am bitching but it just pisses me off thats all,

P.S Heres a pic of my highly modified beast

Ciao

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https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/21664-i-got-major-defected-last-night/
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wow sorry to hear

cops are becomming pretty much assholes

its rare to find ur nice easy going friendly cop now days

correct me if im wrong but u are allowed either a pod or a fmic

u didnt say u had a fmic.. so im guessing ur pod is actually legal.

ur car looks very decent and pretty stock .. just goes too show exactly wat they were targeting.. an import!

Thanks for the support, I dont have a fmic so its leagal i am not complaining about the bov or bleed valve just the other stuff as i know its a load of b.s, oh well shit just happens, so every be carefull cause they will pick on even stock looking cars.

From a distance that looks stock as a rock.. It was probably the BOV that got their attention.

While some of it is obviously bullshit, the thing is the fact is that a couple of the things were clearly illegal. You can't have boost controller, and can't have aftermarket BOV. Like when my car was defected, while some things they raise can be b.s. when it comes to the actual regulations, if one or two things is below board not much you can do. As you were against the law in one or two areas therefore it most respects it will be valid and you don't have much to stand on.

While the differences between a minor and major defect are monetary (of course) and you could *maybe* if u took it to court argue the difference between the "minor" and the "major" (e.g. the bogus items) but you, and most of all they know, its hardly worth fighting.

I know if it happens again to my car and the items are in fact not valid, i'll be taking the policeman involved straight to the court room. It needs to be done a few times, because while I guess defects are a fact of imports, they have to be *valid ones* otherwise the police involved need to be made accountable. At the very least, forced to read up and learn the laws they are enforcing.

It is Frankston though afterall, few dickheads make it hard for everybody in certain areas.

Sorry to say, but don't be surprised if an EPA notice arrives in the next month or so.. They don't have to mention it at the spot for it arrive. Again, nothing to stress over, but just a little bit of hassle.

Were you are a P Plater as well?? Just curious...

It would be quite funny though if you said "i know for a FACT mine is legal (like mine, cause i had it tested TWICE).. if you are going to use your ear and say that it is more accurate than official testing equipment, I'll see you in court and see how you explain that one to the judge".

and watch his face turn the brightest shade of red you've ever seen :)

You'd only need the test done the following day showing it clearly under and you could ream his ass in a courtroom. If you could prove stock height (pretty damn easy), again, that would be thrown out. Pod, again, legal I believe as long as you don't have a FMIC and its not oiled..he would be out on that one. But you'd still have the other two items in your case unfortunately...although i have a feeling boost controller in a court room probably wouldn't stack up either "so how did you determine this" and unless he had a very scientific explanation (e.g. I observed from his intake pipe to turbo wastegate a screw type arrangement) its starting to look like he don't know what he is even defecting.

SAU needs a club lawyer i think :)

i hear boost controllers are illegal coz they change the cars emissions....many factory standard cars dont get released here because of red tape and emission and safety bs.people will kepp getting defected for no reason as we hav such a small population how else is the govt gonna make money besides taxing us heavily and handing out defects and fines like its air. but if enuff people voiced their thoughts and the masses were heard things could b ALOT betta

Noof: yours should be legal if mine is. The test is $27 if you want to know for sure, although that doesn't mean it will get you off, but you do have a bit of paper - cops going to have to feel pretty sure of himself if he's going to disbelieve that if u carry it in the glovebox.. Of course he has the right to ignore it as its not actually anything legally binding, but again, if its an invalid defect (by all applicable laws) then you can contest it on the penalty notice. Court time, again, he's going to look pretty foolish if you raise the point he witnessed notice of a noise test at the scene (he has to mention all details of the scene, including every word you say). If the following day a test was obtained verifying the results. But you'd have to be legal on everything else :)

umm.. once i went to the initial hearing for a court case to contest something, i learned a lot :) but ended up backing down before the 2nd hearing because it can go on your record if you are later convicted. It was a minor offence anyway - just wasn't worth it.

Anyway, was interesting, because all details of the scene were written down even though it was to me just a "routine" pullover. So if the cop says something stupid if it sounds dumb at the scene, its going to sound dumb in a court room. Still not everybody can carry a tape recorder in their glovebox (even so i think you have to tell the cop you are taping his conversation)

king_kw13: I think boost controllers are counted as an intake modification as it alters emissions rather than any specific VIC roadworthy or ADR rule.. but I am not sure. There is no mention in the ADR regs on the vicroad site site I can find specifically mentioning boost alterations (unless somebody can point me to it??) .. but few sites say they are illegal, but don't mention the specific law or reference??

Thing is, nobody ever takes these to court ($165 vs $xxx lawyer costs if you lose) to test them out, but who knows.

As far as being too low goes, I've had yellow stickers twice for it. Both times they had a 100mm wheel on the end of a stick, and rolled it under the car until it hit the exhaust.

Since changing the exhaust to get correct ride height, I now have a 110mm short piece of wood and the end of a larger piece of wood (Handle) and if anyone suggests it may be lower than it should be, Under the car goes 'my tool' :) . Vicroads have a similar thing as mine except metal (Or atleast at Watsonia they do) for testing as well.

If the cop didn't messure it, I'd be very upset. Atleast he didn't put the pod down on the Defect notice though, My last Defect had 'Shift pattern not shown on gearknob' as one of the defectable items.:)

-Ross

Good work rossco! :P thats the sorta thing you have almost got to do these days.

Thing is, I'm noticing that many cars that come out of the factory these days that I am sure don't even pass the clearance, mainly on the exhaust. If you ask me car ride height in general is getting lower and lower (on average) Now i *definitely* have seen cop cars with exhausts hanging only a few cm off the ground which I doubt are legal themselves. I think its the Camry cop cars. And i've been looking at the newer HSV's...again, doubt they are 100mm off the ground at the lowest point.

I reckon anybody who gets done for ride height have a quick walk around the cop car. If you can raise the point that he is doing exactly same thing, then I'd like to see what happened :D

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