New Laws Re Lowering Cars

[DECIM8]

Doubt it.. Clearly says on the posted RTA PDF above a defect notice will be issued if found to have a lowered car. Rego may be cancelled. Doubt this would happen in 90% of cases.

PS coilovers are legal for all cars the RTA clearly states it takes an open view on suspension mods.

Edited July 19, 2009 by DECIM8

[Sydneykid]

Doubt it.. Clearly says on the posted RTA PDF above a defect notice will be issued if found to have a lowered car. Rego may be cancelled. Doubt this would happen in 90% of cases.

PS coilovers are legal for all cars the RTA clearly states it takes an open view on suspension mods.

R32/33/34's come standard with coil overs, so I assume you mean height adjustable spring/shock units. Based on my experience 99.9999% of them won't pass this requirment, hence would be illegal.

1. The vehicle must not be capable of being lowered so that it no longer satisfies the minimum ground clearance requirements described above

Cheers

Gary

[Sydneykid]

Anyway to the point I dont know why everyone cares. You all have intake systems im sure, most deff run some form of boost controller or you even run a boost gauge into cabin. All defects and this is just another.

The big difference is you can't see a boost controller or a boost gauge from the outside, just driving down the street excessive (more than 50 mm) lowering is obvious. Plus it's a new law so you can bet that they will have an early blitz so as to be seen to be doing something to enforce this life saving new law.

Cheers

Gary

[s13_Skyline_inside]

1 good thing is it will get those bloody 4x4 that have been raised to dangerous proportions, i had to drive a raised patrol from hornsby to smithfield once for work and this thing was scary doing 70 along pennant hills road (speed limit) felt like it was going to tip over, i dont care if i cant drop my car, just so long as i can legally get it set up to stick to the road like sh*t to a blanket im happy, its dangerous to lower your car to much anyway, some of the "dropped" cars i see would be very uncomfortable and wouldnt hadle for shit, i put up with my car not being soft cause it handles but if its not comfy and it doesnt hadle whats the point? oh yeh so you can look sic bro

end rant

[Sneaky Pete]

1 good thing is it will get those bloody 4x4 that have been raised to dangerous proportions, i had to drive a raised patrol from hornsby to smithfield once for work and this thing was scary doing 70 along pennant hills road (speed limit) felt like it was going to tip over, i dont care if i cant drop my car, just so long as i can legally get it set up to stick to the road like sh*t to a blanket im happy, its dangerous to lower your car to much anyway, some of the "dropped" cars i see would be very uncomfortable and wouldnt hadle for shit, i put up with my car not being soft cause it handles but if its not comfy and it doesnt hadle whats the point? oh yeh so you can look sic bro

end rant

i agree, my skyline is lowered, and is pretty stiff, but it handles great. i don't why they (gov)say that lowering a car makes it handle worse. raising it too much though is a bit dangerous. i haven't driven a 4b raised that much but they look dangerous on the road when conering.

[GTR-N1]

...-EEE-AWW-EEE-AWW!!!

Driver stops his front wheels on da speed hump...

[evil_weevil]

[STYLN]

Typical press release from politician who has absolutely no idea what he is talking about. Michael Daley quite obviously hasn't got a clue. A very confusing press release with conflicting wording and contradictory statements. We will just have to wait for the pubic service bureaucrats to sort out another mess created by their minister.

Cheers

Gary

I had written a rather detailed post on this but it dissapeared after submitting????

Did you guys miss this guys post? ANyway he's spot on, im just glad im not the poor bugger who's gotta clean up daley's mess.

[STYLN]

I had written a rather detailed post on this but it dissapeared after submitting????

Did you guys miss this guys post? ANyway he's spot on, im just glad im not the poor bugger who's gotta clean up daley's mess.

I work for RTA in delivering blackspot projects and as i have easy and logical access to the info here's an extract from a post im putting together for the website to use as DIY guide and tech reference thread.

LOWERING & RAISING VEHICLES

the debate over raising and lowering vehicles is a lengthy one. Having been to the RTA's crash lab and seeing the test and the results i assure you it's scary. The future direction of the car industry is to make all bumper heights the same or within x mm height. WHY??? so when you crash into one another or a pedestrian the resulting accident is more controlled.

example:A standard commercial van with a bumper height of 700mm hits a porsche carrera with bumper height 280mm at 60km/hr head on. The van will launch off the porsche but first take the drivers head off with the front wheel before flying off into an uncontrolled rollover untill it strikes god knows what.

document on lowering & rasing vehicles.

http://whome.rta.nsw.gov.au/registration/d...7-july-2009.pdf

[STYLN]

There has been a recent spate of fake engineer certificates getting about. People have been scanning and changing them and going to the RTA to engineer their cars fraudulently. The RTA and Police have become aware of the situation and are now conducting an audit on ALL engineering signatories in NSW. They are basically requesting a copy of all certified and draft certified vehicles from engineers directly, so that it is on RTA/Police record first for cross-referencing. From the understanding we have it is an audit on all vehicles since 1st January 2009. From now on, if an engineer doesnt directly submit an engineer certificate to the RTA as soon as its done, then people turning up to a registry with an engineer certificate cant have their cars passed until the RTA have a direct copy from the engineer to cross reference it to for authenticity (basically a 2-part process). The Police will also have access to the engineer certificate on file and can bring it up on their in car computer system. All the better for weeding out all the dodgey engineers and idiots making false certificates which makes it worse for the rest of us who are doing it legitimately

[Sydneykid]

I work for RTA in delivering blackspot projects and as i have easy and logical access to the info here's an extract from a post im putting together for the website to use as DIY guide and tech reference thread.

LOWERING & RAISING VEHICLES

the debate over raising and lowering vehicles is a lengthy one. Having been to the RTA's crash lab and seeing the test and the results i assure you it's scary. The future direction of the car industry is to make all bumper heights the same or within x mm height. WHY??? so when you crash into one another or a pedestrian the resulting accident is more controlled.

example:A standard commercial van with a bumper height of 700mm hits a porsche carrera with bumper height 280mm at 60km/hr head on. The van will launch off the porsche but first take the drivers head off with the front wheel before flying off into an uncontrolled rollover untill it strikes god knows what.

document on lowering & rasing vehicles.

http://whome.rta.nsw.gov.au/registration/d...7-july-2009.pdf

Oops! This link appears to be broken.

Moving on, that's a furphy, complete rubbish, it's nothing more than a feeble attempt to fool some of the people some of the time, well this people isn't fooled this time.

Let's try this logic, what difference is having the bumpers the same static height when the car accelerates or brakes and the bumper height changes?

Better still, let's use the same example but in a far more common style of accident;

A standard commercial van with a static rear bumper height of 700mm stops suddenly, the rear bumper then goes up to 900 mm. A Porsche Carrera with front bumper height of 700 mm also brakes suddenly and the bumper is now at 500 mm The Porsche will slide under the back of the can and take the drivers head off with bumper The van with its rear wheels off the ground fires off and strikes god knows what.

Tell me how having the bumpers at the same static height made one iota of difference. In case no one bothered to mention, front to rear accidents are the most common.

Cheers

Gary

[Cassbo]

My ride hight is totally legit, I got it engineered and everything!

[luke gtr]

i can see where the limitation of lowering/raising of vehicles will be beneficial to new cars with dsc(dynamic stability control and the like), as engineers have inputed alot of data, and the car behaves with specific height and sprin rates.

i dont really see the difference its going to make to most cars that are sensibly lowered. i think the current rules of 100mm to road, 1/3 suspension travel, and 600mm to headlights is still quite effective.

and as for the news articlle, it does read as mods after the date will need approval, will they have to prove the lowering was done after the date, or will we be guilty until proven innocent with recipts for work?

as othrs have mentioned though, most of us are probably driving around in defectable cars anyway, so whats the difference?

you can still get your rego cancelled for other defects. just keep a set of standard struts handy, swap them for the inspection, then swap them back. easy

[5hu7o]

petition if you guys would like to share on other websites and your friends

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/94/help-sav...ied-cars-in-nsw

[vudoo]

excuse my ignorance, but how would one go about getting a 'certificate' stating their modifications conform to 'safety standard requirements'?

if you aren't lowering your car much, is it hard to do? costly?

[zebra]

NFI and I bet the government doesnt either...they will let us know after they have made a few hundred thousand dollars from all the fines

[Sl!m]

Don't get too smug, I went on a MX-5 cruise once, a cop pulled 2 of the MX-5s over and issued defects but let me go on my way

Granted, they where driving like flamin' mongrels and I was just cruising lol

and the fact that you have a stock car helps as well

[Cassbo]

and the fact that you have a stock car helps as well

Jealous?

[Sydneykid]

i can see where the limitation of lowering/raising of vehicles will be beneficial to new cars with dsc(dynamic stability control and the like), as engineers have inputed alot of data, and the car behaves with specific height and sprin rates.

Yet another furphy, I have yet to see any traction control and/or vehicle stability system that would in any way be affected by proper lowering. The simple systems rely on the ABS sensors to detect excessive wheel speed differences whereby the ECU cuts the power appropriately. The more sophisticated systems use the ABS sensors plus longitudinal and lateral G force sensors to detect excessive slip angle and/or excessive wheel speed differences whereby the ECU cuts the power and/or applies individual wheel brakes appropriately. There is nothing in those processes, which applies to 95% of the vehicles fitted with traction control and/or vehicle stability systems, that would be affected by the vehicles height. In the 5% of cases left, top end Merc's. BMW's etc they have height sensors that detect the load (eg, passengers and luggage in the boot) and make minor changes to the vehicle stability system program. But I have yet to find one of those where they don't have self levelling suspension, so you can't lower them without zeroing the self levelling anyway.

The announcement is quite simply spin put out there to support a stupid, illogical and poorly conceived piece of legislation that was done to get the general public to believe that the totally useless NSW government is actually doing something.

This person is still not fooled

Cheers

Gary

[mr 32]

coalition's "official" response

The NSW Labor Government’s recent policy announcement to make it an offence to lower or raise a car’s suspension was clearly made on the run.

The NSW Liberals and Nationals oppose these changes, which have been introduced by the Rees Labor Government without consultation or any parliamentary debate.

The changes will affect many law abiding motorists, including 4WD users, rural motorists and even wheelchair taxis, yet they will do nothing to stop the so-called hoons, who already modify their vehicles outside the existing laws.

The vast majority of 4WD owners are responsible drivers, not 'young hoons', and they don't deserve to be punished.

The solution to 'hoons' is better enforcement of the existing vehicle standards, not a nonsensical bureaucratic decree.

The NSW Liberals and Nationals have called upon the Roads Minister to withdraw the policy forthwith and will continue to pursue this issue on behalf of NSW motorists when Parliament resumes in September.