Tyre Size (oh not again)

What Truckster said. You can recover from a financial loss if your insurance company won't pay out, but you will go to gaol if you someone dies in an accident involving your truck which is illegally registered. Is it really worth the gain?

Hi Truckster, What I am trying to do is ascertain what is legal and what is not. In the latest 4WD Monthly there is a story on a local 4WD group in WA. Most of the vehicles have larger tyres that would make them illegal and I would bet that they don't have an engineers cert. It appears that there is a fair amount of mis understanding of the rules, that could come home to roost later on.
For Sale 33 x 10.5 BFG's AT 90% tread!

Regards

Mark

you have been told what is legal by Qld Tpt. Didnt you mention that in your first post on this? More important - your insurance company said no. They probably (as is std practice) now marked it on your account with them on the poota that you have asked, chances are now if need be they will see this and check up.

Check numerous 4b forums. Theres numerous blokes on one forum running 37+'s on their trucks. All know its illegal, but dont give a toss. Although most only run them at comps.

Most people run bigger (illegal) tires on weekends only in the bush. Then change back to road tires sunday night.

All depends how much you like your ringhole in 1 piece.

Mowing, WA is a bit different from the rest of Australia. When I was living there up until June this year I legally purchased and has fitted 285/75 R16 to my Patrol which is specified wit 265/75 R16. I checked this out with WA licensing department and RAC (WA) Insurance, and all said that it was fine at this point although they were considering changing the regulations. I have since moved to SA and have only done 30,000 km on these tyres which I estimate based on wear rates I could get 80,000km out of, but after reading numerous forums on this I will probably end up handing over another grand or so for new tyres. I am not a gambler and a $1000 seems a cheap in comparison to all the trouble it could potentially land me in.

It's just as unroadworthy "weekends only in the bush" & the same penalties would apply!
(Plus, you have to get to the bush & back home)

Hi Exploder, No I have not told them but if what truckster is saying is true then the cops will say the vehicle is unroadworthy and that will then give the insurance coy an out.
It seems that the best option is to abid by the 15 mm rule for the time.

Regards

Mark

But is it 15mm larger than the tyre placard or what is listed in the owners manual as range of fitment for that vehicle? Who can find this in writing apart from in the draft code Truckster recently posted.

This is the problem - Warthog has hit it.

It is so widely open to interpretation. It appears to be black and white, but it isnt!

and again, is it the actual measured size of the tire, or the marked size of the tire on the sidewall?

I would think it has to be the tyre placard on the car. Owners manuals can come from different countries, be obtained from different models, or just plain reprinted to lie. Also, the police can not check your users manual as you are not required to carry it.

Truckster, I agree about the tyre size. If you visit various tyre manufacturers websites, it becomes obvious that the same size tyre in different brands have different diameters. They vary by a reasonable amount. I would imagine that you would have a range of measurements that were legal. For example the original tyre diameter could vary according to what brand it was, therefore the 15mm rule should have the same variance as well.

It is definately the tyre placard on the Vehicle, this is whats used by the ADR's not the owners manual, it also shows your load rating, which I found to be surprise with some of the 31/10.5 X 15's even though they are the same size overall as 265/70/16 have much lower load rating, and my offroad tyres and rims only just scrape in.

Trucksters is spot on, get another set for play time and standard for onroad work. Its pretty obvious that with all the goody 2 shoes out there at tyhe moment trying to get 4X4 vehicles off the road, the last thing would should be doing is giving them more ammo.

"Trucksters is spot on, get another set for play time and standard for onroad work"

So you go home Friday night and swap to your "play time" set, then you drive down the road to get to the "play pen".... why bother? your still illegal

"or just plain reprinted to lie." Of course it is not possible to print a dodgy tyre placard.
I would still like to see the relevant piece of legislation, these are all opinions and they are like backsides.
I've had a reasonable search on the internet and can't find anything. I don't want to ring some transport department employee and find their opinion. It would claryify the situation to read the regs. If we are to be governed by them we should be able to read them.

So whay hasn't somebody on this forum (who knows how to use a computer properly......which counts me out), developed some method of making up new tyre placards with self-adhesive stuff on them. Then you just tell this guru what model vehicle you have and what size tyres you want to use....(within reason)....and hey-presto here's a placard and you're now 100% legal even if Mr Plod wants to check.

count me in.

Morning Trendsetters.

This may shed a bit of light on the subject for you all:

(1) Check out this URL : (in particular - para 8)

http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/vrpdf/rdsafe/VSI%208.pdf

(Note it is Victorian Regs)

(2) It is dead set clear that (a) you can increase the width of a rim 25mm above OEM maximum and a tyre 15mm in Dia. .

(3) note the key wording is

'greater than the widest Rim - Largest Tyre etc specified by the vehicle manufacturer for that model or vehicle series.

(4) Vehicle manufacture specs are on the tyre sticker.plackard affixed to the vehicle.

(5) Check yours, then go to this URL:

http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp?action=submit&reset=yes

(6) Enter your vehicle Placard size as the first entry, then enter the tyres currently on your vehicle or tyre wish list.

(7) you will then be able to compare all the different specs.

NOTE:

There is not one mention of rolling diameter, double height radius diameter, 'presure differential diameter', holding your willy Dia, etc etc.

ITS THE DIA. OF THE MANUFACTURED TYRE as you see it on the shelf, floor by itself.

I.E. what is stamped on the tyre by the tyre manufacture and which shows in that comparison computer.

Have a nice weekend you all

Thanks for that posting Lucy, found more than I could. I reckon it could be argued that "model OR vehicle series" means what is listed in the vehicle manual as specified by the manufacturer as fitment for that "series" of vehicle. Lets me fit what I want if I argue that anyway.