Rims and Legalities (VIC)

[jaderd]

Hey all, just a quick topic to grab ppls opinions, i know its probably been covered before but after heaps of research i thought i might as well chuck it up to see who of us out there (esp on 18's) is actually running legal for insurance purposes (VIC). I have lined up some 18's etc and everything sweet or so i thought until you come back to the basics of what is legal in VIC.

Main point which screws you over (Vehicle Standards Information 8, Guide to Modifications for Motor Vehicles, May 2003)

*The Width of any Replacement rim must not be

-More than 25mm greater than the widest wheel specified by the vehicle manufacturer for that model or vehicle series

so basically anyone with a sportivo in VIC and rims wider than 7" are straight away "illegal" and buggered for insurance purposes as stivo standard are 6"

-Overall diameter aint to hard to get around with different profiles etc, although this screws you right up when going to 18's as the basic 215/35/18 in a nankang for example has 84H speed and load rating which is not enough as sportivos need 87V and standard rollas 88V (correct if wrong), if you then jump up to 225/35/18 you are ok speed and load rating wise as most tyres this size have higher load and speed, but once again then your track width is 30mm greater than standard of 195/55/16 and also obviously your rim is already at a min of 7.5"

Im guessing it seems that the only real way to stay "legal" and not get screwed in worst case scenario like a crash and insurance company checks your rims/tyres is to just jump to 17X7 running 215/40/17....... ? please let me know of your opinions.......im over looiking around at wheels and trying to get it spot on and legal which i want, so have decided to stick with the stock sportivo rims for atleast one more set of tyres n just lower her on some kings.....reassess the situation at a later date.......

Cheers guys, just had to vent my frustration over the whole issue.....if only toyota gave us our rims in 17's to start with id be happy .....

Edited March 3, 2008 by jaderd

[kolourhero]

i would've got 18's if it was legal. That's why im running on 17x7.

Whats the point of insurance if ur car won't be insured if ur in an accident?

[jaderd]

exactly mate......i dont see the point in risking a 20 + grand car just for the sake of looks.....i'd love 18's but i just dont feel i can take that kind of risk, knowing my luck id have a decent smash n get rolled by my insurance company, .....i really want to hear from some Vic guys out there running rims wider than 7" to see whether they know they are illegal and just have more balls than me to risk it :) or arent aware of the VIC laws etc.

Cheers.......please comment guys

[Guest fujiwara_tofu]

i dont know about insurance.. but for legality i had a new tyre placard thing made up.

my trueno came from the factory with 13x5.5 positive 27s... now it wears ma61 rims (14x7 poitive 08 offset)

tyre placard in the glovebox says they are the standard rims... must be some kind of special eddition trueno or something lol... ;P

although police havnt once questioned me about the rims.

i cant see the hassel really, we are making our cars SAFER by fitting wider rims with better offsets and good tyres.

omfg the bad peeps are stupid hyundai excels with like 18x4 positive 50s and kmart tyres who go speeding past me whilst i do the speed limit.... (anger vented)

Edited March 18, 2008 by fujiwara_tofu

[kolourhero]

i dont know about insurance.. but for legality i had a new tyre placard thing made up.

my trueno came from the factory with 13x5.5 positive 27s... now it wears ma61 rims (14x7 poitive 08 offset)

tyre placard in the glovebox says they are the standard rims... must be some kind of special eddition trueno or something lol... ;P

although police havnt once questioned me about the rims.

i cant see the hassel really, we are making our cars SAFER by fitting wider rims with better offsets and good tyres.

omfg the bad peeps are stupid hyundai excels with like 18x4 positive 50s and kmart tyres who go speeding past me whilst i do the speed limit.... (anger vented)

i don't think it's the police you're worried about. It's whether you're gonna be covered by insurance if something happens. (That's if you're insured)

[Punk_200sx]

2 inch up is ok so get 18's.

Just get an 18x7 wheel, they are rare but you can get em, usually made designed for mini cooper so check Uk sites.

225/35 is fine for rolling diameter, but a 225 is usually too wide (as recommeded by the tyre manafacturer) to be fitted to a 7 inch wheel.

I personally don't think a 35 profile is enough rubber (pot hole damage, comfort), so I reccomend a 40 profile.

You will find with 205/40/18 the load rating is usually too low (i.e 84, 86).

While 215/40/18 usually have a higher load rating (i.e. 89) so all good since it is higher than 87.

Edited April 24, 2008 by punk_rolla

[wil_rolla]

so 17x7 wheels for a sportivo is fine, what about us guy's/girls with ascents and conquests? do we have even less of an option?

they come out standed with 14in steel rims (i think) so would 17x7 still be ok?

or would we have to go for the 16x6 as the max wheel size?

at the end of the day if you take out the engine, transmisson and extra options out of the sportivo, isn't the chassy and body (and the build) the same as the ascent/conquest?

as for insurence i told them, as they said they will cover me aslong as i'v told them and they have it writen.

ps: reasons is that i'v just put 17x7's with 215/45/17 on my ascent, need to know if it's legal.

[selyaT]

Yeah it's deadset the same car.

Look at your tyre placard. If you are lucky you will have a double placard that has the 14" and 15" rim option. The only problem with 17" rims is that you will have to pay big dollars for tyres that meet the correct load rating. But if you have the double placard then the load rating is lower than if you have the 15" placard only or the placard that came on the Levin (with the 15" mags and pricey Michelins).

[Kenji]

That is a bit troubling then, seeing that I have 7.5" rims on my sportivo.

This suck!!!! Seeing that I called AAMI before I did this stuff and they said it was ok. Now I'm with Justcars and I LIVE IN VIC

[jaderd]

yeah......insurance company generally say if its legal we will insure you and leve it upto you to check etc......prob playing on your mind now......i was annoyed when i found out after looking up vic roads info etc....but saved me in the end as i was pretty much ready to get som 17X7.5 etc.....

[Kenji]

It's all apart of their plans to tell you that it's fine, and then when something happens. *touch wood*

Oh your car has illegal size wheels and rims on it. Sorry we can't insure you.

[dannywss]

It's all apart of their plans to tell you that it's fine, and then when something happens. *touch wood*

Oh your car has illegal size wheels and rims on it. Sorry we can't insure you.

well, that's how they earn money, not?

[Kenji]

Well there's not much I can do now is there besides going back to stock or changing the rims for another set. But that's gonna cost more money.

This is really annoying now just finding this info out lol

[jaderd]

yeah bit of a drainer hey......i always play devils advocat with myself in these situations normally and i'd prob go back to stock and try getting some 17x7's

[Kenji]

These situations sux. I wanted to get CES package and zero 1 coils. Now I've gotta this this stuff first OMG

[wil_rolla]

Yeah it's deadset the same car.

Look at your tyre placard. If you are lucky you will have a double placard that has the 14" and 15" rim option. The only problem with 17" rims is that you will have to pay big dollars for tyres that meet the correct load rating. But if you have the double placard then the load rating is lower than if you have the 15" placard only or the placard that came on the Levin (with the 15" mags and pricey Michelins).

i don't mind spending the money on the tyres to get the right load rating,

it's just i needed to find out if it was legal, so even if i have the 14" placard can i still run on my 17x7?

what are you running on Tayles?

or should i start thinking about selling them now,

ps: black 17x7 light sparco rims maybe for sale soon <_<

Edited June 6, 2008 by wil_rolla

[jaderd]

yeah i think you might have to sell your rims to me maybe ;) just depends on measurements

1)

Width we know is not allowed to be any more than 25mm larger than the widest wheel specified by vehicle manufacture for that model or vehicle series (so im guessing ascent must stick with ascent size....cant go by sportivo size as it depicts model not just vehicle series)

2)

The overall diameter of any replacement rim and tyre must not be (we are only worried about greater than here really unless putting on 12" rims etc) more than 15 mm greater than largest diameter tyre specified by vehicle manufacture for that model or vehicle series (so once again depicts actual model of vehicle

doc from vic roads: http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonlyre...8340/0/VSI8.pdf

and ofcourse point 3 we knos is in realtion to speed and load rating which you must meet to be legal .

easiest way to check this is with a tyre size calculator : http://www.1010tires.com/tiresizecalculator.asp

just chuck in ya stats and it spits it out...must be within the 15mm limit

fun fun

cheers

afew examples

Stock Tire - 195/55R16 Tire 1 - 215/40R17

Overall Diameter: 24.44 in 620.77 mm Overall Diameter: 23.77 in 603.75 mm

therefore running 215/40/17 drops size by greater than 15mm overall diameter so is classified as illegal really.....only off by 2 mm (would not worry is close enough...diffs with tyre manufacturer tread depth etc.....do 5000km and all good :) lol

Stock Tire - 195/55R16 Tire 2 - 205/45R17

Overall Diameter: 24.44 in 620.77 mm Overall Diameter: 24.26 in 616.20 mm

205/40/17 way better only off by 4 mm or so

Edited June 6, 2008 by jaderd