Legal Issues & Stretching Tyres

[Soundofav6]

Polish or chrome... What ever floates ya boat

Have to get my terminology right .. I mean chrome..

[Water Boy]

Have to get my terminology right .. I mean chrome..

Polish is different to chrome... Chroming is when the rim is covered in a metalic based coat... Polishing just takes a lot of sanding and then elbow grease

[cameo]

Thanks for starting the post cameo.

Hahaha, no worries!

Yeah, this thread clarifys a fair bit. However, once the rims do get a bit of poke, and lets say I do get the fenders rolled and widened to suit the rims, would it instantly be legal, or would I need an engineers certificate or something, on that topic, what exactly does/is an engineers certificate?

[rayray086]

I'm not sure about an engineer's certificate, but I know that once the rim of the wheel is within the fender, then it's "legal".

[Lorenz]

Dont forget you also have a legal limit to the size of rims you run, which in SA and some other states is no more than 2" bigger/wider, therefore you can run 16x6s legally or 14x8s on a MK3 CL/GL legally! (thats if stock wheels are 6" wide, i just took a guess!)

[bboyskidz]

No Offset



Medium Offset


HUUGE offset (couldn't find a pic of some on a golf...)

[DubSteve]

Dont forget you also have a legal limit to the size of rims you run, which in SA and some other states is no more than 2" bigger/wider, therefore you can run 16x6s legally or 14x8s on a MK3 CL/GL legally! (thats if stock wheels are 6" wide, i just took a guess!)

Yes and no I am pretty sure that you can go 2" bigger but its not about how wide you can go! I can't run any smaller rims than 15s cause of brakes, Ideally I would like to go 16x7.5 and 9" wide

[bboyskidz]

there is rules that apply to the entirety of Australia under the "Australian Design Rules".

Here is a link to the PDF detailing how much you can change the standard of the wheels on you car without the need for it to be considered "Modified" and needing an engineer's certificate:

It's pretty small and it is extremely helpful

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registration/downloads/vsi/vsi09_rev4.pdf

[bboyskidz]

after scanning through that again just now, all it says about anything that could relate to tyre stretching is this:

"The tyre and rim industry sets standards for the correct combinations of wheels and tyres. If you are in doubt as to
which tyres are acceptable alternatives for your car, ask your tyre dealer to check for you. The tyres you fit must
correctly match your car’s wheels."

[DubSteve]

Which means nothing about strecthing the tyre

[Water Boy]

Along as u arnt running anything way out of the guards or stupidly big i wouldnt worry at all n:

[Jarred]

I thikn you would be silly to run too much stetch that you often see on euro dubs, just to risky of causing damage. Like with anything that is a grey patch in legal terms, if you get nab'd by the po po with massiV stetch most it's just going to make it that much easier for them to give you a banana peel. where as with a mild stetch that may not notice/take notice of it therefore no defects! which is a good thing.

I also doubt that many coppers would know that mk 3 golfs came with rims 6" wide. A garage/RWC place may tho, just depends on where you go. Again it would have 10" rims, I have a feeling our friendly law enforcement officers will notice

anyways, just my opinions.

[gldgti]

gaining a defect isnt an easy thing to do guys...

to get defected you need atleast one of the following:

1) stupidly obvious modification
2) to be wearing a hat when you are pulled over (ususally a baseball or tennis hat and not straight)
3) many chrome surfaces on your car.
4) to have a shopping list on your door
5) to piss off the copper by being rude or unhelpful.

ofcourse if you have more than one of these you are more likely to be defected. (and indeed, may deserve to be)

my 16x7.5's have 205/45 rubber on them, and as any of you who may have looked at the cruise on sunday will know, there is some nice stretch happening there... i think almost as much as you could get for that rim size... maybe a 195/50 would go on there but it would be difficult to do. it is actually hard to fit a tyre stretched.

i would very much doubt that i'd ever get pinched for my wheels.

use of common sense will keep you safe. if you get something done and stand back and go "holy crap that is some serious poke" or "man i think those wheels are really a bit too big", then you're probably right.

standard rim size for mk3 4cyl cars is 14x6" with 185/60 82H rubber.

[Lorenz]

gaining a defect isnt an easy thing to do guys...

to get defected you need atleast one of the following:

1) stupidly obvious modification
2) to be wearing a hat when you are pulled over (ususally a baseball or tennis hat and not straight)
3) many chrome surfaces on your car.
4) to have a shopping list on your door
5) to piss off the copper by being rude or unhelpful.

Both times i got defected in my 31 i was doing nothing wrong what so ever. Both times i have been very unfortunate and being a P plater, they like to pull you over and ream you up the arse for the hell of it! Ill admit the first time round i had the arse off the car literally scrapping on the road, but i was in the middle of knowhere on my way to Victoria minding my own business!
Second time i was done for being too loud, even tho it was a legal exhaust, i was just cruising up the road, doing nothing wrong, under the speed limit...

Dont have big wheels, dont have a stupid shopping list, was nice to the copper as always and didnt stay sitting in the car while he talked to me like some people do (big mistake!)

Ah well, the chances of getting pulled over and done when driving a golf is pretty minimal, hence why i bought one

[cameo]

Good, I like the sound of what I'm hearing!

How about insurance though? Knowing my situation (a P plater), no doubt they're not going to like the fact that I'll be dropping my car, stretching my tyres, and running mid-offset rims.
Get it insured stock and then go about the mods? Tell them as I go (that is what I'm assuming is the correct thing to do)?

Cheers, and thanks for answering all the questions and querys, you all are good eggs!