Just Got My First Defect,advise Needed Please

[blackprincegts]

Hey people.

Iv driven skylines for 4 years now, never been defected until today. I was pulled over for no real good reason and immidiatly i knew they were going to defect because out come the book and tape measure soon as the cops hopped out of the car.

Anyway, iv been defected for.. too low (on completely stock suspesion), it stated in their little black book that i should have 360mm from centre of wheel to lip of guard. I had 357mm on rear and 353mm on front from memory. Also no tune up sticker, and no tyre info plackard. So bassically its off to regency i go.

The cars a 92 r32 gts t, riding on 245/ 35 19's (i know theyr too big.) Iv taken the rims off and replaced them with the stockies, car now sits lower to the ground naturally but the measurement from the centre of wheel to guard has not changed, i dont know what to do. The bloody springs,shocks are all stock. They were replaced when the last owner went through regency just before i bought the car. The car passed regency and now theyr hassling me instead. How am i going to raise the height when im already running the stock setup???

Im so pissed at this..its just not fair, the cars had numerous mechanical inspections and passed through very well.

Any help appreciated..

Cheers

[Thunderbolt]

I've never heard of the centre of wheel to guard distance as being a factor in defecting a car. Usually it is that the lowest point of the car must be at least 100mm from the ground. I'd be checking the regulations for this if I were you.

The tyre placard should have been supplied when the car was complied, and if it wasn't then the compliance company could be in trouble.

Also what tune up sticker are you referring to? Surely not the one that states when you need to change your oil right?

[a20089]

Also no tune up sticker, and no tyre info plackard.

Heheh if the cop says you need a tune up sticker I think he's making stuff up.

Maybe it's a hint to get a tune

No idea on the hights he's refering to.

[blackprincegts]

tune up plackard bassically is the sticker on the inside of the bonnet saying the engine family, spark plug gap and base timing setting.. it is missing and i know that my last r32 that got complied had to have one stuck on so technically he is correct.

Yeah 100mm from lowest point of vehicle is what i thought was normally done as well.. Thats the test they did last time on my last car and i passed.

Its a load of crap because i know that the car is not dangeroulsy low. its the same as my wifes stock 4dr also but according to their book im to low..

Im also lead to believe that this measurement i speak of is only a factor of roadworthiness in SA ? ? Not sure if thats correct either..

ill be ringing regency first thing tommorowto find out where i stand because right now im buggered if i know. but if any one else has tips or advice id be glad to recieve it.

[JiN_MaN]

Clean up your suspension make it look really good and clean and regency wont have a problem if its all stock and in good condition. Ive been in the same boat. You just need to hope for a normal inspector and not an asshole, and maybe show them a quote from Nissan for new items so they know its huge dollars to replace.

and did you have a full tank of fuel? if so that would probably solve the height for the rears.

[blackprincegts]

nah fuel was just above empty unfortunatly.

yeah suspension is pretty clean looking pretty much.. Pedders checked it over just a couple of weeks ago and they said all bushes and everything were perfect.

Iv been told by a few people now that because the cops actually wrote " Front too low, minimum allowed 360mm" that regency will have to ensure that my car meets this standard before passing it. Bassically im thinking im going to have to go and get hightened springs for the front end it seems. What a joke hey.. And iv just been doing some more measuring up and now that i have the stock 16's back on my exhaust has dipped down to 90mm above ground level so there going to do me for that now to i figure..

Im wondering if borrowing my brothers 17" rims with 205/45's on them will raise it enough, any ideas on whether this is viable ? The stockies currently on the car have 205/55's on them.. mmm... only have to pickup 10mm somehow in order to fix the under carriage clearance worry..

[blind_elk]

Tyre / wheel size will have absolutely no effect on the measurement. The centre of rim is the same as centre of axle, and the axle is sitting on the suspension.

I'm sure the car can be lowered to around 345 (it will be mentioned in dozens of search results). The measurement might be indicative of ground clearance, but only a measurement of ground clearance is definitive.

[Fixxxer]

In QLD they say that you can't reduce suspension travel by more than 33% (1/3) of the original manufacturers dimensions. Think it's from the rubber bump stop to the corresponding metal stop. This sounds like what they are pulling you up for.

First, see if you can find out if this "360mm" actually exists, and is what the manufacturer correctly states.

If it is correct, see what you can remove from the car to make up for the few mm your missing, remove spare wheel, empty tank, not sure what you can do for your front though....

Fixxxer

[DECIM8]

i know its a little weird but ive heard of people jacking up the car to reduce the compression on the springs leaving it jacked up for about 20 mins and then driving it into the bays .. just a thought if its stock suspension

[cooks44]

Ouch! I feel your pain, just got my first defect too... I have heard/seen the jacking up idea work - you'll only get 10-20mm lift or so, but if that's enough then you should be right!

[blackprincegts]

lol cheers fellas, yeah i tried the jacking up idea last night but it seems as soon as i drive the car it resets back to normal.

I just rang regency though and he has told me that they see skylines all the time with brand new suspension from nissan that fall under the 360mm measurement. He said that the only test they will be doing to determine ride height is this one i speak of not actual ground clearnace. The guy i spoke with rekns that they often see near new holdens failing this test even... Its a pretty anal way of doing it i think.

Grrrr.. im thinking now of maybe somehow making the seat of the spring thicker by just a couple of mm just as a temp fix. any idea if this would work ?

Edited July 20, 2007 by blackprincegts

[blind_elk]

If the rule is "ground clearance", then that is what they should be measuring. I'm sure GMH doesn't send cars off their production line and not in compliance with the "ground clearance" ruling. If a new car doesn't comply, then it is probable that the methodology of the test is invalid.

You could jack the car up a bit by using a plate between the strut top and the chassis. Only needs to be 10mm thick. Shouldn't be overly hard (and therefore overly expensive) to make.

[Fixxxer]

Why would new suspension from nissan be failing this test? They obviously have something wrong then.

Find out from Regency what section of the transport Act, or the vehicle standards Act, that you are in breach of. There si no law (in QLD at least) that doesn't permit you to lower you're vehicle, however, there are limits to the amount of lowering you can do (33% as mentioned in my first post).

Find out from Nissan what the standard measurements from the factory were.

Fixxxer

[blackprincegts]

Thing is i dont know if its just my stock suspension or all r32's stock suspension. Im going to ring nissan and ask for the stock measurements as they come from japan and compare them like you have suggested to do.

As most people probably know already regency park inspection station has a very bad rep when it comes to being inconsistant with rules etc.. Iv experienced this when complying my last car. 1st time in, they failed a number of things, 2nd time around i went in my security uniform on way to work and they must of taken this as meaning im a more responsible person or something and they ticked off the very things they had failed no questions asked., and on top of this they were much kinder to me the 2nd time around.,lol..

Theyr forever changing their rules and regs and whats acceptible and whats not!!I think this is just another case of that happening hey.

[blackprincegts]

ok cheers everyone for your ideas and input. A friend of mine is turning me up a couple of mm thick plate to sit under the strut tower. When he started measuring my car up etc he laughed because he measured his vt ss with stock suspension and from any point you want to measure the thing sits lower to the ground than my skyline.

Seriously i wish there was something that could be done about this whole unfair discrimination of our cars thing!!Something interesting iv also found out today is that apparently the police cannot defect me for no tune up placard.. Ill be looking into this and maybe make a complaint against the officers, not that it will do any good most probably..

Cheers again people!

Edited July 21, 2007 by blackprincegts

[Owgasm]

Doing searches on this topic.

Can anyone direct me to the topic with more information on these measurments.

Just put new HKS's on and my front lip sits 14cm above the ground (Every other panel/skirt/guard/bumper is higher). Will be doing the wheel to guard and exhaust measurement.

Trying everything to avoid defects when the car is on the road.

[burgO.]

Owgasm - 14cm = 140mm which is well above the legal ground clearance (100mm)

IMO i'd try to get as much weight out of the car as possible i.e spare tyre, empty fuel tank etc just hope they dont check for the tyre

[Cain]

its called eyebrow height....

and im pretty sure it is 360mm in adelaide...

but its pretty retarded.

[blackprincegts]

^^yeah iv found this out recently^^. Iv now raised the car to 365mm eyebrow height and im ready for some off road action, lol, just got to get monster truck wheels for it now and regency should be happy.haha

by the way though, we just wacked 2 small washers on the inside of the strut tower and used some black silicone to seal of the small gap between the top hat of the strut and the strut tower. Im hopeing that regency find this acceptible, does anyone know if what iv done will be allowed or not ? as i said, its raised the eyebrow height plenty.

cheers fellas

[Cain]

aslong as they dont notice it should pass.