quote:
Originally posted by D. A. Barnes
Sorry to go off topic slightly here but this is very interesting. Im wondering what impact this could have on an event like Monaro Nats? I bought new Firestone red stripe D70s for my car as they were the original fit tyres. What about all the cars that will have the painted red stripe tyres on them? If they are deemed illegal then the authorities will have a field day you would think. Will someone turn a blind eye to this?
If the tyres were manufactured with a red band on them, or any other coloured band, then its no problem.
What the authorities have a problem with, is people buffing the load rating markings off the tyres, to make room to paint a coloured band on the tyre sidewall.
Some of these are rather shonky businesses run out of the back of a rusty van, that effectively have an angle grinder in a jig, that they hold up against the tyre & rotate the tyre around. Its not only illegal, its also stupid, and dangerous for all road users.
And people let these clowns armed with angle grinders near the only thing keeping their car on the bitumen.....
But I digress....
If the tyres, like yours, are manufactured with the band already in place, and all the load ratings are clearly visible (and yes, the ADR standard dictates the size & height of the lettering), then its no problem.
Authorities are not experts, but they can look for a load rating (and have been instructed to) and if its not there, youre gone. A lot of the guys in hiluxes & rodeos running car rims & low-profile rubber get caught out all the time, as the passenger tyres cant achieve the required load rating that commercial tyres can, and the tyre load rating is dictated by the tyre placard. The authorities simply look at the placard, and compare the rating to that on the tyre. Even an uneducated dummy can work out if the tyre is less than the placard (or if the tyre is not showing a load rating) and then its time for a defect.
One particular Pirelli tyre only has markings on one sidewall. A mate has them on his VL. When mounted "backwards" on the rim, the lettering is no longer visible. He was served a defect for the tyres not being roadworthy, as there was no load rating visible on 2 of them (yet the other side were the same tyres, with visible markings).
He took it to court & lost, as the ADR also covers the fitment of tyres, and under that ADR, it states that tyres with markings on only one sidewall, must be mounted with that sidewall facing out.
It may be picky, but its the law, and they will use it.
Cheers,
Mick
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Judge a successful man not on how he treats his peers, but on how he treats those less fortunate.