stuff like air filters gearknobs, steering wheels.. all technically have to have a permit.. anthing that is not factory fitted has to be deemed safe to use (ie ADR approved) and things like air filters can change the emmision output of your vehicle..

i used to be in rental cars at the airport and a cop was bragging to me he could yellow sticker a brand new car.. they can always find something if they want to.. just smile and yes officer and you should be fine.. its generally smart asses that get yellows

guy i know has a permit for his 5 speed gearbox in his escort.. you cant tell its a five speed... even the pits wouldnt pick it up.. but just in case

if it was me that got a yellow for bald tyres that i had already ordered.. id be pissed too but i can see why they did it mate

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Expert in training

WA sounds tough! Surely they can't be THAT bad!

On the vicroads website there is pages and pages of what you can and cannot do.

In Vic aftermarket airfilters are okay if if you are not removing or rerouting any emssions gear. So minis with air pumps (76 on) cannot have a ram-flo or similar legally fitted. The filters the ricers use on modern cars generally bolt on well before any emissions gear is connected to the intake tract. Exhausts are also okay as long as emissions gear remains intact and noise remains under 83db (96 db pre 1983). Extractors are okay too if they are certified by the manufacturer of the extractors to comply with emissions laws. Steering wheels greater than 330mm are legal. Gearknobs - no problem!

You can even legally fit different seats in pre 1969 vehicles without an engineer's certificate in Vic. It's up to the RWC inspector to decide if they are safe.

But, as you say, if a cop wants to defect you, he will always find SOMETHING! I know a guy who was defected because his handbrake went up 8 clicks (cop reckoned 6 clicks was the max) and his washer bottle was empty!

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

Yep i totally agree with u miniVan... the buggers beat me to it tho.

Cops doing LICENSE CHECKS huh??? Bullshit. They do defect stations, under the cover of "random license checks". Take a moment to count how many BMWs, Mercs and Volvos get pulled over at the same location to prove my point. They never license check drivers of those cars.

Do you see why i want to build my minis as HILLS cruisers and not city cruisers???

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[NATHAN] -- Sold everything mini related and am back in big beautiful BMWs

they only defect cars that are unsafe or the owner is being a tool to the cop..
i've been stopped alot of times, never been defected.. and the pits aint that hard to get over.. just makes you 'do all those things youve been meaning to do for ages'.

no way am i letting fear stop me from driving any of my cars where i want to

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Expert in training

I'm not gonna play silly bugger's here. I've been on the wrong end of coppers too many times. Even in the mini when I was pulled over at midnight a block from my house, and they stripped the car bare "looking for sharp objects or weapons". I didnt know my wallet would hold anything sharp or a weapon. Seemed suspiciously like they were looking for "green".

I copped the canary's, I fixed my car, I was never happy about it, and half of em were BS. Live with it.

one little point though. Tread depth indicators from the factory, are not actually any good for legality reasons. Tread depth must be at least 1.5mm. They even mention the size of a head of a matchstick.

The problem with tread indicators is they arent always 1.5mm. The indicators vary due to different countries the tyres are sold in, and how often they want you to change your tyres.

But copper's arent always intelligent animals. Being booked for squealing my tyres round a roundabout proved that. Pulled up at the next servo with the copper behind me asking what all the noise was about. Looked down, and pointed out the flat tyre. Still copped the ticket

Make of it what you will.

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"He's always been a dickhead, He always is a dickhead, He will always be a dickhead. So stop complaining when he acts like one."

Im gunna have to disagree there, modern day street tyres will not have more traction when they are bald. If that was the case why would race cars run slicks??? The compounds of the two are entirely different, and so work differently. Slicks are a much softer compound.

Think of a slick on a drag car v's bald street tyre. Whos gunna have more traction on launch?? Thanks to the burnout, the tyre heats up and due to the slick being softer compound, it becomes sticky, meaning more traction compared to a bald street tyre. As a tyre heats up, then cools the rubber becomes harder each time. Thus causing the tyre to perform even worse. So the older the tyre the harder it will be.

The reason those Avons would have been buffed, is to improve the grip. Buffing the tyre removes excess tread which means the tread blocks are lower, which in turn stops the car squirming around on the tread blocks. Giving more precise handling.

did you know that driving with fog lights in NSW is illegal ... a car we had had them & the switch was stuck ..." I got bulled up " when I was trying to get in my drive way & they had someone else pulled up there ... itsa long story but the short one was $76 fine & defect .... baldy Bugger was havin a bad hair day !!!! some cops a wankers

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7/1970 mini k every day Lil k for sale
1964 deluxe project

1970 cb175 resto ..was a victim of canberras fire storm jan 03.. nearly pristine again..

Hanra,
Not saying they have more traction when bald- you summed it up at the end when you said why the Avons were buffed, it reduces the tread block depth and makes the tyre stiffer in turns.

I just put 2 new Goodyears GA's on front of the EA Ford (no they weren't bald...) Are these better in the wet? Yes. Does it turn in as well in the dry? No way....

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Cool Doc, glad thats sorted. It just seemed that Big willy was under the impression that a blad street tyre was going to give more traction then a treaded tyre. I can see where you were coming from now though.

Ok so the switch was "stuck" but they were right. Anything other than dipped headlights is high beam, and thus must not be on when within 200m of another vehicle (in the direction of the headlights, not behind you ). The only exception is fog lights, but they can only be used in fog. Anyway nothing pisses me off more than wankers driving around with only their fog lights on.

I think most of you are missing the point here. In NSW we have annual inspections, which whilst not perfect, mean that a cop won't give you a defect unless he has a reason to pull you over in the first place. In other words you do someting that attracts their attention. You are easier to deal with than violent domestics, which is the daily bread of general duties. I am yet to be defected in my mini despite being pulled over about 6 times, in which every time i did do something. Its all about attitude.

The states where the cops are forced to set up vehicle inspections because the politicians don't have the balls to introduce annual inspections, conducted by trained mechanics suffer a larger incidence of unradworthy vehicles. I suggest that as enthusiasts you should welcome these intrusions, because it means that if they are pulling over you, who care for your car, it also means they are pulling over anyone who simply gets in and sits behind the wheel every day. These are the real targets. Face it most of these guys (the cops - lets humanise them people) are in their early 20s, with a little mini owner charm, convincing them that you are not someone that is driving an old shitter, but a true classic that deserves their respect should be a snatch.

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the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

HA!!! as if.....the real targets are the P platers!! ....regardless of whether they've actually done anything wrong.....like the time i was on my way to pick-up my wallet (that i'd lost the night before) and got pulled into a bretho.......blow 0.00 so no worries, cept the bum in front of me was pissed as....

anyway i'm waiting for them to get the guys car out of the way so i can leave and the cop decides he wants to see my liscence (i hadn't done a thing wrong) so i try to explain that i was on my way to get it......do you think he cared? NO....the real targets are ALWAYS the P platers

i know its not quite the same, but its an example of the way cops love to show their power over young people

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play 3d car games for free

Sorry but I just don't buy the poor old "picked on" P platers argument.


From Transport SA - It is a condition of your probationary licence in SA that.....


It seems the P platers just can't get it through their heads that there is NO such thing as "my rights" on the road. There is only obligations and the privilage to hold a licence. That privilage will be withdrawn if you don't forfill those obligations.

No it is an example of the cops doing their job - You are not permitted to drive without your licence on you. You know that, they know that, you got cought doing the wrong thing, If there is anyone to bitch at here it is yourself for forgetting the rules.

you know, i was just going to say that

but i didn't want to seem old

the reason cops are harder on p platers is because there's a greater likelyhood of a p plater not knowing the rules...

and it probably seems that they're harder on you because when you first get your p's (hopefully) you've never been pulled over before and it can appear worse than it is..

shutting up now...(back in my cage)

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i'm a bit concerned about the way people are thinking about coppas on here
no i'm not a cop and i dont know any

if p-platers think that coppas are out to get em then maybe you should look at your driving styles if your always 'targeted' i've been off my ps for quite some time and ive had as much attention now as i did when i was on my p's

i used to drive a vw beetle on my p's that had a 12" wider track than legal and an exhaust with no muffler.. (would set car alarms off in underground car parks.. straight through extractors.. no muffler)

10 pc body kit with fibreglass bonnet and a stereo that you could hear from a mile away... coppas could have had a field day.. specially with the p's up in the window

never once did i get hassled.. i did get pulled over a few times.. once i had two tail lights out in the middle of the night.. the coppa escorted me to the petrol station so i could safely get a new fuse.. no yellow.. no fine

its all about your attitude not theirs.. they are just people doing there job

i wish we had annual inspections... ever been rear ended by a guy who blew a dried out brake line and no insurance and no money

if a coppa defects your car its probably best for you and the rest of us on the street that he did

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Expert in training