One year, seven months, 11 days....

[Rollin]

...is how long it took me to get defected :/

Went down the coast last night to meet some lady friends at cavil, and picked up Fairmont888 on the way.

Was cruising along at the speed limit (for once in my life haha) and we saw a cop car down a side street, facing away from us. Came to a T intersection a little way down the road and I noticed the cop car pull up behind the car that was behind me. Gently gently off the lights turning right and down the road at the speed limit, and after maybe 100m down the road the lights on the cop car go on - I thought "Yay, they are pulling over someone other than me!"...but no.

The cop car overtook the car that was behind me and pulled in behind my car, so I turned down a side street and stopped.

Cop gets out, usual (not so) Random Breath Test and licence check, but I noticed the other guy getting very interested in my rear wheels He came round the front and asked me to pop the bonnet, and I was thinking....bugger...and bugger me, didn't he have a look! Followed my cooler piping, got very interested in the space between my engine and radiator for some reaon (???) and dug around in there for ages!

When he started talking to me I noticed he was a QLD Transport officer with 11tybillion bits of ribbon on his shirt, (one coloured ribbon for every 50 hoon cars defected perhaps?) not just a normal cop - I was fully preparing myself for a proper reaming, let me give you the drum!

We had a chat for a bit about the rear wheels and their legalities (or lack thereof ), turbo setup, gearbox etc and he told me he was giving me a defect notice for the rear wheels being too wide, tyres insufficient tread (LOL - situation normal ) and the exhaust hanging too low.

Defect notice doesn't come with a fine but I have to change the illegal bits that he noticed, get a safety certificate/roadworthy and post it to QLD transport. Cop gave me a $75 fine and 1 point for "Driving a defective vehicle". I wonder if they'll notice if I write the safety certificate out myself?

Bit disappointed that I got pulled over when I was driving like a skirt, and getting the one point but I'm glad I got out of it so lightly - it could have been much worse:

Bonnet vents - no care
Screamer pipe - didn't notice
Exhaust bypass pipe - didn't notice
Twin atmospheric vented BOVs - didn't notice
Battery in boot - didn't check, but also didn't ask where it had got to, as it wasn't in the engine bay
Exposed pod filter bigger than your head - didn't care...

They could prob have been cnts and got the car towed if they wanted, but I think my charming personality encouraged them to be nice

[ed40]

That sucks to hear man! Whats the plan? Remove all the turbo stuff and get reinspected NA?? I think he just couldnt be bothered listing all the other shit because the inspection will find all that shit anyway..

[OED666]

well, its not the turbo bits that he got defected for... so i would guess those goodies are staying put.

so what's the go with the rear wheels? like how far do they need to sit in the guards?

[ed40]

Oh ok. over here we can get defected for no brake lights, but you still have to go and get a complete inspection! They don't just check our brake lights and say yeah ok and remove the sticker...

[edfairmont4.0]

QLD rules! still what a pain in the arse, get a dodgy safety cert. I think my mate can do them.

I think when ya drive with sand in it , thats when they get suspicious lol

[Phoenix]

can't complain about that! as you said, coulda been a whole lot worse - lol at not noticing/caring about lack of battery in engine bay.

[slo_sprint]

Unlucky man, good to hear he didn't completely ream ya!

I'm in the same boat, i got defected (amidst other charges ) in the skyline for being too low but luckily for me i only have to take the car to a cop shop so they can re-measure it and clear the defect and thankfully they didn't notice any of the other defectable stuff.

Don't ya just love being in the wrong place at the wrong time!

[Wave_Man]

Damn that sucks

A little off topic, but why does the battery matter? Is it different rules in QLD or something...? I have my battery in the boot bcoz of cooler pipes, and i asked for a Jump start off a Cop just tuesday gone. He didn't seem to care one bit...

[Phoenix]

just woulda thought that it'd cause suspision that there was other mods is all i.e. turbo and all related mods.

[Rollin]

ed40 - I don't need to worry about the turbo stuff - if he didn't like it he would have fisted me for it. $80 QLD mod plates FTMFW.

If I didn't have 'contacts' I would prob have to fix all the stuff properly before getting a safety cert for it, (which is a full inspection, but done at a licenced inspection station, not at a QLD transport branch as such) but luckily that isn't a worry

OED - ADRs require the wheels to be within the guards when the vehicle is viewed in 'plan' view - ie, from the top, so I'm ok there, but they are just too wide - he was under the impression XR6s (yay for rear garnish ) came out with 15x8s stock so he said a 9" rim would be ok with the correct offset. I thought they were 15x7s or 7.5 but I wasn't going to argue that point

Doesn't really matter as the diff is AU, and he did say that I could apply to have the wider wheels accepted as legal at a later date, after consultation with an engineer. I'll do that when I get the bigger brakes and matching front wheels to avoid having 3 mod plates stuck to the car...

slo_sprint - do tell or let me know on msn if you want.

[Commando]

They could prob have been cnts and got the car towed if they wanted, but I think my charming personality encouraged them to be nice

That, or the tyre iron in your hand, twitching eye, & jugular vein?

[EFFalcon]

coulda been worse eh

[Malakai]

Unlucky!

You will just have to stretch 205s onto the drifteks... would that count?

[t1MMy]

Hahaha you got off light by the sounds of it. Maybe you just got a lazy cop who couldnt be bothered going through everything that you have done to the car.
On the other hand, cops do have to meet a quota of how many ppl the pull over for the shift, and some cars just happen to catch the eye of people who drive cars with red & blue flashing lights, funny bout that.

[Rollin]

Wave-man - I didn't see your post there last night. Batteries in boots are a grey area because of the possiblity of hydrochloric acid spills and the fact that they release hydrogen gas under certain circumstances, both of which are obviously hazardous to passengers.

There is nothing 'unsafe' about the way my battery is fitted, but something doesn't have to actually be unsafe or illegal to warrant a fine. The cop just has to decide that they think it is, and then you have to either change it or somehow prove that it is not.

[XRated]

Hey Rollin don't sealed batteries eliminate that risk? I thought you had one.

[mooseman]

On a completely random and unrelated note I was up in QLD on the w/e for a footy trip and damn Caville Ave is chaotic of a night time. Its so fucking ridiculous. We couldnt believe the amount of people fighting/blind drunk and/or getting arrested. Still had an awesome time up there though.... Your women are like 11tybillion better then ours....

[Wave_Man]

Wave-man - I didn't see your post there last night. Batteries in boots are a grey area because of the possiblity of hydrochloric acid spills and the fact that they release hydrogen gas under certain circumstances, both of which are obviously hazardous to passengers.

There is nothing 'unsafe' about the way my battery is fitted, but something doesn't have to actually be unsafe or illegal to warrant a fine. The cop just has to decide that they think it is, and then you have to either change it or somehow prove that it is not.

Cheers Mate...

Never even thought about that side of it...

[Rollin]

Hey Rollin don't sealed batteries eliminate that risk? I thought you had one.

Did have a couple of odessey batteries, which died, so I got new ones under warranty, then the new ones died about 6 months later. $600 down the drain. Got a new semi-sealed one from work, (I think it's to suit an astra IIRC) has like 11tyzillion more CCA than the odessey ones and is powering along like a trooper to this day.

[XRated]

Hey Rollin don't sealed batteries eliminate that risk? I thought you had one.

Did have a couple of odessey batteries, which died, so I got new ones under warranty, then the new ones died about 6 months later. $600 down the drain. Got a new semi-sealed one from work, (I think it's to suit an astra IIRC) has like 11tyzillion more CCA than the odessey ones and is powering along like a trooper to this day.

Yeah I remember the dramas you had with the Odyssey batteries. I'm sure you could just say your current one is sealed to a novice cop. How many CCAs does the Astra battery have? What's it worth?