Lowering Your Ute

[XRPhantom]

well, I asked a friend at a tyre shop about getting some new 18's for the ute, he said they couldnt legally fit them, as my car is a 1 tonner, and there are no tyres with the correct load rating.. which brings me to my point.

as my car is a tonner, if I lower it, with the same, or increased load rating, I still dont increase load capacity, as it is an engineered thing, BUT if I fit my 18's, the load rating is obviously going to be lower, but am I breaking the law having a lower load rating, or is it only if I load the tyres over their rating that it becomes an issue??

this is involved with this thread, as I want to lower it to make it look better with the 18's, but want to be able to whack the stock 16's with load rated tyres on if I need to load it up. I am now in a quandry :(

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Rota Motor,

You will definately have no issues with 18's on the car and they will hold the load the car is designed for, they bring 18's out on them as an option these days. The Maloo has 19's and not sure about the Pursuit but im guessing they could possibly be 19's aswell and they have no drama's carrying loads. There are literally 100's of utes both Commodores and Falcons with 18,19 & 20 inch rims getting around so you should have no worries with the 18's. The main thing (Well NRMA told me, not sure about others) is the width of the rim on certain vehicles, find out what you insurance company will allow. The best thing I can suggest is just ring your insurance company and ask all the questions you have concerns about and they will set you on the right path.

Cheers,

Greg

[Guest Rota_Motor]

thanks greg,

but the issue, I believ, is because my ute is a tonner, which has heavier suspension and higher load rated tyres from the factory, if it was an XR, or a XL/XLS styleside with the 'sports' suspension, the load rating is lower, and the 18's meet it fine.

I guess if they dont look too close, they wont even see the C on the end of the tyre rating

[Lumpen]

Yeah, the load rating on the SS is only about 450 and on th XR's is around 600...not the full tonne.

Might be prudent to go 17's if you use your ute at full load alot...

[YOOT]

I have new Pedders springs in the back with a better load rating. The ride is still exactly the same. It lowered the car about 20-25mm in the rear so the rear is now level with the front, I don't want to lower the front or rear anymore as I put bikes in the back and there are some pretty bad gutters where im from. The 20's definately filled the guards anyway.

Resetting springs seems a bit dodgy to me (Just like chopping springs at the front) but there are plenty of people who have don it and have no probs.

Hope this helps 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You contradict yourself, you worry about your load rating, but you have a 20" rim. What is the profile of that 20" tyre? I am willing to bet either

1. You profile is only a 30 series, in which case you car is illegal because currently there are no load rated 20" tyres available. So worrying about your springs is irrelevent.

2. Your profile is larger and your over all diametre is shot to pieces and you speedo is waaaaay out!

I lowered mine by putting in super low kings in the front and reseting the rear leafs. The rear dropped around 75mm and the front droped about 40mm.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well that's funny that my wheels are covered in my insurance policy, but hey if you say so then they must be illegal. Speaking of being illegal im pretty sure your insurance company wouldn't be covering you with the arse dropped 75mm by resetting the springs :lol:

And about the load rating, nowhere did I say I was "Worried" about my load rating. Simply the new springs "Could" carry a higher load should I ever need to do so (Which is unlikely) The reason I got them because they were the lowest spring that Pedders had available. And yes my speedo is out by about 5km when doing 60, but this can be fixed when I take the car in for warranty work by them simply changing the rolling diametre in the ECU.

My post was simply answering Rota Motor's question of "How did you do it?". And that's how I did it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just cars insures everything, including the drop, it still has 120mm clearance under neath, just enought room to fit a jack. Its legal, you just have to remember the utees come standrd with 4wd like supension, not like the sedans. 75mm at the back was what it took to match the superlows at the front. Simple.

[Guest Rota_Motor]

Yeah, the load rating on the SS is only about 450 and on th XR's is around 600...not the full tonne.

Might be prudent to go 17's if you use your ute at full load alot...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

thing is, I am going to keep the stock wheels, and put them on whenever I need to carry a big load, which probably wont be very often at all.

might tow cars a bit, but load on the tray will only be a motor and box and toolbox at most I would think, most of the time.

[turtle33]

well, I asked a friend at a tyre shop about getting some new 18's for the ute, he said they couldnt legally fit them, as my car is a 1 tonner, and there are no tyres with the correct load rating.. which brings me to my point.

as my car is a tonner, if I lower it, with the same, or increased load rating, I still dont increase load capacity, as it is an engineered thing, BUT if I fit my 18's, the load rating is obviously going to be lower, but am I breaking the law having a lower load rating, or is it only if I load the tyres over their rating that it becomes an issue??

this is involved with this thread, as I want to lower it to make it look better with the 18's, but want to be able to whack the stock 16's with load rated tyres on if I need to load it up. I am now in a quandry :(

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Rota Motor,

You will definately have no issues with 18's on the car and they will hold the load the car is designed for, they bring 18's out on them as an option these days. The Maloo has 19's and not sure about the Pursuit but im guessing they could possibly be 19's aswell and they have no drama's carrying loads. There are literally 100's of utes both Commodores and Falcons with 18,19 & 20 inch rims getting around so you should have no worries with the 18's. The main thing (Well NRMA told me, not sure about others) is the width of the rim on certain vehicles, find out what you insurance company will allow. The best thing I can suggest is just ring your insurance company and ask all the questions you have concerns about and they will set you on the right path.

Cheers,

Greg

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

you are correct about the sizes offered on other types of utes, but all of these are rated to carry a lot less than 1 tonne. The is no tyre that's over 16" that is rated to carry 1 tonne.(and still have the correct rolling diameter). You will void your insurance immedatly, if a cop knows what he is looking at he will defect it as well.Another problem will be the actual rim, some are rated as low as 680kg/rim (1000 kgs payload= 500kgs/rim + the weight of the car). There are rims that will handle the weight they are mainly for the 4wd/suv market BUT no tyres. I know all of this thru a court case over writing off my maloo, the insurance co say I had too much weight in it as its only rated to 350kgs.So that said Rota you will DEFINATLY have problems with the 18's Most commercial load capacity's are restricted because of the tyres not the suspension.

Edited 22/03/05 09:45 AM by turtle33

[Guest Rota_Motor]

that's what I didnt want to hear :(

time to sell the toner, buy a SS ute with the lower load rating, and swap the backs over :(

or just try to find some decent looking 16s.. which wont be easy while keeping the high sidewalled load rated tyres.. and those bloody huge BA wheel arches up front :(

[Ford Grunt]

you are correct about the sizes offered on other types of utes, but all of these are rated to carry a lot less than 1 tonne. The is no tyre that's over 16" that is rated to carry 1 tonne.(and still have the correct rolling diameter). You will void your insurance immedatly, if a cop knows what he is looking at he will defect it as well.Another problem will be the actual rim, some are rated as low as 680kg/rim (1000 kgs payload= 500kgs/rim + the weight of the car). There are rims that will handle the weight they are mainly for the 4wd/suv market BUT no tyres. I know all of this thru a court case over writing off my maloo, the insurance co say I had too much weight in it as its only rated to 350kgs.So that said  Rota you will DEFINATLY have problems with the 18's Most commercial load capacity's are restricted because of the tyres not the suspension.

I agree and dont agree it would only become a problem if you got pulled up or had an accident if the tyres on the car at the time were overloaded.

Can't possible see a problem with insurance or otherwise if you had 18s on and the load you were carrying was say 400-500kg. As said the XRs are rated for 600kg with 17s. Of course it would be a problem carrying a load of one tonne with wheels larger than 16s that are'nt rated for the load.

Its like sort of like a Corolla towing a car trailer, its legal until it has a car on it.

[Guest Rota_Motor]

ford grunt has hit the nail on the head about my issue, if I fit lower load rated tyres, but dont overload the tyres, is that illegal??

my plan has been to fit 18s for play, but when it needs to do some work and carry a load, then the rated stockies go back on...

ah hell, that sounds like a plan to me, its either overloaded or its not.

[turtle33]

ford grunt has hit the nail on the head about my issue, if I fit lower load rated tyres, but dont overload the tyres, is that illegal??

my plan has been to fit 18s for play, but when it needs to do some work and carry a load, then the rated stockies go back on...

ah hell, that sounds like a plan to me, its either overloaded or its not.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

yeah mate big time illegal, im having issues tring to get 19 or 20 for my v8 courier, dept of trans stuffing me around just letting me know what I have to do or even if its possible to change tyre ratings.Insurance WONT cover you if they find anything illegal on yor car if your in an accident. Remember nothing is illegal untill you get caught. I had a 300kg tool box and 14 40kg bags of cement in the T today and the tyres didnt blow. There is fair safety margin in anything to do with load ratings BUT dont be under any misconceptions that you will be on your own when the the hits the fan. If your unsure about anything to do legalities of load rating call the DOT. Any info gathered on any forum should be used as a guide only as it wont hold up in court to say so n so said.

good luck mate.

Ps. The SS wont take an alloy tray.

Edited 24/03/05 11:21 AM by turtle33