well i got stopped again and considering i hardly drive the thing it's been 2 out of 2 times i'v took it out this week and they always comment on the wheels sticking out the arches about 1 cm but the tread is clearly under the arch

everytime i say it went through an mot like that and i checked with them and they said the tread has to be under the arch, i'm getting really fed up of it all i spent so much money making them fit right so just wondered what is the law what should i tell the police and how the hell to people drive some of there cars everyday liek this and not get fed up of the hassle ?

Mate some of them can be SO petty. I got pulled over for having a number plate light out and told to fix it there and then or get a fine? Thankfully a thud on the tailgate sorted it out, but why would they go to that trouble? One of them illuminates the plate perfectly well and it wasn't even THAT dark!

You can probably keep telling them you are legal and no doubt are, but power goes to some people's heads, simple as that.

I remember someone posting up a extract from somewhere and it clearly states that the tread must be under the arch and the wheel itself (alloy or steels) must not extend more than 30mm from the edge of the arch

i have an SVA rule page in my glove box thats says the wheels are not alowwed to come from outside the body of the car more than 35 mm i keep getting pulled for mine too i think there trying to clamp down!!

fancy scanning it ?

good idea for you to get it martyn, print it and keep it in the car so you can show youre right

yeh i can do actually but I'm at uni at the moment but I'm coming home tonight and i have a scanner ther if you pm me your email adress il send it you if you want??

Question - So how do the hot rod style cars get away with it????

answer - You can run open wheels as long as its no raining. New MOT rules allow you to run open wheels. AS LONG AS THEY DO NOT FOUL THE BODY WORK!

Jonny, can I be cheeky and ask for one aswel?

If so my email address is in my profile

To be fair if I were a traffic cop and I saw your car I'd pull you over and question the wheels...given that they do appear to stick out from the arches. If you point out that the tread is in the arches then you've got nothing to worry about...unless they indeed illegal. Can't really complain if you get pulled over when your car looks (border line) illegal.

my email is martin_hirst@hotmail.com

yes when it rains it doesn't half spray some water out lol

ok il email it to you later on £10 a sheet then yeh should be about 7ish

lol yeah right no rush

To be fair if I were a traffic cop and I saw your car I'd pull you over and question the wheels...given that they do appear to stick out from the arches. If you point out that the tread is in the arches then you've got nothing to worry about...unless they indeed illegal. Can't really complain if you get pulled over when your car looks (border line) illegal.

BUT is it illegal? Or even border line??? I got pull for the same thing and my wheels did stick out, I ask the police officer if he was sure that he was correct. He went and radio'd through and checked his book and came back and told me to be on my way.

The mot states that as long as it is not inclement weather then you can run open wheels. Therefore surely 10 mm 20mm etc are not illegal. Unless its raining lol.

I'll stand corrected if i'm wrong but as i have a number of friends that run mot centres and would be happy to pass a car with sticky out wheels, I'll be surprised if i am.

someone needs to sort this once and for all and get it posted up :)

PROTRUDING WHEELS

I have recently purchased a set of alloy wheels from [a retailer] for my Ford Focus ST170 [who in turn fitted them to my car].

They appeared to be look a wider fitment than the original standard wheel even though they were the same size, 215/45/17, and were visibly protruding beyond the wheel arch on the front by approximately 5-6mm. They have also been catching the wheel arches on the front when going over speed ramps or bigger bumps in the road.

A local MOT Testing Station could not clarify whether this protrusion was classed as illegal so I would hope you could provide clarification? Steven Jewitt

As I understand the situation the only way the MOT is affected is if your new wheels actually foul the bodywork or any other part of the vehicle when the wheels are turned lock to lock when the vehicle is sitting in its normal position.

Remember too that your vehicle has to comply with 'construction and use' regulations which are not necessarily the same as the regulations regarding the MOT. Unfortunately we are unable to assist you with respect to those requirements. - MOTT

Pretty sure the following quote is correct. In the UK wheels must be covered...hence why Caterhams etc. have guards over the wheels.

construction and use is a mine field, but you cannot run rims legally that protrude past the vehicles arches in this country.

Americans can have open wheeled hot rods and bikes, but ours must be covered

At best you only need the treaded part of the tyre covered...at worst there is a law that stipulates how much wheel is allowed outside the arch. Go ask a police officer, they'd only have to look up construction and use and see what the law is.

Oh and just because a car passes an MOT, doesn't make it 100% legal.

Edited 15 May, 200818 yr by Tav

[rant] All this getting stopped for having wheels sticking out from the arch is pathetic! Someone mentioned a 'clamp down'....on what exactly?? The dangerous, evil, killer sticky out wheel?? Seems totally reasonable when as your stopped on the side of the road being b0ll0cked for this terrible wheel crime, someones probably being raped or stabbed! :mad:

However, my rims stick out at the back and I've never been stopped.......saying that ill probably get stopped tomorrow now, and if i do ill give the copper a piece of my mind. [/rant over]

ill give the copper a piece of my mind.

Good luck with that.

I've been in the same situation, and within 2 weeks, after getting stopped nigh on 5 times (virtually everytime I went out) I sold the wheels on.

You can blag it out with some coppers about the tread under the arch etc. which I did a few times. But wait until you get that one copper who thinks he knows the law to the word. Thats when you get a 'vehicle rectification notice', a fine, or even 3 points.

I got lucky and let off with a vehicle rectification notice (or whatever its called) where you get an MOT stamp at a garage. But others haven't been so lucky!

I looked into this awhile ago, and asked specifically for people to come forward with construction and use literature so I had something to show the coppers. The thread has even been made sticky on edition38 under technical help. Still all hear-say and 'it says this...' with no back-up proof.

At the end of the day, if you run your wheels like that, you will get stopped. Its not a question of whether its legal or not, its what the coppers think and how much hassle you are going to get if you run as a daily. Even if you prove its legal, you're still going to be getting pulled all the time, which is a PITA! I didnt think it'd bother me, but after a week or two it does!

A Mate of mine has a similar problem with his kit car - Its an NCF Blitz

The cops tell him that he is illegal because his wheels are wider than the bodywork, however because the Blitz is essentially a beach buggy it actually has no bodywork. So the Nice PC is often corrected and asked exactly which piece of bodywork he is looking from

i have an SVA rule page in my glove box thats says the wheels are not alowwed to come from outside the body of the car more than 35 mm i keep getting pulled for mine too i think there trying to clamp down!!

scan it and pin it on the forum, so if anybody else gets hassled by the rozzers they can print it off and have it safe in there cars for if they get pulled in the future.

this would save you being emailed all the time asking for a copy

a few bits on here make me chuckle and remind me of stupid things i got pulled for.....

i had a white mk3 golf gti and was running black and silver plates so expected to get pulled up on that but no... this time it was 'your number plate lights aren't bright enough!!!' ???? totally standard mate! STILL NOT GOOD ENOUGH APPARENTLY! at which point he said my car was crap and his skyline was better! hahaha!

my first g40 i had stripped the interior bar dash and drivers seat, the copper pulled me over and said i wasn't allowed to take my seats out? i told him he was wasting my time to which he replied 'yea, and i'm gonna waste alot more!' anyway 45 mins later at ~ 1am, after much to and fro on the radio he had to let me go!

got pulled in another golf i used to have for 'cornering too close to the curb sunny' HA!

oh again in my mk3 gti (white) for having 'suspension too low, possible collapsed axles!' haha, yea ok!

they just love harrasing you sometimes! on a couple of occasions they've followed me for miles back to my street then disappeared for no reason??

does anybody own or know where i can get the black book written by an ex traffic officer, it's not publically available but can get you out of 90% of traffic violations or stops on the spot? PLEASE!!!!

well lets put it this way...

all this arch under the bollocks e.t.c. is all a bunch of wives tales...

i went to the MOT station the other day because my wheels protrude about 2 inches... however the tyre is under the arch...

but! .... the MOT station verified there is no law around wheels protruding the arch... however... this brings it down to TUV approval..

if the wheel and tyre combination are TUV approved for that vehicle... this means they are safe... and the vehicle is road legal.... :)

simple as!

well lets put it this way...

all this arch under the bollocks e.t.c. is all a bunch of wives tales...

i went to the MOT station the other day because my wheels protrude about 2 inches... however the tyre is under the arch...

Your wheels protrude 2 inches but the tyres are under the arch. that must be one hell of a stretch? :)

if the wheel and tyre combination are TUV approved for that vehicle... this means they are safe... and the vehicle is road legal.... :)

simple as!

I thought the TUV only specified on wheel / tyre widths not if a certain wheel/tyres width is suitable for a car?

As it has been said many times before you could get stopped if you wheels are protruding out of the arch because as it is evident on this forum there are just as many people who think its legal as there are who thinks its not. This will also be reflected in the police force.