Just took my daughters TE sedan down to Bob Jane in Eltham to get the Rada wheels balanced,fitted and an alignment and they refused to fit as they reckon they're too tall! The Rada's are the std 215/60X16" and the ones on it are 205/65X15. I thought this strange as the Rada is pretty much the same car. Am I wrong and what's the legality here in Vic ? It seems many on the Forum have done this mod.

Circumference
203.42cm - TE Wheels
208.73cm - Rada Wheels

Thats the difference they're talking about..

SuFz :ninja:

6mm bugger all difference i would find another tyre shop.

6mm bugger all difference i would find another tyre shop.

Agreed.. But some shops have hissy fits about things like that.

SuFz :ninja:

If the wheel + tyre combo fitted to your TE was the biggest combo set fitted to the magna's, then in that case the tyre shop would be correct in saying that the change is illegal. Let me explain:

The Victorian modification law stipulates that you are allowed to increase/decrease the diameter of the wheel AND tyre together by NO MORE THAN 15mm +/- from the largest or smallest wheel & tyre option fitted the entire model or vehicle series.

See my post here - http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96299&p=1512178&viewfull=1#post1512178 and the actual guide here - http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/9B3A858D-15A0-4572-90BF-3D08214BF7BE/0/VSInumber8Guidetomodificationsformotorvehicles.pdf



There are two modifications you can make the wheels of the car without needing certification. That is increase/decreasing the size of the wheel by no more than 1 inch (25mm) and/or increasing/decrease the ROLLING DIAMETER OF THE WHEEL & TYRE by NO more than 15mm than the biggest or smallest tyre fitted to the model of car.

In the case of the magna - the Series II VRX's had the largest set of wheels and tyres at 225/50/R17. This means that the width of the tyre is 225mm, the height of the sidewall is 50% of the width @ 225mm, and the tyre is a radial tyre (R) with 17" wheel on the inside. The total rolling diameter is ~659mm. Therefore you can basically fit any diameter wheels, provided that together with the tyre, the rolling diameter does not increase to more than 675mm or decrease to less than 644mm.


In your case going from 205/65X15 (647mm) to 215/60X16 (664mm), means you are increasing the rolling diameter by 17mm, which would be illegal without engineers certification IF there was no other sets of wheels + tyres fitted to the line of magna's. But there were, in the form of the sports models and verada's.

The guidelines are a little hazy on what models it refers too (e.g. just TE alone, or the entire 3rd gen series?) so it might worth checking with Vicroads. According to the guide it says:



The overall diamater of any replacement rim and tyre must not be:

- More than 15mm greater than the largest diameter
tyre specified by the vehicle manufacturer for
that model or vehicle series; or

- more than 15mm less than the
diameter specified by the
manufacturer for that model or vehicle series.


The biggest set was fitted to the VRX Series II's in 225/50/R17 form (659mm rolling diameter). The TF sports were fitted with 215/60/R16's so the rada rims you want to fit should be no problem.