Anything & Everything Off-Topic (Some material may be offensive)
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By Mr Rattles
#310915 Greetings from a cold Cape Town South Africa

Just wanna get some feedback from you guys.
We are having a seriously hard time over here with our lowered cars.

The cops are giving us hassles and removing our vehicles registration
Causing us to refit our standard suspension and re register (re roadworthy)
Our cars.
I've had this happen to me and its a shit experience.

Do you guys also have this problem or is it legal for you to drive with lowering kits and coilovers?

Thanks guys
User avatar
By chrono404
#310916 In Washington State, USA a law might be on the books about lowered cars however we are never hasseled by the police about it. We have tons of dumped and Hella flush cars come out to meets and the police will do a drive by just letting us know they know where we meet. but never any trouble with lowered cars.
User avatar
By Mr Rattles
#310918 chrono404,
Thanks for your reply bru.I'm very jealous right now.

Tell me was it always like that or did you guys also have the same trouble were having.

Ill be honest there are guys who are cutting and heating their springs to lower the car
But most of us are spending thousands on suspension setups.
User avatar
By Mr Rattles
#310919 And to top it off the cops are sitting outside Cape Towns only race track
Removing our registration discs while the guys are on their way to the track
Do do things legally and not racing on the streets
User avatar
By chrono404
#310935
Mr Rattles wrote:chrono404,
Thanks for your reply bru.I'm very jealous right now.

Tell me was it always like that or did you guys also have the same trouble were having.

Ill be honest there are guys who are cutting and heating their springs to lower the car
But most of us are spending thousands on suspension setups.


Its been like that since i have had a car. "Low riders" and "Muscle cars" are pretty popular in the USA, Even though they are outnumbers by Civics, 240's, miatas and Subarus, There are a good handful of low riders and muscle cars that can be seen driving around. I know people who have been low riding for years and have never had greif. One guy was pulled over by a cop just to talk about and look at his car which was kinda cool.

Mr Rattles wrote:And to top it off the cops are sitting outside Cape Towns only race track
Removing our registration discs while the guys are on their way to the track
Do do things legally and not racing on the streets


Thats a pretty big dick move. Legal but uncool. If a part is "off-road" legal only then they can get your for having illegal parts on the road. Its pretty uncool and dickish. however legal. Only way around it I can see is bringing your car in on a trailor.

Not sure how laws work where you live but it might be a good idea to wright to your leaders and ask for the law to be changed. Get a bunch of signatures on it from all the import guys locally and when he sees 120+ people or 3-4 pages of signatures on a letter. he sees people want change and more likely then not would change it. Atleast thats how it works in the United States as long as its not "controversial" issue.
User avatar
By #ROBIN#
#311067 mr rattles you telling them half stories lol

okay let me clear up the shituation about lowered vehicles in S.Africa.

-people here take a grinder and cuttting their springs (now this is dangerous), so obviously they going to get nailed.

-most guys here in S.A have cheap a$$ lowering springs that bounce like Barney, which is also dangerous.

- then their are those who do both the above, fit lowering springs and cut a coil off :facepalm:

cops would not hassle you here if your cars wheels can turn lock to lock without touching the fender and if your lowering kit is quality. I have gone through road blocks and not a single issue.

Mr rattes the problem comes when fools want to hide their wheels in the arches thinking its hella cool...I say cops should crush these cars.So Mr rattles we have made our own problems by doing half a$$ jobs and now we want to complain when we need to pay fines... just buy a decent lowering kit/coilovers etc. if you paying R1500 for a lowering kit then you should be questioning.
User avatar
By FG2_Andrew
#311074 also, about the track. if the cops want to setup outside the track and nail cars that shouldn't be on the street driving on the street. more power to them.

laws are laws. what's the point of having them if no one follows them? tracks cars should be on trailers unless on a track.
By reyes09
#311080 here in toronto. cops are super nice depending where you are. some places have asshole cops and others theyd give you a thumbs up so its hit or miss.

but legally our law is tires cant touch the body of the car (full lock) and body cant touch the ground. so if you can be .5 inch off the ground but ridiculously flared fenders then youre clear so long as you dont scrape infront of a cop.
User avatar
By #ROBIN#
#311082
EH2_andy wrote:also, about the track. if the cops want to setup outside the track and nail cars that shouldn't be on the street driving on the street. more power to them.

laws are laws. what's the point of having them if no one follows them? tracks cars should be on trailers unless on a track.


exactly...
the problem lies where people think they be cocky towards cops when they drive around with mods that look like its been carried out by a 5year old.

in South Africa here are guys that will go to any lengths to make their cars look cool (in their minds) and will sacrifise their and the passengers safety.
so i see why the cops are being anal, i dont blame them.
User avatar
By teal_dx
#311089
cops would not hassle you here if your cars wheels can turn lock to lock without touching the fender and if your lowering kit is quality.
.....
in South Africa here are guys that will go to any lengths to make their cars look cool (in their minds) and will sacrifise their and the passengers safety.


I've seen plenty of examples like this in the US. People trying to be more hellaflush than each other leading to smashed exhausts, punctured oil pans, blown shocks, gashed tires and rippled fenders. I feel like it's only a matter of time before cops start to get more strict to people who jeopardize the safety of themselves and others on the road by the extreme mods they do to be low/hellaflush.

A moderately lowered car (~2") with reasonable wheels/tires would have no problem here with the police, unless they are profiling which is a whole different topic. :wink:
User avatar
By Mr Rattles
#311123
#ROBIN# wrote:mr rattles you telling them half stories lol

okay let me clear up the shituation about lowered vehicles in S.Africa.

-people here take a grinder and cuttting their springs (now this is dangerous), so obviously they going to get nailed.

-most guys here in S.A have cheap a$$ lowering springs that bounce like Barney, which is also dangerous.

- then their are those who do both the above, fit lowering springs and cut a coil off :facepalm:

cops would not hassle you here if your cars wheels can turn lock to lock without touching the fender and if your lowering kit is quality. I have gone through road blocks and not a single issue.

Mr rattes the problem comes when fools want to hide their wheels in the arches thinking its hella cool...I say cops should crush these cars.So Mr rattles we have made our own problems by doing half a$$ jobs and now we want to complain when we need to pay fines... just buy a decent lowering kit/coilovers etc. if you paying R1500 for a lowering kit then you should be questioning.



@Robin thanks for your reply bro,havent seen you in ages.hope all is well.

Right to clear up your first point,The cutting of springs method did NOT start in South Africa,infact its practised world wide so theres no need to put that on us,and i totally agree with you.people who cut and heat springs should be fined as your putting other peoples lives in danger.

I find it weird that you say invest in a proper kit and this problem wont happen. have you been hiding under a rock ? :?
I know 2 people that got caught in a road block with an eibach 35mm kit and the cop wanted to take their discs.1 of the guy produced the SABS certificate which states his kit was legal for road use like eibach are as im sure you know but still got his disc removed.

then i know of some1 who had bc coilovers on her car,(you probably read the story on the forum) and she also had her disc removed.after raising her car she took it for roadworthy and failed because of the suspension and had to fit her oem parts.

on the evening that i was caught the cop called me out and said youre in trouble now.I politely said "but sir my car is lowered with an aftermarket
kit from an approved outlet,my wheels turn without touching the arches and i have the normal 2 finger ga between arches and tyre" his reply was if its lowered its illegal. (and im sure you can vouch my car wasnt low.)
And i drove for almost 4 years with that kit through countless roadblocks
without any issues.

nice attempt and trying to sugar coat it but if you dont think we are being targeted then i dunno.
User avatar
By Mr Rattles
#311125
EH2_andy wrote:also, about the track. if the cops want to setup outside the track and nail cars that shouldn't be on the street driving on the street. more power to them.

laws are laws. what's the point of having them if no one follows them? tracks cars should be on trailers unless on a track.



we have an event called street to strip. basically its to get the guys to stop racing illegally on the roads and do it on the track for a small fee.it has grown pretty big over the last 5 years.the cars that go their cannot run quicker than 13.0 so its your normal B16s,bmw m3's and so on with entry level mods and daily drives

and fyi your comment makes no sense,what about the spectators going to watch ? you really think 20 000 people are going to drive to a race track to watch racing with standard cars?
User avatar
By Mr Rattles
#311126
reyes09 wrote:here in toronto. cops are super nice depending where you are. some places have asshole cops and others theyd give you a thumbs up so its hit or miss.

but legally our law is tires cant touch the body of the car (full lock) and body cant touch the ground. so if you can be .5 inch off the ground but ridiculously flared fenders then youre clear so long as you dont scrape infront of a cop.


lol please get get me wrong we also have some great law enforcement officials here aswell,its just an fact of life that some use the power of the badge more than others
User avatar
By Mr Rattles
#311127
chrono404 wrote:
Mr Rattles wrote:chrono404,
Thanks for your reply bru.I'm very jealous right now.

Tell me was it always like that or did you guys also have the same trouble were having.

Ill be honest there are guys who are cutting and heating their springs to lower the car
But most of us are spending thousands on suspension setups.


Its been like that since i have had a car. "Low riders" and "Muscle cars" are pretty popular in the USA, Even though they are outnumbers by Civics, 240's, miatas and Subarus, There are a good handful of low riders and muscle cars that can be seen driving around. I know people who have been low riding for years and have never had greif. One guy was pulled over by a cop just to talk about and look at his car which was kinda cool.

Mr Rattles wrote:And to top it off the cops are sitting outside Cape Towns only race track
Removing our registration discs while the guys are on their way to the track
Do do things legally and not racing on the streets


Thats a pretty big dick move. Legal but uncool. If a part is "off-road" legal only then they can get your for having illegal parts on the road. Its pretty uncool and dickish. however legal. Only way around it I can see is bringing your car in on a trailor.

Not sure how laws work where you live but it might be a good idea to wright to your leaders and ask for the law to be changed. Get a bunch of signatures on it from all the import guys locally and when he sees 120+ people or 3-4 pages of signatures on a letter. he sees people want change and more likely then not would change it. Atleast thats how it works in the United States as long as its not "controversial" issue.


well there is word of something like this happening in the future. there has been meetings held with the officials but unfortunitly nothing is on paper yet