Maximum legal lift and tyre/wheel sizes in Oz

^ I can't ...

But there is a further wrinkle.

The SG (for example) has an OEM suspension height that is given as a range of +12 to -24 mms from a nominal height ...

Maximum legal tyre size is also constrained.

Then there are whatever restraints your comprehensive insurer dictates.

If your vehicle fails to comply with the ADRs and VSBs, you also risk voiding your statutory third party personal injury insurance. The claimant could be your wife, girlfriend or best mate who is in the car with you.

Worth thinking about!
 
With the car sitting on the ground (or jack it up from the hub and remove the wheel)
Measure the distance between the Bump stop and the suspension arm
that is you standard amount of "bump travel"

Next, jack the car up from the body and measure that distance.
This is your "Total Travel"
Subtract the "Bump Travel" from the "Total Travel" and you have your "Droop" distance

So you now know all three possible parameters applicable to Lowering and Raising.
 
I currently have Goodyear Effecient Grip 225 65 17 tires on my series 4


What I intend to do is up size the overall diameter of the tires next time I get a new set. However to keep my car within the legal limits here in Queensland Australia I did a bit of reading at my local government road authority.


So according to my understanding this is what I can do legally would I be correct? Looking at the chart below getting 235's will keep me with in spec by 2mm.


All that being said I still have 50mm to play with suspension lift, acording to this aswell.
The following information provides some general guidance about raising a vehicle’s height
A vehicle lift up to and including 75mm combining both suspension lift and tyre diameter increase (maximum suspension
lift 50mm, maximum tyre diameter increase 50mm) is acceptable under self certification.

which contradicts the maximum tyre diameter bit .. oh man so so confusing .. https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/~/media/...le modifications/VSIG19minormodifications.pdf

Any theories? Especially if you come from QLD.
 
Hi Guys

I've tried to read through the whole topic and correct me if my understanding below is wrong :)

The only "legal" option in Victoria for Forester with standard tires 215/55/17 is:
1. Get 1 inch lift kit - 25.4mm
2. Change to 215/65/16 wheels - diameter increase of 14.2mm
This will give an overall increase of ca. 32mm

The 2 inches lift is not allowed due to exceeding 50mm?
Any other wheel and tire configurations which does not exceed 15mm difference?
 
There are lift options in-between 1 and 2 inch lifts. A few places sell 40mm forester lifts and some places will custom make any sized lift you wish.

215/65/16 are 18mm larger diameter according to the tyre calculator I used.
https://www.rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp
 
About time we updated this thread lol...

In every state you're allowed a 50mm lift, that's part of the federal ADRs.

In Victoria you're allowed a 2" lift plus a 1" tyre lift for all vehicles rated as a 4wd. Foresters qualify, unfortunately Outbacks, Imprezas, etc don't.

In NSW it's 3" lift total made up of any combination of suspension & tyre lift with a maximum of 1" tyre lift.

In Qld, it's 50mm lift plus maximum 15mm increase in tyre diameter (although this is debated)

In WA, it's 50mm lift & I'm not sure of the tyre regs.

Sebna, I would suggest going to 16" wheels anyway. The taller sidewall allows the tyres to bag out more when aired down so you get much more grip. Plenty of people are running 215/70/16 tyres, it's probably the most popular size for a SF or SG Forester. It's just something that you will have to decide what size to go.

I can also help with the lift kit. I'm the owner of SubieLiftOz. I can do 1", 1.5", 2", 2.5" & other custom lifts including a 4.5" Monster Body lift kit!!
 

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official info from Qld

I wanted to be certain about tyre sizes and lifts so I submitted an inquiry to Queensland Transport as the regulations are a little bit ambiguous and the term 'soft roader' is not defined. I asked if my 2010 Forester could have larger diameter tyres fitted and this is the verbatim answer; "If your vehicle is classified under the Australian Design Rules as a MC category vehicle, it may have a 50mm increase in overall tyre diameter. If it is classified as a MA category vehicle, it may have only a 15mm increase. To verify the classification, locate the identification/compliance plate on the vehicle. If the category cannot be found on the compliance/identification plate the approval number on the plate may be entered in the R.V.D search on the Road Vehicle Certification System web site to find the category." I checked the compliance plate and it is indeed classified as MC. This means it is legal in Qld to lift a total of 75mm, 50mm body or suspension lift and 25mm using larger tyres. This is regarded as a minor modification and does not require engineering certification. The problem is that there isn't enough room, even after a lift to fit significantly larger tyres!!
 
Beachworm said:
"If your vehicle is classified under the Australian Design Rules as a MC category vehicle, it may have a 50mm increase in overall tyre diameter. If it is classified as a MA category vehicle, it may have only a 15mm increase.
Click to expand...

Good work!!

The problem is that there isn't enough room, even after a lift to fit significantly larger tyres!!
Click to expand...

Sure is enough room, you can fit 225/70/16 on a SH no problem, that's 28.4", almost 2" bigger than stock. 215/70/16 is the most popular size to fit.

These are with 225/70/16:



 
NachaLuva said:
About time we updated this thread lol...

In every state you're allowed a 50mm lift, that's part of the federal ADRs.

In Victoria you're allowed a 2" lift plus a 1" tyre lift for all vehicles rated as a 4wd. Foresters qualify, unfortunately Outbacks, Imprezas, etc don't.

In NSW it's 3" lift total made up of any combination of suspension & tyre lift with a maximum of 1" tyre lift.

In Qld, it's 50mm lift plus maximum 15mm increase in tyre diameter (although this is debated)

In WA, it's 50mm lift & I'm not sure of the tyre regs.

Sebna, I would suggest going to 16" wheels anyway. The taller sidewall allows the tyres to bag out more when aired down so you get much more grip. Plenty of people are running 215/70/16 tyres, it's probably the most popular size for a SF or SG Forester. It's just something that you will have to decide what size to go.

I can also help with the lift kit. I'm the owner of SubieLiftOz. I can do 1", 1.5", 2", 2.5" & other custom lifts including a 4.5" Monster Body lift kit!!
Click to expand...

This is excellent to know!
Since I'm an exotic combination of lazy and useless, do you have any info at hand on Tas and ACT?
 
Thanks for the info on the tyres. Does anyone know if the 225X70X16 fit on the 6.5 inch standard rims? Would it increase the risk of rolling a tyre off at lowered pressure?
 
I think the wider a tyre relative to the rim is the less likely it is to to roll of.
 
Beachworm said:
Thanks for the info on the tyres. Does anyone know if the 225X70X16 fit on the 6.5 inch standard rims? Would it increase the risk of rolling a tyre off at lowered pressure?
Click to expand...

It'll certainly fit, though 6.5" is towards the lower end of what tyre manufacturers typically recommend.

I've been running 225/60R16's on my 6.5" outback rims for some time.

Not sure I'll do it again - feels like the sidewalls do roll a bit more than 215's when cornering hard, but that could well be just the change in tyre brand/style, too.
 
Put your reading glasses on and grab a beer…. It's time to light up this threat again.

I’ve been looking to pull the trigger on a larger diameter tyre for my SJ Foz to go with a 50mm lift (currently on order from [MENTION=2617]NachaLuva[/MENTION]) Currently 225/55r18 looking to go to a 225/65r17. I've got the XT so 17” wheels are the smallest I can run. It’s approx 20mm larger in diameter.

What has always held me back is wanting to remain legal for insurance purposes. I’m in QLD, Australia.

I believe NSW and VIC light vehicle modification policies have for a year or so allowed a 50mm suspension lift + 25mm (or some increase in percentage) from tyres under self certification, superseding VSB14 policy.

It was my interpretation of QLD policy that they followed VSB 14 from the national code of practice - that anything greater than a 50mm lift increase of vehicles with ESC requires certification (mod plate). And increase in overall diameter increase for tyres is limited to +15mm. This is stated in QLD guidelines Minor Modifications Vehicle Standards Instruction G19.9.

However this G19.9 being a guideline (guideline does not equal policy) refers to the Queensland code of practice vehicle modifications v2.9 Sep 2017 (QCOPv29) for further information (the policy) on lifts in QLD.

Being recently updated I decided to have a read… again… to my surprise section LS 9 now reads “Vehicle lifts that do not exceed 75mm, and are achieved by modification of the suspension and fitting of alternate tyres and rims only (do not include a body lift) do not require certification under the LS9 code.”

It also mentions for wheels and tyres that “no more than 25mm in vehicle height [increase] for four wheel drive vehicles (typically MC ADR category).” There is no mention of excluding all wheel drive or soft-roaders as per the national code of practice.

…huh…

Does this now mean in QLD you can legally lift a Foz (or Outback?) being MC ADR with a 1-up size tyre up to 75mm total?

Is anyone in QLD running a lift and tyres between 50mm and 75mm with a mod plate or have you got the tick of approval from insurance without a mod plate?

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts!

 
I'm not sayin nothin about my lift & tyres.
Apart from the fact that the car handles just about as well as it always has on road and has given me a confidence to tackle things a bit more extreme off road.
:iconwink:
To be honest, I never really thought about the legalities & insurance side of things until after I put the lift in. Otherwise, I might have done differently. I've thought about seeing if I could get a mod plate for the lift, but not enough to actually do anything about it.
Whaddya reckon Nachaluva, would the lift I put in {if you can remember it) get approved?
 
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please don't forget legalities here -- +7% is max tyre diameter change, regardless of wheel size.
 
Nachaluva previously addressed this:


NachaLuva said:
For tyre regs, the 7% rule doesn't apply to Foresters or Outbacks in Victoria, NSW & Queensland. In these states, you're allowed tyres with 50mm bigger diameter giving 1" tyre lift. This is in addition to 50mm strut lift, ie 75mm total lift is completely legal! Unfortunately, this doesn't apply to other Subies or other states. Hopefully, as they keep updating the laws, all the other states will come into line
Click to expand...
 
This bit applies and, in this case, the tyres being considered are less than +7% so there is no problem:

Minor modifications:
In addition to the above, the following are not considered to be significant modifications and do NOT require assessing or certification:
a. Except where specified below, modifications to the suspension that does not increase or decrease the vehicle’s ride height by more than 50mm.
b. Changes in the diameter of the wheel and tyre combination of up to +/- 7% of the largest size specified by the vehicle manufacturer.
c. Modifications to the ride height up to 75mm that incorporate a maximum change in the suspension of 50mm, and/or an increase in the diameter of the wheel and tyre combination of up to 50mm.
 
Rules are boring. Put there what fits lol.
 
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