Minimum Legal Ride Height

[Jayzzle]

Ok so I got pulled over by the police the other day, and told that if I didn't sort my suspension out "traffic officers" would take my car. So my question is this, does anybody actually know the proper legal height that the bottom most part of the car (or any part of the car) needs to be off the ground here in the uk? I have searched and searched the internet to no avail. I have found threads for America, Australia, New Zealand, but never for the UK. I have written an email out to the MoT (Ministry of Transport) and Vosa but neither have replied yet. I would really be interested to know this as I have had cars lower than this one before and never been told this. Any proof (so I can print it and show it to the next police officer that decides he wants to have a go) will be immensly appreciated. Many thanks. Jayzzle.

[heath85]

Never heard of that but I'll be really interested to find out as mine sits pretty low!!

[G4VHD]

There isnt one.

My old BMW sat 50mm off the ground and past MOTs.

[Jayzzle]

There isnt one.

My old BMW sat 50mm off the ground and past MOTs.

Is that 50mm from the lowest point on the car? If so what was the lowest point on that car? If i can find a picture of how low the car is I will post it, so you can judge for yourself if it is too low (not you specifically Gav but you as in everyone as a whole :))

Are you absolutely 100% sure that there is no such legality? If that is the case, is it more along the lines of if it damages the road then it can be taken? Because as long as I go slowly Nothing scrapes.

Many thanks for your reply.

Jayzzle

[G4VHD]

Lowest part of the underside, was a tad over 35mm.

It scraped on everything, coke cans, dead mice, sumrfs (pic on here somewhere lol)

Still went through MOTs, i have searched the net for a 'legal ride height' but found nothing.

If its not affecting steering and handling, you not damaging the ground, whats the problem.

One thing I havnt looked at is legal limits in headlight, indicator etc heights.

[Jayzzle]

I have searched the net for a 'legal ride height' but found nothing.

If its not affecting steering and handling, you not damaging the ground, whats the problem.

Me neither, not on any government owned website. And those were my thoughts exactly.

I hadn't even thought about headlight heights or anything like that, but that isn't what they said when they pulled me over. They mentioned about cos I went slow over a ramp the road workers made digging up the road. But even if my car wasn't low I would still have gone slow.

I'll have a look into the headlight height later and see if mine is legal.

But thanks for your input. It has given me confidence to challenge the police if I get stopped because of it again.

Jayzzle.

[G4VHD]

Before you do though, make sure "everything" that supposed to be legal is legal..

...give the old bill a hard time, they will give you one!

[Jayzzle]

Before you do though, make sure "everything" that supposed to be legal is legal..

...give the old bill a hard time, they will give you one!

That's a good point lol, I will do my homework on MoT standards before I attempt that. Thanks for the heads up :)

Jayzzle

[G4VHD]

Keep us posted on what you find, im interested in this as the 330ci will be getting slammed after xmas

[Jayzzle]

Will do mate, I dunno if you can see it but the picture on the left is how low the car is now. I tried to upload one to photobucket to post here properly but PB crapped out on me.

[Jayzzle]

Front headlamp Minimum height above ground: None

Front headlamp Maximum Height above ground: 1500 mm or, if the structure of the vehicle makes this impracticable, 2300 mm.

Direction indicator Minimum height above the ground: 350 mm

Direction indicator Maximum height above ground: 1500 mm or, if the structure of the vehicle makes this impracticable, 2300 mm.

Rear lights Minimum Height above ground: 350mm

Rear light Maximum Height above ground: 1500 mm or, if the structure of the vehicle makes this impracticable, 2100 mm

The above is for cars first used on or after 1st April 1986

Source: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/1796/contents/made

Hope this is of some use to you :)

[G4VHD]

We're all good then, long as we dont scratch the road :-)

[G4VHD]

I was a lot lower that this pic

Its the only pic i can find on this computer.

I miss this car :-(

[Jayzzle]

It would seem that way. Although I bet that the local law will still single me out. That car is nice, why did you get rid of it? :). I am considering raising the back a shade, I saw in Halfords they sell a gadget to make it a tad higher, by putting rubber strips in between the coils on the spring. I might try it. I don't know how to make my picture any bigger. Sorry :S

[G4VHD]

It was a 320d, i wanted something fast so swapped it for a 330ci coupe

[Jayzzle]

Ah that's pretty. I really like the look of those. Are you gonna keep that one? Makes mine look like a right Sh***er. Well ATM it is but I'm getting there lol. A friend of mine is selling a nice white 5 series (I think it's a 5 series), for only 900 nicker. It's tempting but I've poured too much money into this Tardis to waste it on another one. A nice respray and it will be right as rain :)

[G4VHD]

Yeah for a year or so.

Just put new clutch and head gasket in!!

[RobbieJ]

The best thing to do is to take it back to the MoT centre that passed it, and ask them to produce you with proof that its legal. That'll be the best way to prove that. As for the the rubber strips, there caravan spacers, to stop the car bottoming out when towing heavy loads. They don't really raise the suspension, like i said there more to stop the car bottoming out. Ive used them on a few of my motors when ive had big wide rims to stop them rubbing. Anyway best of luck with it.

[Jayzzle]

Ah right, I didn't know lol. Thanks for the info :) As for the mot, it was lowered after the MoT, and it was the previous owner that had the MoT done, But I can take it back I guess and still get them to check it for me. Just need something to show to the next officer as proof I guess. Thanks for the suggestion. :)

Jayzzle