extending wheel arches- coppers

[danko]

i was stopped at a police check point yesterday and was told by the nice copper to either extend my wheel arches are remove my 33x12.5 tyres!! he said that a passing pedestrian could get caught on the side walls! i checked with a spirit level and the tyres if anything stick out about 20mm. he gave me a warning and told me that he'd keep an eye out for me and if it wasn't sorted there would be a £60 fine coming my way! any suggestions anyone cause i don't wanna remove them after spending so much money on getting my surf looking right.

cheers for any help

[markp2]

Try sticking strips of closed cell foam onto the outside of the wheelarches to extend them.
This seems to be an acceptable method to complying with the regs and was used to get my kit car through the IVA test.

[dieselboy]

Foam sounds like a good idea, with velcro. Pre-apply the velcro tabs to the underside of the wheel arch, keep the arches in the boot and velcro them on when you need to.

[gary-r]

you can buy rubber sheet on a roll from 3mm thick upwards - cut it to the width you need and fit it with self tappers on the underside lip. a wipe with cockpit spray or back to black keeps it looking smart.

sometimes i use a strip of stainless or galvy sheet under the rubber so it keeps a nice uniform curve.

i use it a lot on trailers and it looks neat and lasts for years

[danko]

extending wheel arches

Foam sounds like a good idea, with velcro. Pre-apply the velcro tabs to the underside of the wheel arch, keep the arches in the boot and velcro them on when you need to.

would the velcro not get dirty making them hard to stick back on?

[danko]

extending wheel arches

you can buy rubber sheet on a roll from 3mm thick upwards - cut it to the width you need and fit it with self tappers on the underside lip. a wipe with cockpit spray or back to black keeps it looking smart.

sometimes i use a strip of stainless or galvy sheet under the rubber so it keeps a nice uniform curve.

i use it a lot on trailers and it looks neat and lasts for years

cheers for the info mate, where about's would go to buy the rubber? b&q and the likes?

[srbsma]

sounds like mr policeman was just picking at things! My truck has never been stopped, even sailed though its MOT so i dont think its that much of a problem!
http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/1153/img0460pe.jpg

[danko]

extending wheel arches

sounds like mr policeman was just picking at things! My truck has never been stopped, even sailed though its MOT so i dont think its that much of a problem!
http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/1153/img0460pe.jpg

yeah man, they had a massive check point going on with about 4 are 5 cars clamped at the side of the road. he just had to get me on something! gonna put my side steps back on and take it upto my local mot centre and see if they say its alright

[truckarms]

It is the law and has been discussed on here before, used conveyor belt is a popular solution, attached as described above with self tapping screws. there was a guy on ebay a while back selling the stuff but I cant find him a.t.m.
It worked out about 20 quid for the material if I remember right

[truckarms]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RUBBER-PVC...item2eb64e1d23

[TonyN]

gonna put my side steps back on and take it upto my local mot centre and see if they say its alright

Be aware the MOT regs and the Construction and Use Regs are different, it won't fail an MOT for that, but will be illegal to use on the road.

I've always left mine till someone says something, cos it looks cool. But if you get tugged its wise to sort it out.

You only have to cover tread, not side wall bulge, with the wheel pointing straight.

[danko]

extending wheel arches

cheers for all the info guys, i work for a engineering firm and we have some conveyor belt rubber but we're closed for 2wks holidays. i'll have to get some when i get back to work just hope i don't get pulled in the mean time!

[Karma Supra]

About the only covering tyre tread... does the stuff that is on the side walls count on muds?

[POPEYE]

Looks like i might have to get some bits of rubber as mine are worse (or better, depending if your a police officer or not) than danko's
it's a bit nit-picky i think, unless their halfway sticking out, i saw a 4x4 on the M way a while back with the tyres nearly out of the arch altogether,
a bit of rubber on the arch aint going to save anyone hit by one of these trucks anyway!

[slobodan]

a bit of rubber on the arch aint going to save anyone hit by one of these trucks anyway!

Isn't it to do with the spray they turn out when not covered?