Offroad-Express

Ralfie wrote:

pouw wrote:Curious, if you don't get it certed, drive it a bit, then wof'ed by someone like vtnz who don't know any better, will insurance still cover you if they discover the mods if you have an accident? Genuinely curious, not being a smartass

Tough one and the only person able to answer will be insurance company and if you ask them they will say no.

However what I do is list everything I have done to my vehicles and give that to the insurance company in writing so that they are aware of all accessories and modifications, whether certified or not. That way they can't say they didn't know!

Good call. I think we have to be a bit responsible here too and suggest that whatever mods someone gets done, they either get it legally certified, or at least insured with the company knowing about the mods.

We all have a crack at boy racers for dropping suspension illegally and making their vehicles dangerous and potentially being uninsured when they crash, creating costs for the people they affect.

Same should really apply to us I think for a vehicle we intend to drive on the road.

Whatever method you choose for your suspension I am sure you will do the right thing legally.

but mr officer/insurance man its been like that since i bought the truck. How am i meant to know that i bit of metal doesnt look the the original bit of metal isn't that what a wof is for to tell me if my truck is legal and safe or not? I'm not a qualified expert or a mechanic/engineer..

The interesting question to ask would be if the supplier will provide a refund/replacement if you get it all tested/x-rayed and it fails.

terranoman31 wrote:just curious dirty dog how much is it for the steering kit off calmani? im curious to know as i keep bending tierods and was wondering if this would stop it...

sorry guys i know im a lil off topic

I have just been told by the certifier that the calmini kits dont necessarily need to be xrayed, but we also got on the topic of the steering kit aswell, because it is designed for left hand driver vehicles, it doesnt line up properly with the right hand drive vehicles.

the guy had someone come in with the 3" lift kit and wanted it certified, he said it was a well designed kit and that all he had to do was bolt it on and slap a certification on it, no xrays or tests.

i just finished doing a leaf spring sas conversion on a 90 toyota surf after trashing many cvs and idler arms. it cost $2700 not including cert, and was mostly done using second hand parts and all labour/engineering was done myself. wasnt too hard but lots of issues popped up that i wasnt expecting such as sump/steering clearance issues,caster issues,brake issues.. and many others!.. end result is incredible, offroad performance of the sas TOTALLY blows away ifs more than i could have ever imagined. this a toyota solid axle into a toyota though which i guess is as straight forward as you can get, but none the less if you have the patience and basic engineering skills its probably doable on any ifs vehicle. after owning an ifs surf and having driven it with a sas conversion i cannot imagine how any ifs could ever compete with a solid axle offroad. thats my opinion any way.

bda4130 wrote:i just finished doing a leaf spring sas conversion on a 90 toyota surf after trashing many cvs and idler arms. it cost $2700 not including cert, and was mostly done using second hand parts and all labour/engineering was done myself. wasnt too hard but lots of issues popped up that i wasnt expecting such as sump/steering clearance issues,caster issues,brake issues.. and many others!.. end result is incredible, offroad performance of the sas TOTALLY blows away ifs more than i could have ever imagined. this a toyota solid axle into a toyota though which i guess is as straight forward as you can get, but none the less if you have the patience and basic engineering skills its probably doable on any ifs vehicle. after owning an ifs surf and having driven it with a sas conversion i cannot imagine how any ifs could ever compete with a solid axle offroad. thats my opinion any way.

Yeap easyish on a toyota, but as previously stated in this thread the transfer output on a terrano is on the left, which means major engineering on the doner axle housing.

Surely if one person gets a kit in and gets it xrayed and approved, the second person should be able to refer to the first guy's results. Aren't these mass produced kits?

kiwipete wrote:

Aza wrote:my mate just got a 3" calmini lift for his navara had it xrayed for free by a mate and no you dont lose the paint job and now it is all certed and seems to work great

Can you get the details off him re where he went for the certification/xray and cost to import etc please?

I know he got it imported through 4wd acc and x rayed at some place at the airport . . will try find out more

Ralfie wrote:

pouw wrote:Curious, if you don't get it certed, drive it a bit, then wof'ed by someone like vtnz who don't know any better, will insurance still cover you if they discover the mods if you have an accident? Genuinely curious, not being a smartass

Tough one and the only person able to answer will be insurance company and if you ask them they will say no.

However what I do is list everything I have done to my vehicles and give that to the insurance company in writing so that they are aware of all accessories and modifications, whether certified or not. That way they can't say they didn't know!

This does not save you, sorry.

It does not matter if you have a WOF or not. It also does not matter whether it is certed or not. The policy wordings are very specific about the vehicle having to be up to WOF standard. So if you have a WOF it can still not be up to standard and so the claim COULD be denied.

However the modification would need to be the cause of the accident for them to deny the claim. Think of it this way. Bald tyres does not mean a claim for driving into someone would be rejected if you were backing out of a car park but would if it meant you couldn't stop in time in a line of traffic.

Providing a list of mods is a VERY good thing to do as it means they are aware of the mods so can't deny it based upon being a modified vehicle BUT it doesn't get you out of the 'up to standard' clauses.

One thing people forget is that most people who don't get payouts for claims ar because of things they have done wrong when taking th insurance out. deal with a company like mine and the liability falls back on me to ensure you understand. Those insurance companies that tell you to deal direct and are really cheap rely on not paying claims to stay viable where the better ones want to payout as gives them a good reputation. The difference in price isn't much either!!!!!!!

So hide your mods at your peril as it is your responsibility to have your vehicle up to standard to be covered and don't even ask about legalities if you happen to kill someone in an accident!!

Sorry long answer and OT but people need to get this right!

Guy In our Local club has a calamini kit in his Zuk .. this happened on last weekends run!



we are still unsure whether the calamini shock snapped first or the ball joint, but regardless of which broke his calamini kitted Vitara was better than a Standard Vitara, but was still no match for the beam axle trucks,

Every 4x4 Ive owned prior to the Safari was IFS, now ive driven a beam axle 4wd, aint no way Id go back, they are just SO much better.

just my $.02+gst worth

Can't say I really trust macpherson strut vehicles all that much these days! have seen atleast three vehicles (plus this photo) which have crashed due to shock failure. All three were toyota cars

i cant say i will really be doing any hardcore 4x4ing, and if worse comes to worse i still have my munroe shocks so it should be allright.

i too am looking at the calmini 3" lift and the steering upgrade.All im am wating on is the e-mail back with the shiping price from the us.

http://www.purenissan.com/wd21_3_kit.htmhttp://www.purenissan.com/wd21_steering.htm

If your thinking of sas have alook at this thread, itll give you a good idea of whats involved. Yes its a navara but they have the same front end as the terrano.

http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/ ... 78&start=0

Something else to be aware of guys Calmini do lift kits and flex kits My bro inlaw imported the lift kit and all it did was lifted it with no wheel atriculation went through wofs at vtnz no worries

darinz wrote:

Ralfie wrote:

pouw wrote:Curious, if you don't get it certed, drive it a bit, then wof'ed by someone like vtnz who don't know any better, will insurance still cover you if they discover the mods if you have an accident? Genuinely curious, not being a smartass

if you have an serious accident the police will go over your vehicle with a fine tooth comb. They will find mods, and they will find out when the mods were done. if your vehicle has mods that it shouldn't have, insurance will be the least of your problems.
You could well be looking at a manslaughter charge. take it from me, having a lawyer explain to you the consequences of that is very very tough, and will stay with you for a very long time. even if are not charged, having to stand up in a coroners court and explain your actions is easily the very worst day of my life. I strongly recommend that you keep your vehicle legal and dont use tricks to get a wof sticker on it.