I've just had a reply from the Department For Transport regarding banded steels:
Dear Mr Olsen,
Thank you for your enquiry regarding ‘banded’ wheels.
We are not aware of any regulations which forbid 'banded' road wheels.
However, you will still need to comply with all the relevant regulations, eg The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 (C&U) as
amended, and the Road Traffic Act 1988 (RTA) as amended. In particular, regulation 100 of C&U says "A motor vehicle, every trailer drawn
thereby and all parts and accessories of such vehicle and trailer shall at all times be in such condition , ....... and the weight, distribution,
packing and adjustment of the load of such vehicle or trailer shall at all times be such, that no danger is caused or is likely to be caused to any
person in or on the vehicle or trailer or on a road."
Under Section 75 of the RTA it is an offence to supply a vehicle in an unroadworthy condition and under Section 76 of the RTA it is an offence to fit
defective or unsuitable vehicle parts.
ISO standards exist for the design of passenger car road wheels (ISO 4000art 2 - 2007) and for testing (ISO 3006 – 2004 although this was under
review). There is also a UNECE Regulation 124 which also sets out requirements for light vehicle wheels; i.e.
http://www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29regs/r124e.pdf and that has also been amended recently although the attached link does not include the latest
version as it will not come into force until approximately March 2011.
I have included the above because if trading standards test these wheels they are at liberty to choose any of the above.
The Department cannot give an authoritative interpretation of the law; that is a matter for the courts.
Yours sincerely
Name removed
DfT – Transport Technology and Standards
Looks like they dont know either!
Seems pretty clear to me. There is no specific ban on banded wheels (just like there are no specific bans on modifying most car components), but if you do they must be able to meet the relevant standards.
yeah, point is you cant readily test them to the required standards, but then I guess that applies to a locost chassis too and no one has even gone to jail for a poor chassis.....
Yet!
quote:
Originally posted by Confused but excited.
Yet!
IF banded steels are split and welded on a lathe/welding fixture as done by some companies then you should be fine - even if there's an accident
because they were done by a company that suggests they are road legal then you are in the clear (they might not be, but that's a problem for
them/their insurers).
I wouldn't do my own at home even if I though I could get them air tight and balanced as any liability would be down to me.
The ones done by phelpsa's contact look like they are done properly.
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=128718
[Edited on 3/3/10 by iank]
quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
well, sort of
click
land rover nut at work was talking to me about this a while ago.
The way it was explained to me the bloke had more enthusiasm than ability (it was something like different ratio diffs on the axles, trailing arms not
lined up, different sized slave cylinders) all contributing to make a nice chaps car a liability with terrible terrible consequences.