I have seen a statement on someones build site that says if you fit bumper bars, like on the Dax Rush, there is no need to worry about sharp edges on your front suspension because the bumper bar counts as the front of the vehicle.

Also, apparently, you can than mount side lights on the bar which allows you to lower the height of your main lights

Can anyone substantiate this????

I have attached the picture used in this persons build site.
Rescued attachment dax.jpg

I wouldn't mind an explanation of this - I've got the SVA manual, but I can't see how this bar will influence how the tester will look at the pointy bits of the front suspension.

cheers,

David

I was planning on doing the same thing. Not sure though. A phone call to your local SVA testing station is in order I think.

ist it summat to do with contact with a specified cone shape? if the bumper bar is hit by the cone, then it dont get as far as the suspension.

atb

steve

Trouble is, in practical terms, if some little kid walks in front of your car then the bar won't stop his/her head banging into the suspension bits.

I've always assumed that was the purpose of the 'sharp edges' rule - it's bad enough banging into someone, without cutting them to shreds as well.

DJ

Thats me!!

I asked at the DAX stand what the bumper bars did and that is what they told me. Basically the the bumper bar becomes the first thing that comes into contact at the front of the vehicle, i.e. rather than the suspension, so the tester doesn't check for radius'e etc. If you look at a dax, they do not cover up any of the bolts, track rod ends etc, and they say its the reason they do it. I'm going to take their word for it.

The statement about the headlights is due to the fact that only the side lights have to be visible from certain angles form the side, where as the headlight doesn't. If you have intergral side and head lights, the height of the light unit is governed by the height of the wheel/mud guard as it obscures the side light from the side. So if the sidelight (and indicator) is mounted on the bumper bar upfront where the wheel doesn't obscure it, you can lower the head lights. Just look how low the Dax lights are. There is a rule on how low headlights can be (i think its 400mm but not sure) bu you can get a lot lower (if thats what you want ) doing this.

Hope that helps.

quote:

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Originally posted by David Jenkins
Trouble is, in practical terms, if some little kid walks in front of your car then the bar won't stop his/her head banging into the suspension bits.

I've always assumed that was the purpose of the 'sharp edges' rule - it's bad enough banging into someone, without cutting them to shreds as well.

DJ

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oops

[Edited on 24/6/03 by MK9R]

Cheers

MK9r - I think it may have been your site I saw this on actually......

quote:

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Originally posted by MK9R
To be fair, if some one jumps out in front of you, a few plastic caps and a bit of lagging isn't going to protect them is it?

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I reckon the two scenes change when the pigeon flys across the screen

interesting that the rear wheels don't seem to be braking (or locking up) and yes i know the front does 90% of braking before someone styarts ribbing me.

Ned.

The rear wheels aren't braking because they were disconnected.

I heard that when they were making the ad, the car stopped way sooner than expected (and the official figures) so the only way to get the desired effect was to disconnect the rear brakes. And remember the car is an old Nissan Sunny.

If true, this makes the car illegal to use on a road and the combined factors question the credibilty of the ad and its makers.

After watching it a few times, I thought about ABS and/or cadence braking...

DJ

i must admit it did look further than it should have been to stop.

I also believe that more depends on the cars brakes than the distance ie a car with bad brakes will stop slower even with a good driver, a newer abs car will stop sooner with anyone in the drivers seat who can reach the pedals.

all IMHO....

Ned.

Mind you, it's not always true that ABS will make you stop quicker - but it will allow you to stay in control, and to swerve around abstacles without skidding.

DJ

I was dubious about the figures they gave in the ad, an extra 20 feet to stop from just 5mph faster!?!

So I setup an experiment... from a point measured by my bro, at 40 mph I stopped completely in a total of 22 feet!!

Admittedly the car did have 205 wide tyres all round and big brakes and the tarmac was good.

a simple bit of school boy physics... the maths dont add up!

using thier figures your stopping distance at 30 Mph would somewhere in the region of 80 meters!
If that was the case we would all be dead by now!

quote:

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Originally posted by David Jenkins
Mind you, it's not always true that ABS will make you stop quicker - but it will allow you to stay in control, and to swerve around abstacles without skidding.

DJ

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(puts on Captain Mainwaring voice...)

Stupid Boy!

(/mainwaring)



Any road up, everyone's avoiding the main issue! This is, why does having a bit of bar in front of your car save you from having your front suspension closely inspected?

I hear what Steve said about the cone, but that doesn't explain it...

cheers,

David
(who's still in a stroppy mood after a long journey home last night, thanks to a total power failure on my commuting route - nothing like seeing 'cancelled' right across the board at Liverpool St Station )

Steves explaination is correct, but there is no plausable reason, its just one of those SVA rules for the reason of having a rule