MOT fail thread

tom_e said:
We joke but there really should be something like this. If people are happily driving around in some of the **** heaps Jon posts then just imagine how oblivious they are to everything else!
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Little story about an accident i had this year. Had dropped a colleague off at a shop after work on the way home. Id pulled in to a parking bay at the side of the road. 5pm. Clear. Sunny. Dry.
BANG. Someone had driven in to the side of my car. I looked up to see a vauxhall mokka heading off down the road, no brake lights on. Road was clear so pulled out and followed whilst hitting my horn and flashing my lights. No reaction. Keep doing this whilst ive called the police to report a hit and run on the non emergency number. Given them the reg and make etc. Then...luck, managed to get in front of the car at a set of lights and block it in.
Old woman sat at the wheel. Jam jar glasses. I knock on her window, no reaction. Half the side of her car is hanging off. Knock again. Nothing. Eventually she winds the window down "are you going to move, I cant get past?"

She did not have a clue what she'd done or wtf was going on. Contacted the police again to report my encounter with her.

Callback from them 2 weeks later. No further action. Asked about her fitness to drive. Officers agreed she was mentally unfit but couldnt do a thing. Asked about her leaving the scene of an accident "do you really want us to prosecute an old woman?". Yes, I do. I want her licence taken away before she seriously hurts someone.
 
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JonRGV250 said:
I'd love to know the thought process when the customer decided where to fit the dashcam.
Probably something like "I know I'll fit it slap bang in my direct view of the road, that'll be just perfect"
and they did just that..



Just fit the ******* thing behind the mirror like anyone else with a fully functioning brain would FFS.

Also, and this shouldn't need saying, but don't buy part worn tyres.
Same car as above, and the customer had one fitted just before bringing it in for MOT (it's still got the marker pen on the tread)..



The tyre was completely flat when I went to get it in for test, so I pumped it up otherwise the brake rollers would tear it to shreds, and...



not only was the customer sold a tyre that was punctured, it also had cords exposed from sidewall damage.
And the best bit, they drove the car away without an MOT and with the tyre completely devoid of air.
Yay!
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Wow.

Was this your first nightmare of the year?
 
Massive wall of text in spoiler. TLDR:**** these types of tyre places and as JonRGV250 says don't buy part worns.

Been there done that with part worns as I had to change as tyre as it was getting close to the legal limit as per recommended advisory on the MOT a couple of weeks before. I had a spare full sized steel wheel that could not be fitted as the steel wheel was leaking air but it had a tyre on it with about 6mm of thread left.

Took it to a place to get the tyre off a spare wheel and put on the car, they said the the spare tyre had cracking on the treads although there was about 6mm on thread on it and said it would not be legal to put on the car so I asked how much to put a new tyre on it and they said its a odd size and they dont have them in stock but they said they had part worns in that size they also noted that the other wheel was close to the limit and said they would do both. Massive red flag that I missed as the MOT a few weeks before said nothing about this.

I stupidly agreed and they rolled out some tyres I had a brief look at them and they looked ok and then paused and said he might have some branded ones also out the back an came out with two other tyres. They jack the car up and to loosen the wheels from the hub the start kicking the **** out of it, then another worker tries to help by getting a massive two handed mallet and contines to wack the **** out off it more where the whole car is rocking and I'm thinking they going to case an accident or something. A third person shows up and lightly taps the wheel from the inside out from the car and frees the wheel and I'm standing there thinking WTF are these people doing.

They fit the tyres I pay and drive off and I'm thinking something feels a bit off but maybe its me. I get out of the rush hour traffic and go down a 50mph road and have to constantly fight the car to keep it stright. I eventually get home and call them and say theres something seriously wrong with these tyres you fitted and they came out with some BS that it could be a mis-match in the air pressures thats causing it. On the way back I stop off at the cash point as I'm at the point where I'm getting the old tyres put back on and getting some new tyres put on elsewhere.

I check the tyres the fitted and not only was the profile not correct the width was wrong also and I part blame myself for not checking this before I left. I get back and tell them you put the old tyres back on and give me my money back and I'll be on my way and they tried to say it was ok to fit those tyres to the fronts as it matched the same size across the axel and they offered to fit matching ones for free on the back. I said no and they rolled out two more tyres and I could see that they where on the wear limit indicators and he said what you want to do. I said I told you and I was silent to the point where this guy in his 40's who was the manager came out and threw a massive hissy fit and called out the two people who smacked the **** out of the car getting the wheel off before. They jacked the car up and put the tyres back on when lowering the car one pulls the jack out way too early and whole side of the car crashes in to ground and I get given my money back and think thank **** thats over.

I get in the car and the key wont go tidy into the ignition and the steering is locked solid and I'm thinking why f is this happening and due to the impact of the car hitting the ground it locked the steering up. I eventually get the key in and steering free and drive off and stop round the corner and check the tyres and one of the tyres is mine (of course its the one on the legal limit and not my other good tyre.
:rolleyes:
) and the other is not mine and the wheel alignment is now just a bad if not worse.

Two new tyres go on the car and the alignment is done at another place though we took it back 2 more times as it was never the same though it was a lot better, my sister drives the car for 2 months and says something desnt feel right when going round corners and we take it to a garage and the whole part of the rear suspension had completely detached from the frame though I cant prove it. It was the same side that that was dropped when they put my tyres back on a month or so before. Car ended getting scrapped due to the cost of getting this sorted and the age of the car.

I ended up making an official complaint via my local authority/trading standards.
 
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adolf hamster said:
Never understood cheaping out on tyres, you dont need a phd to figure out maybe the only part of the car that touches the ground has an impact on handling......
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It is bizarre. That said, I would rather some 5 year old Michelins with 6mm of tread left, than some brand new ditchfinders.

I have bought matched pairs of good condition premium brand part worn tyres on eBay numerous times over the years instead of cheap new tyres, you just need to have a brain and be picky about it.

The real issue is the people who go to a part worn tyre place in the back of an industrial estate and have a single tyre or some mismatched tyres from different decades fitted by a chain smoker with face tattoos who uses four trolley jacks to fold the lips of their sills over. My Grandad does that, and he's an ex copper who has seen some horrendous RTCs... The mind boggles...

How does it go? Think about how stupid the average person is, and then realise that half of them are even stupider than that. I don't know how some people dress themselves, so its no surprise they don't notice that their wheel has fallen off or that they can't see past the dashcam they've superglued in front of their nose.
 
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I'd never touch a part worn tyre but on the flip side, I'd much rather a tyre with 20000 miles of life left in it be used again rather than going straight on the boat to an Indian pyrolysis plant.

I had a puncture just before Christmas and sitting in the local tyre place amazed me.

"I need some tyres for a Mercedes"
"OK, I'll need a bit more information than that, have you got a size?"
"It's a C-class"
"Right... Let's go out and take a look."
*after looking in the cold at the guys car*
"I can do you Michellins for £130 a corner all in"
"WHAT? Can't you do anything cheaper?"
*As the guy is tapping away on his computer*
"I don't like premium tyres, they split. Yeah, I had Michellins before and they split right down the middle. Because of the speed bumps."
"Right... Cheapest I can do is £90 a corner all in"
"Huh, no chance. I'll leave it"

So the guy has to roll around in a Merc but won't spend £180 on a pair of tyres that will probably last tens of thousands of miles. This was just one example, it seemed that not a single person going in knew what they needed or were expecting the thing that keeps their car on the road to cost more than £20.

Makes me chuckle that once they've begrudgingly accepted the absolute cheapest tyre that they can get for their massive alloy shod car they then sit there tapping away on their iPhone Pro. Great priorities right there!
 
lordrobs said:
I'd never touch a part worn tyre but on the flip side, I'd much rather a tyre with 20000 miles of life left in it be used again rather than going straight on the boat to an Indian pyrolysis plant.

I had a puncture just before Christmas and sitting in the local tyre place amazed me.

"I need some tyres for a Mercedes"
"OK, I'll need a bit more information than that, have you got a size?"
"It's a C-class"
"Right... Let's go out and take a look."
*after looking in the cold at the guys car*
"I can do you Michellins for £130 a corner all in"
"WHAT? Can't you do anything cheaper?"
*As the guy is tapping away on his computer*
"I don't like premium tyres, they split. Yeah, I had Michellins before and they split right down the middle. Because of the speed bumps."
"Right... Cheapest I can do is £90 a corner all in"
"Huh, no chance. I'll leave it"

So the guy has to roll around in a Merc but won't spend £180 on a pair of tyres that will probably last tens of thousands of miles. This was just one example, it seemed that not a single person going in knew what they needed or were expecting the thing that keeps their car on the road to cost more than £20.

Makes me chuckle that once they've begrudgingly accepted the absolute cheapest tyre that they can get for their massive alloy shod car they then sit there tapping away on their iPhone Pro. Great priorities right there!
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A guy at my last place was like that, drove round in a 25k range rover and bought tyres online for £40 each.
He was well chuffed, yet 3 months later moaned they weren't as good as the tyres that were on when he bought it, no #### sherlock.
Penny wise pound foolish
 
Akagi said:
It is bizarre. That said, I would rather some 5 year old Michelins with 6mm of tread left, than some brand new ditchfinders.

I have bought matched pairs of good condition premium brand part worn tyres on eBay numerous times over the years instead of cheap new tyres, you just need to have a brain and be picky about it.

The real issue is the people who go to a part worn tyre place in the back of an industrial estate and have a single tyre or some mismatched tyres from different decades fitted by a chain smoker with face tattoos who uses four trolley jacks to fold the lips of their sills over. My Grandad does that, and he's an ex copper who has seen some horrendous RTCs... The mind boggles...

How does it go? Think about how stupid the average person is, and then realise that half of them are even stupider than that. I don't know how some people dress themselves, so its no surprise they don't notice that their wheel has fallen off or that they can't see past the dashcam they've superglued in front of their nose.
Click to expand...

It’s even worse when they do all thing like that but there’s someone else to put
#freepalestine on a forum signature…
 
Akagi said:
In English? You tried... :p
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There’s an s missing on one word typed out between reps at the gym. My apologies, spello grenade twice as powerful as a Hamas rocket it seems.

#gymbros

Sons mini has MOT coming up, I fear the lower wishbone bushes will fail but as they are bolted from the top through the ARB mount it’s a subframe drop job.
 
Jonnycoupe said:
There’s an s missing on one word typed out between reps at the gym. My apologies, spello grenade twice as powerful as a Hamas rocket it seems.

#gymbros
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That still doesn't make it make sense, but it's alright, go back to your Joe Rogan podcast. :rolleyes:
 
lordrobs said:
I'd never touch a part worn tyre but on the flip side, I'd much rather a tyre with 20000 miles of life left in it be used again rather than going straight on the boat to an Indian pyrolysis plant.

I had a puncture just before Christmas and sitting in the local tyre place amazed me.

"I need some tyres for a Mercedes"
"OK, I'll need a bit more information than that, have you got a size?"
"It's a C-class"
"Right... Let's go out and take a look."
*after looking in the cold at the guys car*
"I can do you Michellins for £130 a corner all in"
"WHAT? Can't you do anything cheaper?"
*As the guy is tapping away on his computer*
"I don't like premium tyres, they split. Yeah, I had Michellins before and they split right down the middle. Because of the speed bumps."
"Right... Cheapest I can do is £90 a corner all in"
"Huh, no chance. I'll leave it"

So the guy has to roll around in a Merc but won't spend £180 on a pair of tyres that will probably last tens of thousands of miles. This was just one example, it seemed that not a single person going in knew what they needed or were expecting the thing that keeps their car on the road to cost more than £20.

Makes me chuckle that once they've begrudgingly accepted the absolute cheapest tyre that they can get for their massive alloy shod car they then sit there tapping away on their iPhone Pro. Great priorities right there!
Click to expand...

I think it was 5th gear who did a special on tyres many years ago, showing the difference in stopping distances between different tyres when an emergency stop is performed, it was quite the eye opener. I'll never settle for anything less than brand new premium tyres if I can help it.


Edit- found it:

 
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Found some paperwork for a previous MR2 (long scrapped), amongst it was an MOT fail. I was expecting the fail (had asked the garage to do the items that it failed on before booking, they MOT first I guess), however there were 4 lines that were not expected:

  • Nearside Headlamp not working on dipped beam (1.7.5a)
  • Offside Headlamp not working on dipped beam (1.7.5a)
  • Rear fog lamp not working (1.3.2b)
  • Position lamp switch does not illuminate the front and rear position lamps with a single operation (1.1.A.2)
Especially as this was in the middle of December and I left the house at 7am, which would require the lights to work to be able to see anything :cry:

Tester was adamant they were not working, but it was actually user error. MR2 light switch has an extra position on the switch for moving the lights to the up position with the lights off so you can change the bulbs. Then sidelights, then dipped, pull to flash highs, push to put highs on. Rear fog light won't come on without at least the side lights on, so it was clear from that list that he'd assumed position 1 was sides, position 2 was dipped, and he hadn't actually turned the lights on.
 
Diddums said:
I genuinely thought you and your brother were like 24 years old with the way you conduct yourselves. The fact you're old enough to have kids of driving age is quite the revelation :eek:
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Thinking a niche forum of limited use is a reflection of real life was your first error. “Conduct yourselves” chill out bro. I’m not on here fixing the world as a hobby.

Yes I joined OCUK in 2002 (after the forum nuke) when I was 1 year old.

EDIT: PS you need to ‘conduct’ yourself better if you want to improve that 90% rating here aswell ;) :D
 
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