MOT fail thread

What Akai said.
Some cars have a large cup/stop which stops that happening, but that Mini hasn’t, so that’ll pretty much always be the outcome.
 
Not a failure, but looking for advice please

Repair as soon as possible (minor defects):
  • Nearside Front Upper Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (5.3.4 (b) (i))
Should I really do this soon?

Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):
  • Nearside Rear Suspension arm corroded but not seriously weakened (5.3.3 (b) (i))
  • Offside Rear Suspension arm corroded but not seriously weakened (5.3.3 (b) (i))
  • Rear Sub-frame corroded but not seriously weakened (5.3.3 (b) (i))
I have a video from the garage showing bits of rust flaking off, both arms are completely brown. What do people do? Leave and hope for next time, treat the rust or replace bits?

The car is 14 years old and worth about £4000
 
The ARB ball joint cover advisory just means the rubber boot is starting to split/deteriorate, it’ll only fail the mot when it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt.
Not what I would call urgent to replace, but it is a fairly easy/cheap job to do.
Depending on what the car is ref the suspension arms/subframe, it’s extremely unlikely they’ll need replacing anytime soon, especially if it’s just a bit of flaking rust.
Almost all cars will have corrosion underneath after a few years which is no reason to start replacing parts.
Those advisories just serve to cause people to worry more than they should.
 
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The ARB ball joint cover advisory just means the rubber boot is starting to split/deteriorate, it’ll only fail the mot when it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt.
Not what I would call urgent to replace, but it is a fairly easy/cheap job to do.
Depending on what the car is ref the suspension arms/subframe, it’s extremely unlikely they’ll need replacing anytime soon, especially if it’s just a bit of flaking rust.
Almost all cars will have corrosion underneath after a few years which is no reason to start replacing parts.
Those advisories just serve to cause people to worry more than they should.

What do you reckon about treating the underside of a car, worth it? I mean, not a modern classic, just something to be driven until the wheels fall off. Mines 5 years old and no advisories for rust yet but all the suspension parts have a decent patina lets say
 
People always seem to blame potholes for snapped springs, but it's the corrosion that causes them to fail..

Though you can never know for certain just by looks, but there didn't seem to be any corrosion on the one which snapped on my Qashqai (just under 50K miles/7 years) - albeit that was after putting it through floods and badly degraded road surfaces in the storms at the end of last year and a couple of times of using it where I should have got out the pickup.
 
The ARB ball joint cover advisory just means the rubber boot is starting to split/deteriorate, it’ll only fail the mot when it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt.
Not what I would call urgent to replace, but it is a fairly easy/cheap job to do.
Depending on what the car is ref the suspension arms/subframe, it’s extremely unlikely they’ll need replacing anytime soon, especially if it’s just a bit of flaking rust.
Almost all cars will have corrosion underneath after a few years which is no reason to start replacing parts.
Those advisories just serve to cause people to worry more than they should.

Here's a pic they sent me, its the outer surface flaking off

ap7.jpg
 
What do you reckon about treating the underside of a car, worth it? I mean, not a modern classic, just something to be driven until the wheels fall off. Mines 5 years old and no advisories for rust yet but all the suspension parts have a decent patina lets say

Yes, at 14 years old my plan is to drive it until it fails with big bill item
 
Yes, at 14 years old my plan is to drive it until it fails with big bill item

Same as our car.
It sounds proper rough. Is worth less than 3k and the garage just keep getting it through.

Leaks a bit of oil but it's so slow it's better to just top it up more regularly.

58 plate. So getting on a bit now.

Edit
Wow. That's nearly 20 years old! Damn.
 
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This is a 2013 Focus that I've just MOT'd (subframe, ARB & arms etc are covered in rust, but I didn't advise it as there's nothing wrong with a bit of surface corrosion).

AAjj8ej.jpg


It's perfectly normal.
 
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What do you reckon about treating the underside of a car, worth it? I mean, not a modern classic, just something to be driven until the wheels fall off. Mines 5 years old and no advisories for rust yet but all the suspension parts have a decent patina lets say

A lot depends on how thorough the prep work is and the product(s) used - your average garage slapped on Lanoguard for example would need to be redone anywhere from 6 to 18 months and only buys a bit of time really.

I'm no expert but I believe to do it properly you really need to be able to get the parts off and treat + dip them, or very thorough preparation and getting all surfaces with something to stabilise existing corrosion, then high zinc primer and an appropriate paint.

If you aren't careful you just expose fresh metal for the corrosion to set into and actually speed up eating through the metal.
 
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Thanks, it looks like my garage is looking for extra work!
I reckon so, it’s why the motor trade has such a bad name.
We get so many people booking in for stuff that other garages have said needs doing ASAP, and when we get the car in the workshop we find that nothing needs doing and the other garage was just looking to rip them off.
It’s very frustrating.
 
Not a failure, but looking for advice please

Repair as soon as possible (minor defects):
  • Nearside Front Upper Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (5.3.4 (b) (i))
Should I really do this soon?

Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):
  • Nearside Rear Suspension arm corroded but not seriously weakened (5.3.3 (b) (i))
  • Offside Rear Suspension arm corroded but not seriously weakened (5.3.3 (b) (i))
  • Rear Sub-frame corroded but not seriously weakened (5.3.3 (b) (i))
I have a video from the garage showing bits of rust flaking off, both arms are completely brown. What do people do? Leave and hope for next time, treat the rust or replace bits?

The car is 14 years old and worth about £4000

Fix the dust cover, ignore the advisories, or get under there with a wire brush and a couple of cans of something if you feel like it. (future owners may thank you lol)
 
Thanks, it looks like my garage is looking for extra work!
I wouldn't say that. I get a similar advisory every year. If the car has been driven in the British climate, i.e. rain, then after a few years, it will get surface corrosion on the underside, it's inevitable. If there was danger of a structural issue, e.g. something snapping, work would be necessary, and it would be an MOT fail and not an advisory.
 
Fix the dust cover, ignore the advisories, or get under there with a wire brush and a couple of cans of something if you feel like it. (future owners may thank you lol)
all i do just clean it off, wire brush/flap wheel de scaler if you have. treat it and give it a coat of something. i prefer to use old coach enamel (only cause i have loads kicking about , if you buy a car and its agricultural green underneath it may have been mine :))
 
I reckon so, it’s why the motor trade has such a bad name.
We get so many people booking in for stuff that other garages have said needs doing ASAP, and when we get the car in the workshop we find that nothing needs doing and the other garage was just looking to rip them off.
It’s very frustrating.

Yup the local indie guys I use up the road are the opposite, they won't do anything unless they have to, and guess what, they are always really busy despite that, go figure.......
 
Yes, it’s almost like if you give good honest service then repeat business will follow.
In fact we’re so busy we’re moving into a main dealer premises when they vacate it so we can take on more work.
Despite being in the motor trade for 35+ years, it never ceases to amaze me just how bad some garages are.
 
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