What can be done to satisfy such a person.

My tin-top thats done about 3,000 miles since its last MOT has failed on:

Near side and offside (Blue) front poition lamp(s) incorrect colour

Nearside and Offside Macpherson strut has excessive movement in the upper support bearing assembley

Nearside and Offside (foot brake) rear brake recording little or no effort.


And basically I cannot see fault with any of the above components so how do you satisfy such a person.
The sidelights are pure perfect while LED bulbs (obviuously I can put old "yellow" bulbs in but why should I)

We've had to buy some spring compressors to check the strut bearings and there's noting at all wrong with them, we've just re-packed them with grease and put them back on, the struts are rubber mounted to the turrets anyway so there will be some play and the rubbers are all in good condition.

And the rear brakes I just don't think he was pressing on them hard enough, I've had the car up on axle stands with somebody pressing on the brake pedal and I can put my full body weight jiggeling up and down on the alloys spokes and the wheel doesn't even slightly move.

Are there any tests i'm missing that I can do without having my own MOT test staion or any ideas how to get it to pass, other than cleaning up the components he's mentioned so it looks like work has been done on them i'm out of ideas.

Rear brakes sound like the hand brake cable make have been over tensioned stopping the rear brake working or if it has a load sensing valve that has seized..

Macpherson strut mounting sound as if hey are Ok a lot of cars have a surprising ammount of free movement on them in droop.

No sympathy from me on the lighting Blue LED bulbs are pretty obvious fail they break road traffic laws that have been around as long as the car.

What car is it? Some naturally have movement in the top strut mountings when they are unloaded/ jacked up, we discussed this at my MOT refresher course. I believe the failure on the lights is justified.
Steve.

Huh the bulbs are Pure Brilliant white LED bulbs but for some reason he seems to think there Blue!

Its a Vauxhall Nova with an XE engine in so its quite front heavy, so it has V6 calibra front brakes so maybe thats why he thinks the rears aren't doing anything as the fronts are so effective.

The handbrake works perfectlyso it isin't a friction material or drum problem and when we've been testing the rears they've worked fine from our simple test of trying to turn the alloy spokes with as much weight as possible. any idea what other tests I could try for them?.

mmm. I think the lights issue is an interesting one. Audi have started installing white LED running lights in the front of some of there vehicles but I think they also have a tungsten side light bulb to comply with regulations. I guess you just need to swap them out and "comply".

Play in the strut top mount could be in reality play in the strut inner support bearing. Heavier front brakes would put more strain on these bearings as they are at a fulcrum/pivot point.

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Originally posted by jollygreengiant
Play in the strut top mount could be in reality play in the strut inner support bearing. Heavier front brakes would put more strain on these bearings as they are at a fulcrum/pivot point.

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The strut tops will be down to his interprutaion of the allowable play. The brakes on the rollers will iether work or not. ask to get a copy of the brake test from him to have a look at. There will be something not right.
If you are unhappy ask for the details of the appeals process they must give you the details and be able to back up the fail reasons.

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Originally posted by MkIndy7

quote:

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Originally posted by jollygreengiant
Play in the strut top mount could be in reality play in the strut inner support bearing. Heavier front brakes would put more strain on these bearings as they are at a fulcrum/pivot point.

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Wel that appears to be what he's suggesting, bu weve had the bearing out and it seems fine all the ball race is intact and it doesn't feel gritty to turn or have much play in it.
The strut then mounts to the turret through a rubber mount that has 2 inverted metal cones at either side of the rubber, we've maybe got those done up a little tighter now but there didn't appear to be any problem with the bearing or the condition of the rubber so hopefully just cleaing it all up will satisfy him that its been changed.

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Ah there is a difference then, I might have to ask the previous owner of the car how old they are.
I know since I re-built it its only done like 5,000 miles so there shouldn't be much wrong with it.

"ask to get a copy of the brake test from him to have a look at. There will be something not right"
Would anything show up tho if he's just not pressing the pedal hard enough?
For the SVA etc there is a pressure pad on the testers foot, don't think there is for the MOT and as both axels are tested independently it wouldn't show up like that either.

I've read a little about the appeals procedure and that sound a complete farce!

Why not go to a decent MOT testing station? If the bloke is an arse go elsewhere, there are plenty of other testing stations.

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Originally posted by MkIndy7
snip
The handbrake works perfectlyso it isin't a friction material or drum problem and when we've been testing the rears they've worked fine from our simple test of trying to turn the alloy spokes with as much weight as possible. any idea what other tests I could try for them?.

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I can sympathise. I had my tin top tested the week before last. It failed on no brake lights and 'badly damaged' front flexis. I only got the chance to look this weekend - I've had a lift to work and I've been very busy with work and Uni stuff.
I can't find a problem with either.
I'll be calling the tester on Tuesday to discuss.

Thanks for the pointers BritishTrident I know the Handbrake has nothing to do with the Hydraulic side of the brakes which the tester is suggesting is at fault but just thought it proved that the friction material was fine and that the adjusters etc aren't stuck.

When I apply the Foot brake and get somebody to try their hardest to turn the wheels then they cannot, even by putting their fully bodyweight on it.
I'm not sure how the Nova or Vauxhall brake systems work with regards to the bias but its never been a problem before, It definately has over sized front calipers and maybe the original sized M/C you can push the pedal down about 1" but then after that the pedal is quite firm and rock solid any further down, on the road you can have a little dab at them and there pretty effective, push them in anger and it feels like your going to go through the screen!, and the little give in the pedal isisn't air as i've blead them loads of times.

I would have thought with 680kg upfront and 320kg at the rear they wouldn't be doing much anyway

Oh and as for taking it to another MOT test station doesn't that mean shelling out another £45! I'm sure they've got much worse since the computerised MOT's and they read your last failure points or advisorys.

[Edited on 25/5/08 by MkIndy7]

Well we've had a look at the rear brakes and there perfectly fine, all the adjusters are free etc.

Just taken it to another garage for them to check the rear brakes and they say there working fine but its to do with the calculations:
From what we understand now its between the Total weight of the car and the front braking capacity compared to the rear, but this doesn't take into consideration weight imbablance from front to rear, so if there was more weight in the rear of the car the rear would stop better.

So it was suggested all we could do was to remove any lip on the break drum so the brake shoese are out as far as possible in the first place.. or to send it we some bags of and in the back next time ... B&Q here I come!.

As for the sidelights there back looking like Yellow candles instead of the nice white they were before

And i'll just have to hope the suspension tops pass ok or it would probably need new dampers

I get the feeling he was just having a bad day tho

my fiesta has passed at 4 garages over the last 6 years every time with WHITE led bulbs for side lights, and there obviously led's are you can see the 6 individual leds in each side