Mot horror stories

[mike the bike]

Found this lot on a government website

https://mattersoftesting.blog.gov.uk/category/horror-stories/

There's more photos if you click on read more

[Rob62]

Scary stuff...... best not think about it..

[Moorey]

Could get better when the old knackers don't have to go for testing. 

[K2-K6]

The strange thing is that it's generally pointed out that old ( read classic cars and bikes) are at risk from not being tested,  but it's current stuff in many of those photos that are flouting the basic maintenence. The mot place I go to says you wouldn't believe what they get in.

So much of the old stuff I see is really well looked after,  much better than these.

[mike the bike]

I agree with that.  It's the more modern but high mileage cars that the owners are too tight to maintain them.  Just look at the number of taxis with missing brake lights.  Makes me wonder what the brake pads are like.

[MrDavo]

Can you not use a wood screw to hold a track rod end together then?

Political correctness gone mad.

[mike the bike]

No
You can only use wood screws to hold wooden brake pads in.

[matthewmosse]

Thing is buying a classic era vehicle and running it on a shoestring whilst possible is more likely to either teach you  mechanical sympathy and basic maintenance or leave you broken down very quickly. Modern cars are harder to fix properly and less requirement for engine maintenance means even the truly mechanically inept can keep them moving long after a classic would have stopped altogether. Some of those are truly alarming that someone bought it in for testing though, especially the 'repairs.' The broken suspension on the Micra seems more like mot day bad luck, I've had bits like that go, without warning and on the way to mot is when most things seem to go, especially light bulbs. If driven like that it must have handled awfully, I drove my other halfs Cordoba with worn rear bushes and that was extremely alarming just with a small bit of excess softness in the rubber bushes both as a driver or passenger you could tell something was wrong - badly I would have said from the handling, in fact the fault was really hard to spot given I was expecting the whole axle to be half hanging off from the handling.

[mike the bike]

I think those of us riding or driving something old/classic tend to have more vehicle sympathy and will recognise if there is anything not quite right and needs looking at - just for the piece of mind.

[royhall]

Whats the best wood to use for brake pads? Hardwood for the road, softwood for racing?

[hairygit]

Whats the best wood to use for brake pads? Hardwood for the road, softwood for racing?

  I'd vote for Balsa wood, ultra light, work on weight saving and you could build your own retro Fireblade!

[taysidedragon]

Whats the best wood to use for brake pads? Hardwood for the road, softwood for racing?

I pine for the days when yew could use any old wood fir brake pads. 😉

[mike the bike]

Tried them, they wooden work.  And they were the modern sintered ones made from MDF.

[Woodside]

cant beat acorny pun

[kent400]

I would expect that every authorised MOT tester will have inspected vehicles will potentially extremely dangerous faults. I became an authorised tester way back in 1971 and certainly saw a good few that were almost unbelievable so much so that I can still recall some today. The first one that stuck with me was a Mini where the steel brake pipe had been replaced with a petrol pipe duly secured with hose clips. Then there was another where the nut securing the steering wheel was missing, well the wheel was a bit loose so the plan was to whip the horn button off and tighten the nut. No nut because the column thread was damaged clearly some dozy blighter had removed wheel by taking a hammer the the end of the column wreaking the thread in the process.

Chassis, seen a few repaired with a biscuit tin and body filler. Followed up with a liberal coat of underseal and a handful of dust chucked at it. Oh and there was a carefully shaped block of wood stuffed in the box section.