Illegal tyres and penalties

This week we had a vehicle in with the tyre below fitted, before commencng the test it was noticed that the tyre was underinflated and had a split in it.

A view of the tread pattern shows severe wear at both edges of the tyre usually a sign that the tyre is being run underinflated

Normally the tread covers the whole tyre width as the image below shows along with the position of wear indicator bars

Also on the vehicle was a bald rear tyre.

We’d previously had the vehicle in 3 months ago for other work and had advised the owner about the 2 tyres and that he needed to rectify the problem before they got worse.

Had he been stopped by the police for a routine check he could have been facing a fine up to £2500 and 3 points on his licence for each tyre, quite apart from the risk with his and other peoples lives he was running.
For tyre advice a number of links are below
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/legal-advice/tyres.html

http://www.nopenaltypoints.co.uk/defectivetyres.html

http://www.2pass.co.uk/tyres.htm

http://www.etyres.co.uk/uk-tyre-law

Matters of testing issue 53

The latest edition of matters of testing is available to view or download at  http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/publications/newsletters/mattersoftesting.htm

it is also worthwhile browsing or downloading the special notices available at

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/publications/specialnotices/2012specialnotices.htm as they give some indication of  forthcoming changes to the mot scheme

The Vt32 Advisory notice.

Often when conducting an Mot the tester will notice an item that has deteriorated, but has not yet become bad enough to warrant a failure. In a few cases I’ve seen customers glance at the vt32 and immediately dispose of the advisory notice without consulting regarding  the necessary repairs.

There is a reason for issuing these notices and it’s not just to cover our backsides.

Two examples have arisen this week, in one case the handbrake had been advised (by me, in January) that the efficiency was only just passable, the vehicle returned to us this week to have the repairs carried out before taking the car away for a long weekend.

Checking in the roller brake tester the efficiency of the handbrake was down below 5%. A stripdown of the brakes revealed the brake shoes very badly worn and the braking surface of the drums severely corroded.

The second example could have had far more serious consequences, the vehicle had been tested elsewhere several months ago and the owner had been advised that a brake hose was deteriorated.

The brake hose split this week and resulted in a minor shunt, however the owner suggested that perhaps the tester had been overly lenient when the vehicle was tested and perhaps the test was in his words “dodgy”.

Did he complain at the time, or was he just pleased not to have another repair at the time ?

However he then asked us to blank off the relevant brake hose as he couldn’t afford to have the  repair done until the end of the month but needed the car for work!!

Fortunately he was able to come to an agreement with the boss and the repair was completed rather than allow the vehicle to continue on the road in that condition.

 

Fortunately the coming changes to the Mot certificate will prevent the vehicle owners from just binning the Vt32 on their way out of the testing station, so there will be a permanent reminder that work is required .

Matters of testing

The new matters of testing magazine published by Vosa is available to download now.

matters of testing may 2011

This issue contains news of forthcoming changes to the mot test.

There is also information for owners of quad bikes who have a hydraulic parking brake, this has to be replaced by a mechanically operated system for the next test.

More on brakes

Corroded brake pipes Two more examples of brake pipe corrosion, oddly enough both from BMWs and both on the offside rear of the car. The first on a 02 BMW M3  As can be clearly seen the corrosion has penetrated deep enough and caused the steel to begin to flake away. The following example was on a W reg BMW 320d  The rust hasn’t penetrated to any extent into the steel, a quick rub down with a bit of steel wool and a coating of oil or grease will prevent needing replacement for another couple of Mots. BMWs do seem more prone to corrosion of the brake pipes on the offside rear than anywhere else.

Brake pads and seized calipers

A Nissan Micra failed the test with a brake binding on the offside front wheel, although the wheel was able to rotate by hand  it needed a fair amount of effort to move it. When we removed the wheel to undertake the repair we found one of the pads almost down to the metal and the other only slightly worn.

The outer pad was seized in the pad carrier and was constantly applied to the disc leading to uneven wear of the pads, surprisingly this didn’t cause any imbalance when the brakes were tested in the roller brake tester. However the caliper on the nearside was actually sticking  where it slides on pins. Thus the seizure on one side balanced out the seizure on the other.

Had the outer pad been visible with the wheel in place then the brakes would have failed owing to being worn below 1.5mm. The view from underneath told a completely false story as regards the pad wear. Had the brakes not failed because of the binding in perhaps less than a month the outer pad would have been grinding on the disc.

Brake pad wear limit.

And limitations of the Mot inspection.

Nowadays we’re seeing more vehicles at Mot time that haven’t had a service in the previous 12 months, the customer using the Mot inspection as a “service”. Unfortunately this can lead to problems as on an Mot test we’re not permitted to dismantle anything to check any items not visible.

Twice recently I’ve advised brake pads wearing thin, but not able to fail the item as the parts of the brake pads visible were not less than 1.5mm thick . Most manufacturer’s service limits are at 3mm for brake pads. In both cases the pads not visible were below 1.5mm, in one case the brake pad was touching and scoring the disc.

In this case both pads are just below 1.5mm, however the pads from the inner side of the caliper have worn lower and one was scoring the disc.

In many cases the condition of brake pads can only be truly assessed with the wheels removed, rather than relying on the tester being able to peer past a wheel trim or through small holes in the wheel rim.

With wheels removed  the condition of all the brake pads can be checked.

In this case the slight pitting of the outer face of the disc indicated problems in that the outer pad wasn’t moving and being pressed onto the face of the disc, the caliper was sticking and allowed the inner pad to wear down to score the disc. In this case the caliper was only functioning at approx 50% of it’s efficiency and had to be replaced.  In fact this particular vehicle had had an advisory that the pads were wearing thin at it’s last mot, had they been replaced then the caliper may have been able to be lubricated and thus saved the expense of replacement.

Something different

Another vehicle presented for test with a damaged wheel rim. However no visible scrapes or gouges on the outside of the wheel , no visible damage to the outside of the tyre, but when checking the wheel from underneath, the flatspot on wheel rim was immediately visible. Quite possibly the carcase of the tyre is also damaged. When running the roller brake test, the flatspot on the wheel rim was noted as a squirming sensation, noticeable when the brake at that wheel was being tested. The poor potholed condition of the roads locally is most likely reponsible for the slowly increasing incidences we’re seeing of this problem.

Also found this week when rectifying the excessive smoke from a 2006 Peugeot diesel, the air filter shown below was changed, surprisingly the vehicle wasn’t too far over the limit thanks to the emissions control electronics, had it been a non electronic controlled emissions system, it would have required changing far earlier in it’s life.  A lack of   servicing lead to this being missed, on this vehicle, to reach the filter required the removal of the windscreen wipers and scuttle panel.

And to a fairly common failure , a worn out suspension bush found on a Ford Ka allowing excessive movement, in this case found at the front of the suspension arm, usually the problem bush is to the rear of the suspension arm.

This type of problem commonly leads to abnormal tyre wear too, so if your tyre shows unusual wear patterns, then get the tyre fitter to have a quick look at the visible suspension components. It could save  you more money in the long run

Diesel Emissions

Diesel engined vehicles first registered after 1st August 1979 are subject to a metered smoke test during the MOT. This requires the engine to be revved to the governed maximum speed of the engine up to 6 times.

It is therefore important that you are sure your engine has been regularly serviced and the timing belt (if fitted) has been changed at the recommended interval as failure could cause serious damage to the engine.

If like many people nowadays you are concerned with the fuel economy  of your vehicle, you may very rarely rev the engine very high, if you are this type of person  a run of about 4 miles at over 50% of throttle the night before, may well clear the vehicles lungs and help it through the emissions test. Even if your vehicle is reasonably “young” this will still help.

Below is an instance of a “fast pass”

And below is one that didn’t make the fast pass.

This one didn’t pass the emissions test even after having the full 6 tries.

Suspension Bushes

A fairly regular item of failure on some vehicles is an “excessively deteriorated rubber bush allowing excessive movement ” such as this one 

or this one.The arrow is pointing to the split in the centre of the rubber bush, which is allowing the suspension arm to move sideways under load.

You could also come across  “a bush unbonded  allowing excessive movement” such as this example albeit a rather extreme example.

Often the excessive movement caused by the above faults will lead to excessive tyre wear, particularly on the inner edge of the tyre, on that particular front suspension /wheel location.  Often the first thing the layman thinks is that the tracking needs adjusting.

Below is an example of a tyre worn badly enough to expose the plys or cords of the tyre carcase.

I believe it can be a fine up to £1000 and 3 points on your license (apart from the risk of an accident or blowout)

Tested in advance and failed?

If you’ve had your vehicle tested before your current Mot expires and it failed, your current MOT remains valid until its date of expiry.

If you are concerned that a failure on the database may bring you to the attention of the law, no need to worry, apparently they can only access the database and check for current MOTs.