Quote:
My main concern over those that think it doesn't need an MOT is firstly the brake efficiency, you can to a certain extent check balance by braking hard but the roller test is far more accurate than someone who doesn't want to damage their tyres by braking too hard and the other thing is corrosion, the majority of owners won't climb under the car and check the structural parts and brake pipe and mounting points properly. a tap with your fingers isn't a good testing method.
To find a good tester you need to look a bit harder than your local fast fit centre, an older back street garage will likely know an independent experienced tester.
You must be psychic Justin!
To my eternal shame, I took the Carledo for MOT this morning and came home with a FAIL! The first in 9 years, but it just goes to show! If I can miss something as basic as a seized wheel cylinder, anyone can! There were NO symptoms apart from slightly excessive handbrake travel, which i'd put down to the self adjusters needing a tweak, No brake pull or tendency to spin out, no loss of fluid, nothing! So I had no reason to suspect anything was amiss. Last weekend I had it on the ramp to replace the intermediate and lower column coupling (partially seized UJ and knackered bushes respectively) I've used a U/Jd lower coupling this time, the one I took off was NOT a cheap modern copy but the 1973 original. fair enough wear for that length of time. But available replacements are so naff, I went for the UJ! Had I not had quite so big a fight getting the column off, I might have had time to go into the rear drums to adjust and found it........Or not!
Dammit! Scanned the fail to post but can't find it through postimage though it's there on the desktop!
What it said is:-
Service brake has no recorded effort at a wheel, Offside Rear (this under dangerous)
Parking brake efficiency below requirement
Brake imbalance across an axle, Rear
Parking brake inoperative on one side, Offside (these 3 as major, fix asap)
Needless to say, I DID drive it home and I will look into it tomorrow, I have shoes and cylinders in stock.
I'll probably also take this opportunity to do my rear pipe upgrade.
But this is a perfect example of just WHY all cars need to be MOT'd and being old and not used much is NOT a good reason to stop doing it!
Steve