The difference between Rust and Corrosion.

[MK1_Ben]

Was having a chat to my local MOT tester yesterday whilst the car was up on the ramps having a new exhaust made up.

He had a quick look underneath and said that my rear spring locating points (on the floor of the car where the pads/upper bushes are) would be a fail. They have what I would consider corrosion on them, slightly brown and there is a few flakes of metal however I've stabbed it all over with a screw-driver and there are no areas that are weakened which I thought qualified as "rust" in an MOT test.

Surely if I just wire-wheel the flaking and surface rust, then apply some underseal it will be fine for an MOT?

[Alex J]

wire wheel the whole floor, look for holes, if there aint none, then under seal the whole floor!!

[paul james]

You never really know if its just surface rust (as everyone who sells a car always says it is), or its going to create a hole untill you start fixing it. What might look like just a bit of a bubble in paint can end up hiding a right mess behind it. Given that its a stuctural area, and an MOT tester probably doesn't see it as his job to start removing rust to see whats behind it, they assume the worst.
So yeah wire wheel it down and see how bad it actually is, get a bit of welding done if need be and then get it painted up. Personally I'm avoiding the never dry out goop underseal from now on, as its such a mess dealing with it when you have to work on the car again. Anyway if it looks and is strong, theres no reason to fail it.

[RossRog]

Took my old loon for an mot last year, the guy walked out with a screw driver an had the time of his life...

it needed welding doing!

[Edd]

I'd wire wheel it all off, etch prime it, put U-pol gravi guard on in the paint over with hammerite, won't come back then

If it's got rust unless you do something with it it will only get worse and probably rot right out

[marc69]

Dont use underseal, no matter what the brand says, it will dry out in places and have little cracks which will act as the perfect little water traps.
As was written previous, a few coats of good primer, then paint, I personally also shove a layer of grease on the underside and in the cavities of good cars, disgusting to work with but, my mini cooper has been lying for 8 years, went to put it back on the road...no new rust, on a mini that is seriously lucky!

[Edd]

Gravi Guard is a overpaintable stone chip tho so won't crack like underseal

If doing a proper job fill chassis legs/box sections with cavity wax, no chance of rotted inside out then

[mowgli]

The mot testing device is a blunt rubber cone shaped hammer. You'd struggle to get thru a cornflakes packet with it... But i've seen testers use a no.1 pozidrive.......

[pete17]

M.O.T. testers are not allowed too use any tool for corrosion except the one provided by the m.o.t. and then they are not allowed too stab at the rusty area , only to scrape at the surface ! any thing else can be deamed as damaging your vehicle , i should know as only recently passed my m.o.t. testers course , and the some of things you can get away with is bizzare i.e. you dont need any lights on your car for it too pass aslong as u declaire too them its only used in the day time and all lamps are disconnected

[mowgli]

I welded a sill on a friends mk2 cav cos the tester banged the pozi #1 thru it.... Then the b4stard did the other sill the same.... Thru clean metal both times.....so i fixed that too, and sent her back to the tester with my pozi #1 and she offered to test his car using the same method.

[ryansnova]

my dad ended up in a fight because the guy at the mot center was hiting the sills on hes mk1 escort with a hammer lol

[marc69]

my last SR MOT, the guy was 15 minutes hammering the car inner arch to "check", I could hear him banging the living daylights out of it as I was approaching the garage to collect it!
He then told me he was having difficulty checking the wheel arch through the paint etc so, had scraped it all off! I was fuming, he passed the car but, myself and a lot of mates used to use the garage for MOTs....no more business for him.

After his checking, I have since painted etc all the damage.

[marc69]

Interesting, does the tester have to take it out for a road run?
My SR tester took over and hour to test the car, he was reluctant to pass the brakes as he said it passed the test on the machine but, there was a bit of braking wobble on the road. I heard him road testing and personally I think that redlining the engine wouldn't have helped! There was a tiny wobble under hard braking, the car had been stood for 3 years and by the time I had driven 100 miles it had obviously all bedded back in and the wobble had gone.

Another two rules are, the spare wheel is only checked if you have one and I had a 1960 morris mini minor with a speedo but no cable, apparently you only have to have a speedo, it doesn't have to work?


M.O.T. testers are not allowed too use any tool for corrosion except the one provided by the m.o.t. and then they are not allowed too stab at the rusty area , only to scrape at the surface ! any thing else can be deamed as damaging your vehicle , i should know as only recently passed my m.o.t. testers course , and the some of things you can get away with is bizzare i.e. you dont need any lights on your car for it too pass aslong as u declaire too them its only used in the day time and all lamps are disconnected

[pete17]

only time a tester should have any reason too drive ya car is if hes doing a decelerometer brake test , due too their brake rollers not working or its a 4x4 !!! ,id of said feck off too em lol

also my favourite stupid pass is if your windscreens cracked , just take it for m.o.t. without it in =PASS

[MK999]

Rear seat belts don't work, take the rear seats out.

[novaboyopr]

there are loads of silly things you can do, we had a zonda come into my old work for an mot (no BS) lol bloke put it up on the ramp then lowered it straight away, they have a completly flat floor with nothing visable, the thing could have been hanging under it (most probably not) but if the tester cant see it he cant check it. =pass.

so build a flat floor for instant pass. lol

[Bubba]

so build a flat floor for instant pass. lol

that had crossed my mind :p

[pete17]

hell yea , ive often thought u could actually build a car to mot regs, and show it most people and they would think it would fail but too the mot itself its actually road worthy too there rules lol

same as the sharp edges rule ; its only a fail on sharpe edges if its caused by acciedent damange or corrosion , ( and i did ask this on my course) "so if i mounted a sword and a dozen knifes on my car would it fail "=no it would pass !!! as its a modification and not caused by acciedent damange or corrosion lol STUPID in my book lol lol lol lol

[MK1_Ben]

Rear seat belts don't work, take the rear seats out.

I had already planned to do that for my MOT ;)

[Jack]

Spare wheel isn't part of the test, although if its duff the tester should inform the presenter.
Speedometer is only listed for class 5 vehicles (>13 seats), and must work.
Missing windscreen isn't a reason for rejection, although you will have to remove all the wiper/washer system as well!

[mowgli]

my dad ended up in a fight because the guy at the mot center was hiting the sills on hes mk1 escort with a hammer lol
you should present a lorry for an mot then.. my brother had spent 2 grand on a paint job on a volvo, and as i was taking it thru the test bay, the tester started with his little hammer, as they do, checking bolts & suspension components, then started going mad on the freshly painted chassis, my brother ran into the bay & proceeded to give him a bollocking, and the tester said, as it was fresh paint, he was making sure there were no cracks, that might have been filled!!!!! the amount a truck chassis flexes on the road means no filler could stay in a crack....we did still pass.

[John]

Have you had a REALLY good poke at it? i'm sure mr mot man will, so i'd check properly. (ie jack the car up and remove springs and top rubber mounts) I looked at a nova once for a friend of mine and when i did this the whole spring mount cam off with the rubber.

[MK1_Ben]

@John, yeah. properly had a dig at it.

Also, to add to my MOT shenanigans. Brakes failed today in the middle of nowhere, limped to a garage to find both rear cylinders have gone... the joys.

[Wrightie-Nova]

took my old loon for an mot last year, the guy walked out with a screw driver an had the time of his life...

It needed welding doing!

lol : LOL

[mowgli]

@john, yeah. Properly had a dig at it.

Also, to add to my mot shenanigans. Brakes failed today in the middle of nowhere, limped to a garage to find both rear cylinders have gone... The joys.

you posted about having handbrake trouble, didn't you???? Your brake shoes are not adjusted up anything like right & they are probably worn as are the drums. Get some pennies spent on fitting new brakes to it as new cylinders just won't work on their own.

[John]

you posted about having handbrake trouble, didn't you???? Your brake shoes are not adjusted up anything like right & they are probably worn as are the drums. Get some pennies spent on fitting new brakes to it as new cylinders just won't work on their own.

Agreed. the fluid leaking from the cylinders has probably softened the material on the shoes anyway.

[MK1_Ben]

you posted about having handbrake trouble, didn't you???? Your brake shoes are not adjusted up anything like right & they are probably worn as are the drums. Get some pennies spent on fitting new brakes to it as new cylinders just won't work on their own.

Already had the lot in garage and a Corsa front brake setup to go on for MOT :) Will be doing it all tommorow!

[draper]

another note with paint, buy decent etch primer, i used some cheapo stuff on the nova and its ****, also put a really, really good covering on making sure you get in every little nuck and cranny !!