Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Autowirral Beware of mot stations

I had my car mot'ed in june last year and it passed and i was given an mot certificate as they do,
well i was as you know lowering my car and upon doing so this was found on the rear passenger side, a well rusted and corroided shocky with no support in it what so ever


here is another one


upon changing the front shocky's i found this a broken spring



i mean who can pass a car with suspension like this?
they told me that the rear end needed doing but passed the car anyway,

i mean thats shocking to say the least as there could of been a really bad smash or somethink with them being the way they were.

so when you take your car to be mot'ed just be carefull of were you take it as you could end up like what i had or something worse

Looks bad that mate, but is it not possible that suspension spring broken in the last 7 months since the MOT was issued ?

After all, by your own admission he did advise you it was corroded but you decided to take no further action

Im NOT saying who is right or wrong but how can you possibly say what it was like seven months ago ?

he only told me that the rear shocky was leaking nothink else matey, even so when i use to take my car to you i never use to get the mot until the work was done and the car was safe
so i think the fella just couldn't be arsed to to it i think

Tony don t forget that with your superior weight, the suspension will break down alot quicker than any one else s, the mot guy probly looked at it and thought 'hmmmmm 5 years left in that ' but then looked at you and had a second though about his predictions,

Okay, he informed you that the shock absorber was leaking, If the shock absorber was leaking then this puts the spring under extreme pressure which its not designed for and therefore it will snap prematurly.

Allo i am saying is that i think it may be unfair to blame the MOT Station when there is every possiblity the spring has broken in the last 7 months since your MOT test.

Your MOT only tests the condition of the testable items on that day and cannot predict it will last for 12 months....

agree with scooby,

MOT garage said my GF's astra suspension was a bit corroded and needed looking at because at the time it wasn't bad enough to cause a fail.

It would fail this year, if the car was on the road.

As Scooby said, the MOT is only good on the day that the car is tested.

They can "advise" on something they may think will fail, but how can they tell if the cars goning to do 1000 miles or 50000 miles that year, and under what conditions.

Its also very hard to see if the top of a shock is rusty with out taking it off, same with the spring, as the weight of the car can keep it in place.

Still, good excuse to fit some nice shocks and springs eh

ok your views are noted, but you can't tell me that this took 6months to get like this though

yeah tony i can see your point, i dont know how old your car is but that suspension looks a bit dodgy! I don't get it though did it snap when you took it off or while you were driving?

To Get like what ?

All i can see in the picture is a Strut, i carnt see any faults...

Any better pics ?

my car is quite old it a 1990 mk2 golf on a G plate
i don't know when this has happened as i have never had any of the shocks off the car before now and i have owned the car for 10 months nearly now so this could of been like this before i got it?

Scooby mate all the housing that suppports the shocks to the susenpion has all corroided and rusted away at the top of the mount bud
if you can't see that you need glasses only joking with you matey

its just as well i decided to get my car lowered isn't or it could of been fatal

Im just off to Specsavers

That corrosion there will be literally unviewable without unbolting it from the mounting point,they dont look at that bit there,they look at the mounting points for corrosion but they cant see the bit thats rusted on urs as its in a cup,and when it was fitted i bet it was in 1 piece with the crack only a hairline fracture unable to be seen.I reckon if u'd have got it MOTd last week it prob wudda passed again,on the shock anyway,the spring would be spotted,but how do u know it hasnt snapped since then?

what u moaning at it got a certificate didnt it, that should be all ya woried about lol he he he may be take my car therenxt year ha ha

Sorry matey but I agree with everyone else. Scoop has got a valid point, there's no way that fracture could have been spotted during the MOT. Did you know that garages aren't allowed to take the wheels off during the MOT? The only checks made to the suspension are to the top strut mounts and the shocks, and a "bounce test" which just checks that the shocks aren't worn.

But your mmc starts in april 2004, about 21 months ago?

End of the day the MOT tests that your car is roadworthy on the day that it is done, it can't guarantee that for another 12months. If i had my MOT done and then the next day wrote my car off, d'ya think it'd still be roadworthy? No garage could predict that!

I would expect that a recent, full service would have shown up any problems, so keep on top of the servicing!