Tyre question

[cavanmick]

That's a bit more sensible of a system.

There was no test for passanger vehicles vehicle here in Ireland until about 10 years ago, all you could be done for was bald tyres, no lights or a dangerous fault causing an accident. It was brought in solely as an EU money making exercise, at the behest of an 'EU directive'. Its administered by a Spanish company and common fails include electric windows that don't work quickly enough! Also any welding work has to accompanied by an 'engineers report' which of course costs a bloody fortune.

I have seen cars fail for having a pin head sized crack in tail lights for example, there are no advisories!!

It costs E55 a pop, Its so arbitrary that its pointless bringing a car anywhere other than for a test to find out what nonsense its going to fail on, so you will always have to also pay the E27 (don't know how to do a euro sign!) retest fee.

But its even crazier than that, its not necessarily valid for even a year, its only valid for a year from the date of first registration, so an out of test car may only get a pass for a week and have to go back and be retested.

The penalty for not having one? E1500 fine and 5 penalty points, the penalty for doing 59mph past a school in a 30mph zone? 2 penalty points and E60 fine!! Go figure that one, if you don't think its a money racket.

Be grateful for the English MOT and the way its carried out.

A lot of this is a bit exaggerated lad, for one a lamp will not fail unless you can fit your finger into the hole, the drivers windows is the only one tested and as long as it opens enough to get your arm out to use a hand signal and closes again it will pass and if you are withing three months of your due date you get the film year and three months. The shortest cert period is the months and one day.
It's not an ideal system but not as bad as made out to be and most of the stuff is just common sense.

Mick

 

[yogi]

Well your wrong about the light, I had to swap tail lights on a carina about 5 months ago and the one they failed it on had something that looked like a small stone chip on it, was completely intact, no hole at all. And in fairness to the lad testing it he wasn't the worst I ever met, there was a crack in the passenger mirror and he let it go or missed it.

 

[cavanmick]

Ok let me rephrase that then, it shouldn't fail unless you can get your finger into the hole, it's like most NCT urban legends, people add little bits to what they were told at the centre and all of a sudden it's oh my car failed because it was the wrong shade of blue........ Lol

Mick

 

[Shayne]

Unfortunately i think personality rather than written rules dictate what passes and what doesn't . The same garage might employ little hitler and laid back bob and each will pass or fail a vehicle just to spite the other .

 

[yogi]

Well compared to a DOE or a UK MOT its very strict, I've 2 cars, a4x4 and a lorry on the road here most of the time so I've plenty of experience of testing vehicles Mick. And I've yet to see any sort of consistency or logic in how the NCT works, I've had a car pass with a dodgy brake master cylinder (3 pumps, pedal on the floor, 4 and pedal on the floor and no brakes), I've had them refuse to test a car because it was 'too dirty inside' after a valet and yet they tested that car with the light and it was filthy in my opinion.
Had a Passat here that was tested 750 miles and 4 months previously, that need E600 in suspension parts to test again??

If its so great can you explain to me why they failed a car for my ex (I brought it in so this isn't an urban myth) that had a rust hole the size of a 50p on the inner door skin just below the door card , but not in any way structural??

 

[cavanmick]

Because if it has rusted through any panel on the car be it structural or not it is a fail, once there is a hole no matter where it is it fails, oh and if we are talking about experience I'm just about to hit the 2000 test mark this year.

Mick

 

[Shayne]

Yogi it might be helpful to know that in preparation for the Manx test many actually remove good bulbs , or even the whole light , and replace it with a broken one . 4 or 5 such instant fails are usually enough to satisfy the testers self importance and so you can go home and refit all the good bits you swapped go back and pass . If you put a good car in with no real faults they will find 4 or 5 problems that are so obscure the only fix is to fit an obviously brand new part in the general area/areas they failed you on .

 

[yogi]

Yogi it might be helpful to know that in preparation for the Manx test many actually remove good bulbs , or even the whole light , and replace it with a broken one . 4 or 5 such instant fails are usually enough to satisfy the testers self importance and so you can go home and refit all the good bits you swapped go back and pass . If you put a good car in with no real faults they will find 4 or 5 problems that are so obscure the only fix is to fit an obviously brand new part in the general area/areas they failed you on .

Well I'd have to agree with the wisdom of that one!!

 

[karl webster]

I expect its the same there as it is in the uk. Some testers are complete idiots yet some are realistic and sound.

 

[cavanmick]

I expect its the same there as it is in the uk. Some testers are complete idiots yet some are realistic and sound.

Exactly Karl, almost everyone has had a bad experience somewhere along the line but it gets a bit tiring when you see the same silly faults pop up over and over and then it the tester at fault for pointing out these issues, I have a pass rate of just over 50% and like to the k I am on the side of the customer most of the time.

Mick

 

[Gary820]

I expect its the same there as it is in the uk. Some testers are complete idiots yet some are realistic and sound.

You should see some things I've passed lol saying that I've failed my own motor in the past!!!!

 

[Towpack]

There's some very cynical views of MOT testing on this thread!! I've had a couple of advisories in the last few years but i can't honestly remember the last time I had a fail, certainly not on my last 2 vehicles which goes back to 1998. I like to think it's because I do my homework. I've never just taken a vehicle for the test without preparation. I've used the same test station for the last 10 years or so. I don't know them personally. I went there for the first time only because I wanted a Sat morning test and they were the only place that could fit me in. I prep the 80, take it for test and tell them to just change of fix anything minor that is a potential fail (bulb out, wiper blade, washer blocked etc.) and the only thing they've ever had to do was adjust 1 headlamp beam for which they never even charged me. Most testers will know a well maintained vehicle from one that's never touched from one year to the next. JMO

 

[karl webster]

You should see some things I've passed lol saying that I've failed my own motor in the past!!!!

Come on Gary. We all know you guys don't even need an mot

 

[clivehorridge]

If it's of any interest to compare, Joinerman's tyres would pass the bi-annual test they have here. They don't care about broken lights as long as the bulb works, but they do a proper brake, steering and suspension bushes test. There's a trick they have here where they take a set of photos of the car as well. Not sure why, but they do.

The problem here is we have a paper called a "talon" which represents a pocket version of the full vehicle registration data, a bit like the old UK log-book.

The talon has all the usual, VIN and engine numbers, date of registration and the like but it goes further to say (among other things) what tyres should be fitted

I've never understood what that's got to do with a test or a car's road-worthiness. The tyre size on my talon for the 80 is 215 x 75 x 16 and if they're not fitted, it won't pass!

I run with 305 x 70 x 16s and I've got an ARB front bumper (bull bar) so I have to have a quiet word with the guy I take mine to! He gave me a tip early on.

Before I fitted the ARB, he took the photos as usual. It also had 265 tyres on then which didn't look too non-standard.

Ever since fitting the bar and the bigger tyres, he's used the same photos. I take them to him on a memory stick and with a "drink" (usually the equivalent of about £20) I get a pass if all else is ok!

I never had too much quibble in the UK, but it must be 30 years ago since I had a car MOTd in the UK, so I know nothing about it anymore.

 

[Shayne]

Looking at it objectively i don't see how the tyres can result in a fail , the examiner is not clairvoyant and so cannot predict if the tyres present a safety issue in the future . All he can realistically do is ADVISE you to change the tyres and probably will . An M.O.T pass means your vehicle was roadworthy when it was tested , that doesn't mean it will be roadworthy tomorrow .

 

[clivehorridge]

 

[Gary820]

Come on Gary. We all know you guys don't even need an mot

Don't know what you mean

 

[karl webster]

Don't know what you mean

 

[joinerman]

So where do you guys get your tyres, I'd love some BFG's but i do less than 5k a year so can't warrant the cost, i want at's & after looking online the only thing i can find are Falcons at £101 each, what are you running & where did you get them ?

 

[Roger Fairclough]

You should see some things I've passed lol saying that I've failed my own motor in the past!!!!

When I had a testers certificate, it was illegal to test your own motor.

Roger