My favourite MG ZT Turbo fails the MoT miserably ...

[MGJohn]

First the good news, the emissions which are always something I cannot measure, were a good sign and were the first things to be tested soon after arrival with still warm engine. All readings well into the green my favourite traffic light colour...



Now for the bad news. Here's the bad news. Can you tell what it is ? ...



Some folks dread the dreaded MoT for their cars.... I never do that. They are mainly all basically safety checks. I need to know when things like this are not as safe as they should be.

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Glad that single failed lower front suspension rear bush on the offside is all it is. Probably do both sides purely in the interests of balance.

[ridds]

How do you not hear feel that when driving? Do you not drive it often?

[MGJohn]

ridds said:

How do you not hear feel that when driving? Do you not drive it often?

Have not used it much since well before Christmas. Previously nothing untoward. Car drove and handled perfectly despite closing on 100,000 miles. Been using my 620ti. I rotate my car use as I know long periods of inactivity can sometimes be harmful. For instance, see my post on what can happen to a Rover 75 or MG ZT which has not been used so the battery runs flat. ... Here:~

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Not previously, but, recently since Christmas I had experienced very occasionally a clunk when the front wheels were traversing traffic calming devices. Those humps give me the hump and are responsible for millions of quids worth of accelerated suspension wear on vehicles. Also noticed a vagueness very occasionally when the wheels appeared to "tramline" on those long seams where tarmac areas are joined on roads.

[MGJohn]

Well although only one bush was badly worn, I decided to buy a pair and fit those with balance in mind. I got them from A.E.Wilcox, an MG Dealer in Wickwar, South Gloucester who is now my nearest XPart outlet. Previously, Bristol Street Motors [ Ford ] in Gloucester supplied Rover and MG parts but stopped doing that recently.

The pair came in MG Rover boxes and one of the boxes clearly showed "Made in Taiwan". They are substantial and look good quality ... time will tell.

Quick blast up the M5 and decided to get a quote from a two man repair outfit I've used many times over the years for some jobs I did not fancy doing. Keith Burnham; a small two man firm who operates out of an Industrial Unit on Innsworth Technology Park just on the northern outskirts of Gloucester. Had it been spring or summer I would have got stuck in and fitted them myself. With 1/2" of snow on the ground and near freezing conditions and little sign of that improving I was delighted to hear his quote of £75 to fit both! Excellent value and not worth getting cold and dirty for that outlay. He will do it Friday Morning despite a near fully booked workload this week.

I will ask him to keep the old housing brackets for me. I may fit a couple of Powerflex jobbies into them and keep those should my other ZT need replacements sometime.