Brake wear indicator just came on & MOT on Tuesday.
Discussion
My brake wear indicator came on a couple of days ago (996TT) - keeps going on & off in the last couple of days. No surprise, knew I was heading towards new pads/disks fairly soon (been saving up!!)
Anyway, when the wear indicator comes on you have about 1,000 miles grace (I am told) but I have an MOT on Tuesday - anyone know if its likely to fail this because of the brakes, or is there a fair bit of wear left even with the light on?
Cheers,
R.
Anyway, when the wear indicator comes on you have about 1,000 miles grace (I am told) but I have an MOT on Tuesday - anyone know if its likely to fail this because of the brakes, or is there a fair bit of wear left even with the light on?
Cheers,
R.
There is a reasonable amount of pad left when the light comes on. However, you can fail on the basis of excessive pad wear. I can't remember the exact wording on the VOSA website but I looked into it when my BMW was failed for this reason (light was not on yet). I made a formal complaint about the MOT testing station (they had a cosy relationship with the local Maindealer who changed the pads without asking me). To cut a long story short, the local VOSA inspector told me it was one of those areas where a large part of it is down to the MOT tester. The tester inspects the pads without dismantling the calliper and has to make a judgement on pad wear.
In your case the tester's attention will be drawn to it by the warning light. In short, it really is down to the tester on the day.
pp
In your case the tester's attention will be drawn to it by the warning light. In short, it really is down to the tester on the day.
pp
LOL yep had thought of that. The light comes on & off, so drive around until its off I suppose before the MOT. It does tend to light up under heavy braking, which (I believe) is part of the MOT test.
I will call the OPC & get them to stand by with pads in case it needs them. Even if it doesn't on the day it will need doing at some point soon, so may as well get it done.
R.
I will call the OPC & get them to stand by with pads in case it needs them. Even if it doesn't on the day it will need doing at some point soon, so may as well get it done.
R.
Depending on the relationship you have with the testing station you can always ask them to quickly visually check the car over before the MOT. I did this year due to marginal tyres / minor cracking / crazing on the front discs. Went up a few days before the test.
Ask them to have a butchers at the pad thickness if you really do want to get a few more miles out of the current set.
Ask them to have a butchers at the pad thickness if you really do want to get a few more miles out of the current set.
fbrs said:
???
you drive a 996tt and you're trying to eek the last few hundred miles out of a set of pads? just get em changed - will take you 10 minutes! your brake performance will already be pretty naff compared to fresh pads...
you drive a 996tt and you're trying to eek the last few hundred miles out of a set of pads? just get em changed - will take you 10 minutes! your brake performance will already be pretty naff compared to fresh pads...
The depth of pad won't have any effect on the braking perfomance though. In fact, unless you change discs or have them skimmed you'll lose performance during the bedding in process.
Have to agree that I imagine the brake wear light would be an automatic fail though, if you were asked to sign a car off as roadworthy for the next twelve months then it would have to be a no!
If the light is coming on - it does need pads. And there's no benefit in not doing them. Yes, they're not 100% warn-out when the light comes on, so you can still probably drive it for as ou say 1000 miles or so without metal on metal contact, but if you presume they last 40,000 miles between changes (depending massively on how you use them), why worry about the last 1000 miles as it equates to them being in the last c. 2% of their life.
Fitting pads is a job you can do yourself, or get any garage in the country to do. And they'll charge you only an hours labor to do it. So I'd buy pads from eurocarparts and phone the garage doing the MOT before taking it to them and get them to put pads on for you whilst it's there.
Fitting pads is a job you can do yourself, or get any garage in the country to do. And they'll charge you only an hours labor to do it. So I'd buy pads from eurocarparts and phone the garage doing the MOT before taking it to them and get them to put pads on for you whilst it's there.
willdew said:
Fitting pads is a job you can do yourself, or get any garage in the country to do. And they'll charge you only an hours labor to do it. So I'd buy pads from eurocarparts and phone the garage doing the MOT before taking it to them and get them to put pads on for you whilst it's there.
And don't forget the wear sensors and anti-squeal shims!
Chris_w said:
if you were asked to sign a car off as roadworthy for the next twelve months then it would have to be a no!
Surely an MOT gives you approval that a car was roadworthy at the time of the MOT, not that it guarentees the road-worthyness of the car for the next 12 months?
I could get an MOT dont today, then drive the nuts off my car, wear the tyres & brakes out, shag the suspension etc & in a months time the car would have bald tyres & worn brakes & be un-roadworthy, but would still have an MOT saying it was roadworthy for 12 months?
R.
rumplestiltskin said:
Chris_w said:
if you were asked to sign a car off as roadworthy for the next twelve months then it would have to be a no!
Surely an MOT gives you approval that a car was roadworthy at the time of the MOT, not that it guarentees the road-worthyness of the car for the next 12 months?
I could get an MOT dont today, then drive the nuts off my car, wear the tyres & brakes out, shag the suspension etc & in a months time the car would have bald tyres & worn brakes & be un-roadworthy, but would still have an MOT saying it was roadworthy for 12 months?
R.
Absolutely, but if you were an MOT tester would you sign off a car you knew would be unroadworthy in less than 1,000 miles? That decision could come back to haunt you...
All that said, I'm not sure what the rules are as such, just imagine no tester who valued their livelihood would take that risk.
OK, not sure myself, but if a car is roadworthy at the time of the test then it has to be given an MOT.
There is no "this car will be unroadworthy in 1000 miles maybe" tick box on the fail MOT form.
Legally if I drive off with a fresh MOT - as my car passed - & I dont get my brake pads done & have an accident then thats my fault, not the MOT testers? I might do 500 miles in my car in the next 10 months, so 10 months after an MOT my car is un-roadworthy. Surely no MOT station can be liable.
I agree some MOT stations might not give an MOT because of the worn brake pads but I would assume 99% will because its fine on the day it was tested.
R.
There is no "this car will be unroadworthy in 1000 miles maybe" tick box on the fail MOT form.
Legally if I drive off with a fresh MOT - as my car passed - & I dont get my brake pads done & have an accident then thats my fault, not the MOT testers? I might do 500 miles in my car in the next 10 months, so 10 months after an MOT my car is un-roadworthy. Surely no MOT station can be liable.
I agree some MOT stations might not give an MOT because of the worn brake pads but I would assume 99% will because its fine on the day it was tested.
R.
Edited by rumplestiltskin on Friday 16th February 12:01
Chris_w said:
willdew said:
Fitting pads is a job you can do yourself, or get any garage in the country to do. And they'll charge you only an hours labor to do it. So I'd buy pads from eurocarparts and phone the garage doing the MOT before taking it to them and get them to put pads on for you whilst it's there.
And don't forget the wear sensors and anti-squeal shims!
If the light has only just come on you can reuse the sensors
Brake pad warning light on is NOT a failure. The only warning light that can fail an MOT is the ABS one.
Pads must be worn below 1.5mm before thay can fail. That's the thickness of a 5p piece. How good are your testers eyes? If in doubt he should 'pass and advise'.
If he fails it on pads too low, then he should REFUSE to do the brake roller test as further damage could occur (ie discs if near metal to metal)
If he fails it on pads too low and does the roller test and it passes on efficiency he is opening himself up to an appeal. (The highest number of MOT appeals are on discs and pads) The MOT enforcement officer would like to know why he put the car in the rollers if the pads were worn out. Same as you dont do a brake roller test if a wheel bearing is shot, a tyre is bulged/split, a suspension ball joint with too much play etc etc HTH
Pads must be worn below 1.5mm before thay can fail. That's the thickness of a 5p piece. How good are your testers eyes? If in doubt he should 'pass and advise'.
If he fails it on pads too low, then he should REFUSE to do the brake roller test as further damage could occur (ie discs if near metal to metal)
If he fails it on pads too low and does the roller test and it passes on efficiency he is opening himself up to an appeal. (The highest number of MOT appeals are on discs and pads) The MOT enforcement officer would like to know why he put the car in the rollers if the pads were worn out. Same as you dont do a brake roller test if a wheel bearing is shot, a tyre is bulged/split, a suspension ball joint with too much play etc etc HTH
As mentioned earlier the MOT pass only means the car met the minimum requirements as set out in the testers manual, at the exact time that it was in the station and on the ramp. Not before and not after. I have passed many vehicles that I felt shouldn't be on the road. Nothing I can do about that, I just make sure the customer gets his advisory sheet explaining why and that covers my arse. 20 years of testing and no appeals to my name...yet 
Edited by 911mot on Friday 16th February 13:35
911mot said:
As mentioned earlier the MOT pass only means the car met the minimum requirements as set out in the testers manual, at the exact time that it was in the station and on the ramp. Not before and not after. I have passed many vehicles that I felt shouldn't be on the road. Nothing I can do about that, I just make sure the customer gets his advisory sheet explaining why and that covers my arse. 20 years of testing and no appeals to my name...yet
Thanks for clarifying, wasn't sure how much leeway there was.
fbrs said:
Chris_w said:
The depth of pad won't have any effect on the braking perfomance though.
maybe not on one stop.
but you'll excuse me if i dont come for a spirited drive with you in a tt with no pad depth... you'll be boiling fluid in 10 minutes
Yep, my answer wasn't expansive enough - one can only hope the OP wouldn't be tracking his TT with the light on!
Would be a fun ten minutes though...
Gassing Station | Porsche General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff