MOT (passed too easily?)

Lum

Norman_Castle wrote: »

There is a minimum thickness for brake pads but I don't think there is a legal limit.

Good point, the test is literally do they stop the car sufficiently.

You could be grinding the bare metal remains of your pad base into your brake discs and still pass.

Retrogamer

The MOT inspector isn't allowed to remove anything from the vehicle so when it comes to things like brake pads failing, they must be able to be viewed whilst the wheels are on the car well enough to confirm they are significantly worn to fail.


It is listed as a genuine failure item though if it's confirmed they are too worn.

Reason for rejection
g.
a brake lining or pad insecure or less than 1.5 mm thick at any point

Source

londonTiger

ive got a strong mental image of someone being laughed out of the garage.

the sayings people use on here. lol/

londonTiger

Retrogamer wrote: »

The MOT inspector isn't allowed to remove anything from the vehicle so when it comes to things like brake pads failing, they must be able to be viewed whilst the wheels are on the car well enough to confirm they are significantly worn to fail.


It is listed as a genuine failure item though if it's confirmed they are too worn.



Source

its pretty easy to inspect brakes without removing wheels, unless the car has steelies on. also the car will be on ramps so they'll get to look at the inner disk surface and pads too

marlot

Deleted_User wrote: »

...but hardly used as we have a new car - i.e. <300miles on the clock since the mot...

This is the reason the disks are corroded. They will get surface rust within an hour of washing a car. Or overnight if it rains. If the car is hardly used, the corrosion gets deeper.

Use it or lose it, when it comes to brake disks.

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/general-advice/brakes-discs-drums-pads.html

gilbert_and_sullivan

Marlot and many others have it spot on.

Only 2/3 months ago we were still in the depths of one of the longest winters on record, and you've done 300miles or so since the MOT, hardly surpising they are deteriorating.

Your car is still caked with salt underneath, and as rightly said the rear brakes will hardly have been used in that time but each time they have been used the pads will have been abrading off another good rust coating and will wear accordingly.

I only hope this new garage have serviced your car properly, the use its had probably means that not only are the brakes corroding, but a bigger problem for you is lack of use and caked on salt residue will see caliper sliders adjusters and pistons seizing in short order.

Unfortunately the modern techies idea of servicing a braking system is to squint at the discs and calipers and the tiny bit of pad that can be seen, then squirt brake cleaner in the general direction of the brakes, when in fact cars used like yours need an annual spring full brake strip to clean out the salt crud and lube up as necessary, replacing parts as needed.


The worse thing you can do for a car is to park it up just as the winter has finished and allow all that salt to do its work underneath, this happens sometimes with fleet cars mainly renters, seeing them underneath when they go back on the road 6 months later is an eye opener, ideally they should be run through the spring for the clean rain to wash the salt out....the sensible owner either keeps the car washed underneath regularly throughout winter or gets it steam cleaned once the salt has gone.

I haven't even touched on what that salt encrustment is doing to your brake pipes suspension components exhaust etc at this very moment.

alastairq

I suspect the OP is suffering from that all-too-common complaint?
[A surfeit of urban myth?]

IE, brake pad thickness near to manufacturer's' minimum, etc....

When, in reality, it is whether they work, at the time, correctly [or within parameters] that really matters.

mcjordi

they are advisories.. testers opiomion.. go to another mot place and you might get different advisories.
worry about it when it fails the next mot or not

keith1950

I think he basically wants to get his brakes done for free.

He mentions 'mot insurance' , but this is only in case it actually fails.

If it passes the brake efficiency test then that's it, it doesn't matter how thin the pads are....it's passed the test.

He wants ' the moon on a stick '.

Joe_Horner

Posted elsewhere, but it never hurts to spread the truth. Watch this VOSA video around the 2 min 30 mark to see just how much corrosion is acceptable on a brake disk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVpgCKz8oWs

If yours don't look worse than these then the garage is selling you things you don't stricktly need, and that would not be an MOT fail even now. Although you will wear through pads quicker if their surface is this bad!

2mm pad thickness is fine btw. Depending how you drive you could easily get another 5k miles out of those which, given how little you seem to use the car, could easily be over 12 months motoring!