MOT failures, please help.

elpdotaer

Hello everyone,
I’m interested in a used Fiat 500. It’s a 59 plate but in good condition( I had a test drive). But my only worry is that that car failed its MOT three times (2014, 2016 and 2017). Moreover, the reason of the failure was the same for 2014 and 2016:
Nearside Front Tyre has ply or cords exposed (4.1.D.1b)
Offside Front Tyre has ply or cords exposed (4.1.D.1b) .
The mileage of the car is less than 60k now. So how come the tyre was so badly damaged? Another thing I found is that its front left wheel has many dents and the front right one has a few dents. The owner did say that might be caused by hitting the curbs.
I’m wondering if it’s too risky to buy this car? The car did have FSH and passed all the MOTs after repair. So could you please advise on this? Thanks.

debtdebt

They've let the tyres wear down past the legal limit. Check the tyres now. Are they new or have decent tread?

Less than £200 will get all 4 wheels refurbed. Try to use it as a bargaining tool.

Nodding_Donkey

debtdebt wrote: »

They've let the tyres wear down past the legal limit. Check the tyres now. Are they new or have decent tread?

Less than £200 will get all 4 wheels refurbed. Try to use it as a bargaining tool.

Add in the cost of wheel alignment. It will probably need it after bouncing off all those kerbs

angrycrow

My first thought was the repeated kerb impacts have knocked the tracking out causing it to wear one edge of the tyre very quickly. How is the tyre wear now the tracking could have been resolved in the last 2 years.

Nodding_Donkey

Thinking about this some more, why bother?


It's a buyers market, just find a car that doesn't raise red flags.

Joe_Horner

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

Thinking about this some more, why bother?


It's a buyers market, just find a car that doesn't raise red flags.

The problem is, if worn tyres 2 years ago "raises a flag" then good luck finding one that doesn't!

elpdotaer

angrycrow wrote: »

My first thought was the repeated kerb impacts have knocked the tracking out causing it to wear one edge of the tyre very quickly. How is the tyre wear now the tracking could have been resolved in the last 2 years.

Many thanks. My first feeling was the same. But now the tyres are in good condition, otherwise the car won't pass the MOT.

elpdotaer

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

Thinking about this some more, why bother?


It's a buyers market, just find a car that doesn't raise red flags.

Thanks for your suggestion of wheel alignment. That is indeed one of my worry.
The reason I'm interested in this car is definitely the low price (£3100 reduced from £3300 for the wheel repair requirement).

elpdotaer

Joe_Horner wrote: »

The problem is, if worn tyres 2 years ago "raises a flag" then good luck finding one that doesn't!

Thanks. I understand that the owner must got the tyre problem resolved since the car passed the MOT after repair (and it has a FSH). But my worry is that the way the owner drives (keep hitting the curbs) left the car with some potential risks since its last MOT/service was 8 months ago.

cajef

TBH it does say something about the previous owner if they put it in for MOT with damaged tyres, what else have they neglected, personally I would be wary about buying from anyone selling a vehicle that has failed three MOT's twice for the same thing.

angrycrow

You could have a car with the tracking far enough out to cause very uneven wear to the tyres and as long as the tyres are legal tread the mot tester won't even comment on it.

You need to inspect the tyres yourself. Put the front wheels on full lock and look at the tyre, are all the tread valleys all the same depth. If they are lower on one side of the tyre the tracking is off.