Halfords Free Winter Check - be warned.

AdrianC

pompeyrich wrote: »

Not actually true, my old car failed as recorded on the check MOT site below,

Date tested 18 September 2009
Fail
...
Reason(s) for failure
Front Brake pad(s) less than 1.5 mm thick (3.5.1g)

Yes, it is in there as a fail - and, in fact, it's now a "dangerous".
https://www.mot-testing.service.gov.uk/documents/manuals/class3457/Section-1-Brakes.html#section_1.1.1.13

But unless you have a VERY open design of wheel, they simply cannot check, because the tester is not allowed to remove the wheels.


https://www.mot-testing.service.gov.uk/documents/manuals/class3457/Introduction.html#section_14

The MOT test must be carried out without dismantling, so it isn’t always possible to inspect some testable items.

pompeyrich

AdrianC wrote: »

Yes, it is in there as a fail - and, in fact, it's now a "dangerous".
https://www.mot-testing.service.gov.uk/documents/manuals/class3457/Section-1-Brakes.html#section_1.1.1.13

But unless you have a VERY open design of wheel, they simply cannot check, because the tester is not allowed to remove the wheels.


https://www.mot-testing.service.gov.uk/documents/manuals/class3457/Introduction.html#section_14

In my case I knew the pads were getting low but the brakes seemed fine, well they passed the MOT for efficiency, on my way to the test the "brake pad wear" warning light came on which probably led to them looking a bit closer through the alloys.

Ant_in_the_garden

I took my car in to Halfords autocentre this week. I had just had the car serviced to get it through the MOT. They failed it on front break disks significantly and obviously worn. I phoned the chap who had serviced it and he said 'no way'. I took it back to him and he took the wheels off (they don't do that in the MOT) and showed me that the discs were fine with plenty of break pad left. Got MOT from my normal centre the next morning. On going back to Halfords the were not interested and just gave me a form to send back to the DVSA. I went to Halfords because I had picked up from Martin's emails that you could get a voucher for a free MOT by buying something from the shop. I hope they don't scam everyone in this way.

Scrapit

It's a check. No more no less. Probably most could do most of the checks them selves.

bob_a_builder

I hope they don't scam everyone in this way.

Pretty sure they try, the odd one or two might slip through their net unscathed

photome

It’s brake 😀

twhitehousescat

photome wrote: »

It’s brake 😀

no with haldrauds its "broken" , shakes head about £200 mate

Tokk

In fairness, they're hoping to find things wrong that you'll pay them to fix... Otherwise there's no sense offering the check for free.

They shouldn't be inventing things though - always worth getting a second opinion from a mechanic you trust.

The only experience I've got with this was a brake condition check when the car was booked in with them for tyres anyway - they said pads and discs both worn but would have a couple of thousand miles left.
Car was booked in for a service not long after anyway, and the independent it was booked with was asked to check both - they suggested replacing both as they agreed both were close to legal limits (and doing 20k a year, I had it done there and then rather than have to faff with having them done another month down the line)