MOT’s

sahir123

Hi Guys,
Hope this is the right place to ask a question. I’m looking to buy a used Vw golf mk4 1.6 auto. The has been a recent mot that has been done and it says that ‘

• Offside Front Brake hose slightly damaged 
• Offside Front Upper Macpherson strut pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement (5.3.4 (a) (i))

Are these things I should worry about and stay away from as many used cars I’ve seen not just VW have corroded brakes and issues like that. They look like common issues on old cars.

just wanted to know as a first car is it something I should stay away from or it’s something to worry very much about.

thanks in advance.

walwyn1978

It’s not a deal breaker IF the price is cheaper than a similar Golf without the issue as clearly at some point you’ll be paying out to resolve it. It’s not that unusual as a car, an auto Golf. 

How much, how many miles? 

marlot

You'll likely need to have a little bit of work done to the front offside suspension in due course, and they can change the brake hose at the same time if needed.  It's not a big job, just part of routine car maintenance.  Try to get a couple of hundred off the car price.

The more normal advisory for brakes is surface corrosion on the disks - which usually means a new set of disks is needed.

sahir123

It’s done 85k, and the guy said he’ll give the car for £950. Full service history aswell

Goudy

You're always going to find this sort of thing in the history of any used car, even fairly new stuff and once you've sorted these out, the next MOT will almost certainly throw up some more things.

Trouble starts when these things get ignored and the next time they find these and a few new ones, it all starts to get a bit uneconomic to sort them all.

It's hard to tell, but is does sound like someone has kept on top off all the jobs it's needed if that's all they've found.
It's worth chipping them a couple of hundred on the price to cover the cost of these jobs if you like the look of the rest of the car.

AdrianC

It's a sub-grand, ~20yo car. Both the advisories listed are wear-and-tear consumables.

sahir123

If anyone knows, what could the likely cost be to sorting these out?

RobM99

Brake hose?   A guess - £15 for the part, £50 labour and new fluid (possibly)   I reckon change from £100.  As said before, that's wear'n'tear.

treeroy

sahir123 said:

 things I should worry about and stay away from as many used cars I’ve seen not just VW have corroded brakes and issues like that. They look like common issues on old cars.

Brake hose damaged isn't the same as brake hose corroded, and doesn't indicate there is any rust.
Both issues are cheap things to replace and perfectly normal kind of advisory to see on an old car. 

Neither of the advisories is an indication that the car may have real problems. I would be fairly pleased with that MOT, as the MOT inspection has shown there are no significant faults/problems with the car. 

MinuteNoodles

Probably just a nick in the outer rubber on the brake hose. The important bits that keep the brake fluid in place are the metallic braid and the rubber piping within that braid, the outer rubber is just a protective layer there precisely to get nicks and cuts from things like stones being thrown up.

The strut issue is just normal wear and tear.

I doubt there's £150-£200 of repairs there to be done before the next MOT at the most which isn't bad for a sub £1000 car.

MinuteNoodles

marlot said:

The more normal advisory for brakes is surface corrosion on the disks - which usually means a new set of disks is needed.

No it doesn't, it never has unless the car has been stood for a year or it's been driven round for months with shot pads or a sticking caliper with one side not working. It's a money spinner and one you can avoid by taking the wheel off, going over the centre hub with a wire brush, getting a hammer and tapping the rust coloured dirt and crud off the outer edge as you rotate the disk then painting both of those surfaces with some hammerite. Other than the wear on the surface the pads contact they'll look like new.

MOT testers advising for corroded discs is actually a fairly new phenomenon because years ago when I was a main dealer mechanic it was part of a service to knock the crap off the outside edge of the discs, clean up the hub area with a bit of emery paper and use copperslip on the mating face with the wheel, none of which are done today.