M.o.t Test With Lowering....

[Guest jij205]

hello, my mates from college reckon wiv certain lowering sprigs my car will FAIL a m.o.t. for being 2 low..They said that if u lower ur car the springs cant have play in them while car is jacked off the floor. surelly every spring has play in them while jacked up??? will it fail or they just bullsh*tters. cheers

[Goliath 94]

A car will fail for having a spring that has play in it when the car is jacked up as far as i know, If you want to lower it then using uprated shocks suited to the lowering springs will be fine, as long as you dont lower it a silly amount.

[steve@cornwall 100]

The tester I used to go to hated lowered cars - would often fail them for "insufficient suspension travel" I was close to the wind with the old suspension on my CTi as I had to physically lift the front for him to get the jack under it, and the front valence was too close for comfort on the rollers for the brake test - I guess he'd have been within his rights to call it untestable if any lower?

[j_turnell 137 3 Cars]

If the springs are matched to the dampers then you shouldnt have any problems. Its only when you lower it dramatically on standard length dampers you'll have problems.

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

wiv

 

2 low

 

u

 

ur

 

We don't do text speak on here buddy.

[hodgy 0]

i got a warning a few years ago for text speak!!

 

depends on the place you take your car. my car couldnt go on the brake tester without scrapping the front bumper so they WOULD have failed it

[Rom 0]

It can be failed if the springs arent secure when jacked up yes. This happens when lowering springs are used with standard shocks. As with most MOT stuff, its 90% down to the testers discression.

Ive never read anything about how much suspension travel a car must have in the book (although im not a tester) Id hazard a guess that aslogn as there is movement, and the rebound test etc is ok, there shouldnt be a problem.

Obviously if the car is so low it cant get on the ramp, or be jacked up, or go in the rollers, it will fail, or he will refuse to test it.

 

The idea behind the spring being secure when jacked up, is should the car become air bound, when it lands, the spring might not reseat correctly, which could stress / break it. Make you crash etc.

[Foltan 0]

As long as the suspension is sound and not dodgy it should pass with an advisory of having lowered springs. If it's sketchily done or too low and falling apart you may fail.

 

However bad grammar and childish abbreviations are an immediate fail im afraid!

Edited September 3, 2008 by Foltan

[James_R 3]

The guidance is that as long as they relocate when the vehicle is taken off the jack it's a pass, it certainly used to be that they still had to bound when jacket, but it was changed a while back to accomodate the A class apparently which when the rear is jacket the springs are "free" but it has cones to reloacted them when it's dropped back down. Least this is the info my tester gave me, so as long as when it goes back down the springs sit back where they should its fine.

 

 

 

As for how low can you MOT a car, if it fits the ramps it should be, otherwise fine a place with an insp pit instead my old Mk3 astra was about -120mm (back in the days of being a rudd ) and required a long length of 2x4 to lift the car p for the jacket to go under it for the axle lifts, and the front bumper had to come off too, was it worth it.. probabaly not but it look pretty sweet

[dirtdog 4]

if it's too low to get on the ramp, bang some wooden wedges inbetween the springs to jack it up a bit

[AdamP 0]

My springs on my Polo are cable tied into the seats. This is a perfectly reasonable way of securing the spring into the seats and has been recommended by various MOT testers as a safe way of passing the MOT.

[Guest old64er]

My springs on my Polo are cable tied into the seats. This is a perfectly reasonable way of securing the spring into the seats and has been recommended by various MOT testers as a safe way of passing the MOT.

 

This is exactly what i used to suggest to lowered cars that were mismatched on spring free length to piston travel. I could have failed many escort estate rears because the little metal tags used to disintegrate(a tie wrap sorted it). Thankfully my days of arguing with the public stopped 4 years ago when i quit MOTing.

[gazzamec 0]

My springs on my Polo are cable tied into the seats. This is a perfectly reasonable way of securing the spring into the seats and has been recommended by various MOT testers as a safe way of passing the MOT.

 

i had to do this on my nova a few years back, after watching the spring drop out of its seat hit the ground and roll towards me at the MOT station, the testers face was pure gold, luckily it was a free retest and he just asked me to refit them and cable tie them securely whilst it was there to save the retest time.

 

if the spring is on a shock (macphereson type) the spring must be firm in its seat and not be able to be "dislodged" from its position when raised, once again a cable tie should hold it firmly.

[holland_gt 0]

my mate has a astra lowered 90mm, to pass MOT he just had to cable tie the springs to make sure they didnt drop out as mentioned above. Should be alright if the MOT station isn't a complete farse!