Hi all,

Just taken my car to for its mot today and it’s failed on the sills… I can’t believe how bad they are!!! Is this on long job to get them repaired? And once repaired how can I make them last longer?

Cheers,

 

sorry to hear that, i forgot how horrible the English MOT is....move to the states...lifes a ball...lol

i have no professional answer to your question, but it's not a long or difficult job, shop around for prices and ask friends for recommendations

 

Thanks for that iownme... I will hitting the states next month for two weeks in Vegas

and we all know what happens in Vegas, says in Vegas

Can't wait ;-)

Ps I like your little signature...

Going broke fast... But going in style...

 

What is a MOT?

 

Hi There,

The Ministry of Transport test (usually abbreviated to MOT test) is an annual test of automobile safety, roadworthiness aspects and exhaust emissions required for most vehicles over three years old used on public roads in the United Kingdom.

MOT testing centres are regulated and licensed by the Department and Transport and VOSA for the purpose, and the individual testers carrying out the inspections also have to be trained and certified. The decision to pass or fail each presented vehicle comes down to the discretion of the tester following the Guidelines issued by the VOSA.

The MOT test covers
Lighting and Signalling Equipment
Steering (including suspension)
Brakes
Tyres and Road Wheels
Seat Belts
Body, Structure and General Items
Exhaust, Fuel and Emissions
Drivers View of the Road

If your car passes then you are ok for another 12 months… Hope this helps.

 

Florida used to have safety inspections in the largest four or five counties. They ditched them around ten years ago! About the same time motor bike riders stopped needing helmets!
You wouldn't believe some of the POS cars we have smoking up our roads!

 

The MOT is pretty much the same as an inspection in the U.S,
Some states in the U.S require only safety inspection, whereas some states require emisions inspection also.
To make it more complicated, some states have separate window stickers for safety and emission, and some cover them both in the same sticker.
Emission inspection in some states is as simple as the inspector checking you have a fuel cap....or as complicated as hooking the vehicle up to an emissions checking computer and a whole bunch o other stuff.

NY emissions is tough, PA is just a check of the fuel cap, UK wants to check EVERYTHING!....even a small amount of rust can fail a cars inspection, Leaving UK was the best move i ever made!.

Luckily in the U.S there are ways to get a car passed when in reality it shouldn't ;+)

 

I had the same issue 3 years ago. The plastic cladding on the outside hides all kinds of problems. It seems that there are three layers of metal in this area. I shopped around and was led to believe that to replace the outer skins only was to be around $2500. Of course mine was worse and some of the second layer needed to be repaired. The final bill was around $4000. What can you do? At that time the car was worth around $10K but with rusty sills was worth nothing so a $4k investment seemed a reasonable alternative.
I really liked the car and expected to run it for another 4 years so I made the plunge.
Glad I had the work done but still pissed off that it was required. I thought the British car industry had finally woken up to the fact that steel rusts in a damp environment. My 1960 Mini had stronger sills at the same age!
Brian

 

LHD X Types drain the wind shield/screen through the A pillar and out the sills. Stupid design. This seems to also be a cause of auto trans failures as water gets in the wiring. For the rest of us plenty of anti rust spray down into A pillar and I made a mod to prevent water from running into the grill at the base of the wind shield.

 

Hi all,

Thanks for all of your thoughts and comments. Cars going in this Friday 03/05/2013 or 05/03/2013 to get the sills replaced. I think it should be around £200.00 or $300.00.

Regards

 

For the rest of us please post some pictures of what you find when they open it up.

 

will do

 

I don't live in Maryland, but I live in one of the surrounding states of Maryland. I do know that Maryland does one inspection when the car is purchased and that's it. Talk about some POS cars that I've seen come out of Maryland.