My MOT ran out!

[Behemoth]

Passing with no advisories is always a plus Nicely done

[jon bda]

Just to say thanks for the advice chaps - Got it done at a nice local place (not KwikFit) recommended by a work colleague who's been in the area for a much longer time. Passed without any work which was very nice

Good news, and word of mouth is always the best way to find a local independant garage...

[peterb]

Thanks for let6ting us know - always good to get feedback! Glad it all worked out.

[Million]

Bumpety bump - follow up on this. Two weeks ago I popped into a garage to get my tracking checked, and they demonstrated that the wobbling I was having was from seriously uneven tyre wear on the back. Both tyres were not legal (and I can see this myself now that I look, remember learning how to tell while learning to drive). The front brakes were also below manufacturer's standards - worrying that this passed without them even mentioning to me that I might want to replace the tyres soon, no?

[DanceswithUnix]

The garage I use gives a tread depth reading, can't remember if that is part of the service or the MOT as I tend to get them both done at the same time. Other than that he only tells me I need tyres if they are right on the limit and might fail the MOT, but then for him tyres are an inconvenience as he doesn't make any money on them (he gets someone to come and fit them).

If I go to a tyre place (I won't call them a garage as the only thing they can do with a spanner is hurt themselves) then they *always* say that the tyres are wearing unevenly despite them being fine, and try to sell me a wheel alignment which I won't let them do as it involves use of a spanner near my car.

After a farce that wasted an entire morning, I won't let tyre shops near my brakes either. That involved spanners and the ability to look up parts/read, and they seemed most suprised that tiny pads for the rear of a honda civic wouldn't fit the front of my Alfa.

[scaryjim]

... worrying that this passed without them even mentioning to me that I might want to replace the tyres soon, no?

Depends on how uneven the wear is and what caused it. I once spent a couple of weeks driving around on a tyre with no rubber in places - as part of my previous service I'd had two new tyres put on, but they'd apparently not corrected the tracking and one tyre had gone from new to bald and heavily delaminated within a couple of months.

Wouldn't have been so bad, but I had to drive 15 miles on country roads to get to the nearest tyre shop in full knowledge that my tyre could fall apart any minute. Did *not* enjoy that one little bit