MOT Changes for next year, getting tuffer

[Rams 0]

I was speaking to a friend today whos working along side an MOT tester..... He said that the laws are going to get much tuffer on modified cars, or what basically sounded like any modifications not specific for the car may fail? I will try and find out more on the new legislation. But height, wheels, seats etc could all become a fail if not factory? So im told......

 

Has anyone heard about such changes?

 

Might be worth keeping my bbs rims after all?

[aide 0]

heard this sort of thing before, doubt it will happen though, modified cars support a huge market for products and services which no government would like to lose tax revenues from.

[dukest 0]

i agree about them not wanting to lose established businesses but given health and safety bullsh*t that affects so many other laws, it is a worry considering the rules that we see some of the guys from around europe come on here and talk about..

[Rams 0]

It's worth hanging onto certain oem items just in case they need to be fitted for it to pass in the future, if you can afford to. Just a heads up.

[mimjed 0]

can only really see ride height being the regulated one, as garages would prob support this one after getting pretty pissed off with low cars.

 

ive had to drive my car on to ramps for the tester before because they wouldnt be responsible for any damage.

 

but still a set of coilovers can sort that out if needs be.

[coullstar 0]

I very much doubt this is going to happen, where do you draw the line with it being lowered for example? Will they have a factory set ride height that is used for reference, surely any car even after a month or so will be riding lower. What about replacement parts, you could argue that unless its OE then its modified.

I can see them getting tough on heavily modified almost un roadworthy cars but then again at what point do you say its not fit for driving down the road. If that does happen then its time to get rid of mine as there is not a hope in hell it would pass.

[dr_mat 0]

Pretty sure this has come up before and the detailed examination of the law change shows that it's really not that big a deal. If you want to fit cheap untested safety-critical parts to your car (i.e. that don't have BS kitemarks or TUV approval) then you deserve what you get. Everyone else has nothing to worry about .. !

[dragon 0]

Surely having your car lowered on coilovers or lowered sports springs providing its not siilly low for looks actually improves the cars safety , i know for a fact its made ours miles better. I know even now a car can fail if its so low they cant get it on the break tester though perhaps thats what they mean. I will ask my mate if he has heard anything as he has recently passed his mot certs

[dr_mat 0]

Of course lowering can decrease safety.. the car was crash tested at a certain ride height, so if you're four inches lower than that all your side impact bars are going to drop under the car who hits you..

Not to mention the extra stresses on bushes etc when they're expected to ride at not-designed-for angles all the time (particularly the rear wishbone bushes, they must get screwed big time by riding so low permanently).

Does it make a *significant* difference? Probably not, but it will make a difference to how the car responds in a major incident for sure.

[mimjed 0]

Fifth gear did a test on incompatability (hard points being at different heights) the car that was lower got mullered. The higher car effectivly drove over it.

[Yandards 0]

Surely having your car lowered on coilovers or lowered sports springs providing its not siilly low for looks actually improves the cars safety , i know for a fact its made ours miles better. I know even now a car can fail if its so low they cant get it on the break tester though perhaps thats what they mean. I will ask my mate if he has heard anything as he has recently passed his mot certs

 

That's got as much to do with you replacing 15 year plus old suspension with new as it has with lowering it.

 

All lowering does is generally stiffen the car up and reduce body roll therefore imparting all the loading through cornering into the tyres, the lower centre of gravity helps a little but when it does let go you won't get a lot of indication.

 

As for whats faster/better look at F1, Mclarens are stiff as hell and the Red Bulls are very soft, which ones quicker? :)

[Peebee 0]

Thing that's stupid about that is that Rally cars must be road legal, Now they're modded to the brim, wheel, seats and everything else mentioned. Ok they never saw factory standard, but surely that's not the point??

[Chris Langdon 0]

sounds like bullsh*t to me, remember the MOT is rock bottom minium standards, its also section 45 of the road traffic act NOT costruction of use two totally different things. yes i think one day the D.O.T WILL bring it more in line with whats happening in europe.

 

just remember if you can turn up to a MOT test station without a windscreen, then i think it a be a long time before modifications come into the scheme

 

ttfn

 

chris

[Rams 0]

We will see what happens..... I do feel that the restrictions will become much stronger, coupled with the goverment wanting new cars sold witch are more economical and less damaging to the enviroment will penalise people like us. They are shafting everyone else at the moment!

 

The scrappage cars that were taken with a goverment incentive can not be sold, so there are thousands of decent cars out there where only the engine and box can be sold so they have cut their nose off despit their face imo.

 

The last comment about MOT'ers testing whats on the car, like the chap said, if you have no windscreen they cant fail you on that so there are large gaps / legislation on MOT's so why wouldnt they say, the car has to be fully equiped with a windscreen etc?

 

What every I or we think, i can bet things will get tougher and at least we can prepare and im doing that by keeping most of what ive taken off in the event of major changes. Also, they are bound to come in handy at some point.

 

I hope its all hype and no go anyway,but wanted to let people jnow of my news via an MOT tester. He is having new ramps installed and VOSA have to sign it off and from what hes hear from them, its bad news for boy racers, ''quote''

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Of course lowering can decrease safety.. the car was crash tested at a certain ride height, so if you're four inches lower than that all your side impact bars are going to drop under the car who hits you..

 

Indeed, although Corrado doors are way lower than the cars that are likely to drive into us these days anyhow, even with the factory tractory ride height :D

 

Besides which, Mr Dragon 32 said, so long as it's not silly lowering and 4 inches is beyond silly isn't it!

 

And in general....

 

A modest drop with decent kit where the damper droop reduction matches the reduction in spring length, all is perfectly safe. Stiffer springs and dampers travel less and therefore you don't need such a 4x4 ride height. This is exactly what the OEs do.

 

But what the OEs do do though, which us mere mortals do not, is PROPERLY reconfigure the car's roll centre and king pin inclination, which can be seen on the R32 compared to it's regular flavour siblings, for example.

 

Going back to the OP, I read about this last year in PPC mag. I think all that will happen if it does get passed through parliament is heavily modified cars will have to go through the SVA process, which can be expensive, time consuming and wrapped in excessive amounts of red tape.

 

I for one agree with the clamp down. Even though I've done it myself and fully endorse it, I think it's wrong that any old tom, dick or harry can bolt a massive turbo to the side of their engine and then drive their car into the side of someone else at 400mph. It should be properly regulated. Not modifying freedom taken away from us completely, just monitored, mainly so that innocent people don't get taken out by poorly conceived and executed mods.

 

And yes, that will mean an end to chin spoilers scraping the floor and 205 tyres stretched over 10J wheels.