Ever get the feeling you should just give up?

[burnmw]

Decided to replace the front brakes (discs/pads) on the GF's 307 today, nice simple job, right? Wrong!

Now bearing in mind we bought this car only 3/4weeks ago with a full new MOT...

Started on the passenger side, struggled to get the caliper bolts out but with plenty of WD40 and elbow grease they finally gave. Cleaned everything up, copper slipped everywhere etc and refitted. Even got the caliper to retract nicely! Thought it wasn't going to be too bad a job...

Switched to the drivers side, took the wheel off, went to undo the slide bolt and realised it was a bit greasy behind there :blink: Stuck my head behind the disc and noticed everything was covered in a lovely layer of thick paste like grease... :blink: Looked a little harder and realised that the outer CV boot was no longer clamped in place and had emptied its contents all over everywhere.

In the meantime the drivers side outer pad was less than 1mm thick, and the discs are so lipped/thin that they are almost dangerous.

Had to pack all my tools up etc so I could drive to the nearest open motor factors and bought a new CV boot clip. Came back, tried to fit it and ended up snapping the fecker. So, packed everything back up and drove back to the factors (bought two this time!). Came home and fitted it, only to find that the pinch bit fouled on the ABS sensor?! :mad: Managed to tap it down with a hammer in the end. The rest of the brake change went smoothly though!


So, in essence this car "passed" its MOT with 1mm brake pads, thin discs and a CV boot that wasn't even held on... How the hell did that happen?! I'm guessing it was a "mates rates" MOT to get the car off the forecourt. But yes, didn't think I'd be fiddling with CV boots when I started on the brakes earlier on today!

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Oh yeah, and then to top my night off the GF gets home from shopping (spending God only knows what money?!?) and says she's going out tonight, there goes my idea of a night in with a curry and film eh!

So I decide to order myself a burger and chips from the local takeaway, grab the menu and go to the website listed in big letters on the front... Odd, it doesn't even exist? So I ring them and make my order for delivery. About 10mins later I get a phone call saying there is a minimum charge of £8 for delivery (my order came to £6.70) so would I come and collect, it's ready in 5mins. Bit confused, the menu doesn't say anything about minimum order...

When I arrived to collect it I had to wait nearly 15mins for them to cook it, as it wasn't ready!

[Dum-Dum]

You can do a good temporary repair on a CV boot with a cable tie.

MOTs are like that, my NAD was f*cking shocking, the boot floor (to which the rear suspension is attached) wasnt connected at the sides atall it had all rusted away it was so bad i rang VOSA. that was bought with a new MOT.

[burnmw]

Yeah I had problems with an old MOT, spoke to a mate who works for VOSA who said if you want to keep your car don't report them to VOSA, because they will take it to pieces and find every little thing wrong with it and you basically won't see it again! So I didn't, just don't use them now.

And I tried a cable tie but when I put it on the lumpy end bit fouled the ABS sensor and would have ripped it clean off if I'd left it.

[Dum-Dum]

Yeah they said they wouldnt even look at mine cos id started repairing it but they were gonna send in a test car.

[burnmw]

I remember what mine was now, the handbrake cable snapped only a fortnight after the MOT, and to make it worse you could clearly see that the outer sheathing had been cut through ages before and would have been obvious to the tester.

[C.A.R.]

Did you buy the car from a 'dealer' who said they will put 12 months on it? They regularly just hand out MOT certificates on cars with shocking mechanical problems.

You can report the garage I believe

[swampy]

Hope you packed the joint with grease else it wi t last long at all!!!

And to be fair the clamps can slip off at any time