MOT failure
 

Sadly my S8 failed yesterday, but nothing serious - rear brake pads excessively worn.
The local garage that does the MOT seemed confident they could source and replace them easily enough so it's booked in for Thursday for them to change the pads and retest.

It's a typical local "all-cars" workshop with a good reputation. Anything specific I should warn them about when changing the rear brake pads, something I would assume is pretty quick and easy?

As an aside they had a single advisory (Monitor and repair if necessary) which I found a bit odd - Rear axle corroding. I might ask them to explain that a bit when I go back given there is no such thing....

They probably mean the rear subframe, which is pretty common. Unfortunately its a big chunk of work to remove it and re-paint.

Rear brake pads are the same as on anything else of that age and very simple to do, as long as the discs are in decent condition. Its worth being aware that they may find problems with the seals on the rear calipers as they fail often, especially when fully extended due to worn pads.

Turned out worse than seals, the offside piston(s) is/are seized and won't push back, which is probably why I had a wear problem in the first place.

The nearside caliper was replaced anyway a while back, so it's a new offside one now to match as apparently they're still readily available.

The calipers might be available, but the garages suppliers struggled to send the right ones, took them a couple of goes. :rolleyes:
Got it back eventually today, freshly MOT'ed as well. They did clarify that advisory was indeed for the rear subframe and it was only surface corrosion.

Not sure how much labour it was as there's no stated hourly rate, but that was £90 plus VAT. The parts, especially the caliper, were more than that as expected, though the pads (Pagid) weren't a lot.

Congratulations +++ Good to hear your car passed the MOT.

My car failed the MOT as well, rear caliper piston seized and rusty.
Still working on mine, as I discovered several issues.

Rear callipers always give me cause for concern (or I just don't have much luck with them!). Have had replacements where the adjustment bering inside was garbage and they fail quickly. Worth keeping an eye on them. I sometimes fire a temp sensor on each of my disks after a spin just to check that the callipers are all reasonably even and working as they should.

So that was about 18 months ago, I let the MOT lapse late in 2021 as it's been out of use for most of the pandemic.

But I need the car urgently so I had it MOT'd again yesterday after a few checks and a quick spin to clean up the brakes.
Only drawback was that the handbrake needed a serious pull to get it to pass, but it did - just.
Apart from that, and a note of an oil leak, no problems despite having sat outside unused for most of the last 2 years!

Not bad for an (almost) 20 year old car. That anniversary arrives soon, it's build date is 24th April 2002.
Hopefully, if all goes to plan, by that (China!) anniversary it will be in pieces - being expertly fettled by the D2 Doctor! +++

Good to hear that you got it passed the MoT Andrew+++
No doubt the handbrake adjustment will be on the Doctors list now!

My list currently has 35 items on it, but no doubt hers will be much longer once work starts and the jobs get broken down.

Odd thing about the handbrake is that it needed a new rear caliper 18 months ago to get through the MOT - same place did the work and MOT - and it's done just 64 miles in between (thanks Covid!). Probably something stiff or seized along the linkage.

That's a very strange coincidence as I have a wishlist for MJ that has exactly 35 items on it too.
But now you mention handbrake it's gone up to 36.