Any mechanics on the forums?

tom_gr7

Life Serving
afternoon all,

cars just failed MOT :(

lol wtf, apparently the rear bushes on the wish bones on both sides have failed,

anyone shed any light on this?
 

pr1s0ner

Well-known member
Very simplified... wishbone helps hold the wheel on and the bushes let them still move around a bit ;)

Not normally a very expensive job, actually pretty easy to do yourself if you fancy having a go!
 

tom_gr7

Life Serving
Not normally a very expensive job, actually pretty easy to do yourself if you fancy having a go!

lol, I could take a pc apart and build it again, but cars I aint a clue what is what. it may be simple to do, but surely you would have to have an idea of what each part is.
 

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
To a degree but a lot of people think of cars as a lot more complicated than they really are. Think of it like a PC, most people wouldn't dare going inside one, we know it really isn't that hard. Cars aren't actually that hard to fix, unless you are unable to get your parents' permission! If you take a pic, I might be able to help you but I have never dealt with wishbone bushes before so can't guarantee anything. I don't recommend you do it though, you will have to take the wheel (easy) brake calipers (not hard but you may not want to do it) and disk (again not too hard) and possibly the damper (could cause problems, don't really know how you would do it on your car! The bushes are basically the bearings, running between the wishbone and the chassis. They crack quite easily as they take a lot of the strain from the suspension.

I will warn you now, I am not a trained mechanic, purely an interested teenager! Therefore, the above could be wrong!
 

JSG10

Expert
Make sure they don't fleece you mate. A lot of garages will do the re-test for free or maybe only a partial charge. I've got a cracking garage near me that really helped me out when the BMW failed it's MOT last year on emissions (Damn you EU!!) Had exhaust fixed, still didn't pass, then Cat changed which included a lot of extra work as some muppet had welded it all in place and it finally passed. They only charged me for one MOT test and a standard catalytic converter change and not for any of the extra work :)
 

tom_gr7

Life Serving
Yeah I've been ripped off so many times by mechanics, once by one of "Arnold Clark" seat dealers.

Was £40 for the MOT, so that didn't sound too bad, however, cost me £85 to have the rear bushes on each wishbone replaced.

My re test is in the morning and doesn't cost me anything so I may as well try and be positive, even though I'm really cynical and often assume I'm going to get ripped off.
 

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
£40 for the MOT is good. £85 for each of the bushes! I am pretty certain that is a rip off! I think the bushes cost somewhere betwee £20-£25. £60 for replacement...I am not certain but I think you might have got ripped off! How many did you have to replace, 2?

Edit, sorry, I could have been wrong for the above, apparently £85 isn't a lot to pay to get the bushes replaced. In fact, apparently it is a good price! Don't worry then, sounds like you didn't get ripped off!
 
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tom_gr7

Life Serving
£40 for the MOT is good. £85 for each of the bushes! I am pretty certain that is a rip off! I think the bushes cost somewhere betwee £20-£25. £60 for replacement...I am not certain but I think you might have got ripped off! How many did you have to replace, 2?

hahh sorry, I could have been wrong for the above, apparently £85 isn't a lot to pay to get the bushes replaced. In fact, apparently it is a good price! Don't worry then, sounds like you didn't get ripped off!

lol nice edit,

Considering he spent 4 or 5 hours replacing them,and didn't finish working till about 7 on a Saturday evening, a good few hours after the garage had shut, I didn't think it was too bad really.

A few years ago I had a MOT with Arnold Clark, eventually cost me about 350 quid! I was definitely ripped off that time! AND they had the car for about a week!
 

joker375

Gold Level Poster
Bit late to the Party but I'm a mechanic by trade There are some decent ones still out there *cough*me*cough* :p
 
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