The MOT advisories worth fixing now, and the ones that can wait

Every MOT pass comes with a list of advisories, and the list is written for the next tester rather than for you. Here is how we read them at the counter.

Here is what that means in practice:

1. Tyre close to the limit: fix it

The legal limit is 1.6mm and an advisory usually means around 2mm. Wet braking falls off a cliff below 3mm. This is the one advisory we would never leave until next year.

2. Brake pads wearing thin: plan it

A pad flagged as wearing thin has months in it, not weeks. Ask for the measurement, book it with your next service, and you pay one labour charge instead of two.

3. Slight play in a joint: watch it

Track rod ends and drop links are flagged early. They rarely go from slight play to dangerous in one year, but they do go from slight play to a failure, so it is worth the retest-free timing of doing it at the next test.

4. Corrosion near a mounting: get it looked at

The word to watch for is 'prescribed area'. Corrosion within 30cm of a suspension or brake mounting is a fail once it goes structural, and welding is cheaper before that than after.

Bring the certificate in and we will go through it with you. There is no charge for that, and no assumption that you will have the work done here.