I note ‘inappropriate’ changes to the suspension are now an MOT fail.
What would ‘inappropriate’ mean here? I have Autolink springs that drop the car by 30mm or something. Any problems for me come MOT time?
pondering
LB
The MOT inspection manual says this regarding suspension.
“An inappropriate repair or modification includes welded repairs or the use of excessive heat to highly stressed components (see Appendix C) and modifications which are likely to affect the roadworthiness of the vehicle.” I reckon your springs will be fine.
There is a link to the inspection manual here.
When it comes to springs, the test is: Are they all where they should be? Are they all intact and solid? If yes, it’s a pass.
Many thanks; I bloody love this forum! Really brilliant to have such a clued-up community. Respect!
LB
I took a customer 2002 Mk2.5 UK car with only 31,000mls for MOT today, it very nearly failed on heavily corroded front suspension arms (wishbones) - I had a close look at it with the examiner, he was spot-on - probably half the metal in places had crusted away, on a car which has never been garaged overnight. Mazda must have used poster-paint on them when new. Really pretty shocking to see…
Coil-over springs that rattle on full droop are, as I understand an MOT failure and require `helper-springs to take up the play.
Leaking dampers/ wet piston rods will result in a fail. Strangely the actual damper effectiveness is not really checked (I think it should be) - same as brakes, any serious difference, particularly on the same axle could result in loss of control at worst and at least unpredictable handling
Exessive play in top-mounts = fail , exessive deterioration of suspension bushes= fail, exessive play in anti-roll bar drop-link is again a fail
Of course split gators/and/or play on/in ball-joints are also a fail
Serious corrosion near a suspension mounting point would warrant a fail too.
As mentioned above cracked/fractured road-springs are a fail…there are probably even more reasons than these for MOT failures on suspension items?
Dr. Eunos
Strange coincidence, I failed a 2000 NB today for both rear lower arms being exessively corroded. They had actually gone though in holes in 3 places.
It’s not an immediate fail if the springs “rattle” when the suspension is hanging freely, the manual says they should only be rejected if "following jacking, the spring ends do
not locate correctly when the vehicle is lowered into the normal running position without assistance". The manual goes on to say "These criteria should also be applied
to springs that have been deliberately shortened or modified in order to lower the suspension."
Not strictly true anymore. They can be fractured at an extreme end as as long as they function as a spring OK and locate OK they are now a pass and advise. It’s not a failure if someone cuts the ends off to shorten them (taking into account the other critera)… Really though, if your spring is broken I’m of the opinion that it should be changed.
The MOT Test is a funny thing, it really is a minimum standard! I find it all quite interesting.
That’s shocking. I would never expect to replace wishbones unless they’re bent.
As expected: a doctoral thesis of a reply. Salute! 
How much spring rattle is acceptible? Setting up coilovers here, and it seems you can have about 5mm of up/down movement on full droop, and the spring will still seat itself under a load. And that doesn’t seem right.
The test is as you did…as long as you can lift the car, put it back down, and the springs seat correctly, it’s a pass. If they fail to seat correctly, that’s a fail.