Failed NCT - Brake question VW

Hey,

So the 2002 VW polo I bought a year ago from a dealer who put it through the NCT then has failed now a year later and in the testers words one of the worst fails he has ever seen. It failed on pretty much everything bar regular lights.How it passed a year ago is a mystery to me and him, well he pretty much suggested that someone must have been paid off to pass it. .

Anyway, I have the parts ordered cause im gona do it myself but I have a question.

Its failed on the brakes as attached. I replace the rear drums a few months ago, the handbrake is fine imo. It not tight but not loose. At the time I did that I bought front pads but haven't fitted them yet as the brakes seem fine to me.

Im wondering if anyone can suggest looking at the attached what exactly they want me to do apart from tighten the hand brake?

Just bleed them and change the pads? the pads dont even need to be changed..

Atlantic Dawn

Does N/D not mean not done?

Miike

Alaric Shaggy Dove wrote: »

Hey,

So the 2002 VW polo I bought a year ago from a dealer who put it through the NCT then has failed now a year later and in the testers words one of the worst fails he has ever seen. It failed on pretty much everything bar regular lights.How it passed a year ago is a mystery to me and him, well he pretty much suggested that someone must have been paid off to pass it. .

Anyway, I have the parts ordered cause im gona do it myself but I have a question.

Its failed on the brakes as attached. I replace the rear drums a few months ago, the handbrake is fine imo. It not tight but not loose. At the time I did that I bought front pads but haven't fitted them yet as the brakes seem fine to me.

Im wondering if anyone can suggest looking at the attached what exactly they want me to do apart from tighten the hand brake?

Just bleed them and change the pads? the pads dont even need to be changed..

If the tester maintains that's the worst fail he's ever seen he must be new on the job.

Brake test is flagged as "Not Done" ?

Granted your alignment is out by a country mile but I assume your wishbone and/or bushes are in tatters based on his comment.

It's either the bottle of wine, I'm desperately confused or you've uploaded the wrong picture but that's not a bad NCT for a car thats 15 years old

nd

Looking at the readings I don't know why the brake test was marked as not done .Was there anything about a cracked / bulging brake hose or anything like that?

VeVeX

It failed on the slip alignment test. 23.5m/km is a lot on the front axle. It must have quite obvious worn parts which is why the brake test wasnt conducted.

Get the front suspension/steering/bushes checked by a mechanic and then get the wheel alignment done.

dodzy

Looks like the brakes test was done (and OK results according to the report) but marked N/D as the other fail points will require a brake retest anyway?

I'm in agreement; light years from the "worst failed car ever seen". I could show you a report or 2 that would beat your one hands down.

dodzy

dodzy wrote: »

Looks like the brakes test was done (and OK results according to the report) but marked N/D as the other fail points will require a brake retest anyway?

I'm in agreement; light years from the "worst failed car ever seen". I could show you a report or 2 that would beat your one hands down.

Thanks, hopefully I can just leave the brakes alone then. They seem fine to me, I checked the pads last month and loads of meat.

I

Isambard

I can never understand why people would be surprised a car has failed that passed last year and are happier to defame last years tester rather than face that cars deteriorate quite a lot with 12 months usage.

rex-x

post up the whole sheet, they abandoned the brake test for a reason, probably listed at the end of the page

Hal1

Something up with that front drivers caliper. Does it pull to one side when you brake. The handbrake isn't brilliant as you've already said. If you've already adjusted it inside the car and there is enough friction material on the pads or shoes. Then maybe the self adjuster is at fault, would be worth having a look to make sure nothing is broken off or damaged.

Hal1

Hal1 wrote: »

Something up with that front drivers caliper. Does it pull to one side when you brake.

Results are fine, 6% imbalance.

Hal1 wrote: »

The handbrake isn't brilliant as you've already said. If you've already adjusted it inside the car and there is enough friction material on the pads or shoes. Then maybe the self adjuster is at fault, would be worth having a look to make sure nothing is broken off or damaged.

24% brake effort & 0% imbalance, fine.

Hal1

There within the acceptable nct pass range.
It would be good to see the rest of the sheet and testers comments.

jca

That isn't a bad fail as others have said. Get the front wishbone bushes done, it looks like a fail for headlights too, get them checked after the bushes are done and you should be fine for another year. Don't be tempted to buy cheap bushes as they don't last pissing time, pay the bit extra for a decent brand.

George Dalton

The wishbone bushes are about €14 ex VAT each from VW. At that price it's not worth bothering with spurious crap even if it was being given to you for free.

jimbis

As said, your brakes are within the acceptable limits but the test is marked N/D for another reason that will need to be resolved before a retest. The reason should be on the bottom of the page or on a 2nd page.
The tester should have also pointed this out to you.

Ive attached the full report, unfortunately wishbone already bought before reading this. just bought one with the bushes in it for ease, I probably wont hang on to the car more than a year or 2 so hopefully will be ok. Got 2 new cv boots aswell and am gona get a headlight from a scrap yard (the last cowboys siliconed the bulb in for the test because they broke the housing it fits into) , thinks thats everything il need and then get to work on the light fails.

Thanks for the advice on the brakes, was just really puzzled. Like I have no problem doing them but I dont want to start rebuilding brakes if theres nothing wrong with them and I couldn't tell from the report.

The handbrake works fine, it just goes up a bit because thats where i adjusted it to. I didnt realise it has to be engaged after a couple of clicks for the test..
I was surprised it failed tbh.

jimbis

Yeah judging by that sheet my only guess is that the handbrake must be pulling up very high before it engages properly. It's a very easy fix by adjusting the bolt on the handbrake lever (you'll probably need to remove a bit of trim to get to it).
I definitely wouldn't worry about what quality wishbone you got, unless you do some serious hard driving on ****ty roads then you won't see a problem in the cars life.

Don't forget when you fit the new headlamp you'll need to get alignment done on them.

dodzy

Both sidelamps and reverse light out. Now that really should have been addressed before test.

dodzy

dodzy wrote: »

Both sidelamps and reverse light out. Now that really should have been addressed before test.

I knew it was going to fail regardless on the others so i wasn't arsed fixing the parking lights before.

All the helpful people who posted into he thread thanks, seems very few saw the report i posted at the end so i just wanted to check that it is just the handbrake lever he has complained about not the quality of the braking effort. I replaced the drum brake pads about a month ago and they are auto adjusting so i dunno what more I can do other than adjust the lever?

It looks to me like it did pass but he wasn't happy about how far up the lever had to go...

As for the fail, i've replaced the wishbone, wishbone bush, console bushings and ball joint. Both CV boots aswell. What a ****er of a job, don't ever replace the console bushings in your drive , one broke finger later after being crushed with a crowbar. headlight has also been replaced and I've fixed the reverse and done the other lights. new bridgestones also . Il do the light alignment and tracking before it goes back in. Hopefully she will fly it