7 replies to this topic

[therealtomgunn]

Dear oh wise mini-ists,

 

I've recently been prepping my car for the dreaded MOT. It was standing outside for about 6 months and got terribly wet and the rust fairy had an absolute field day. I have outer sills on it put on by a previous owner, and there was a hole in the passenger side one about 5cm across. The hole didn't go all the way through into the car, you could just see the inner sill underneath which had a tiny bit of surface rust on it. This was all removed, along with all the rust surrounding the hole on the outer sill. I then filled the hole, sanded it down and then waxoyled the whole of both sills and most of the underside of the car. What I want to know is whether that would fail an MOT? At first I thought definitely not as there was no hole all the way through or anything, but now I'm not so sure. Any help appreciated!

 

Cheers,

Tom

[petehuws]

Hi Tom, if it's quite solid then it should pass.  My sills too were not great but were not that horrendous too when mine went for an MOT recently.  If the rust is not weakening the structure and the examiner doesn't pick up on any breakthrough perforations then it should be OK, filler however is a no, no, you did right to waxoyl the sills afterwards, but in short if they are relatively solid and presentable then it should pass.  Good luck!

[Tamworthbay]

When you say 'filled', do you mean filled with filler? If you do then it will fail if the MOT man spots it. The sills are structural and should only be repaired by welding. If by filled you mean, use of a welded patch then that would pass an MOT.

[cal844]

as above. in general if ANY panel has a hole in it i ALWAYS get it welded before MOT time. although my car has been fully restored  (1 out of 3 haha)

[sonikk4]

What you have done is a bodge. Now if it passes the MOT??? then the first thing you will need to do is replace the sill. Not point in just putting a patch on it. They rust from the inside out. The longer you leave the more chance there is of serious rust starting on the inner sill so twice the amount of work.

 

Although a 5 cm hole is not large its the tip of the iceberg.

 

Sorry if this sounds blunt but you are only prolonging the inevitable sill replacement.

[Andy!]

What you have done is a bodge. Now if it passes the MOT??? then the first thing you will need to do is replace the sill. Not point in just putting a patch on it. They rust from the inside out. The longer you leave the more chance there is of serious rust starting on the inner sill so twice the amount of work.

 

Although a 5 cm hole is not large its the tip of the iceberg.

 

Sorry if this sounds blunt but you are only prolonging the inevitable sill replacement.

Also as you say there is hardly any rust inside the hole, if you replaced the sills now, you wouldnt be risking rusty floors and any nearby panels from becoming corroded (a panels and the rear 1/4 comes to mind)

[therealtomgunn]

Thanks for the replies guys, very helpful. Yes it was filled with filler, which is all I can afford at the moment! :-(. What seems strange to me is that from these answers I got that in the state it was in before I filled, it probably would have passed, but the very act of filling makes it less likely! I may have misunderstood, but I'm sure I've seen another thread on here where people were discussing a similar thing. Seems counter-intuitive to me, although I I suppose filling it in has covered up the eveidence that the inner sill seemed solid, and looks dodgy. Ah well we'll see. It's gone off to the local garage today to be worked on by the guy that got it MOT fit last time, so I'm sure all will be revealed soon.

 

Thanks again,

Tom

[Daz1968]

If spotted will fail and may cause them to poke around more presuming other bodges might be about, I would come clean and get an outer sill fitted, but even if they don't notice get it done asap