Hi everyone i am just after a bit of advice, jacked my car up today to paint the wheels black and i noticed that the sleeves (or watever you call them lol) on the rear shocks are a fair bit corroded is this a problem? would the car still pass a M.O.T. with them in this state im guessing it wont make that bigger difference but would still be nice to get some advice. Also while fitting the air horns I noticed that the battery was a bit loose so tonight i had a better look at it and you could actually just pull it straight out!!! whats my best plan of attack here? I was just thinking of filling where the rust is with body filler to make it nice and smooth then hammeritein all of the battery tray and keepin the battery in place with a bungee strap or something similar would this be ok? Just to make my day even better while enjoying some spirited driveing on the way home tonight a very kind pheasant decided to fly up and try out my wing mirror which has even marked the side window oh and my gear knob keeps falling off so time for some araldite i think lol Thanks James

Hi James, regarding the shock absorbers, it really depends on the MOT tester. However, as a general rule if they're not leaking and efficiency isn't impaired they shouldn't fail the MOT although if it was mine I'd just replace them. Its an easy job and new dampers are fairly cheap.

Regarding the mirror, the law in the UK requires an undamaged mirror to the offside plus an interior mirror. The nearside mirror isn't a legal requirement.

The main concern is with your battery which has to be securely mounted. Any repairs in the vicinity of the battery carrier will need to be welded.

Hope this helps,

Ian

There is no reason for any tester to fail them on the corrosion provided they are not leaking and are working correctly.

hey thanks guys, the shocks seem to work alrite just the bit rust on them, think i'll replace them later on in the year as we've just been put on a 4 day week at work so not really wanting to spend to much on the volvo at the moment

thanks james