Originally Posted by jon_ross

hi mate at my previous garage i worked at i was an mot tester. when advisorys are brought up its a very gery area in the mot world and a tester has loads of options for advisories and also has an option to write any thing manualy. im not sticking up for your old tester as i belive in being honest about someones car and was fair with my advisorys, but i come across alot of testers that were either over the top or just didnt give advisorys atal!
the best bit is something we have all got to remember (inculding me now im not a tester) that is mots are minimum standards. your car has to be pretty fuked to fail. ie rust it has to be either a hole, crack, or fracture within 30cm of a structural point. with bushes or ball joints they have to be so worn or deteriorated they would adversly affect steering or braking, tyres have to be BELOW the limit and splits have to showing cords, brake pads have to be below 1.5mm witch is hard to prove, and discs have to be really fuked to fail but they can get you on brake imbalance, but if you tell them youve got an lsd, or atb diff then they will have to do a decelaromiter test and if you see a tester about to put your lsd equiped car on the rollers, stop them as it will cause damage.
sorry to go on but once i start i just cant stoip
jon