Question about side skirts,how do they affect the mot . ?

Question

i have a hole in my cill due to a hidden post ,can i cover this with sideskirts or will it still fail.cheers dave.

Answer 1

Unfortunately Mate it will fail. Slapping a side skirt on it will only hide it, not cure it!

Sills are quite cheap, usually from around £25 a side to buy, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Typically it would cost about £100 to have your sills replaced. These then should last years and years if you under-seal or paint them properly.

Get the sills done, get them undersealed or painted properly and then fit your skirts. When you fit the skirts use stainless screws and cover them in copper grease to stop them seizing in. Also put a bead of clear silicone sealer all the way around the mating face of the skirt to stop water getting behind it and causing a rust trap.

Do it properly and you will have years of pleasure, do a bodge and it will be off down the scrap yard in months!

Answer 2

Basically if there is damage, rust or corrosion within 30cm of any load bearing or highly stressed points (seat belt anchorages for example) it will fail. If you put skirts on to cover it then technically it should pass as the station can't remove these items during an MOT.

However.....by adding skirts you might solve one problem and cause another. If the skirts are boy-racer type (i.e. almost to the floor) the garage will probably refuse to test the car outright as putting it on the roller brake tester (rolling road) could damage the vehicle (the same applies to doing a decelerometer). I would say the best thing to do is just get it fixed.

Answer 3

If the MOT person does not see the hole then it will pass because they cannot remove any parts during an MOT test.

This has answered your question but you would be better fitting a new sill in the long term. Good luck. h