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CT question


f1steveuk
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Sorry, probably been asked before but,

Is a CT much like a UK MOT, in that if it's fitted it has to work?  And does a vehichle HAVE to have a spare wheel (e.g Smart cars don't)

Likewise, with the tyres on axles must be the same, what about the spare, what does that have to match?

Love the French use of the "grey area"!!

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As many cars have been sold without a spare wheel and tyre - just a bottle of gloop and a pump, logic dictates that you don't have to have a spare wheel.

Tyres on the same axle have to be the same make, type and size-except when using a skinny emergency spare but the car won't pass the CT with a skinny spare fitted in place of a proper sized wheel and tyre.
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I'll rephrase one part of that question. Tyres on a particular axle have to be the same size and make, but if you have a different make on the front to the rear axle, what does the spare have to match!!?? Or, just take the spare off and put a bottle of glup in for the CT!!

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So long as the spare is the correct size, it will be fine. Brand, model etc is not considered. To be honest, I dont think the spare is even checked. My tester gives it a glance if its an underslung wheel but if its in the boot I have never seen him lifting the carpet to check. I have never had a spare tyre mentioned on any CT report in any way.

And its not actually necessary to have the same tyres on either side. They must be the same size and load ratings but different brands will pass with an advisory...."montage inadapte" or something like that, but not require a contre-visit.

This is all part of the "illegal to sell just one tyre" myth that garages like to trot out.

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Very well put Dave.

 

TBH I am too tired these days to explain the above, the brainwashing is so complete that I usually get people telling me I am wrong so I dont bother.

 

My tester never checks the spare Wheel, he did however check the pressures of all my tyres during a CT a couple of weeks ago, in the past I asked him about the same make myth, he laughed and showed me the relevant text in the testers manual, different makes on same axle are no problem, type and construction should be identical and they must be the size and load rating homologated for the vehicle.

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I've never ever had a spare checked either in UK or in France.

If you read the relevant EU directive it says that tyres should be of the same brand and construction which is not the same as saying identical.

AFAIK CT stations check tyre pressures to ensure that they are equal per axle and in a range such that they don't skew the damper shaker test.

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Interesting re the tyre pressures, I dont recall him checking them in previous tests, this time I had a slow puncture and a visibly deflated tyre, pi55 poor preparation.

The EU directive no doubt is another example of lobbying by the manufacturers, it is not transcribed into UK or French national law not the MOT/CT régulations, its just the French meccanos and tyre fitters that blindly believe what is fed to them by the manufacturers, its interesting that presumably the same commercial pressure in the UK is completely rejected/ignored, says a lot about peoples ability to think for themselves.

 

A similar example that I was aware of was the EU directive on automatic gate systems said (back when I was an installer) that there should be a flashing orange light visible whenever the gates were operated, the Italian gate manufacturers pushed the UK importers to include one with every motorisation kit sold but they soon worked out that installers werent fitting them because customers in general hated the look, they were henceforth removed from the kits and were available as an option, all of them languishing on dusty warehouse shelves.

In France every gate kit sold has a gyrophare and every installation I have seen has one fitted.

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As my spare hangs on the back door, I suspect they will look at it, so it, and the bracket may come off for the day!

The question about "if it's fitted does it  have to work" was because I have one inoperative fog lamp on the front,  which is a part that is no longer available, so  I was thinking I would take theother working one out, but I have found a "new old stock" one (£19 insteaad of the original £140 when you could get them), so that question is now mute.

As I suspected, Frencch laws, grey areas, so they can be adjusted to suit!!!

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I had the CT on my UK Peugeot 406 done yesterday. He did not look at the spare wheel. He did look and comment on the driving lights, first time ever. He also noted the fog light was missing on one side, and lit on the wrong side.

It passed, 2001 with 275,000 kms under its belt. Never a drop of oil between services.
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[quote user="Lehaut"]I had the CT on my UK Peugeot 406 done yesterday. He did not look at the spare wheel. He did look and comment on the driving lights, first time ever. He also noted the fog light was missing on one side, and lit on the wrong side. It passed, 2001 with 275,000 kms under its belt. Never a drop of oil between services.[/quote]

 

That is not even run in!

Mine used a tiny 250ml top up between oïl changes up to 360000km at which point it was finally run in, the oïl consumption ceased and the fuel consumption reached its minimum, it has now done 500000kms still no oïl consumption and 60+mpg.

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Do you remember the days when you were buying your first car, and you tried to steer clear of anything with over 33,000 miles on it!!!?? I did 257,000 in my Volvo 850, and it was no different to the day I brought it. The guy who brought it off me was made up with it, "oh great, you've finished running it in".

My Honda CBX1000 waited until it got to 30,000 miles and everything just let go, like it was designed to, whereas my XJR1200 got better and better the nearer to 100,000 it got.

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With a purchase budget of circa £10 for my first 5 or 6 vehicles I could not be that choosy!

Even a sub 40k mile vehicle that had been driven carefully would need a decoke and valve grind to perform as it should and when it did the young Chancer would usually have run the crank bearings within a few weeks!

 

I put myself through college and bought my first property by keeping Englands finest Junk away from the scrapyard for gratefull customers, I would also buy and sell small family cars, Minis, Escorts, 1100's etc bought as MOT failures for about £50, welded, repaired, resprayed and sold for around £300, they all had 80-100k on the clock and I quickly learned that no-one would buy them unless they had less than 60k, despite being 8-10 years old and the average mileage being 20k per year, the punters wanted to believe that the car they bought was an exception, and most of them had already been clocked a couple of times [:-))]

 

I find the absence of rust on todays 10-20 year old vehicles even more surprising than their reliability, I would often be welding cars for their first MOT!

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What is this vehicle Chancer that is doing so well?

My second car, a sunbeam alpine did 500 miles to the pint of oil before I rebuilt the engine.

Apart from the body work (cannot weld so it was flattened tins and plastic putty for me), the longevity of exhausts and clutches to day impresses me.
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Skoda Octavia 1.9 tdi, same as I have although so far mine's only up to 290,000 km [:D]

Had the opportunity to see my previous 2000 MKIV VW golf in UK a couple of weeks ago, same engine in essence.

241k miles on the clock when I sold it in 2007and still going strong at 395k, that's an average of some 17k per annum since I sold it or 24k per annum overall !

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Another tick in the box for our next car. Strongly fancy a Skoda. However, no money in the bank until we get our tenant out of our flat, rubbish horder. Hopefully going to take her to the Tribual d'Instance in December, sell the flat and then might buy a Skoda!
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