Full set needed and condition not important as long as they're not broken and are suitable for painting. I've no idea what they look like or whether they're full trims or centre caps. The wheels are approx 12.25" so normal 12" trims won't fit.

Depends what age the car is as mk1 Metros had little caps in the middle and mk2's a full size cap. There's also quite a few designs!

I haven't a clue what age the wheels are because they don't belong the car - I've only just bought them on ebay. They have a squareish raised bit in the centre with a slot on each side of it, the ebay item number is 280374841640 if you want a look. I only bought them for IVA purposes because the Alley Cats that came with the car stick out too far and the original size wheels mean that the speedo accuracy is retained which saves a lot of hassle. When (IF) the car passes IVA I'll sell them on again

So long as there are no sharp edges you don't need the trims, it may not look the best but the test doesn't cover asthetics otherwise a load of other kits would fail just on looks
I put a kit through with 12" steels and no covers for the same reason that you are doing and because the 100mm sphere didn't contact any sharp edges it passed without issue.

As an aside make sure that the speed rating of the tyres is greater than the top speed you put down for the vehicle. This was the only other thing that the tester looked into with regards the tyres, if you have put down a top speed of 115mph but your tyres are only good for 114mph then it will be an instant fail.

Good luck on the IVA (man that is a costly test now, glad I went all out and threw the kit together for the SVA test earlier this year, theiving bast%%ds).

It is just for appearance but first impressions.... The other thing I have to watch is the wheel nuts which mustn't stick out either unless they have been rounded off It's being aware of the detail that's the tricky bit - the draft regs are online but the final version isn't and you have to part with a fair chunk of cash (£35?) for a copy and I refuse to do it when the test costs so much...I'm not giving them any more than I can help

http://www.transportoffice.gov.uk/crt/v ... anuals.htm



The wheels you describe sound like the type that just had a square centre cap.

If your alley-cats stick out too far for IVA then they are too far out for an MOT and daily use so you would surely be better sorting out a permanent solution than mucking around with a half-assed "bitsa" approach. A testers first impression on seeing standard Metro wheels is going to be that they won't be there more than a few hours past the test.

Iain

Thanks for the link Iain - I'll keep an eye on that one.

Under SVA no tyre tread had to be visible when looking directly down from above the wheel arch (tyre wall was ok) but under IVA no rubber at all must be visible. I can see a small part of the tyre wall at the front (I think the rear is ok but it's up on stands at the moment so I can't check) so the problem isn't great but it's enough to fail. The tyres are new so I don't want to shell out for narrower ones either. Also, one of the questions on the IVA test application form is 'has the integrity of the speedometer been retained' (or something like that - I haven't checked) but it saves a lot of hassle if I can fit the same wheels as were originally on the donor car because evarything else is still the same.

Even manufacturers don't always get this right -- have a look at a new Fiesta Zetec S with 17" wheels -- there's a small plastic extension on the rear wheel arch to cover the tyre -- couldn't you make up something like that as a temporary fix?

It wont make a jot of difference really, I put my kit in for the SVA earlier this year with standard steel 12" wheels and 145 wide tyres but without a screen, roof or doors, this meant that I didn't need a wiper system or washers, even though the switches were in place. The testers are not total idiots and are aware that all you want to do is satisfy the regulations at the time of the test and that most will be altered once you have that bit of paper.
As for the MOT man, (which I believe you wont have to worry about for three years after the IVA anyway), he will look at the car as he see's fit and if he likes tyres sticking out he will pass it if he doesn't he will fail it, as we are talking "specialist" cars here then I would take any kit to a garage that likes oddball vehicles and not just the mundane run of the mill euroboxes.

Appearance is a major contributor to getting things passed but it is not everything and so long as you are within the rules they will not fail you. I did have to prove that the seat belt height was correct and that it was just the padding in the seat that was causing the measurement to be outside of the regs, (5mm too low at first), once shown it was the padding the tester was fine with it. I also had to fit pipe insulation on the rear of the bonnet hinges so that there were no sharp edges, the pipe insulation was glued in place. I have seen SEVENS go through with pipe insulation tie wrapped in position and pass but you know full well that it will be removed as soon as possible after the test.

If you are not going to get the full regulations (I don't blame you on that front) I would suggest you get a 100mm diameter ball and see what it can touch, whatever it touches you need to make sure that the edges are rounded off. I haven't seen the new regs but suspect that in this respect they haven't altered.

Good luck when you finally go for it.

The tester I spoke to was very understanding and HIS suggestion was to get some narrower wheels cheaply and fit some cheap tyres for the test (the same guy pointed out that if I couldn't get 'E' marked door glass I could submit the car without any glass at all provided that it looked as if that was the permanent state so I'd have to remove the window winders and fill in the glass space at the top of the door with rubber sealing strip which could be removed later!) Bear in mind that I'm not talking about wheels or tyres sticking way out - if you imagine a vertical line through the wheel centre the tyre must be completely covered by the arch for 30 degrees to the front of that and 50 degrees to the rear so a wheel/tyre might be ok most of the way round but it might not be completely covered for the full 80 degrees. Wheels themselves must not be visible at all when looking directly down. Any arch extensions etc must be permanently attached ie bonded/welded on so that they can't be removed. Also, any padding, edge trim etc must be firmly fixed on in such a way as a manufacturer would have done and tie wraps etc are not acceptable - this is IVA tightening up on points which were open to interpretation under SVA. All these regs take a lot of reading and digesting

Lyndiloo - can you explain a bit more about the seat padding, please? My seats are just a tad too high and I was thinking about removing the runners and bolting them straight to the floor to get them down a bit.

The instrument that was used to measure if the seatbelt top fixing, (the shoulder mount for want of a better description) is a Heath Robinson affair that has a base plate, attached to this is an adjustable upright (for seat angle I believe) and then an adjustable horizontal beam with a piece of string and a small spirit level bubble attached to it. The idea is that they can put the base plate on the seat, adjust the different angles, pull the string to horizontal (using the spirit level bubble as confirmation) to where the top mounting point is and measure with a tape the distance vertically down so they get a reading that says how high the top mount is off the seat cushion.

My one was out by about 10mm or so but I pointed out that they were new seats and that the baseplate of the measuring equipment was sitting higher than if I had my backside on the cushion and to prove the point I pressed the base plate down into the cushion. The tester was not completely convinced but re-did the test with me holding the base plate firmly, and with some downwards pressure, which enabled him to get a more true reading and it then passed. I might add that he made me do it again for the passenger side as he wasn't inclined to just agree with everything so wanted proof.

With the price of the re-test now upto £90 or so, if you are close to the limit and you do have a way of ensuring the measurement is easily reached then I would probably do that rather than have to challenge the trester but if not then certainly challenge their decisions. I had to challenge the seatbelt measurement and the offset of the wheels to the bodywork (it was the testers lack of deducting 5mm from a measurement of 12mm and saying that my wheels were sticking out by 7mm from the body when in fact they were inboard of the body by the 7mm. Proved by sticking small finger between his spirit level and the wheel and even then he was a bit confused).

The issue with fixed seats as far as I can see would be the mounting points have to be correct within the rules (the tester on mine gave the seats a good pushing and pulling about to make sure that they were fixed in place well and bolted to a structural part of the car, and the other point is you will need to be able to get in and out as well as drive the car ok.
I'm not sure, if like me you would need the seat all the way back to drive the car, what happens if the tester is a shortie. The tester I had for the Jester was a huge bloke who looked like he was wearing the car rather than sitting in it.

I might add that my car failed the first time on emmissions (my fault for not getting it checked before hand), self centering steering from full right hand lock (had to fit lock limiters as the off side tyre hit the chassis and so prevented self centering, cured instantly with the limiters) and mirrors. The last one was the worse to cure as I didn't have a screen to attach an interior mirror which would have helped and the one I attached to the top of the dash was not recieved well by the tester as he couldn't see past his own body mass (I told you he was a big bloke) sorted that with a pair of motor cycle mirrors in the end and no interior mirror at all.

If you have to fit rubber strips or edging (such as to fill in the window channel) then most places like woolies or East Kent trim will supply just about anything you need. I fixed my rubber items with silka 221 sticks like the proverbial so not easy for a tester to remove. The down side is that if you want to remove it later then it is a bit of a pig to do, not impossible just a bit more time consuming than a bit of sticky tape.
Hope the above helps in some way. Good luck when you go in for the test.

I wonder what happens if You turn up with some thing the size of a coupe - that the tester can't fit in

I suppose comments about "lard@rse" would alter Your pass rate

The Sylva Jester was nearly that as it is extremely small, however because it has no roof, screen or doors fitted the guy was able to fit in but I was concerned that he was going to break something in doing so as he certainly gave the seat and the steering wheel a fair bit of aggro getting in and out. The break pedal pressure testing was probably the worste as the whole car, seat and tester were moving all over the place, or so it seemed. You certainly couldn't have got another one of his size in the passenger seat at the sametime and that's no joke.

Thanks lyndiloo - I see what you mean and it's a useful tip. The seats in my car are meant to be fitted to jacknuts in the small box section that runs across the inside of the car and I don't like the look of it atall - I think it's too flimsy and the jacknuts could pull out. As some clown has already drilled right through the box section I intend to bolt the seats right through the floor using spreader plates on the outside. If height is an issue I'll have to look at removing the runners but only if I have to (the contraption used for testing the height sounds brilliant ) Luckily, the tester is the same height and build as me

Regarding the wheel trims, I was lucky enough to blag myself a set on ebay this afternoon for 99p Whether they make any difference or not I want to present a car that looks as if a lot of time and care has gone into building it (which they have!!) and it would look unfinished with bare steel wheels.

That is the best way to go but they will know if care and good practises have been used by the nuts/bolts used and the way in which you do things such as the wiring and brake/fuel pipe runs, the P clips used and how fixed etc.
Another area that my particular tester was very cocerned with was the fixings for the seat belts. I had to prise off the aluminium splash gaurds I had fabricated to stop water etc. from going down the inside of the body/chassis (and therefore possibly rotting the chassis over time) so that he could ensure that the correct bolts were used and what they were actually bolted to. The bolts at the shoulder point had caps on them which he removed, again to ensure I had used the correct bolt.