MOT and Windscreen
Tinks1 - 27/10/09 at 12:28 PM
This maybe a silly question but.....
Do I need windscreen wipers if I have a windscreen for an MOT.?
David Jenkins - 27/10/09 at 12:30 PM
Well, when I took my tin-top for its MOT last week I had to demonstrate that the wipers and washers worked, so I guess that the answer is
"yes".
Tiger Super Six - 27/10/09 at 12:44 PM
But when does an aeroscreen become a windscreen?
You don't need wipers for an aeroscreen!
BenB - 27/10/09 at 12:47 PM
IIRC if you look through it, it's a windscreen if it deflects air it's an aeroscreen 
This might not be true though
JeffHs - 27/10/09 at 01:43 PM
As with most things it depends on the tester. I've got Brooklands aero screens and a low seating position so I look through them. They were
fitted to my previous car so have been through about 10 MoTs. The tester has always considered them to be aeroscreens so I've had bo probs at
all. I can of course always peer over or around them but I try to keep behind them when ever possible.
Brommers - 27/10/09 at 01:58 PM
quote:
Originally posted by JeffHs
As with most things it depends on the tester. I've got Brooklands aero screens and a low seating position so I look through them. They were
fitted to my previous car so have been through about 10 MoTs. The tester has always considered them to be aeroscreens so I've had bo probs at
all. I can of course always peer over or around them but I try to keep behind them when ever possible.
The test for windscreen wipers only applies if the car has a windscreen and has neither an opening windscreen or 'some other means of providing
the driver with an adequate view'. Proper Brooklands screens (which I assume we're talking about here) can be adjusted to they're
lying flat on the scuttle and don't interfere with the driver's view and are therefore 'some other means of providing the driver with
an adequate view'. Hence no need for wipers on Brooklands screens
IME MOT testers take a pretty sensible view on things like this and I've certainly never had a problem with a reasonbly-sized aeroscreen.
Charlie_Zetec - 27/10/09 at 03:05 PM
quote:
Originally posted by BenB
IIRC if you look through it, it's a windscreen if it deflects air it's an aeroscreen
Caterham use two single aeroscreens, one each side of the scuttle panel. These are clear, but I would class them as an aeroscreen - partly due to
their purchase description, but also the fact that they are singular items, and do not form a single screen in front of the driver.
My understanding was that come MOT time, although common sense should be used, it could only be tested if it was there to start with, so to speak. A
windscreen requires wipers, so they should be there, but with my old Mk2 Astra GTE track car, it was MOT'd and road legal even though there were
no rear seats or subsequent seatbelts that were fitted when it left the factory.
As Brommers said, usually testers do take a sensible view on these sort of things, although if in doubt I'd ask at the testing station beforehand
just to be sure.
[Edited on 27/10/09 by Charlie_Zetec]