Hi all.

I need some photos of track rod coverings that HAVE passed the SVA...

I have failed twice now on the track rod coverings..

The first time I had a length of heater hose slit down the middle and cabletied inplace...

The second time I had some foam sheet wrapped around the offending part with nice neat black self amalgamating tape wrapped around it... I thought it looked pretty smart and was nicley padded..


Apparently neither of the above solutions are "perminant" enough...

The tester refused to advise what we should fit because he is "not there to offer advice"...

Im really stumped on this one, any thoughts?

Can't you get sva friendly ones from cbs or similar? must be cheaper than keeping failing the test....

Tifosi do them and apparently have been submitted to Vosa for approval.

hope that helps

i wrapped mine heavily in tape over pipe lagging - no probs. did the same on my old car too.............
sounds like you got a right pillock tester.
change test venue

Those Tifosi things look just the job..will have order me some of those when I get home

If we change test venue wont we have to pay for a full retest?

The only things that need solving for the next test are:

track rod coverings
wipers now clearing enough of the screen
handbrake under the limit by 2%
plastic trim on exhaust silencer not perminant enough...

So should all be solvable for the retest....I hope...its getting silly....The chap is trying his hardest to enterpret the rules in the book in the most bizare way possible!

[Edited on 12/8/08 by tegwin]

I've got the rubber sleeves used for mains cable junction box waterproofing, held on with a tie-wrap. You can just about feel the nut underneath, but it stays well-rounded.

This one's in white, but it's easier to see what it is - mine are black PVC. You just cut the narrow end until it's a snug fit on the steering arm, then push the whole lot over until the nut's covered.



I think that's what Tifosi are selling - I got mine from a local electrical wholesaler.

My SVA tester ran his hand over it for barely a second, then moved on.

quote:

---

Originally posted by tegwin
The only things that need solving for the next test are:

1. track rod coverings
2. wipers now clearing enough of the screen
3. handbrake under the limit by 2%
4. plastic trim on exhaust silencer not perminant enough...

---

As the last (but one) post, mine were from tifosi or europa I think but are just cable termination glands sold at about 5x the price.

I used to work on site and could have easily got them FOC but you might find them in B&Q/Wickes or an electrical wholesaler.

[Edited on 12/8/08 by pajsh]

For track rods I used:

convoluted rubber tubing (orignally covered the wiring between the body and hatchback of a tintop) plus a rubber ferrule (with a hole cut for the track rod) over the nut:

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?action=attachment&tid=31790&pid=260171

does all this still get tested if you fit a "DAX" style bumber bar?

^^^^^^

Bumper bar takes everything behind it out of the equation. I had heavy duty shrink wrap over mine (from CBS I think) and he didn't even look.

cheers, and is there a particular height that it should be at?

As I have posted before I used self amalgamating tape on its own, no problem. Even used it on the nuts on the bottom of the headlights after they were adjusted using the SVA beam tester during the test.
As for advice my tester was full of good advice on the things he had to fail my car on.
Sounds like you had an unco-operative tester

As far as I am aware covers now have to be seen as permanant and not of a temporary type. IE NO bodges with tape or pipe lagging . Same applies to the lower radius on dash. We all know that some bits fall off after SVA but I'm sure if the tester didn't want to pass the car he would have found a lot more stuff to fail it on. As already suggested electrical gland covers are ideal, and are also available to cover the top ball joint as well.

The big thing about gland covers on the steering arm is that they look like they're made for the job and meant to be there, unlike taped-on bits of foam, etc.

Sounds like the inspector is being a right numpty.

A piddly little edge of a nut is going to cause very little damage compared to the rod that it's attached to wacking into the middle of your tibia @ 40mph!!!! And that's before you get flung on to the perfectly SVA legit glowing red exhaust....

Such a load of twaddle.

Testing emissions + brakes, seatbelts etc @ SVA makes sense. The "ridiculous obsession" (a la Moulin Rouge) with sharp edges just pisses me off!!!!