Smart ForFour - MOT passed, a couple things needed to be repaired.

MOT, most people are afraid this, what is broken / what I need to fix to pass this and drive legally?

Well I knew my car wasn't going to pass at first try (noise from wheel) but I bought this car a half year ago and I haven't yet even looked underneath of it so there could be surprises that need to be repaired. I thought lets go fail once and do after check to pass the car with all problems fixed.

So what did I fail for? 

There was no bite on left handbrake, so over 70% difference fail. Then I got also two warnings. Wheel bearing is worn (my original thought what was going to fail but just warning) and right side lights foggy. The funny thing is I took my car to local garage to fix handbrake (left side!) and now there is no bite. So under warranty they fixed it and cause was jamming brake cylinder (rusty). Next morning took car back to MOT check and passed with previous warnings.

So the warnings

I made a video how the failing wheel bearing sounds inside your car but camera's microphone is so bad that you maybe cannot notice the difference. Basically it sounds like someone is flying a propel airplane next to you. I added text boxes to tell you can hear the sound and what is regular engine noise.

Turns out the failing wheel bearing in Smart ForFour is expensive fault if you repair it at Smart-Center because they want to change whole wheel carrier which takes long and carrier costs over half grand. Cheaper option is to use indies who have SKF 2.1 wheel bearing (hub) removal and installation tool or something similar to take out the hub and put a new one back in. The spare hub costs 60-250€ depending on what you want but the original is manufactured by SKF and its part code is VBKA 6680 which costs 100-300€ depending on seller. I ordered mine from topautoosat.fi and paid 100€ for one. I ordered two because I noticed other one was starting to get bad also. Labor cost was 120€ which I thought was pretty ok.

Other warning was foggy lights because dirt and condensation have made inside the light assembly so I have to take them off and clean them which is pretty simple job thanks to easily removeable plastic panels. (18-26) screws/bolts depending do you have sideskirts installed. After that just unbolt light assemblies and clean them and let them dry well. 

What else?

Well turns out CV-joint is in suberp condtion still and bad wheel bearing was making those clanking noises. And garage told me the other side wheel bearing is still in good condition so they didn't bother changing it thus reducing labor costs 120€ and I have a spare wheel bearing (hub) ready if it fails.

Hopefully no more costly repairs awhile.