Knew deep down it was going to fail, its been parked up in the garage for the best bit of a year!

Failed on 2 brake pipes (easy fix) and 2 rear wheel bearings (never done that before, uncles gunna take that on)

Got an advisory for play in the steering rack. Says it could be a bearing or something? Is that something to worry about? leave it or sort it? What could the problem be?

Thanks people. Want to get the felly on the road before the end of the week if possible...

Rear wheel bearings are a piece of cake - half an hour each side, if that. Just make sure you check the adjustment after driving on them for a bit, it's crucial to get them right.

Rack - just replace it, if it really is play in the rack.

Rack - advisory. Make sure it's not the mounts or the rod ends, and as long as it isn't, leave it. Cars have been known to have advisories one year, and not the next.

I'd never leave the rack - OK, they're very simple devices, and mostly don't go wrong in a catastrophic manner, but for the sake of £100 or less, do you really want to risk it, if there is something wrong?

I had an advisory on my rack and replaced it. Had a bit of a brown pants moment when I found it difficult to take the steering off full lock (not sure if that's down to the wear or my bad driving but haven't had any problems with the new rack) and that helped me decide it had to be done.

Bearings are easy. You need some pin punches and a hammer to get the inner races out. Bigger ones work best. You can use the old inner races to knock in the new ones but be careful that you can get the old ones out once the new ones are in (do it with them upside down). Get a big tub of multipurpose lithium based grease and some rubber gloves from wilkinsons.

As mentioned above you have to be careful with the adjustment. I'd suggest putting the wheel back on and spinning and ragging it left to right to make sure there's no play. Don't do them up too tight either they should only be finger tight. Have enough split pins ready in case you need to readjust.