MOT due, do i need to be concerned about this?

[Claws]

Hi All

i was outside topping up water / Oil / putting air in tyres as you do, then i noticed this!

here is the detail.. for a couple of months there has been a slight scraping sound from out side which i initially thought was coming from the gearbox tunnel,  but my good lady said yesterday it was from her side towards the front. its not a constant sound, sort of like this if you can use your imagination scrape - pause - scrape - pause - scrape - pause etc the faster you go it then just becomes a constant sound (albeit its not horrifying enough for me to be overly concerned) and tends then to disappear, with the sound of engine and wind noise,

Anyway....

i have checked the inner walls of the tyres and they seem fine, there is no obvious smell of over heated metal or burning etc when i stop, there does not seem to be any obvious signs of uneven wear to the front passenger tyre. i did clump the kerb about a month ago at the front end, i had to mount it to pass a dustbin lorry that was mostly blocking the road.

however the scraping sound was there before that. have i bent the tracking rod? is it an MOT fail? is it expensive to fix - replace? and finally should the steering wheel be horizontal with the wheels in the straight on position? sorry for the multiple questions, oh and just to add, there is a slight pulling to the left, but i put that down to low tyre pressure and 'Ruts' in the road on the 'B' roads i travel on every weekend, it seems to be fine on motorways. just to mention there is a difference in alignment of about 2 1/2 inches from body work compared to drivers front tyre (unless the body has twisted  )

as always any advice greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance

regards

Steve

[Claws]

cheers Ron, didn't even consider that! what's your thoughts on the alignment issue?

[Claws]

thanks, i can honestly say i have ever compared steering wheel alignment with wheel position, but when the MOT is due i will get them to check and adjust as required. hopefully i didn't do to much damage, although i chipped the concrete kerb i was only traveling about 5 MPH i will report back after the MOT

Many thanks again Ron

Steve