Bull@#$% Uneccessary Car Servicing Recommendations

Bull@#$% Uneccessary Car Servicing Recommendations

Author
Discussion

Dodsy

7,175 posts

233 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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Mound Dawg said:
I thought that too. The wheels would come off to check the brake pads anyway so charging extra just to roll them to the other end of the car is very cheeky.

Edited by Mound Dawg on Friday 17th October 07:15
Dealers dont take the wheels off to check the brake pads, its a visual inspection only, with teh wheels in place. I know this for a fact as the rear pads on my VW passat disintegrated about 200 miles after a service and I had to be recovered. When they took the wheels off there were no pads left to speak of - odd as prior to them failing I had no noises from the rear. I questioned the service manager and he told me that 'we inspected the pads and they were present when inspected'.

Note that they inspect to see if they are present, not to see if they have any life left in them. I contact VW customer services who backed the dealer up 100% and confirmed that the inspection covered only the fact that pads were indeed present, no requirement to report on their condition.

TA14

12,739 posts

264 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
Dodsy said:
Mound Dawg said:
I thought that too. The wheels would come off to check the brake pads anyway so charging extra just to roll them to the other end of the car is very cheeky.
Dealers dont take the wheels off to check the brake pads, its a visual inspection only, with teh wheels in place. I know this for a fact as the rear pads on my VW passat disintegrated about 200 miles after a service and I had to be recovered. When they took the wheels off there were no pads left to speak of - odd as prior to them failing I had no noises from the rear. I questioned the service manager and he told me that 'we inspected the pads and they were present when inspected'.

Note that they inspect to see if they are present, not to see if they have any life left in them. I contact VW customer services who backed the dealer up 100% and confirmed that the inspection covered only the fact that pads were indeed present, no requirement to report on their condition.
I'm not here to defend dealers but some astoundingly bad practice by VW dealers that you report does not mean that this is the prodecure followed by all (or any?) dealers.

TA14

12,739 posts

264 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
pmjg66 said:
Good call. "We remove the wheels to visually check all the brake parts. We also measure the brake pad wear level. If the pads or discs are worn, corroded or warped we will let you know so we can arrange to replace them."

Mave

8,209 posts

221 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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Zoobeef said:
Do you know how a master cylinder works inside? And the difference between a fluid and a gas? And sealing a high pressure gas against a seal on a high speed rotating shaft?

You can guarantee a brake system won't leak, you can't on an AC system. Simple as that.
Yes I do thanks.
We can make coolant systems, brake systems, fuel systems, power steering systems, that we expect to work without leaking. They work at high and low pressure, static and rotating seals, liquid and vapour, high and low temperature. So why not A/C?

jamieduff1981

8,040 posts

146 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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Mave said:
Zoobeef said:
Do you know how a master cylinder works inside? And the difference between a fluid and a gas? And sealing a high pressure gas against a seal on a high speed rotating shaft?

You can guarantee a brake system won't leak, you can't on an AC system. Simple as that.
Yes I do thanks.
We can make coolant systems, brake systems, fuel systems, power steering systems, that we expect to work without leaking. They work at high and low pressure, static and rotating seals, liquid and vapour, high and low temperature. So why not A/C?
My industry usually specifies that high pressure gas compressors don't leak. Leaks tend to lead to lots of paperwork and unwanted publicity. Having said that, the support systems are a bit more comprehensive and rather large. I'm not sure cars would be improved by carrying around industrial spec gas compressors.

Sheepshanks

34,782 posts

125 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
TA14 said:
pmjg66 said:
Good call. "We remove the wheels to visually check all the brake parts. We also measure the brake pad wear level. If the pads or discs are worn, corroded or warped we will let you know so we can arrange to replace them."
It says there that they should be checked every 12mths, yet "wheels off" is only part of the 2yr major service and I'll eat my hat if that was done when our Golf was 2yrs old. The "3 hour" major service actually took an hour, and that included a wash & vac.

PorkRind

3,053 posts

211 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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Audi and their 5mm tire replacement suggestions boil my piss. Yes Inchape of Tetbury, you are a shower of st.

Sheepshanks

34,782 posts

125 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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PorkRind said:
Audi and their 5mm tire replacement suggestions boil my piss. Yes Inchape of Tetbury, you are a shower of st.
VW told me the "European legal limit" is 3mm so my tyres (which I reckon had 5mm on them) HAD to be replaced.

That was also at an Inchcape dealer. Every visit feels like a scam and they refused to replace diamond cut alloys which are starting to fail.

feef

5,206 posts

189 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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There was one dealer/garage I knew of that, when doing MOTs, seemed to regularly fail cars on headlight alignment and charge £20 to sort. It happened often enough to enough different folk I knew that I began to suspect they were doing it for a bit of extra ££

Headlight alignment is one of the things you can't really check at home prior to an MOT and £20 to sort isn't going to break the bank

liner33

10,772 posts

208 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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feef said:
Headlight alignment is one of the things you can't really check at home prior to an MOT and £20 to sort isn't going to break the bank
Very easy to check at home , all you need is a wall and a piece of chalk

http://www.coolbulbs.com/HID-VISUAL-HEADLIGHT-AIMI...

feef

5,206 posts

189 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
liner33 said:
feef said:
Headlight alignment is one of the things you can't really check at home prior to an MOT and £20 to sort isn't going to break the bank
Very easy to check at home , all you need is a wall and a piece of chalk

http://www.coolbulbs.com/HID-VISUAL-HEADLIGHT-AIMI...
Fair enough.. allow me to rephrase then.. the average driver can see rust, can see tread on their tyres, are probably aware of whether or nor their brakes work, but probably wouldn't have the sense to look up that sort of info, never mind do it themselves.

Zoobeef

6,004 posts

164 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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Mave said:
Yes I do thanks.
We can make coolant systems, brake systems, fuel systems, power steering systems, that we expect to work without leaking. They work at high and low pressure, static and rotating seals, liquid and vapour, high and low temperature. So why not A/C?
Which one of those is a high pressure gas?

Mave

8,209 posts

221 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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Zoobeef said:
Which one of those is a high pressure gas?
None of them. I thought you knew that?

Zoobeef

6,004 posts

164 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
Mave said:
None of them. I thought you knew that?
So why do you keep asking why they can't fully seal it and keep mentioning something completely different that they can seal?

Mave

8,209 posts

221 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
Zoobeef said:
So why do you keep asking why they can't fully seal it and keep mentioning something completely different that they can seal?
Because I don't see what's so special about high pressure gas in a car. If we can seal brake systems at 150 bar and fuel systems at 2000 bar then why not a/c at 20 bar?

Jimmyarm

1,962 posts

184 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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Mave said:
Because I don't see what's so special about high pressure gas in a car. If we can seal brake systems at 150 bar and fuel systems at 2000 bar then why not a/c at 20 bar?
There isn't much point given the location of the condenser in most vehicles.

Cost is an issue too I would assume smile

Zoobeef

6,004 posts

164 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
Mave said:
Because I don't see what's so special about high pressure gas in a car. If we can seal brake systems at 150 bar and fuel systems at 2000 bar then why not a/c at 20 bar?
Right, looked into it a bit more and the leaking 'from new' is alot of the time through the flexible hoses that you need on a car as the engine moves separately from the chassis. You can get hoses that don't leak but they are extremely expensive.

Mave

8,209 posts

221 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
Zoobeef said:
Right, looked into it a bit more and the leaking 'from new' is alot of the time through the flexible hoses that you need on a car as the engine moves separately from the chassis. You can get hoses that don't leak but they are extremely expensive.
Ok, interesting, thanks. I assumed that hoses that are good for very high pressure fluids would also be good for moderate pressure gases, maybe they're slightly permeable to gases..

Mave

8,209 posts

221 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
Jimmyarm said:
There isn't much point given the location of the condenser in most vehicles.
Well there is if you end up spending $142 a year maintaining the system as a result.