Can anyone please advise on possible damage caused by leaving the transport blocks in the front suspension? 2020 Superb Sportline estate. 16,000 miles. Came to light when eating new tyres. 

Any idea what would have caused the front tyres to wear evenly across the tread but then dramatic excess wear at 45* on the inside shoulder. Is this related to leaving the block in?

Having a huge fight with the supplying dealer who's squirming out of responsibility like a stuck pig.

Lol predictive text - "getting" new tyres!. Eating sounds fun 😉

 

Sounds like they're treating you to two new front tyres plus another inspection at an unaffiliated garage for anything else they missed at PDI!

Lol it has taken them months to even agree to inspecting the car without charging me £120. Everything is everybody else's fault apart from theirs. Great car. Shocking dealer service. No intention of paying for new tyres apparently and minimum work on the suspension - far less than I was advised was required by the tyre dealer. 

 

Oh - and I did get a free inspection previously by a different Skoda dealer who were unable to find the transport blocks were still in. They could tell me there was a problem, but not what it was, but could tell me it would be over £1,000 to sort...

I am concerned that what the dealer is currently doing (not much more than removing the blocks) may not address the tyre wear issue, possibly linked to damage caused by leaving the blocks in

the problem is though, it will cost you more to fight them than it would to put 2 new tyres on the car and there would be no guarantee that you would win anyway.

if it was me, i'd buy 2 new tyres and move on

 

Inner tyre wear is usually due to negative camber so perhaps it would be a good idea to get the alignment checked.

 

The transport blocks would just cause the bump stops to bottom out quicker but I'm sure you would of noticed because it would be a banging sound before the springs fully compress.

9 hours ago, 310golfr said:

the problem is though, it will cost you more to fight them than it would to put 2 new tyres on the car and there would be no guarantee that you would win anyway.

if it was me, i'd buy 2 new tyres and move on

 

Tyres are already changed at cost to me. I was advised by those who changed the tyre I should expect to be recompensed by the supplying dealer

8 hours ago, OccySport said:

Inner tyre wear is usually due to negative camber so perhaps it would be a good idea to get the alignment checked.

 

The transport blocks would just cause the bump stops to bottom out quicker but I'm sure you would of noticed because it would be a banging sound before the springs fully compress.

I don't pretend to be an expert and am happy to be advised by someone who actually knows, hence why I am asking. I am advised that negative camber will produce wear unevenly across the tyre and not even wear across the tyre with just the inner edge worn at 45*. If as you say it is negative camber what would cause that? Was the car supplied to me with negative camber or is it as a result of damage potentially caused by the blocks being left in. 

Those who changed the tyre advised the struts knackered, dust covers burst, bump stop chewed and jammed inside. They advise both struts and strut mounts need changed. The supplying dealer will not as they claim they are fine. How can I tell who is right? What needs to be done to stop both the tyres wearing on the inner shoulder?

20 minutes ago, Sossages said:

Tyres are already changed at cost to me. I was advised by those who changed the tyre I should expect to be recompensed by the supplying dealer

You have 2 problems, firstly you don’t know how much of the PDI was missed, and secondly you have worn tyres which may or may not be due to the transport blocks.

 

With the PDI, write to the dealer principle at supplying dealer (email and recorded delivery) asking for copy of PDI worksheet, either it won’t have that part of the work carried out (boxes not ticked), or it will have been falsified and show work was done.  If a main dealer is falsifying PDI paperwork ask them how they would like to compensate you, or would they prefer an official complaint to Skoda UK and if they are MOT registered to DVSA for falsifying work done paperwork.  Tell them if they have not replied to your satisfaction within 21 days you will ask your lawyer to submit a small claim for all costs and fees incurred, in addition to you informing all the relevant organisations about falsifying work done reports.

 

Hopefully that will knock some sense into them, because they have lot more to lose if they continue to ignore your complaint

EDIT : May I suggest copies of your letter are also sent to Service Manger at the dealer and the Managing Director (look it up on Companies House website, if you don’t know it).  mark it at top CC to these two.    You are more likely to get them be more aware of the consequences this way.   List the faults as advised by the tyre centre so they know what they need to fix.

 

 

Edited 14 April, 20224 yr by SurreyJohn

Do the AA and/or RAC still do an independent inspection for around £70?

They start from £99 with the RAC & £142 from the AA.

 

Skoda owners / keepers that had Warranty Work were being invited in to dealerships so that An Audit could be carried out on the vehicles.

 

Get the Dealer Principal of the Supplying Dealer to deal with the Incompetence of their staff and the car can have a proper inspection and alignment check and they can purchase tyres to be fitted at a tyre fitter. 

Edited 14 April, 20224 yr by roottoot

17 minutes ago, gumdrop said:

Do the AA and/or RAC still do an independent inspection for around £70?

They still do them, I think it is something like £140 for a basic inspection.

EDIT: Roottoot beat to the post 

Edited 14 April, 20224 yr by MATT0693

Skoda UK need to be aware of issues at their Approved Dealership / Approved Repairers.

 

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/502954-called-in-for-warranty-audit

 

 

The issue is with Skoda / VW Group is that Customer Services was contracted out.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Sossages said:

Tyres are already changed at cost to me. I was advised by those who changed the tyre I should expect to be recompensed by the supplying dealer

if they forgot to remove the transit blocks then it's obviously there fault,  but if you complain and they dont want to know, you would need to spend some £££ to fight them and it might not be worth the cost.

remember the tyres have done 16,000 miles, so you have had a fair bit of wear out of them

if it was me i'd be more concerned about any suspension damage, although proving that leaving the transit blocks in has caused the damage might be a problem.

you said that another skoda dealer looked at the car and said it would cost £1000 to fix but they cant tell you whats wrong, i dont get that

2 hours ago, gumdrop said:

Do the AA and/or RAC still do an independent inspection for around £70?

the AA do but they use a third party company 

^^^ good to know.   And people buying used cars from RAC approved traders that have a RAC warranty and however many point inspection need to be aware that some places have a car advertised as soon as it gets dropped off at that trader even if they have never set eyes on it because they agreed taking it as a trade in with a distanced seller / buyer. 

@Sossages - As others, this is clearly the supplying dealer's fault, and what else have they missed? If you're in Englandshire (not stated), you could raise a Small Claims action for less than the price of the tyres.

7 hours ago, Sossages said:

I don't pretend to be an expert and am happy to be advised by someone who actually knows, hence why I am asking. I am advised that negative camber will produce wear unevenly across the tyre and not even wear across the tyre with just the inner edge worn at 45*. If as you say it is negative camber what would cause that? Was the car supplied to me with negative camber or is it as a result of damage potentially caused by the blocks being left in. 

Those who changed the tyre advised the struts knackered, dust covers burst, bump stop chewed and jammed inside. They advise both struts and strut mounts need changed. The supplying dealer will not as they claim they are fine. How can I tell who is right? What needs to be done to stop both the tyres wearing on the inner shoulder?

Lowering a car causes negative camber where the wheels point inwards at the top & push out at the bottom & causes inner tyre to wear evenly.
In your case it could be that the front springs have sagged which is normal for them to settle & most cars come with slight negative camber to help with the handling
The toe is adjusted to compensate the negative camber hence the reason I advise you get alignment checked.

 

I'm actually in a similar situation, I purchased my car with only 16k miles & within the first 6 months & only 20k miles my car has noisy rear shocks & oil leaking out
the front shocks & the dealer doesn't want to know because Skoda have said "its perfectly normal to have oil leaking from the shocks" the bill to have "genuine"
parts fitted is £912.84 but I have decided to do the job myself because I will know exactly what parts are fitted to my car & not have to rely on specialists that
charge ridiculous prices.
I have purchased a set of Bilstein B4 shocks & Eibach pro kit lowering springs with a total cost of £383.69 & when fitted I will be getting the wheel alignment checked.

1 hour ago, OccySport said:

Lowering a car causes negative camber where the wheels point inwards at the top & push out at the bottom & causes inner tyre to wear evenly.
In your case it could be that the front springs have sagged which is normal for them to settle & most cars come with slight negative camber to help with the handling
The toe is adjusted to compensate the negative camber hence the reason I advise you get alignment checked.

 

I'm actually in a similar situation, I purchased my car with only 16k miles & within the first 6 months & only 20k miles my car has noisy rear shocks & oil leaking out
the front shocks & the dealer doesn't want to know because Skoda have said "its perfectly normal to have oil leaking from the shocks" the bill to have "genuine"
parts fitted is £912.84 but I have decided to do the job myself because I will know exactly what parts are fitted to my car & not have to rely on specialists that
charge ridiculous prices.
I have purchased a set of Bilstein B4 shocks & Eibach pro kit lowering springs with a total cost of £383.69 & when fitted I will be getting the wheel alignment checked.

Thank you all for the inputs so far. Very much appreciated. I have spent the last two days at the supplying dealer, which unfortunately involved much unpleasantness and their blaming anyone and everyone apart from themselves when it is black and white their responsibility having supplied a car with the transport blocks still in and the damage clearly as a result. I will post muchness more later but my brain is currently frazzled with the stress of it all, so meantime here are some pretty pictures 😉 They have only replaced a few of the items I was advised needed replaced and only on one side. They were even going to refit the top bearing which they accepted is knackered, despite a 10 minute argument, until I told the dealer owner I was very unhappy with that and she came back claiming they were always going to replace it, which they now have. If anyone can advise if this is likely to cause negative camber and that that's what the tread wear definitely shows then I would be very much appreciative. Also if anyone can advise re alignment checking is the local Halfords up to the job or does it have to be a fancy VW approved 4 wheel check as the dealer is specifying?

 

 

6 hours ago, 310golfr said:

if they forgot to remove the transit blocks then it's obviously there fault,  but if you complain and they dont want to know, you would need to spend some £££ to fight them and it might not be worth the cost.

remember the tyres have done 16,000 miles, so you have had a fair bit of wear out of them

if it was me i'd be more concerned about any suspension damage, although proving that leaving the transit blocks in has caused the damage might be a problem.

you said that another skoda dealer looked at the car and said it would cost £1000 to fix but they cant tell you whats wrong, i dont get that

Re the other Skoda dealer I think the technical term is I was getting my appendage pulled. This is an excerpt from an earlier email demanding the supplying dealer examine the car without charge(!). I have subsequently learned that the two aftersales managers of both dealers are the very best of friends lol

"

1. So I contacted (another) Skoda dealer who, after argument, agreed to inspect the car for free, an offer I accepted.
2. After inspection, person Y accepted a test drive revealed there was an issue. He told me that, as Aftersales Manager of a Skoda dealership, he did not know what the issue with my Skoda was. He even mentioned that he had looked for transport blocks but that they had been removed. Yes, that’s right - the Aftersales Manager of a Skoda Dealership was unable to diagnose an issue with a Skoda car and, upon inspection, could not see bright blue transport blocks staring him in the face. Despite not knowing what the issue was, he went on to tell me that it definitely was not a warranty claim and would cost me over £1,000 to fix. So he didn’t know what the problem was, but he knew it wasn’t a warranty claim and what the rough cost of repair would be. Either he is utterly incompetent or a total liar. Whichever, he is clearly unfit to be doing his job.
3. He drew my attention to the fact this issue was causing excessive wear on the inside shoulder of the front tyres, that wear being at roughly a 45* angle (see photo attached)."

15 minutes ago, Sossages said:

OMG that is a lot of damage & its very obvious that the suspension has been bottoming out, surely it must of been horrendous when driving on rough roads.

Are you replacing the parts yourself or is a garage doing the work for you?

Just now, OccySport said:

OMG that is a lot of damage & its very obvious that the suspension has been bottoming out, surely it must of been horrendous when driving on rough roads.

Are you replacing the parts yourself or is a garage doing the work for you?

The garage has done the work - or at least what they deemed was required. There appears to be much what to me looks like epoxy glue (grey colour) at the top of the wheel arch where the strut is attached. Is this normal or is it a repair? Thank you for your help 

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