Mot failure

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mike and shirley

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Took my 2004 A2 (35,000 miler) to Audi dealer today for a 'free' MOT and guess what?? It failed...both front anti roll bar mounts shown as cracked and three of the 17'' alloys were found to have distorted inside rims.
Dealer is asking for £332 to replace the ARB and re align the wheels but the worst bit was that to replace the alloys would cost me nearly £400 per wheel.
Needless to say I brought the car away and having PM'd Skipton for his advice will be looking for an independent garage in North West Cheshire area to do the ARB ( Arthritis and useless mechanical skills prevents me crawling under the car to do the job myself).......I am hoping my local alloy repair centre can sort the wheels otherwise I will be looking for a set of 15'' steels......Oh for the days of my Ford Popular!!!!!!!
 
Your antiroll bar prob isn't showing any cracks they can see it is the old one and want to try and get you to replace it with the new designed bar. I was told by audi mine was the same but I had someone look and it shows no cracks.
 
Mine failed on This last year but it was just the sleave had come out of the bush tapped it back jobs a goodun' will be looking at putting the polo ARB bushes in this year though but hoping to do this at the same time as FSD's

Cheers Phil

PS not sure who it was now PM Murdo he will know but one of the scots got the new rs4 style wheels and tyres for about £350
 
thanks for all your replies...I will take car to local garage and get second opinion on the ARB problem......If I get any success with the alloy repairs then I will post the repair firm details on here. If not I will be trying your suggestions ....thanks to all
 
mike and shirley said:
Took my 2004 A2 (35,000 miler) to Audi dealer today for a 'free' MOT and guess what?? It failed...both front anti roll bar mounts shown as cracked and three of the 17'' alloys were found to have distorted inside rims.
QUOTE]

Just a thought, but has anyone challenged Audi regarding the 17" alloys, As under the sale of goods act, goods have to be fit for purpose for a period of six years.

As so many people have damaged wheels, it cannot be abuse by one or two people, they are clearly not fit for purpose!
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Yes, as you'd probably expect, I have!

I was awarded a certain sum in Audi vouchers and a free service, but no liability for the wheels was implied by this offer!

The basic facts that I put forward were as follows:

The 17" wheel as fitted to the A2 is actually an A3 part and the ONLY time it was used on the A3, the wheels came fitted with 225/45 tyres.

When you do the maths, it works out that there is over an inch more rubber between the alloy and the tarmac on an A3 fitment compared to the 205/40 fitment of the A2. This obviously has a massive knock on effect regards transferred stresses to the wheel rim and so I argued that the wheel/tyre combination, as fitted to the A2, was not of an acceptable quality for the UK roads.

Effectively, I was proved right, but the compensation was wothout prejudice!

Cheers,

Mike
 
Skipton01 said:
Yes, as you'd probably expect, I have!

I was awarded a certain sum in Audi vouchers and a free service, but no liability for the wheels was implied by this offer!

The basic facts that I put forward were as follows:

The 17" wheel as fitted to the A2 is actually an A3 part and the ONLY time it was used on the A3, the wheels came fitted with 225/45 tyres.

When you do the maths, it works out that there is over an inch more rubber between the alloy and the tarmac on an A3 fitment compared to the 205/40 fitment of the A2. This obviously has a massive knock on effect regards transferred stresses to the wheel rim and so I argued that the wheel/tyre combination, as fitted to the A2, was not of an acceptable quality for the UK roads.

Effectively, I was proved right, but the compensation was wothout prejudice!

Cheers,

Mike
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Thanks Mike. My car goes in for its hinges this week. The dealer still seemed a bit grumpy about doing the work. Do they get paid from Audi UK for doing recalls?
 
Failed mot-cautionary tale

To further add to this theme I decided today to take the car for a second opinion to a local MOT station.They gave me a 30 min examination on the hoist and couldn't find anything wrong with the ARB and could only find one minor flat spot on one of the wheels.The examiner also got another mechanic to give a second opinion and he was in agreement.The bottom line was that had they examined the car it would have passed its MOT. I have now booked it in with them for another MOT which it will hopefully pass.
I also went to an alloy refurbishment centre and they could not find anything that would have resulted in an MOT failure.( I am however having the wheels fully refurbished and polished for £35 a corner.)If the result is good I will publish their address.........If the car does pass on Wednesday then a complaint will be on its way to Audi dealers. If I had been easily persuaded this free MOT could have cost me close to £1,500 in wheels and ARB. Mike
 
mike and shirley said:
To further add to this theme I decided today to take the car for a second opinion to a local MOT station.They gave me a 30 min examination on the hoist and couldn't find anything wrong with the ARB and could only find one minor flat spot on one of the wheels.The examiner also got another mechanic to give a second opinion and he was in agreement.The bottom line was that had they examined the car it would have passed its MOT. I have now booked it in with them for another MOT which it will hopefully pass.
I also went to an alloy refurbishment centre and they could not find anything that would have resulted in an MOT failure.( I am however having the wheels fully refurbished and polished for £35 a corner.)If the result is good I will publish their address.........If the car does pass on Wednesday then a complaint will be on its way to Audi dealers. If I had been easily persuaded this free MOT could have cost me close to £1,500 in wheels and ARB. Mike
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Shocking! :mad:Have you got the quote in writing from the Audi dealer? In any event I would report this to Audi UK and trading standards - its close enough to theft in my book if the recommended repairs are not required.
 
murdo said:
Shocking! :mad:Have you got the quote in writing from the Audi dealer? In any event I would report this to Audi UK and trading standards - its close enough to theft in my book if the recommended repairs are not required.
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The dealers love the ARBs, now that they can say it's fair wear and tear not a patent, not fit for purpose, not of sufficient quality fault.

I've bought a VW because I tired of the £100 an hour (+VAT) foisted on you by the dealers when their customer service and customer respect was worth about £25 an hour.

I doubt I'll ever go back to Audi, and I've owned 6 over the years.

Alan
 
I agree unaccepable behaviour, but I am not surprised.

I was abroad on business recently and was chatting to a customer about cars, and we got to the subject of MOT's and their country's equivalent. In his country the testing stations are government run, and do not carry out the work, therefore they have nothing to gain by failing it. Sounds like a better system to me.

David

PS Free MOT my A**e!
 
birdsd01 said:
I agree unaccepable behaviour, but I am not surprised.

I was abroad on business recently and was chatting to a customer about cars, and we got to the subject of MOT's and their country's equivalent. In his country the testing stations are government run, and do not carry out the work, therefore they have nothing to gain by failing it. Sounds like a better system to me.

David

PS Free MOT my A**e!
Click to expand...

The local council / bus depots used to do MOT's, but not the repair work. I'm not sure if they still do, but martin lewis recommends them.
 
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