Altea as bad as Toledo?

[wallacebob]

Sorry, I posted in Toledo section, and having had Altea loan car this week I thought I would post this follw up post here too for comment from Altea owners.

: I bought a 55 Toledo 2.0 PD DSG in Jan, 11k miles and good condition. I've done 20k more miles since then and generally like the car, loads of space and good mile cruncher. A bit on/off with the power, but the DSG in auto helps that.
BUT... I noticed a vibration which felt like wheel balance. Needed new tyres anyway so got that all done. Still vibration, so down to SEAT dealer for check up. They said wheel bearing worn, so will replace under warranty. Long story, (mechanic ill, wrong parts, not covered by warranty they thought, etc, etc) but three weeks later they managed to fix it FOC. Following week I got a call - come back in, the CV boot needs replacing. A bit annoyed as I was then in Aberdeen! Couldn't get back until three weeks, so they gave me assurances that it was a small problem, and not to worry. By this time vibration was back, but worse. I phoned them, not to worry they said.
So....today I took car in to get CV boot fitted, and joked that it would probably need a new CV joint or drive shaft this time. Phone call this afternoon, needs new Turbo!
Am I jinxed? Is this a lemon? The dealer is new to SEAT, but is large dealership with Vauxhall, etc franchises so I have to assume they know what they are doing. My Octavia was VERY reliable (120k no probs) and dealer first class. Should I have stayed with Skoda?
Bob.

Follow up:
Since last post; dealer tells me mechanic spotted oil leak at Turbo when he put it up on hoist to do CV boot. SEAT say not to drive the car, as failure will be very costly, they will fix under warranty. Bad news is that it looks like next week at earliest before they can get one, or 14th Sept was also mentioned. Don't ask why.
I asked about the vibration, but they seem a bit stumped. Could be anything they say, what about new tyres. I did point out that was the first thing i did. But they haven't even fitted the CV boot yet which was throwing grease and rubber bits around the wheel when i took it in.
I also pointed out that the Altea I have on loan makes a similar noise to mine before they replaced bearing; real "grumble" or "thrum" from left hand, esp when you are 30-40 on a quiet country road. It has different tyres, make and size. Speed related too, not engine revs. The car is a 2.0PD as well, but a manual not DSG. Very queer. They hadn't noticed it, but my wife noticed it straight away without me mentioning it.
Ho Hum.

 

[Jaytee]

Hi,
I had the same problem with my Toedo (55 reg Dec '05) - I was getting a load of rumble and "road noise"
Took it to my dealer, and though my feeling was that it was coming from n/s rear, the technician diagnosed front and rear n/s wheel bearings.
Booked it in and they changed them both, but he said that though the front bearing was a bit rough, the rear had appeared to be OK.
Anyway, drove it away and it was still noisy!
Then following advice from this forum, I asked them to change rear tyres to front (all my tyres were getting low anyway) - then when I drove down the road, the vibration from the front was almost unbearable. When I checked the front n/s tyre (which was prev. on rear n/s) it had really bad uneven wear, with the tyre tread blocks almost cracking.
£480 later on a new set of Avon ZZ3 tyres, and now back to correct level of road noise!

It seems that there is a problem with rear suspension geometryn that causes this wear problem - not that it has been sorted on my car as dealer knows nothing about this issue!

John.

 

[wallacebob]

Thankyou, thankyou. I'm not going mad after all, the world is against me!

What you say rings true: when I got new tyres on the front, the fitter said that he thought the rears must have been on the front before, as there was excessive wear, and he checked the front tracking. He didn't find anything wrong at the front, but didn't check the back! So... the rear may be the cause. Funny, because the service manager did say they would try swapping tyres front to back. He said this was because of possible tyre or wheel distortion.
Should I tell them that there is a known geometry problem, they are a new dealer?

 

[TDI_luver]

At 24K km the front tires were getting low on thread (OEM Dunlop Sport 2000E - complete pile of crap) so went to local tyre specialist for replacement set (Bridgestone Potenza RE 720 -noisy but awesome grip, especially in the wet).
Asked him to do a 4 wheel alignment check while the car was on the lift - and noticed serious wear on the inside thread of both rear tyres. The alignment technician said that both were more that 4 degrees beyond the camber angle spec for the car, so he reset them to the specified angle.
10K km later, the wear on the new rear Bridgestones has been perfectly even across the thread. The car was never involved in any kind of accident or kerbing, so I can only presume that this setting was done during manufacture - the techhie said he had seen several instances of the same problem on newish SEATs.

So I suggest that you get a 4 wheel laser alignment test done independently as a matter of course - even if just to save your tyre rubber.

 

[wallacebob]

Thanks for that TDI luver.
Coincidence... the dealer phone me today. Turbo came in early, so it's fixed! CV boot done too. I asked about bearing/wheel noise; he said mechanic and service manager had it out for run, it is tyre noise not bearing. I said I had been told that Seat and VW new of this problem - poor alignment at factory. He said SEAT did not know about it, and as it was a tyre problem was not covered under warranty.
I have to collect the car tomorrow. I wonder what he will say when I show him the tread on the Altea loan car rear tyre - 12k miles and worn like sawtooth at inner edge! Same side tyre (LH) as mine, but opposite edge. I don't think he can argue with two cars with the same problem on his forecourt, can he?
I agree that laser alignment is the answer, but SEAT should pay for it, and the wear on the tyre surely?
I'll post tomorrow when I get Tolly back!!

 

[wallacebob]

UPDATE
Went to collect Toledo on Friday, knowing that some thing wouldn't be right, but determined to remain calm!
All done Sir, turbo, cv boot fitted. No charge. What about vibration? Some one will see you in a minute.
Luckily I opened the boot; inside was the engine plastic undertray and screws. Big apology, mechanic not pleased as it was now 4:55pm, but the tray got fitted. An offer of coffee or a sit down to calm down would have been nice, but I just paced about the forecourt fuming.
I showed "warranty manager" the rear tyre wear on the loan car. "Oh that's not right he says. Good; we looked at mine. Suddenly mine was "normal wear", and "tyres are not covered under warranty". I pointed out that there was obviously a fault with both cars rear suspension geometry. That isn't covered by warranty either. I offered to get the suspension checked at my own expense, then would SEAT fix it? No.
So.. crap dealer and crap car.
I'll be contacting SEAT customer service, but I doubt if I'll get anywhere.
I will be definitely getting my local Skoda dealer to check the car tho', they know what they are doing and how to treat customers.