Dealer scaremongering or after work?

[DaveSmith]

Car went in for an oil/filter service (2 years old 15500 miles) just recently at Horton Cupra Lincoln. I knew that the tyres were getting close to replacement and I do intend to replace them in the next 2 months or so. The report I got seemed very over the top. They said it needed an air con regas (and cabin filter) but there is nothing wrong with the air con as it is still very cold. The tyres were 2.7mm, 3.3mm, 3.1mm & 4.4mm. The 2.7 came back as urgent attention, and the rest as advisories. I've put off the air con work until next year and the tyres will be changed next month sometime. It just seems that the language they used made it look far worse than it was.

On the subject of tyres, being a 4-drive (Haldex) do they have to be replace as pairs on the same axle or all 4?

 

[Walone]

Unfortunately dealers seem to be finding 'extra' work to be done, it is advised to change the cabin (pollen) filter every 2 years, especially in dusty conditions.
As for tyres you can just replace them as pairs, putting the new tyres on the rear.

 

[SRGTD]

@DaveSmith - with VW, they recommend the air con is serviced every two years and I dare say Cupra and Seat are the same which is probably why the dealer was pushing for you to get your car’s air con regassed. I owned 5 VW’s and I think I only had an air con service / regas done on one of them, and that was only because the dealer had a promotional offer running (from memory it was a half price offer); if it weren’t for the promotional offer I wouldn’t have bothered getting it done. With air con I adopt the ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ approach.

Tyres seem to be a favourite money maker for VW dealers to flag up. I had this on my last VW when the fronts had 4mm and the rears 5.5mm of tread remaining and they flagged up as needing to be replaced. They even sent me an email reminder a month later asking me to book my car in for ‘the work highlighted at the recent service’ to be done! Even if the tyres had needed replacing I wouldn’t have paid VW dealership prices for them when I knew I could get them far cheaper elsewhere.

 

[Bahnstormer_vRS]

^^^^ 4-drive Haldex cars should have approximately the same tread depth on tyres all round. This generally means replacing all four at the
same time.

An exception might be, as I had a couple of years ago, having to replace one tyre due to a puncture, so I replaced a pair, as they were not particularly worn the the subsequent between front and rear was minimal. This got evened out by having the pair with more tread on the front.


Guy

Sent from my Galaxy S25 Ultra using Tapatalk

 

[DaveSmith]

^^^^ 4-drive Haldex cars should have approximately the same tread depth on tyres all round. This generally means replacing all four at the
same time.

An exception might be, as I had a couple of years ago, having to replace one tyre due to a puncture, so I replaced a pair, as they were not particularly worn the the subsequent between front and rear was minimal. This got evened out by having the pair with more tread on the front.


Guy

Sent from my Galaxy S25 Ultra using Tapatalk

I asked Cupra directly. The declined to answer and said talk to the dealer. Not very confidence inspiring. Surely the manufacturer should have knowledge of how there cars work and what is best practice regarding operating.

 

[Bahnstormer_vRS]

^^^^ Is there any relevant information in the Owners Handbook?


Guy

Sent from my Galaxy S25 Ultra using Tapatalk

 

[Bahnstormer_vRS]

@DaveSmith

From the Owners Handbook for my Ateca;-

In vehicles with four-wheel drive, the 4 wheels
must be fitted with tyres of the same brand,
type and tread so that the traction system is
not damaged by a difference in the number of
turns of the wheels. Therefore, in the event of
a puncture, only a spare wheel with the same
perimeter as normal tyres should be used.


Simples.

Guy

 

[DaveSmith]

@DaveSmith

From the Owners Handbook for my Ateca;-

In vehicles with four-wheel drive, the 4 wheels
must be fitted with tyres of the same brand,
type and tread so that the traction system is
not damaged by a difference in the number of
turns of the wheels. Therefore, in the event of
a puncture, only a spare wheel with the same
perimeter as normal tyres should be used.


Simples.

Guy

I read that too. It doesn't say anything specific about tread depth, just tread, which I assume is referring to the tread pattern. It is ambiguous at best. The consensus seems to be replace both on same axle.

 

[Bahnstormer_vRS]

^^^^ I refer back to my earlier post.

All four, or at worst, a pair.


Guy

Sent from my Galaxy S25 Ultra using Tapatalk

 

[CosmicBlue]

@DaveSmith

From the Owners Handbook for my Ateca;-

In vehicles with four-wheel drive, the 4 wheels
must be fitted with tyres of the same brand,
type and tread so that the traction system is
not damaged by a difference in the number of
turns of the wheels. Therefore, in the event of
a puncture, only a spare wheel with the same
perimeter as normal tyres should be used.


Simples.

Guy

Wretched VAG confuse the strict tyre replacement requirements of the original Audi Quattro with permenant four wheel drive and a centre-mounted Torsen (torque sensing) coupling with the much simpler non-torque-sensing Haldex system drive trains. Then they write their own generated drivel into the owners handbooks - most likely because the technical author didn't understand the topic sufficiently well.

The Torsen coupling equipped Quattro vehicles were sensitive to the maximum torque that could be transmitted to an individual axle before it lost traction (hence torque-sensing), with the ability to push the available torque to the other axle for maximum grip and therefore having tyres of the same type and tread depth became critical.

A Haldex systen works differently - in essence all the Haldex equipped vehicles are, by default front-wheel drive. The Haldex is an electro-hydraulic clutch that sits forward of the rear axle, in normal use the clutch (a multiplate job) is 'open' and not transmitting drive. The system uses the ABS sensors to detect if the front wheels are starting to rotate faster (can be as little as a quarter of a revolution) than the rear wheels - wheelspin. Once this is detected an electric signal is sent to Haldex ECU and the clutch is closed - drive is provided to the rear axle.

From the Haldex' point of view wheelspin is just that and it doesn't matter if the tyres are not the same brand/type/tread because it isn't sensitive in this regard.

Having tyres of the same brand/type/tread IS a consideration for consistent vehicle handling characteristics however.

 

[SkysTheLimit]

When my Leon was last at the dealers, they marked down I needed two tyres as they were "down to 4mm". Then offered to replace them at almost twice the cost of Black Circles... No thanks mate. I'll take my chances