40k Service, poor dealership results

[buradd]

So I took my 2015 SEL into the dealership which is right next to me (convenient at least) and boy what an experience.

First, the service tech there had never seen an eGolf come in for service. Believe me or not, he actually tried to tell me I'll need an oil change at the least for this service visit. I shrugged him off and explained it's an eGolf and there is no oil change.. "ohhh yeaaa thats riigghhtt" he said..

He came out to look around the vehicle and proceeded to asked (seriously) when's the last time I've had to fill up with this thing? I again explained it's an eGolf and all electric. "ohh I was thinking of a hybrid sorry..." he continued..

So this dealership only has one eGolf technician, which I had to specifically schedule this visit with. I asked for him to come out because the guy at the counter obviously had no idea what he was doing. The eGolf tech comes out and says ohh 40k easy service, just need to reset the sensors and make sure everything returns ok......

To try to make a long story shorter.. when the service was done, he said he had to recalibrate my motor among other things, but never once mentioned the full visual inspection of the joints/bearings/etc and they did not change my pollin/dust filter.

I did have them rotate the tires, and now the car is making a vibration/noise, especially when slowing down to 20mph. 20mph starts vibrating the glove box. So I just took it back in, and they said that everything seemed fine except the back tires were cupping and thats why I'm hearing a noise when they rotated from back to front. Their recommendation is rotating them back to how they were and then get new tires whenever possible.

I can't believe this experience so far, and I cant believe these Bridgestone Ecopias are cupping. The ride has always been pristine and smooth... does this imply that my suspension is shot in the back? I'm at a loss of words.. the car was absolutely fine before taking it into this dealership for service... I hate dealerships.

 

[DasCC]

out of curiosity, what state are you located in?

These sound like issues when I got my first e-Golf in 2015. The dealership was clueless about the car and they only had one tech certified. I scheduled a service and he wasn't working that day :x - i had specifically reminded them that it was the ELECTRIC golf when making the appointment.

about the tires, how often are you rotating them?

 

[buradd]

out of curiosity, what state are you located in?

These sound like issues when I got my first e-Golf in 2015. The dealership was clueless about the car and they only had one tech certified. I scheduled a service and he wasn't working that day :x - i had specifically reminded them that it was the ELECTRIC golf when making the appointment.

about the tires, how often are you rotating them?

California.

I made a huge mistake of not rotating the tires for 20k miles... I drive 600 miles every week, it kind of slipped my mind as the volume of miles came up so fast...

 

[f1geek]

600 miles a week! Wow! It's great that you are putting all those miles on an EV - I bet you save a lot of money on fuel.

I had the exact same issue with Sunnyvale VW. I made a Saturday appointment weeks in advance for the 10,000 mile tire rotation and asked for a few e-Golf specific items to be looked at at the time I made my appointment: turn off the 72 F HVAC setting and look at occasional incorrect "miles since charge" data. When I arrived, I was told these issues could not be addressed since no e-Golf technician was there on Saturdays and I would need to come back during the week (which I did not do, since I made the Sat. appointment for my convenience). Later, I complained to the head of Service Steve Vollers and he told me, with an attitude, there is always an e-Golf technician there on Saturdays, except for the occasional Saturday when he's not there. Clearly Sunnyvale VW has communication issues. I made it clear weeks ahead I planned to bring in an EV with EV specific issues, but got blown off. I'm not planning on going back there for service.

 

[Szyszka]

After reading stories like those I have absolutely no desire to ever take my e-Golf to the dealer. My 2019 came in with 10k and 20k service 'prepaid' (line added on the sticker - $150 in case you were wondering). Reading the maintenance recommendations for those two service visits, both are so trivial that I seriously doubt there is anything to be gained by visiting the dealer.

 

[buradd]

They rotated the tires back and the noise is gone, but that back tire is just a little choppy which was making the noise when rotated to the front.

I wonder if I should just have them rotate the back to the front again and deal with the noise - will the tire eventually even out and noise disappear? They wouldn't tell me if it would, they just said "we'll rotate them back to how they were and you can buy new tires." terrible dealership.

 

[MetalMan]

I have been around VW's all my life and learned long ago you must rotate the tires or the rears will cup. I do mine every 3,300 miles, you could probably squeak by at 5,000. Your choices are let them on the back and they will get worse, but you will be dealing with them a long time. Or put them on the front, get some use out of them and get rid of them.

 

[buradd]

I have been around VW's all my life and learned long ago you must rotate the tires or the rears will cup. I do mine every 3,300 miles, you could probably squeak by at 5,000. Your choices are let them on the back and they will get worse, but you will be dealing with them a long time. Or put them on the front, get some use out of them and get rid of them.

Thank you for the tip! Do you think it would be best if I had the dealership rotate the tires back to where the 'choppy' back right tire is moved to the front again? It did make a vibration noise when slowing down to 20mph, that shouldn't cause any damage right? Do you think the choppyness would eventually wear even by having it rotated to the front?

 

[MetalMan]

They will just be annoying, front or rear, but louder on the front . Consider them ruined at this point and any use you get from them is a bonus as long as you can stand it. It doesn't sound like they are too bad right now. I would put them on the front and use them up.

 

[JoulesThief]

When you get 4 new tires, get a 4 wheel alignment, so that you aren't cupping your tires wear on the rear.

I rotate my tires once the the complete life of a set of 4 tires. When the tread depth gets to 6/32 " on the front tires, I rotate them. Usually then continue to drive them until 3 or 2/32" tread depth, and since I have multiple cars, don't drive the car with thin thread in the rain (kind of rare here in So CA) on thin thread tires.

YMMV, I've owned nothing but VW's to drive pretty much since 1977 when I bought a 67 VW Beetle with a sunroof, for my college transportation, then after that a 1981 Jetta Coupe diesel brand new.

 

[buradd]

I will definitely get the alignment done when new tires are put on. I had been thinking that my alignment was good as this is the only car I've owned that I can take my hand off the wheel at any speed and it goes completely straight and never veers off in any direction. Any other car I've had seemed to have veered in one direction and needed to constantly correct on the steering wheel. I hope it's not the suspension going south in the rear...

 

[msvphoto]

I will definitely get the alignment done when new tires are put on. I had been thinking that my alignment was good as this is the only car I've owned that I can take my hand off the wheel at any speed and it goes completely straight and never veers off in any direction. Any other car I've had seemed to have veered in one direction and needed to constantly correct on the steering wheel. I hope it's not the suspension going south in the rear...

Not likely suspension. Lack of rotation will cause cupping so that is the most likely cause. If you have rear suspension issues you would likely hear abnormal noises and the car would not track as well as you describe. I think with new tires you should be okay (but they should be rotated every 5k if you want to avoid cupping in the future).