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View Full Version : My car is not perfect - should I complain or leave it - advice needed (photos)



tadziak
14-05-2011, 06:10 PM
Hello,
I have a one week old CC (Island Gray). The car drives nicely, however I have many complaints about build quality. Maybe I am a perfectionist but I have found a few annoying imperfections about the build quality of my car and I would like to ask you to tell me what is considered as normal, unimportant and what should I try to get fixed.

1. Slight hood misaligment - it doesn't affect the car much but it just looks cheap. Probably most people would not even notice that- here are the pics ilustrating problem:

The good side :
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/5936/frontlefthoodbottom.jpg

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/5675/frontrighthoodtop.jpg

The misaligned side:
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/1230/frontrighthoodbottom.jpg
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/9391/frontlefthoodtop.jpg

2. Trunk/rear spoiler misaligment
On the passenger side the trunk seems to be a bit higher and therefore the black spoiler (the trim under the window) is sticking a bit out.
The good one:
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/2430/spoilerleft.jpg

The bad one:
http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/5095/spoilerright.jpg

3. Front driver doors seem to be a bit higher than the rear door:
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/2158/frontleftdoor.jpg

4. The whole sealing of the A-pillars seem a bit unreliable and just not enough waterproof. There seem to be gaps between the rubber , plasti and the window parts and when washing the car with a high water pressure - it leaks (both sides). Is it normal for those frameless windows? Do they leak when washed with a garden hose and high water pressure?

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/6818/apillar.jpg

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/1149/apillar2.jpg

I'm really sorry to bother all of you with my problems but its hard to tell what is within commonly accepted standards of quality and what is not...I'm really depressed about all that.

Crasher
14-05-2011, 06:24 PM
The bonnet looks as though it could be adjusted to even out the error but bear in mind that it may leave marks around the bonnet hinges as the bonnet is painted when fitted. The boot looks a little trickier to deal with as does the door. Water leaks around the windows on many cars happen under pressure wash and pillarless windows are always going to be vulnerable. On the driver’s door, does the upper edge align and is the gap parallel?

tadziak
14-05-2011, 07:26 PM
The bonnet looks as though it could be adjusted to even out the error but bear in mind that it may leave marks around the bonnet hinges as the bonnet is painted when fitted. The boot looks a little trickier to deal with as does the door. Water leaks around the windows on many cars happen under pressure wash and pillarless windows are always going to be vulnerable. On the driver’s door, does the upper edge align and is the gap parallel?


Hello,
Thanks a lot for your answer. The door looks pretty much aligned at the top. It actually looks okay at all height of the driver doors except the very low edge. The gap between doors is not equal on all height, but I guess thats normal? My problem is that I would not like to spoil more with fixing those imperfections than it would really fix...

Guest 2
14-05-2011, 07:46 PM
Query with the dealer and tell them about the mis-alignments and ask them to rectify them.

tadziak
14-05-2011, 08:32 PM
Query with the dealer and tell them about the mis-alignments and ask them to rectify them.
I will, but no corrections are without any side effects. Im afraid that if they start correcting everything, the car will never be as well built, tight screwed as it should be directly from factory...

Guest 2
14-05-2011, 09:02 PM
I will, but no corrections are without any side effects. Im afraid that if they start correcting everything, the car will never be as well built, tight screwed as it should be directly from factory...

But if theyre fixed then the finish will be better than factory because it came not aligned properly? :confused:

tadziak
14-05-2011, 09:29 PM
But if theyre fixed then the finish will be better than factory because it came not aligned properly? :confused:

Of course - if they don't spoil other things while fixing those ;) I will see and report what dealer will say to all that...

Crasher
14-05-2011, 11:00 PM
I agree, it is more than likely that any heavy rectification will introduce more problems than it rectify. The bonnet issue I can see being relatively easy to adjust, the others not so.

drpellypo
14-05-2011, 11:20 PM
There wasn't a delay in your car being delivered by any chance?

Crasher
14-05-2011, 11:26 PM
There wasn't a delay in your car being delivered by any chance?

I don’t think it has been twated but you never know…

tadziak
15-05-2011, 12:33 AM
I don’t think it has been twated but you never know…
Not very likely. It was manufactured middle of April (2nd week) and around 29th of April arrived to my dealer...

Crasher
15-05-2011, 01:37 PM
As you say, unlikely. I can’t see the whole thing but it may be possible to move the offending panels around to even up the fit.

drpellypo
15-05-2011, 04:00 PM
Haha crasher - you were thinking the same as me. There's a massive building at North Shields docks with DIT written on it. Damaged in Transit. It's always full ;) I used to run a detailing business and I inspected loads of brand new cars that had been crashed. One car (a £70k range rover) had had repair work to 6 panels. No mention whatsoever from the dealers that it had been crashed and that's why there was a 'build' delay. A lot of cars now come with limiters on them that can only be removed by main dealer when they arrive. This was a direct result of dock workers thrashing them.

Bob9109
15-05-2011, 07:21 PM
I have one of the early CC's - Oct 2008 and it is perfect...I would not stand any problems such as yours and get them to rectify asap......otherwise when you come to sell some 'brazen' salesman will point it out and make an allowance in his favour!

Enjoy it is a lovely car to drive and performs brilliantly...I can get over 60mpg on a run.

tadziak
15-05-2011, 10:24 PM
Thanks - so you never get any leaks when washing it? Even with high pressure from a garden hose?:) And do you know how hard should the windows press the rubber seals, should it be possible to pull out a paper when closed?

Bob9109
16-05-2011, 09:49 AM
Hi Tadziak, washed my car yesterday with Bosch high pressure 120 bar and no leaks whatsoever. The windows should seal completely once the door(s) are closed and no I cannot get a leaf of paper through them without tearing. Windows open slightly on unlocking to allow the seal to break and the doors to open easily...one more for the garage I think as maybe the windows are not going up far enough into the seal. Best of luck

tadziak
16-05-2011, 10:25 AM
Hi Tadziak, washed my car yesterday with Bosch high pressure 120 bar and no leaks whatsoever. The windows should seal completely once the door(s) are closed and no I cannot get a leaf of paper through them without tearing. Windows open slightly on unlocking to allow the seal to break and the doors to open easily...one more for the garage I think as maybe the windows are not going up far enough into the seal. Best of luck
Thanks a lot for your feedback. Can you tell me in which exactly spot did you try that 'paper test'? I was trying to put paper between the B-pillar and the drivers window (see picture).13854

Scooby-Doo
16-05-2011, 01:31 PM
My plastic boot strip on the bottom of the rear window is slightly out of line on the drivers side but not anywhere near as bad as yours.I'm told that the plastic piece is bonded onto the bootlid so it'll be a bit of a bugger to re-align.Otherwise all panels seem to be in-line.
I think you should hot foot it back to the dealer and get it sorted,or reject it if they can't fix it without ruining something else.

Bob9109
16-05-2011, 03:21 PM
Tadziak, tried the B pillar and yes I can slide a thin piece of paper through although it is tight and does not rip. I'd have thought you would get a whistling as you drive along if it were beyond the acceptable tolerance?

tadziak
16-05-2011, 03:27 PM
My plastic boot strip on the bottom of the rear window is slightly out of line on the drivers side but not anywhere near as bad as yours.I'm told that the plastic piece is bonded onto the bootlid so it'll be a bit of a bugger to re-align.Otherwise all panels seem to be in-line.
I think you should hot foot it back to the dealer and get it sorted,or reject it if they can't fix it without ruining something else.
Hi, I looked at some other CC's today and in general they all seem to have not really perfectly aligned this plastic boot strip. In generaln I have found that on one side it seems to stick out more above the window than on the other side..Maybe that's how they mount it?

vwcabriolet1971
18-05-2011, 10:08 PM
I would be very concerned that the car had been damaged and repaired. Most alignments between body parts are automated and are controlled by precision process equipment. The last thing VW would want from a body assembly process is that every alignment is controlled manually . Imagine the problem of controlling body assembly quality if everthing alignment was at the discretion of each individual operator ! How does the car stand up to comparison with another show room model ?
If it were my car I would reject it due to poor build quality.
How on earth would VW inspection allow a car like that to leave the factory ?. My guess is that it's been damaged and repaired after it left the factory. Even if it had been repaired by a VW body shop the alignments are unacceptable.
Stand up for rights !

tadziak
18-05-2011, 11:23 PM
Hi,
Thank you for your opinion, but as I mentioned before -it's not very likely that the car was damaged and repaired. I ordered it custom made and got the build week 15th 2011. I called the dealer in the middle of April and he reported that according to their info the car has been produced but hasn't left the factory yet. Next week (around 19th of April) I called again and was told that the car has 'in transport status'. The car was delivered to the dealer on 28th of April. I had to wait a few more days because the custom office papers were not sent and I collected the car on May the 4th. Any accident/damage and repair would surely cause some serious delay here...

Besides I took that car to one indipendent bodyshop which was not very shocked and did not think that its after accident or anything like that. I also visited some othe dealer and two CCs standing there were also not perfect in terms of body aligment - below some photos:
http://img859.imageshack.us/img859/3274/komis1.jpghttp://img217.imageshack.us/img217/2431/rlinedrzwi.jpg
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/7081/rline2.jpg

vwcabriolet1971
19-05-2011, 03:21 PM
I'm amazed that these body misalignments could get through any normal body inspection process. It does make you wonder what else was let through. If a relatively inexperienced owner could spot these problems why could the trained eyes of an experienced VW inspector not spot them ? It doesn't say very much for the build quality standards or the process of putting the body parts together.
My MK6 Golf has big gaps between the wheel arch liners and the body work which allows water to enter the headlights and engine compartment. This I'm sure would have been unacceptable in the VW manfg. process under the old " VW Engineering" rather the current "VW Accountants' " regime. Are build quality standards slipping ?

Crasher
19-05-2011, 03:45 PM
Are build quality standards slipping ?

Yes, but everywhere with every manufacturer, profit and survival come first and boy are VAG making a profit at the moment, huge profits that are greater than the GDP of many small counties!

The Fingers
08-06-2011, 11:38 AM
Hi,
Thank you for your opinion, but as I mentioned before -it's not very likely that the car was damaged and repaired. I ordered it custom made and got the build week 15th 2011. I called the dealer in the middle of April and he reported that according to their info the car has been produced but hasn't left the factory yet. Next week (around 19th of April) I called again and was told that the car has 'in transport status'. The car was delivered to the dealer on 28th of April. I had to wait a few more days because the custom office papers were not sent and I collected the car on May the 4th. Any accident/damage and repair would surely cause some serious delay here...

Besides I took that car to one indipendent bodyshop which was not very shocked and did not think that its after accident or anything like that. I also visited some othe dealer and two CCs standing there were also not perfect in terms of body aligment - below some photos:
http://img859.imageshack.us/img859/3274/komis1.jpghttp://img217.imageshack.us/img217/2431/rlinedrzwi.jpg
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/7081/rline2.jpg


Looking at that top image it seems that the panel did line up at one point as the internal edges looked scuffed.

Could it be something to do with how they are being lifted, it could be as simple as the lifting slings are inbalanced causing a slight twist.

My B7 passat seems fine although the divers door seems to stick out a little bit further at the bottom, you notice when looking down the length of the car and the step in the silver trim at bottom of doors.