05 Megane 1.5 dci excessive tyre wear, dealer attitude

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Phil and Liz
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05 Megane 1.5 dci excessive tyre wear, dealer attitude

Postby Phil and Liz » Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:34 am

Bought a 9 month old megane in 2006 with 9000 miles from Reg Vardy, local renault dealer, serviced locally, new tyres fitted at 23000 before we went on holiday in june 07, at 27000 took car back to dealer as there was a rattle from front on rough roads, initiallytold nothingwrong. Took foreman for a drive he agreed there was a problem and found play in steering rods/ball joints. Both changed. At 37000 miles four new tyres have to be fitted two rears worn out but fronts were bothscrubbed on outer edges due to play in steering rack. Take a day off work2 weeks later and their senior technician says play is within tolerance and car drives good for a 3 year old megane, anyone else have amegane that at 55mph in straight ahead the steering wheel moves from side to side and destroys front tyres on the outer edges and cannot betracked because of play that does not exist ?

Otherewise great car wife likes it and she is the one that drives it Iprefer 2 wheels
Phil and Liz Jackson
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Woody Woo
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Postby Woody Woo » Tue Jan 29, 2008 12:21 pm

I suspect it's fitted with 17 inch Continentals. Try Kumhos next, they seem to last longer although the latest set of Contis on mine are lasting much better than the first set. I think the compound may have been changed.




Renault Build A Better Car :-)

Phil and Liz
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Postby Phil and Liz » Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:28 am

Can't remember what the original tyres were but the second set were Kumho's and they scrubbed at both outer edges after 14000, latest set are also Kumho's. are we saying then that this is a known fault with Megane II's ?

If so much as I like the car it won't be staying long, can't afford to be chucking away good tyres because the cars crap
Phil and Liz Jackson

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AlexB
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Postby AlexB » Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:49 am

I am surprised that in this lengthy discussion the measured values of wheel alignment are not mentioned. Could you please find these numbers in the papers provided by the garage and post them here. If the numbers are not found, then contact the garage. Finally, if tracking was never checked/adjusted, then the garage will pay for your new tyres.

Play in the steering rack is not a "feature" of these cars. I believe, it is illegal to drive with a significant play in the steering. If your car was to a garage with this issue and you paid for the job, then read the "Sales of Goods and Services Act"...

The final point: Reg Vardy, which is Evans Halshaw now, have been mentioned in numerous complaints in many forums.
AlexB
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Phil and Liz
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Postby Phil and Liz » Wed Jan 30, 2008 4:13 pm

When asked to set the tracking the tyre supplier said we cant as there is play in the steering rack, havingworked in a vauxhall dealer I know that is the case. The problem is that the car is under warranty and the supplying dealer is refusing to acknowledge there is aproblem and fix it under warranty, could be somethingto do with the following;

warranty rate is usually lower thatn retail rate

due to their excessive labour rate they have not done any service work but this was done locally using renault parts

maybe they idn't look at the vehicle history and see that they sold this car to me
Phil and Liz Jackson

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AlexB
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Postby AlexB » Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:46 pm

Their reasons are irrelevant.

If you can live with these faults for a few weeks, then try the following. Write them a letter and send it by special delivery. In the letter ask to confirm that they have detected play in the steering rack and checked alignment of the rear wheels (ask for the measured figures as evidence). Ask them to confirm that they have refused to rectify the said faults. Explain that this letter is your reasonable attempt to solve the legal matter amicably. Give them a week to respond. The following actions will involve an independent garage and the Small Court. If your car is on the purchase-hire agreement, then you may want to let the legal owner to do the legal job.

A simpler option is to change the garage. However, if the car is older than 2 years, then the third year is the warranty of the selling dealer. Not good, given the reputation of Reg Vardy...
AlexB
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Phil and Liz
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Postby Phil and Liz » Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:02 pm

Ok
so, if you buy a second hand renault from any garage other than the supplying dealer then the car only haas 2 years warranty

if, you buy from the supplying dealer, then the third year warranty coverage is at the discretion of that same dealer

surely if this is not made clear at the time of purchase then they are fraudulently saying that the car has three years warranty

My previous car was a peugeot 306 that I bought from Arnold Clark and it never went back to them but was looked after by my local peugeot dealer who never mentioned to me that it did not have three year warranty

My last job was working at a Vauxhall garage, I could fill a website with the problems that corsa's and vectra's have but at least they had a manufacturers 3 year warranty, any car that came in early for it's mot would often have a warranty claim that ran well into three figures

Current situation is that Iam awaiting renault UK coming back to me but if this is the case re warranty it looks like I'm going to have a fight on my hands

By the way Evans Halshaw never even suggested setting the track or checking to see if it could be set. Allegedly it was their senior technician who inspected the car and he is also an mot tester, if my car fails it's mot locally on anything connected to steering then Iwill also contact VOSA as in the seniortech's opinion the car was fit for the road
Phil and Liz Jackson

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cyclonebri1
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Postby cyclonebri1 » Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:19 pm

To be honest 15 to 20K miles would see most driving wheels on a FWD car starting to scrub, 25k would probably be the max life.

Their should be no discernable play in any of the steering components, be it the rack, ball joints or TRE's. Anyone that tells you different is a blagger.

Don't know where the 2/3 year waranty thing comes from but I thought all cars brought into the UK get a 3 years waranty, certainly motorpoint etc who import cars do this.

AlexB
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Postby AlexB » Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:31 pm

The 3rd year is still covered, but it is the dealer's warranty. So, I don't think you can repair under this warranty in a different company. The cars on the continent and the imports have just the standard 2 years of Renault warranty. I remember a discussion of this issue in the past, but I am not sure about the implications.

On the subject of tracking. They were supposed to check it following the complaint of excessive tyre wear, poor road holding or after changing the steering rods and ball joints. See p. 31A-21 here:
https://meganedoksi.uw.hu/MEGANE_II/MR364MEGANE3.PDF
The tracking values are in p. 30A-14
AlexB
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Phil and Liz
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Postby Phil and Liz » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:44 pm

Allegedley they did it, but as there is play in the steering (which can be heard and felt when driving) it is not possible to check/adjust.

Think I'll just buy a skoda or a kia, can't be any worse and koreans are giving a five year warranty - I'll send that to a lawyer for checking.

I always thought it was just Arnold Clark that had a bad reputation, seems like most big company's do. Shame the wife won't let me spend andy money with the place I used to work at, vauxhall dealer stuck in the '70's (1870's in their attitude to staff and working conditions), at least I'd know who was working on my car.
Phil and Liz Jackson

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AlexB
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Postby AlexB » Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:16 pm

Phil and Liz wrote:
"Allegedley they did it, but as there is play in the steering (which can be heard and felt when driving) it is not possible to check/adjust."

If you get it from them in writing, then consider this problem solved.

As for changing the car... it is not the car, which causes problems, it's the dealer. I've seen so many complaints about Arnold Clark, Reg Vardy (now Evans Halshaw) and Benfield!
AlexB
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Phil and Liz
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Postby Phil and Liz » Thu Jan 31, 2008 7:15 pm

Yes the dealer is the main part of the problem but for a car that has only done 36k to be requiring either a new steering rack or third set of tie rods is beyond belief. My last car, a peugeot 306 had 80k at 6 yrs old and I'd owned that since it was 12 months old, no steering parts, no rear tyres just 3 sets of fronts, 1 set of discs and pads, and when I sold it it needed a front wheel bearing. So I am not anti french cars, I just wanted something that would be as relieable as my peugeot, so far I dont think it'll make it to 80k not without a lot of expensive main dealer tlc.
Phil and Liz Jackson

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cyclonebri1
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Postby cyclonebri1 » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:34 pm

Sorry not sure here but if your car is under 3 years of age then the waranty is UK dealers waranty as against an import which means it is network that guarantees the car, ie it can go anywhere for repair.

I stand to be shat down in flames, but I think I'm right?

If the steering has play, it shouldn't have, kick ass. :cool:

Phil and Liz
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Postby Phil and Liz » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:41 pm

Fraid the third year is dealer wty, buy arnold clark non franchise and your likely stuffed
Phil and Liz Jackson

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