Magnet

Hello Dennis, As Cliff says, but with the caveat that the repeat alignment check is carried out by another recommended tyre retailer /garage. Altimax sounds like a budget brand to me, unless this is a tyre pattern name used by a well recognised manufacturer. If your rear tyres were (also) budget and started with ‘A’ , they could have been Accelera. These are budget, and I have used this brand on non-Audi cars for some time without issue, and has been my budget tyre choice brand. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Mustafa, If you didn’t buy it at the registered address, how do you know you bought it off the registered owner? Unless of course you know that person. Personally, I wouldn’t take it to the small claims court if I were in your situation. I would just swallow my pride and move on. ‘Such people should be punished..’. Well perhaps, but they survive via. dealing with buyers who may not have had their eyes wide open when buying. An unfortunate experience for you. I would be thinking carefully about what you expect from this car before spending, particularly bearing in mind it’s value/appeal will always be reduced my its Category N history.

Hello Dennis, I’m sure you will appreciate that information and detail are of vital importance to be able to offer sensible advice. We now know far more than we did. So to get this right, was the rear (budget?) tyre nearly new and evenly worn when you acquired the car? i.e. confirming the uneven wear has occurred during its use with you - only on the rear of the car. Just an observation, but if this is indeed a budget tyre and its lasted 20k miles and would still have ample wear left if it was even, then that’s some budget tyre. Kind regards, Gareth.

Did you buy it directly off the registered owner who’s name was on V5 ? Did you buy it at the address shown as the registered address on the V5? Did you buy it at a price less than £895? I guess you did appreciate it was an insurance damaged vehicle before you bought it. OK, it’s in a category of good condition, but note that the seller only refers to any judgement of condition in terms of the inside. No EM light showing? I can’t see you would expect it to be showing, since I take it it as the when you road tested it. Only you can judge whether it’s worth taking this to the Small Claims court. I would think that if you do, you will need a written report from whoever diagnosed the problem for you (cost for that report?) and it is likely whoever writes the report will need to attend the court to answer any questions (costs?). Is it really worth it? As Cliff says, winning the case is no guarantee of getting your money back. If it were mine Mustafa, I would either be getting it repaired on the basis that even if it costs you as much as you paid for it, it’s still not a great amount of funds for buying a (then decent?) car. The alternative is to part with it an accept the loss, but obviously it’s your call. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Shaun, I wouldn’t hold your breath about Audi renewing this under your warranty. I could well be taken as ‘damage’ and therefore unlikely to be covered. Your quote of c£170 for renewing one? spring at a local garage - not that cheap/competitive I would have thought, so why not get a couple more quotes before deciding. Kind regards, Gareth.

I’m still with my suggestion of getting the alignment checked at another establishment.

Hello Dennis, Going back to basics, have you considered having the alignment checked at another ‘garage’? In my experience, the capabilities and sophistications of the equipment is sometimes not matched by the knowledge of the operators. ’Rear tyres wearing...’ It is not uncommon for owners to transfer unevenly wearing front tyres to the rear - suggesting to the uninitiated that the rear alignment is out of specification, when indeed it isn’t. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello CJ, By diameter, I take it you are talking the diameter of the main shaft that links into the bottom suspension system? If so, why not just take the wheel off and measure it, or indeed just jack it up a bit and measure without taking the wheel off? Are you proposing to fit some aftermarket shock absorbers and the (on-line?) retailer lists two? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Gareth, Make of replacement battery, and as Steve suggests, have you had it tested? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Mustafa, Why don’t you post a copy of the advert (blanking out the seller’s contact details) so that contributors on here can see how the car was described, and perhaps then offer you advice on how strong a case you would have? Cliff makes a good point about about actually getting any reimbursement even if you win the case. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Robert, The best advice I can give you is as I’ve mentioned to others looking for parts for their classic cars:- place wanted ads. in the specialist classic car publications. Examples - Classic Car Weekly, Classic Car Buyer, Classic Car Mart, Modern Classics, and others. An alternative would be to get a (localish) stainless steel exhaust specialist to fabricate a system for you, but that is likely to cost you much more. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Ken, Almost certain it’s a typo. Has the car always been in NI or has it come into NI at any time in its lifetime? Have you challenged this with DVLA? Swansea? Am I right in thinking there isn’t any licensing office in NI anymore. I’m pretty sure there are on line enquiry systems where you can input your VIN - no doubt someone on here will advise, or just Google Audi VIN Checker or similar. Failing all of that, your Audi dealer ( if yet open) should be able to give you a build record print out. If they can, ensure they stamp it or letter head it to show authenticity. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Armani, Dan joined the forum and last visited it a day later on the 29th January. Probably much better to send him a personal message. Kind regards, Gareth.

Have you checked your V5 document Ken? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Mustafa, Even if you bought it off a private seller, then it must be as described in the advert. If it isn’t, then you have redress. You will find sellers simply describe vehicles as ‘Runs, drives, stops’ to avoid any comebacks, but you will know how the car you bought was described. Incidentally, how long had the seller owned it? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Barry, Many thanks for the very useful post. Looks like a great job done safely and with the right equipment. Re. not changing springs in pairs:- I would still go with my view that it’s better to change springs in pairs to guarantee equal ride heights and comparable spring tensions. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Pip, Audi dealers should be open shortly, so that would be my best advice, to ensure you have the correct ones as quickly as possible. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Keith, I’m of the same mind as Cliff, and question why you would want to syphon the oil out rather than remove the drain plug - take it your 10 year old model has a drain plug, and appreciating some more recent model don’t. Re Mobil 1 5w/30:- a good oil ( I use it in our non-Audi) available in Wilco for around £24, but the preferred oil for the Audi is the recommenced/was recommended Quantum brand, and I use their Longlife 3, (on EBay) which although will last for c18k, I change it every year at around 6 to 7K. Re. Blackness of oil, I think you will gain more by getting your current oil up to temperature (min 10 mile run) and leaving it to drain off for at least half an hour. Ok, using the Ford oil for a couple of days should be fine, but I would not trade off the benefits of this against syphoning rather than draining. As a matter of interest, what oil filters are you using Keith? Kind regards, Gareth.

I would most certainly being doing my search homework first. You need to be able to stand your corner, and get a plausible explanation for why the oil level increased - which it certainly did, and dictated the Audi Assist man to drain some off. Don’t be fobbed off with some Cummingsesque excuse! Suffering oil dilution/contamination with diesel can have serious consequences for engines. Personally, I would not be happy with a simple oil and filter change - which is most likely they will do. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Barry, Not wishing to put you off, but do you have the correct and above all - substantial spring compressors to hand (if it’s the type I think it is)? This can be a very dangerous procedure without the correct equipment and knowledge. A & E is not the place to be in our current situation! Also, I would not advocate just changing one spring. Always change as an ‘axle’ pair. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Steve, Have you tried the more appropriate Jaguar Forum? It’s always very active. Kind regards, Gareth.

Sorry Peter for repeating what had been done. Chopping off connectors unless really suspect?? Let’s hope someone can come up with a recommendation for a good auto electrician for you. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Peter, I was going to suggest checking and cleaning the connectors under the seats - common source of such issues. Have they/you tried spaying contact cleaner on all connectors (and wobbling them) - oh and the same with the airbag system fuse. Worth a cheap try. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. Failing that, have you thought about using a trusted local auto electrician rather than a VAG specialist?

Did you have them to remove the other rear tyre and check that for damage and balance Kieron? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Gary, Um! Puts a different slant on it altogether, now that we have more detail. So we now know that Audi Assist actually removed oil from the engine, indicating that the warning of an overfill was correct and real, and not a faulty oil level sensor. We know you have never put oil in the car, yet it was overfilled, so your statement ‘.....and it cannot just fill itself up...’ can no longer be fact. How does the oil level increase? I am not claiming knowledge of VAG diesel engines having such problems, but I am aware of one prestigious marque engine which suffers from oil ‘dilution’ due to unburnt diesel getting into the lubrication system and obviously diluting the and increasing the oil level. Not good news in their case, and as I understand it, the oil gets checked for such diesel contamination. Now having more fact, leads me to question if this engine is suffering from a similar issue, since it appears you have proof positive that the oil level has indeed increased, despite you not adding any. If this were mine, I would be searching for more information/incidence of problems with current VAG diesels, so that you are better equipped to follow this up with Audi. Perhaps you could keep us posted Gary. Kind regards, Gareth.