How seriously should I take VW dealer's 'urgent' advice after a Healthcheck?

[RobertCalifornia]

I've taken my 3 year old van (under 5 year warranty) in for an oil change today and they have done a complimentary healthcheck. It's come back with a few 'urgents'.

I have zero technical knowledge so would be inclined to follow their advice and get the work done, but I have seen some threads on here suggesting that VW dealers sometimes suggest doing work when it isn't really necessary.

Any advise on whether to proceed or not? The 'urgent' they've suggested is the front brake pads which are 75% worn (which does, even to someone with my limited knowledge sound quite important!) following a visual check. There's an amber on brake fluid being overdue.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Stu@rt]

They insisted on swapping my brake fluid at the 2 year service last year too, regardless of the low mileage. So I guess if its deemed to be changed every 2 years, that is were their logic is coming from. I had a service plan, but the brake fluid wasn't included.

 

[tobyprivett]

I have taken my 3 year old, 50k miles van into an independent garage for its first MOT today. They looked it up in the system and advised getting the brake fluid changed. The MOT came back with an advisory on front disk pads wearing out.

Sounds like you have been told the same as me. I'm getting the work done, but not at VW.

 

[sidepod]

I fell for that on a Caddy once. When I questioned how it was done they admitted it’s only the residual in the reservoir they swap as opposed to bleeding it through the entire system.
In other words, about as pointless as it gets!

 

[Betsycalifornia]

I've taken my 3 year old van (under 5 year warranty) in for an oil change today and they have done a complimentary healthcheck. It's come back with a few 'urgents'.

I have zero technical knowledge so would be inclined to follow their advice and get the work done, but I have seen some threads on here suggesting that VW dealers sometimes suggest doing work when it isn't really necessary.

Any advise on whether to proceed or not? The 'urgent' they've suggested is the front brake pads which are 75% worn (which does, even to someone with my limited knowledge sound quite important!) following a visual check. There's an amber on brake fluid being overdue.

Thanks in advance.

I would suggest the brake pads are 25% left then, glass half full. All it means is they’re wearing out, like they did on day one of them being fitted. Depending how many miles you’ve done since they were last changed you can roughly work out how many miles you have before they get down to the metal (goal being change them before that happens).
as for the brake fluid. I’m flabbergasted that this still happens. Back before dot 5 brake fluid became available it was dot 3, the lower number absorbed more water over time, hygroscopic I believe it’s called. What happens then is the water boils under heavy braking causing steam and then an air pocket in the lines so the pedal goes spongy. I’ve been using synthetic brake fluids of a higher quality for years and it rarely needs changing because of hygroscopic issues.
the weird thing that I would ask the garage is, have they even bothered to test the fluid for water? Or are they just assuming based on elapsed time that it needs changing without even knowing what quality of fluid is in the system or if it’s even contaminated.
rant over, this one gets my goat every time.

 

[Agnes_Cali]

Isn't brake fluid changed after 3 years and then every 2 years according to VAG schedule? Shouldn't they do it as part of the service?

Brake pads will depend on mileage and type of usage. In some cars, you can get up to 90K miles out of pads. I just changed pads at 40K in Toyota 4x4.

 

[RobertCalifornia]

Thanks all. That's very helpful!

 

[hirsty]

How much are we talking about for the brake fluid change?

I've got through several sets of brake discs & pads on my van already as I don't use it either often enough or hard enough apparently - the discs get surface rust on them & end up scored.

Whilst I expect there's a sweet spot somewhere twixt the two extremes, I've resigned myself to the alternative being them getting worn out and replaced anyway, and as 'brakes are important', it's just the cost of doing business ...

 

[Perfectos]

VW main dealer Brake fluid change is now £100

indie £25 !

go figure, VW ripping people off!!!!

You are just a cash cow as far as VW are concerned.

If it isnt a requirement to maintain warranty DONT go to a main dealer, you will pay more and in general get less value for your hard earned.

brakes brake fluid etc are consumable and have no bearing on warranty!

 

[tobyprivett]

I've got through several sets of brake discs & pads on my van already as I don't use it either often enough or hard enough apparently - the discs get surface rust on them & end up scored.

Out of interest - how much do you pay for pads and disks? I'm waiting for a quote and curious how it will compare. Thanks

 

[TripleBee]

I've taken my 3 year old van (under 5 year warranty) in for an oil change today and they have done a complimentary healthcheck. It's come back with a few 'urgents'.

I have zero technical knowledge so would be inclined to follow their advice and get the work done, but I have seen some threads on here suggesting that VW dealers sometimes suggest doing work when it isn't really necessary.

Any advise on whether to proceed or not? The 'urgent' they've suggested is the front brake pads which are 75% worn (which does, even to someone with my limited knowledge sound quite important!) following a visual check. There's an amber on brake fluid being overdue.

Thanks in advance.

I don't know your driving style, but my 14 year old van still has it's factory brakes at the front.
Very easy to check yourself, looking through the spokes of the wheels.
This is a picture of my front brake pads, 4 years ago:






I am off for another 2 weeks vacation next week. Even when the warning light comes on, I will still have a few 1000km left before I really have to change the pads. Unluckily, it will be pads and disks at the same time.
Oh, I have only covered 195000km.

Tell them you will wait for the warning light to come on, and then you will make a new appointment.

Brake fluid attracts water, and the boiling point of water is much lower than brake fluid. So the time interval is indeed 2 years between changing.
Ask them to take a picture of your brake pads when they do the brake fluid change. Or even better, let them film your van and in the same shot a close up of the pads.

 

[wildslammer22]

I've taken my 3 year old van (under 5 year warranty) in for an oil change today and they have done a complimentary healthcheck. It's come back with a few 'urgents'.

I have zero technical knowledge so would be inclined to follow their advice and get the work done, but I have seen some threads on here suggesting that VW dealers sometimes suggest doing work when it isn't really necessary.

Any advise on whether to proceed or not? The 'urgent' they've suggested is the front brake pads which are 75% worn (which does, even to someone with my limited knowledge sound quite important!) following a visual check. There's an amber on brake fluid being overdue.

Thanks in advance.

If you have worn through 75% of your brake pads in 3 years then providing you don’t up your mileage significantly logically you have another year of wear left! This is very common from VW dealers. Clearly you don’t want to wear the pads right out and risk damaging and having to replace the discs too. I’ve had this same advice from my VW dealer twice and on both occasions I’ve driven another 10,000 miles and then had pads replaced by an independent. You can specify the pads so you’re getting OEM or better quality but paying a fraction of the VW hourly labour rate.

Oh and it’s very likely your brakes will have sensors fitted and you will get a warning light when they actually need to be replaced.

 

[JohnCalifornia]

I got my Cali serviced around 6 weeks ago at my local VW van centre and got a reminder today about amber items that were picked up on the free health check. My front brakes are 60%used and tyres have 3.5mm on them and the legal limit is 1.6mm. They make it sound as you need to get these items replaced ASAP but with the mileage I do a year (3k if I’m lucky) the brakes will last a few more years yet, tyres at least 2 years I’m thinking

 

[dspuk]

Isn't brake fluid changed after 3 years and then every 2 years according to VAG schedule? Shouldn't they do it as part of the service?

No. Thats the recommendation, but it’s not part of the service.

 

[dspuk]

Any advise on whether to proceed or not? The 'urgent' they've suggested is the front brake pads which are 75% worn (which does, even to someone with my limited knowledge sound quite important!) following a visual check. There's an amber on brake fluid being overdue.

Thanks in advance.

Yes on the pads. Get them to do or for our other car we booked RAC to come and do on the drive. 1/2 price of VW. Personally I’d do all 4 wheels.

Up to you on the fluid. We just had our Tiguans done (today) at 4 1/2 years. It was fine really but just keeping on top of things really as we want the car to be in best nick.

For the chap who had VW “insist” at 2 years - it’s optional and recommended, they can’t insist on anything.

 

[dspuk]

Oh and it’s very likely your brakes will have sensors fitted and you will get a warning light when they actually need to be replaced.

We thought same on our 2019 Tiguan and seems the rears, which wore faster, do not have a sensor on and started to wear the disk. Ended up replacing all 4 disks and pads just to keep everything in top nick.

 

[wildslammer22]

We thought same on our 2019 Tiguan and seems the rears, which wore faster, do not have a sensor on and started to wear the disk. Ended up replacing all 4 disks and pads just to keep everything in top nick.

That’s interesting. My Cali has sensors on the front and rear but thinking about it I think they may have been retrofitted after the first change?

 

[scottk]

That’s interesting. My Cali has sensors on the front and rear but thinking about it I think they may have been retrofitted after the first change?

Very difficult to retro fit as they are part of the loom. I haven’t check my van but my car has one sensor on both front and rear axle. I have unplugged them both as kept getting false alarms. Audi has warned me it might damage the look of they get caught on something. I told them to leave it as I have it zip tied up.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

“HOW SERIOUSLY SHOULD I TAKE VW DEALER'S 'URGENT' ADVICE AFTER A HEALTHCHECK?”

With a large pinch of salt! A decent local garage will be able to take a quick look and tell you what actually needs changing.

 

[Gavin123]

Van in for service at local VW dealer recently. 'Health check' reported front tyres at 4mm - "should be looking to get them changed in a couple of months, we can arrange that for you."
Me: "are you having a laugh? We've done 14,000 since new (2020). Better advice would be to swap fronts to rears, goodbye."
Note to self: find independent garage!!!

 

[Nolan]

For reference it cost me £258 for all new Brembo pads and discs from Eurocarparts (plus a few quid for new caliber bolts as they aren't reusable). This is with the smaller discs that came on Beaches with 16" standard wheels.

Just pads would have been under £100 for the Brembo parts and a quicker/easier job.

 

[Agnes_Cali]

When I had VW years ago, tread on my tyres grew year on year, according to service records. They recommended replacing them first time around.

We still don't know anything about mileage of the van, so difficult to comment on pads. I would replace break fluid, at 3 years. Not necessary at VW dealership.

 

[Wollaston Paddler]

We had a video health check done in August 23 when VW suggested the pads and disks all needed replacing with 25k miles on the clock. We popped into Kwik Fit for a second opinion and they said they all looked fine for a few thousand miles. We did a trip round Europe and 5 months later (circa 7000 miles) at the recent VW service, health check and MOT they didn’t even raise it as an advisory. Food for thought?

 

[Agnes_Cali]

They either didn't check at all or there was no problem. So first time, they raised non existent issue.

 

[Goldi]

VW main dealer Brake fluid change is now £100

indie £25 !

go figure, VW ripping people off!!!!

You are just a cash cow as far as VW are concerned.

If it isnt a requirement to maintain warranty DONT go to a main dealer, you will pay more and in general get less value for your hard earned.

brakes brake fluid etc are consumable and have no bearing on warranty!

Breeze, my local dealer changed my brake fluid on my T6 Ocean last June in it's two year service and charged me £66 inc fluid and vat. £25 sounds very cheap at today's prices.