Crap tools supplied with VW cali

[Sp0_0k]

After changing a set of tyres in Norway my luck is playing with me again.
First of all a pressure detection system is pretty nice and detected a deflating tyre right away.
I moved to the flatest possible part of the unpaved road and went with a standard plan to fit a spare, while wife was on a phone with VW assistance (vehicles is 1.5 years old) which turned pretty useless as I expected.
To the point. The key for undoing the tightly screwed bolts is useless, you won't unscrew the security one 99% chance. It requires the cross key that can apply an even pressure from both sides. After messing with bolts for an hour and even with help of passers by and their wrenches security bolt did its job protecting the wheel. Original vw wrench was damaged inside pretty fast after just 2 bolts.
I ended up simply repairing the tyre with a cheap kit I wisely thrown in some time ago.
My triumph was short lived as when lowering the jack which is very poorly designed with assymetric load, most probably slightly slipped under the car, on a wet muddy surface and cut into underside body pretty bad. So more repairs
Some guy called from a big Finnish road assistance company callcenter around 2 hours later when I was done with tyre repairs. So it took the VW assistance 2 hours to just redirect a call from a company most probably found on google. And like 30 mins with them on the phone asking all nonsense questions like
-odometer numbers
-when was the last service made and at what milage
-address of a person vehicle registeted to
-did we miss any service plan
...
New lessons learned the hard way. Get yourself a good jack and a decent cross wrench. Might probably throw away security bolts.
Only VW's warning triangle did a fine job. No complaints here.

 

[Sp0_0k]

Sorry about misstype. Key=wrench.

 

[WelshGas]

When you had your tyres replaced did the Tyre Fitter use an Air Powered Wrench to tighten, as that is a definite No No for Security wheel Bolts/ Nuts?

 

[Jabberwocky]

Warning to us all I guess. Sorry you had to find out the hard way but thanks for sharing.

 

[T6 CFO]

Thanks for the post and sorry to hear.
Something I need to practice on the Cali and perhaps take some advice on here from @Loz I believe who gets shot of his locking nuts on his travels. Will see if the long bar I carry will remove mine next time I'm on a level site and pick up some replacement bolts.

Mike

 

[Hotel California]

Sad news , a X-key to undo wheelbolts is the first thing i put in when buying a new car !
The original supplied wrench keys are mostly poor disign .
The VW supllied jack i have used many times at home to swap summer-wintertyres in optimal conditions and do can see your point it's a hazzard to do in bad conditions , but any tyre change beside the road is diffrent.
Also those anti -theft bolts are frequent made in not that good quality.
Every bad thing you go thru brings up someting good also ...experience and knowledge...

Edit : also in every car i own i carry a pice of wood 20x30cm ....to put under the jack when on grass

 

[Wongo]

I always take a bottle Jack and a decent wheel brace, every manufacturer supplies rubbish ones, Not sure about Bentleys but assume if I had one, someone else would be wheel changing.

 

[Sp0_0k]

When you had your tyres replaced did the Tyre Fitter use an Air Powered Wrench to tighten, as that is a definite No No for Security wheel Bolts/ Nuts?

All services always use "air wrench". Never heard about any limitations with that.

I suppose I can't run my repair fulltime and going to a local garage tomorrow. Are normal punctures easily fixed and don't require tire replacement?
It was a simple damn stone, not even very sharp. These new tyres look too soft to me ;(
Michelin primacy 3

 

[B J G]

I picked up a very useful wheel nut tool in a Carrefour Supermarket for 39 Euros.
It has a preset torque wrench built in for alloy wheel nuts and comes with the usual 17 & 19mm sockets.

Slightly angled so wouldn't go under spare wheel lock nut.

 

[WelshGas]

All services always use "air wrench". Never heard about any limitations with that.

I suppose I can't run my repair fulltime and going to a local garage tomorrow. Are normal punctures easily fixed and don't require tire replacement?
It was a simple damn stone, not even very sharp. These new tyres look too soft to me ;(
Michelin primacy 3

https://www.lockingwheelnutkeys.co....-you-can-remove-overtightened-wheel-nutslocks

 

[Hotel California]

A good tyre fitter always uses a special manual tool where you can set pressure to thighten the bolts on alu wheels . We call it a "moment key" you call it torque wrench i think.
Steels are usual bolted on with high pressure but better done as above.
I just pull by hand ...never had issues.

 

[B J G]

All services always use "air wrench". Never heard about any limitations with that.

I suppose I can't run my repair fulltime and going to a local garage tomorrow. Are normal punctures easily fixed and don't require tire replacement?
It was a simple damn stone, not even very sharp. These new tyres look too soft to me ;(
Michelin primacy 3

Many tyre fitters set the air gun torque way too high. As WelshGas says a no no.
Usually need a large breaker bar to undo afterwards and on occasions a pipe on that as well.
UK problem?

I now loosen all of my wheel nuts and torque correctly to ensure I don't have your problem.

 

[GrannyJen]

I love the tools supplied with the Cali.

The most useful is called VW assist. The first time I used it it was exemplary. Don't ask me to use anything more technical

 

[Sp0_0k]

Got a slight problem still unresolved. I've unbolted a spare when fighting with punctured wheel and had to bolt it back. Though one bolt simply refuses to go all in. The one that doesn't fully unscrew but has a bracket moved sideways on it.
So right now I can't screw it fully in and spare is held by another single bolt which went in fine.

 

[WelshGas]

Got a slight problem still unresolved. I've unbolted a spare when fighting with punctured wheel and had to bolt it back. Though one bolt simply refuses to go all in. The one that doesn't fully unscrew but has a bracket moved sideways on it.
So right now I can't screw it fully in and spare is held by another single bolt which went in fine.

I've had this problem once, resolved by undoing the 1 bolt until carrier would move side to side, reinserted the awkward bolt in properly then tighten up the 1st Bolt. Is it the R hand bolt that is the problem?

 

[Jabberwocky]

Many tyre fitters set the air gun torque way too high. As WelshGas says a no no.
Usually need a large breaker bar to undo afterwards and on occasions a pipe on that as well.
UK problem?

I now loosen all of my wheel nuts and torque correctly to ensure I don't have your problem.

My Cali still has original tyres as Factory Fitted. Can I trust the torque on these or should I break the torque and reset in case I need to do this in case of a puncture? If I should need to do this do I need to jack up the Cali?

 

[Hotel California]

@Jabberwocky , only god knows how much torque is on your bolts ...
VW's can have awkward malllfunctions when leaving the factory.

If you untighten one and retighten with correct torque there's no need to jack up the verhicle , alltough it would be a good practice.

 

[Jabberwocky]

@Jabberwocky , only god knows how much torque is on your bolts ...
VW's can have awkward malllfunctions when leaving the factory.

If you untighten one and retighten with correct torque there's no need to jack up the verhicle , alltough it would be a good practice.

Good to know we can rely on Volkswagen adhering to their own recommendations/advice/specifications. Thanks HC. Another job before setting off for France.

 

[Hotel California]

I should not worry to much though , don't think anyone ever has checked wheeltorque on a new verhicle .

 

[Sp0_0k]

I've had this problem once, resolved by undoing the 1 bolt until carrier would move side to side, reinserted the awkward bolt in properly then tighten up the 1st Bolt. Is it the R hand bolt that is the problem?

I think it is the left one. The one that doesn't fully unscrew is the problem. It is designed to be slightly unscrewed and holding bracket moved.

 

[WelshGas]

I think it is the left one. The one that doesn't fully unscrew is the problem. It is designed to be slightly unscrewed and holding bracket moved.

Both of mine unscrew fully, unless of course it's been changed on the T6.

 

[andyinluton]

@Jabberwocky , only god knows how much torque is on your bolts ...
VW's can have awkward malllfunctions when leaving the factory.

If you untighten one and retighten with correct torque there's no need to jack up the verhicle , alltough it would be a good practice.

Its always good to take the wheels off occasionally though as the rims often stick to the hub which is even more of a problem when the vehicle is only supported by the factory jack.

 

[bigmac77]

Bad luck with the puncture, I think it wise to remove your wheels at least once a year if only to get a bit of practice in should you ever be required to replace a flat. Like others I swap to winter tyres and use the VW jack I find it is fit for purpose but I carry a piece of wood to put under the jack and give it a more sure footing.

Whilst in France this summer we locked our Cali with the keys inside at 9:30pm on a Saturday, we called VW roadside assist and 50 minutes later a breakdown lorry appeared, a few minutes later the driver of this lorry had broken into our Cali and we breathed a huge sigh of relief. They were excellent.

 

[Teejay]

Got a slight problem still unresolved. I've unbolted a spare when fighting with punctured wheel and had to bolt it back. Though one bolt simply refuses to go all in. The one that doesn't fully unscrew but has a bracket moved sideways on it.
So right now I can't screw it fully in and spare is held by another single bolt which went in fine.

I had an issue where I could not get the wheel back under the van. Had to Jack the rear back up again bit of a pain but doable. I found the supplied wrench ok but used the towing eye slotted in as extra leverage. All the places I go to use a air gun but they both adjusted a torque wrench and nipped them to torque.

 

[Teejay]

I had to quickly find two tyres on a Thursday at 1600 while driving up to Ullapool for the ferry. Managed to find a small place that had the correct ones and we managed to get on the way at around 1800. Got to the wild/free camp around 0015. Thankfully that was the only drama. I've had several issues with punctures. Copper slip on my wheels before reattached bolts too.