Dealer consistently under-inflating tyres?

[Item]

I will ask them about it next time as well, but:

 

When I got my car, I found out after a few weeks on a routine check that the tyres were inflated to about 35psi... Now the fuel flap card says that 19" should be 2.7bar which is 39.5psi for "normal" load/usage and up to 43psi for full load or "eco"

 

I dutifully filled them to the recommended pressure and went on my way. Yeah the ride was a little firmer, but the handling was noticable better.

 

Subsequently I have just taken my car for its first oil service and after a few days of feeling something was a little "different" about the feel of the car, I checked and once again my tyres were set to 35psi.

 

Now in all other aspects my dealer has been really decent, so I am curious as to whether anyone else has this experience?

 

Does the dealer know something neither Skoda or I do about the ideal pressure or are they just careless/weird?

Edited 6 February, 2017 by Item

[Gerrycan]

Could be an apprentice thinking that the pressures applicable for lower spec vehicles is suitable across the range.

Or their pressure gauge is out.

Certainly worth raising with them to see what their take on it is and whether they take any action to correct and improve.

 

My own experience is that pressures on all vehicles from nearly dealers or tyre places is that pressures have always been returned a tad high (around 40 psi) which are just a bit uncomfortable for the 15/16/17 inch tyres I have run.

I like a bit of rubber 'twixt rim and road, especially if there is a bit of dirt and corrugations involved.

[Gabbo]

I guess the garage just has the airgun set at a standard pressure.

You need a very diligent mechanic to check & set the exact pressure for every car & wheel type.

[Ootohere]

It is your life and others lives you trust to them.

The business and their employers are being paid to be diligent and have a Corporate Responsibility to be, and to train employees correctly.

 

Too many over inflate at PDI's leaving as filled at the factory before transportation, and at services, even on Courtesy Cars and Hire cars and Used Sales cars.

 

Drivers should always when collecting a car check & set tyre pressures, it is your responsibility and if things go wrong your life or responsibility to others.

'Simply Clever' stuff really.

 

If 'Employees' of a company are not 'Diligent' tell the head of that company.

They could all be in the sh!t if someone is lax.

Edited 6 February, 2017 by Offski

[savvy5]

Mine are constantly overinflated from the dealer. First service last week and when I got home I did the now standard check of tyres and fluids. Deflated the tyres a bit, drained 1 litre of oil they had over filled the engine by and 50-100ml of coolant for the same reason.

 

Crap for $500

[Item]

11 hours ago, savvy5 said:

Mine are constantly overinflated from the dealer. First service last week and when I got home I did the now standard check of tyres and fluids. Deflated the tyres a bit, drained 1 litre of oil they had over filled the engine by and 50-100ml of coolant for the same reason.

 

Crap for $500

 

That's not good. Giltrap in Auckland have been pretty decent so far for me.

 

Also: My first service was just an oil and filter change along with inspection and that was $299..? My next "full" service is due at 30k or 24 months whichever is first and that should be $549 according to the dealer.

[stanian]

Just got mine back from it's first service and after reading this post I though it best to check, when the car went in it was set at the eco setting for 3 people namely 39 Psi 2.7 bar, when I checked them later after getting the car back, they were down a 32Psi 2.2 Bar. I am wondering if perhaps they are checking the pressures with the tyres still warm.

 

[Ootohere]

That was not checking they were adjusting / setting the pressure,

someone changed the pressures and likely in the workshop that might or might not be heated to at least 16*oC.

 

So you need  to tell a Service Centre what pressure you want or ask when collecting what pressure the technician or fitter set them to.

They wrote on the report the tread depth so it would be no extra time to put the tyre pressure they set.

[Mike97]

When I got my vrs with the 19"extreme wheels on from skoda as an approved car it had just had its 1st service and the tyres looked flat to me so I checked 20psi all round so I set them all to 39psi as on the fuel flap.

[Ootohere]

& many 'Approved Used Cars' do not get a service because one is not due, but what makes them 'Approved Used Cars'  is a 'Workshop Safety Check',  

supposedly,  something seems to be lost in translation as what Skoda / VW / SEAT / Audi consider as 'Safety' & Safety Checks.

[Gerrycan]

Sounds like someone got their bars and ps mixed up in a couple the above examples... Maybe?

[Ootohere]

These 'Someones' do this job servicing vehicles 5 or 6 days a week, so that is hundreds of vehicles a year, they might not always be professionals or qualified in very much, but in the first week as an apprentice or fitter they should know about inflating tyres. 

(along with lubricating hinges...)

[Gerrycan]

I ever said it was acceptable but these things do happen and people do get unit measures mixed up like when they are aiming to land things on Mars for instance.

And people will innocently continue to do the wrong thing until they are corrected.

[Ootohere]

The monkey gets trained by the organ grinder and till they get poked in the eye by a stick they might never bother.

You tell the Principal Dealer that they employ poorly trained employees which means they maybe poorly trained and qualified to be in their job.

[James@RRG_Skoda_Rochdale]

Checking and adjusting the tyre pressures is part of the skoda approved check whether it had a service or not. 

[Ootohere]

As it should be, just a pity that many miss it out.  

Not that hard to get 'Workshop Safety Checks' done and ticked off, but oddly some seem to fail in doing that.

[Mike97]

When I got mine it had 13,789m on it and I put the skoda app on my phone to check the service history after finding the tyres at 20psi. And it shows a pdi when new and a service at 6792m but nothing else so i contacted skoda and got this reply. I have checked our records and I can confirm that the selling retailer have carried out a service on your vehicle on 21 November 2016 at 13,789 miles.  This was done during the used vehicle multi point check, undertaken prior to the used approved sale.  So not only did the multi point check miss the tyres so did the service. The dealer has still not updated the electronic service record as the last service is still not showing.

 

Edited 12 February, 2017 by Mike97

[SWBoy]

2 hours ago, Mike97 said:

The dealer has still not updated the electronic service record as the last service is still not showing.

It seems there are two "areas" of the electronic service record - one accessible only to dealers and another accessible to the App.

 

I had a service done at my local franchised Skoda dealer in November and on request they have given me a printout from the dealer accessible area, but that service DOESN'T show up in the App (all I can see is the PDI done at Sheerness).

 

So I think it may be worth you asking the dealer for a printout of the service record that they can access and not just rely on what is visible to the App.

[Item]

Seems to be a common issue...

 

I mentioned it to the service manager - he agreed that it should have been correctly inflated and would review with the service team to make sure they did this properly in future....

 

Not holding my breath - though to be fair to them, they have been pretty good overall with my other issues.

[Mike97]

On 12/02/2017 at 16:00, SWBoy said:

It seems there are two "areas" of the electronic service record - one accessible only to dealers and another accessible to the App.

 

I had a service done at my local franchised Skoda dealer in November and on request they have given me a printout from the dealer accessible area, but that service DOESN'T show up in the App (all I can see is the PDI done at Sheerness).

 

So I think it may be worth you asking the dealer for a printout of the service record that they can access and not just rely on what is visible to the App.

I emailed skoda uk to ask them when the service data gets updated for the app they said Unfortunately, the ŠKODA App is not available in the UK at this time and will not be available until 2018.  I am sorry for any disappointment this will cause.
so thats funny as i have the app showing delivery inspection and first service with the option to download and print.

 

[SWBoy]

3 hours ago, Mike97 said:

so thats funny as i have the app showing delivery inspection and first service with the option to download and print.

Same here on my iPhone7+...

[Iamholam]

I had service. After driving on the motorway for a bit the next day the pressure light came on. Checked all the tyres and they were set around 2bar instead of the 2.4bar on the flap. 

 

Also do not have the first service showing on the app though it does show the "inspection" when I picked it up from New. 

[SWBoy]

40 minutes ago, Iamholam said:

Also do not have the first service showing on the app though it does show the "inspection" when I picked it up from New. 

I have that problem and the Skoda dealer did the service back in November. It is on the Skoda system as I have a printout which I requested it from the dealer.

 

The Skoda system doesn't seem to link correctly to whatever database (or WHY) the Skoda App uses...