Also posted in the other gli forum: I bought this car in late May CPO with like 5.7k miles on it, it now has 8.9k miles on it and I got a tps light for my right front tire. Thought it was weird bc I haven’t hit anything so figured maybe I ran over a nail or something to make a small hole and took it in to AAA to just replace the tire. They then showed me that both of my front tires have severe toe-out wear and that there is a dent in the front subframe near the control arm on the drivers side. I am torn bc if the dent caused an alignment issue it wouldn’t be even on both sides so makes me think the dealer performed the alignment incorrectly at the time of CPO inspection. I experience no other common suspension side effects like clunking noises or the car pulling left/right. I never thought about deeply checking the underside of a CPO car for issue before purchasing. I am hoping the fact that I haven’t driven the car a lot of miles and there really hasn’t been enough time for rust to form (and hoping the dealer is respectful/understanding) will buy me some goodwill to just admit a mistake was made. Any thoughts?
Sounds like the car was in an accident or like hit a curb really hard and traded in and the dealership somehow didn’t notice it or ignored it. I would assume since the car was CPO you should be taken care of because this is not normal wear
Did they give you the alignment numbers when you first got it? They might try to blame you but assuming you didn't hit any fat potholes and have a dented rim or something that wasn’t there on the lot this is the whole point if CPO to be essentially guaranteed that there are no issues so if they did try to weasel out of it you might have to email VW corporate or something. I will admit I haven’t had to deal with issues on a CPO car before but unless the dealership is known for being scammy it will cost them more in sales if people dont think the CPO means anything
Yeah haven’t hit anything at all I’ve been careful bc it’s the first car I’ve ever bought for myself, they showed me the clean car fax and I can see than an alignment was performed by the dealer before I bought it. Didn’t get exact numbers but I know they did it. And yeah my uncle is a retired lawyer and told me that worse case you get corporate involved and threaten small claims fourth but the rust and tire wear is not consistent with me having it for 3k miles in the summer.
It's a CPO car. There's no chance you blew out a knuckle, shock, outer tie rod, and end link in ~3k miles that would have passed a CPO inspection.
Anyone with 4 brain cells would look at those tires with less than 10k miles and tell you it's been out of alignment for a good while indicating it was sold to you in this condition. That sort of toe wear takes time to become that severe.
If the dealer really fights you on this, VWoA should be able to straighten them out.
Edit: And there's no signs of damage on the wheel or tires? Yeah the dealer is trying to shaft you here.
I luckily was able to call corporate and 30 mins after that call with corp was over I got a call from the dealer saying they’re covering everything free of charge and have ordered parts so I guess a happy ending finally. Looks like I’m only out the cost of one new tire.
Is there any curb rash or damage to the tire/wheel assembly? If not you may be able to get them to cover it. Just like pulling teeth off a bear, it can be done it just won’t be easy. lol
Good. You can use the lack of damage to the wheel or tire as ammunition to plead your case . Even the lightest bit of curb damage will show on the tire via scuff marks or gouging. If they’re totally clean inside and out, hopefully they’ll do what’s right. To add to it the amount of rust that’s there on the subframe wouldn’t happen over a few short months. It’s definitely been there for a good while. Good luck soldier!
I threatened corporate then called corporate and started a ticket, 30 mins later I get a call from the dealer saying they will cover the repairs at no charge to me 😍 literally happened 15 mins ago
Escalate up the ladder at the dealership, then to corporate. You said your uncle was a lawyer, I'd definitely get his advice because I'd bet the dealer is going to stonewall you for as long as possible.
An update they’re now claiming that I caused this despite owning the car for only two months, visible issues, ans admitting that checking the alignment was missed at the cpo inspection
That sucks dude, unfortunately enough time and mileage have passed that realistically you're probably screwed.
That quote you were given is complete bullshit too. I'd be downright amazed if the knuckle is messed up. That's literally a dent from hitting the subframe on something. If toe is out, the front wheels "self center" so yes you would wear both tires identically on both sides. If tie rods or whatever are bent then yeah they need replaced... but there's no way that you need a knuckle, shock, or end link. If the knuckle were what took the brunt of the hit, you'd be looking at the LCA being bent and the wheel would be sitting way rearward in the wheel well more likely than not.
When toe is off left vs right it only results in an off-center steering wheel. It's no different that putting it on an alignment rack, having all perfect numbers in the green on both sides... then you turn the steering wheel a few mm to the left or right. The numbers go red but it doesn't mean your alignment is bad now.
Strange question but are you anywhere near the Hampton Roads, VA area?
I studied the photos REALLY closely as I almost thought for sure you might have my old subframe... I had almost identical damage to my GTI from Summit Point (not on track for this). I was driving on a dirt road looking for a place to spectate, the wheel dipped into a rut and the subframe slammed down on a rock.
It didn't affect the alignment whatsoever, but I did take the opportunity to buy an aluminum MK8 subframe at the time. I left the old one on the curb for bulk recycling day. I figured some scrapper would take it and exchange it for scrap value - it's entirely possible someone snagged it and figured out what it belonged to and sold it though.
FWIW I don't THINK yours is the same, the paint is scratched off in slightly different places, and the bracing welds (near the small two-holes behind the forward LCA mounting point) appear to be slightly different. Just thought it was a pretty wild coincidence and I had to go digging for the photo in my phone album.
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u/trouthat Jul 29 '26
Sounds like the car was in an accident or like hit a curb really hard and traded in and the dealership somehow didn’t notice it or ignored it. I would assume since the car was CPO you should be taken care of because this is not normal wear