I have been getting this one lately...and frankly I am getting real perturbed about it. It is one think if you put a Brembo BIG brake kit on your car, and then go in an say something like...ewww..my brakes are squealing...Mr Dealer please fit it....but when you go in an say something about your clutch pedal squeaking and they have a cow when you have aftermarket brake fluid. Give me a break...Oh yeah, changing brake fluid should really void the brake AND clutch warranty on your car. The latest one is where a friend emailed me that he visited this same dealership and they wont fix his wheel bearing problem because he has aftermarket tires on his car (he has 225/50/16 Bridgestone SO-2 Pole Positions) He originally had the SP8000E 205/55/16 tires on his car. I am actually embarrassed for Audi for one of their dealerships to tell this to a Audi owner. The other good one was where they stated that whenever they see a QUATTRO CLUB decal on the car, they ALWAYS have some type of aftermarket service problem with the car. GIVE ME A BREAK. I am getting real pissed at this stuff. Anyway, post here if you have had this kinda response from an Audi service advisor, either recently or in the past.<p>Thanks. Maybe Audi of America might actually read this post and consider communicating something to the Audi Regional Service Representatives about lessening this type of response from service advisors at the dealerships. I hope so, for their sake.<p>Dr. Jekyll<br>(name not disclosed for personal reasons)

Let me first say this: after modification, there are very few things I would want the dealer touching.<p>Post-modification, these are things I MIGHT let the dealer do.<p>* Change oil<br>* Change brake fluid (maybe)<br>* Rebalance wheels<p>What else would you have a dealer do? Replace stuff? Like what? If you have a clutch problem and you have a factory clutch, it should be replaced. If not, you should post the name of the dealer here, his idiot rating from one to jackass, and tell others not to go there. Also the service person you dealt with if possible.<p>The "nearby system" philosophy applies both ways, which people never mention on this board. People complain all day and night about how the dealer won't do anything about their clutch pedal problem because they changed the clutch and flywheel. But it works the other way, too. I wouldn't want a dealership messing with the bracketry for my brake setup, or trying to "fix" my clutch assembly.<p>Your stuff is your stuff, the rest is Audi's stuff until you hit 50,000 miles. Period. You fix your stuff, they fix their stuff, everybody's happy.<p>Cameron

The gems from the story are:<p>* You have aftermarket tires (on stock rims) so we won't look at your wheel bearing w/o your paying for it (after discussing the issue with an AoA rep)<p>* we managed to kill the brake line so we will refill with stock brake fluid (no you may not bring the racing fluid for us to use) and btw that brake fluid will void your clutch warranty<p>* "we will call you when the car is ready this afternoon" - at 5:35 I call them "oh we lost the JOB DESCRIPTION so we didn't know what to do with the car so we haven't even started looking and btw your car is not driveable because we broke it"<p>* when we see a QCUSA sticker we always call AoA for work approval before we touch the car, they have been generally abused. Another dealership in the area already categorically refuses to even look at such cars, WE ARE NOT THAT BAD. ("the other dealer" used to give me crap at times, but still did almost everything I asked for)<p>* we can not reproduce the wheel bearing noise (they put 20 miles on the car allright, but they LOST the problem description, where I describe how to clearly hear the noise)<p>* I bring the car in without any engine problems. When I pick it up, the 'check engine light' is on and stalls. I give them the car back; "did you have your radio on?" -"yes" -"well it must be drawing too much power" (aftermarket 4x20W unit) "and ooh you have a chip installed, we can't do anything about the 'check engine light'"<p>* there is more, but I don't want to be identified.<p>Once in my life did I bring a BMW to a shop around here. Somehow I wasn't treated like a criminal. This week I was really ready to drop my car (my 4th Audi) and buy a 328.<p>- Wheel Bearing<br>

On a related note, my dealer's favorite line here has been "we can't replicate the problem". I've had two ongoing problems, one of which was a real pain in the * when it first happened. I haven't done any aftermarket modifications, by the way.<p>1. The electronic key system doesn't work. You press the keychain button to open the door(s), and nothing happens. No big deal, you just open the door manually, but then the next time I tried to use the electronic locking system, it worked (?) I explained the situation to the dealer, but since the locking system was working when the car was physically at the dealer, they let it go at "we couldn't replicate the problem". This still happens occasionally.<p>2. A door refuses to close. On X-mas eve last year, my passenger side front door would not close. We fiddled with the latch, we fiddled with the lock inside the car, and we also tried the electronic lock system. No luck. The car was, obviously, undriveable with the door swinging free. I called the Audi 800 line, and they told me to hold the latch on the outside of the door down while simultaneously pressing the manual lock inside the car, and this did correct the problem. However, we never did find out what triggered the problem in the first place, so I could avoid this happening in the future (and it has since happened again twice, by the way). My dealer's analysis? "We couldn't replicate the problem."

Blown bearing, non-spec. performance tires? Guess what, the dealer is correct!!! When they go to Audi with the warranty problem the documentation will hose them. If he had and other tire in the same spec. as factory he would be fine, non-spec.=non-covered. Simple as pie.<p>There is NO possible way (or reason) for Audi to cover every possible permutation of aftermarket parts. I hate the dealership weasels more than I could say, but I can certainly understand this issue.

BTW, what is the status on my rotor....did it turn into a UFO? I can just see it now...it was last sited by a farmer in rural Kansas....right by a freshly unloaded pile of dung...it was humming...and it had a nice red glow to it. :-)<p>Steve S.<br>97 2.8QM

Maybe then it would boil off the water on the disk.<br>He hasn't mailed it to you? Damn! I'll cc you from now on. Sorry.

I completely empathise about sleazy dealers. I had a string of lousy Mazda &*(% mechanics on my last car.<p>But, I have to disagree on the points you cover here. Non-spec tire sizes are excluded from covereage of related parts. Any engineer will agree that wider and grippier tires will load the bearings more than stock tires. BTW. there are hrdly any postings on the A4 having weak bearings.<p>Who's at fault? No blame, but this is a rational excuse for them. It comes out of their pocket unless they lie for you to Audi.<p>They are morons for damaging the line. They are only allowed to fill with stock fluid. No insurance company is going to cover their liability for using non-spec fluid, no matter who pays for it.<p>The job description issue is classic: we all agree they suck. The bearing noise is either constant, or just cold start, either way they should hear it distinctly, IF it is bad.<p>Qusa, the dealers are morons as we said, but they are legitimately concerned about what they are getting into with a raced car. You may take care of your car, but they are liable if they fix something and you get hurt when it fails.<p>Engine light. You actually should be happy about this. SOP from AUDI is to REPLACE the ECU. Your out of pocket once again, legitimately.<p>Have fun with your bimmer.<br>