MN Chat Thread

Stan TDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2003
Location
Eagan, Minnesota, USA
TDI
Jetta, 1997 1Z (RIP), 2002 Jetta GLS, 2002 Jetta GLS, 2006 Jetta Pkg 1
I need to get some body work done and the TSB for the fenders. Does anyone have a recommendation on Burnsville, Invergrove or Schmelz? It appears all of these farm out their work to other shops. Thanks for your opinion!
 

canast

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2002
Location
North Metro, Minnesota
TDI
Jetta GLS, 2002, Bright Green. Retired - 2003 Red Beetle GLS, deer got it.
Stan, let me know if you get anywhere with Inver Grove. They gave me the run a round on the fender TSB.
 

Ron22

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2012
Location
Forest Lake, MN
TDI
2002 Jetta
Schmelz is where I had mine done. It was very easy drove In the manager looked at fenders and the VIN. Then she looked up some info on computer and said when was a good time for me to have them replaced. I never said anything about TSB.
 

JimTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2004
Location
Saint Paul, MN
TDI
Jetta Wagon PD-TDI, 2004, Wheat Beige, TipTronic Trans.
I need to get some body work done and the TSB for the fenders. Does anyone have a recommendation on Burnsville, Invergrove or Schmelz? It appears all of these farm out their work to other shops. Thanks for your opinion!
I have had great luck with Schmelz and if it is the same as before they farm out to Lamettreys in Maplewood for body work. Lamettreys did great work on my 71 bug.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 4
 

Steve-o

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 13, 1999
Location
Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon
Does anyone have a recommendation on Burnsville, Invergrove or Schmelz? It appears all of these farm out their work to other shops.
I had the fender TSB done at Burnsville. Apparently Luther has centralized captive body shops; the work wasn't done in B'ville. Their Web site shows where the shops are. The car looks fine. No issues with color match (Indigo Blue Metallic) or anything else I can spot. I picked them because if they gave me a hard time on the TSB, I had at least a little leverage with them (bought the car there).

Aside from a loaner which was offered using imprecise language that made me think it would be free, the whole thing was painless and done properly. I would have been fine with Schmelz farming out the fix to Lamettry's. But every encounter I've had with IG has been unpleasant except for meeting Eric (merkerguitar here) and José, when it was a Denny Hecker store and after. Not a choice even though they're the closest dealer.
 

Redlabel6

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 23, 2009
Location
Chaska, Minnesota
TDI
98 Jetta, 2005 Passat
Long Hot Work

I had a roar in the front right of my Passat. I tried swapping tires, but figured it must be the wheel bearing. Oh my...
I bought two kits from Blauparts.com. $40.95, it included new hardware. The kit does not include the pinch bolts, only the nuts for them. It does include new axle bolts.
Now to get the old one out... thankfully I have a neighbor who is a manufacturers representative for OTC. He had a demo Hub Tamer kit that he let me borrow.
10 hours later, I got both of the bearings replaced. the toughest thing was getting the pinch bolt out of the upper part of the spindle.. once I got those out the Hub Tamer made short work of swapping the bearings. No alignment needed!
I did have to replace the pinch bolt... hammering 'em out kind of warped them....:p
I'm also playing with the torsion value using Farmboy's PC and cable ( Thanks Tom!!) it's interesting how a small change can affect mileage. I'm currently at 0.0.. I should know how that is by the end of the week. Has anyone else played with the torsion value?

The daughter unit also brought over her (my) 98 Jetta before she left on her honeymoon... mentioned smoke coming out of the dash...then left...
The fan speed control was melting... luckily I had one I had picked up at U-Pull-R a while back....
now to get her new husband to start taking care of it for her....
d
 
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Redlabel6

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 23, 2009
Location
Chaska, Minnesota
TDI
98 Jetta, 2005 Passat
I had the fender TSB done at Burnsville.

Steve-o, is the TSB only for rust through? I have some rust around the rear deck license plate... not all the way through yet, but bubbling pretty good.
I wanted to order some spray touch-up for it, but the paint code sticker has been torn off. I guess I need to call the dealership and ask them to decode the VIN.
d
 

JFettig

Vendor
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Location
Blaine, MN
TDI
B5 Passat, 2010 Jetta
H&R Sports, Koni FSD's, and Mercedes wheels :D


Thanks Jeff for the spacers, I'm running the 15mm but its a little proud of the fenders
 

Losha

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2005
Location
Sioux Falls, SD
TDI
06 Jetta TDI DSG, 2001 Golf TDI, Audi S6, A8, Toureg
H&R Sports, Koni FSD's, and Mercedes wheels :D


Thanks Jeff for the spacers, I'm running the 15mm but its a little proud of the fenders
Looks nice, except what's the deal with rear sitting lower then front?
 

JFettig

Vendor
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Location
Blaine, MN
TDI
B5 Passat, 2010 Jetta
I'm kinda trying to figure that one out myself...

Its a little bit the different offsets, front and rear, the rear is slightly proud of the fenders, front are 5mm in
 

greengeeker

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2006
Location
Cambridge, MN
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS
Mehinks you'll be driving the one with a/c over the next few days. I know the Ranger is going to sit for the majority of this week due to the weather.
 

Stan TDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2003
Location
Eagan, Minnesota, USA
TDI
Jetta, 1997 1Z (RIP), 2002 Jetta GLS, 2002 Jetta GLS, 2006 Jetta Pkg 1
Thanks everyone for the feedback on the body work at the dealers. I had already heard good about Schmelz and was leaning to go there. Since there is other damage (someone hit the car when it was stationary!!!), I get a rental so all is good there. I will drive out and check them out.
 

TornadoRed

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Location
West Des Moines (formerly St Paul)
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI wagon, silver; 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, indigo blue; 2003 Golf GL 5-spd, red (PARTED); 2003 Golf GLS 5-spd, indigo blue (SOLD); 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, Candy White (SOLD)
I would have been fine with Schmelz farming out the fix to Lamettry's.
Recently LaMettry moved into the adjacent building to the north, and Toyota of Maplewood took over LaMettry's old spaces.
 

SkeeterMark

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2013
Location
North Branch, MN
TDI
2013 Jetta TDI 6M
Curious....what is the general consensus on Schmelz?
Bought mine there and it's been in for two oil changes and I have no problems with them.
Are they a trustworthy TDI service provider? Especially in relation to the newer models?
With all the talk on this site about how bad dealers are, I just don't see them as knowing nothing about TDI's, and they seem to sell the heck out of them. But I do have limited experience with them.
 

isonic

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Location
St. Paul, MN
TDI
2003 Golf 4door 5spd
H&R Sports, Koni FSD's, and Mercedes wheels :D


Thanks Jeff for the spacers, I'm running the 15mm but its a little proud of the fenders
The rear does not sit that low when on level pavement. Also if you had stretched your tires a little they wouldn't rub the fenders :D
 

sirpuddingfoot

Veteran Member
Joined
May 14, 2010
Location
Seattle, WA
TDI
05 Passat, 05 Jetta
Curious....what is the general consensus on Schmelz?
Bought mine there and it's been in for two oil changes and I have no problems with them.
Are they a trustworthy TDI service provider? Especially in relation to the newer models?
With all the talk on this site about how bad dealers are, I just don't see them as knowing nothing about TDI's, and they seem to sell the heck out of them. But I do have limited experience with them.
I buy coolant, batteries, and the occasional part from them. They are fine for that.
They do TSBs, recalls, and corrosion warranty work (via LaMettry's) just fine. The service manager (I forget her name) told me she loves the chance to stick it to VWoA because it gains her happy VW customers and brings money into the service department.

I can't speak to their work beyond that. I'd sooner go to one of the vw indie shops. It takes less time to DIY a top-side oil change than to drive to a 10-min quicklube and back. The extractor will have paid for itself in 2 oil changes.
 

JFettig

Vendor
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Location
Blaine, MN
TDI
B5 Passat, 2010 Jetta
The rear does not sit that low when on level pavement. Also if you had stretched your tires a little they wouldn't rub the fenders :D
I suppose I could put the wrong size tires on my wheels if I wanted crappy traction, terrible handling and wanted to put my life in danger when I take a corner too hard and the tire falls off the rim, then yes, I could have stretched them :eek:

that reminds me, I saw a set of 8.5" rims with 205/40/17 tires on them recently :p
 

isonic

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Location
St. Paul, MN
TDI
2003 Golf 4door 5spd
that reminds me, I saw a set of 8.5" rims with 205/40/17 tires on them recently :p
I know you were jealous too :p

I didn't think about this before, but I think the 10mm spacers I have are dual drilled for 5x100 and 5x112. If they are you are more than welcome to test fit them on the back of your wagon when you return from Maine,
 

JimTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2004
Location
Saint Paul, MN
TDI
Jetta Wagon PD-TDI, 2004, Wheat Beige, TipTronic Trans.
It certainly sounds like First Fuel Bank stepped up to the plate and assisted their customers. Rather ironic the contamination occurred as they were rolling out a fleet of new recycling trucks. Maybe some one doesn't like recycling. Not a good situation, and quite expensive for those involved to recover from.

I can only imagine calling the Fire Department because my house was on fire, and having the fire engines unable to respond because they were stalled somewhere in route due to bad fuel.

Sheesh!

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