rear pinch weld jacking spots crushed

Hi All;
Sorry to announce a sad discovery: after getting our 'free' 10,000 miles service on our new 2015 GSW TDI, we discovered both rear pinch weld jacking areas were totally bent/crushed.
Bringing the car back to dealership tomorrow so they can inspect.
The dealership is the only ones who have ever serviced the car.
I wonder how that can be possibly fixed, if at all?
Straightening it back up would only weaken the metal at the bend.
Weld a patch on top of that area? Tricky...
Thoughts?
(it's only an oil change, what could go wrong?
please don't remind me, it was a difficult call to make and we obviously made the wrong one)

It was bent because almost all shops use a lift to do service. A lift has four arms that come out and pick up the car. The spots some shops put the arms onto are is the jacking bar below the rockerpannel, but most just put the arms on the rockers themselves.
What happened to your car is the dealership probably didn't pay attention and put the lift arms in the wrong spot or not all the way onto the jacking bar, and when they raised the car the bar and rocker were bent out of shape.
This is why I always tell people to bring oil and filter bought from the dealer to a shop like Jiffy lube that have a hole in the floor that they work in, no need to raise the car and risk breaking things. Just drive in and drive out.
the same thing happened on my MK3, rockers ruined from being lifted up. I just slapped some bondo on it, shaped it like the rest, prime, paint and go!
However, I would suggest getting the dealership to fix it however they want, after all, they broke it!

How bad is it? I had a relatively minor separation of some material when the rubber pad on my personal jack shifted:



If you look at this angle, you can see that I had only mangled an outer "sheet" of sorts and that the main (harder?) lift point was still straight:



This still drove me nuts, so I used a crowbar bend the metal back to somewhat straight and then a rubber mallet with a 2x4 to beat it flat:



I thought I'd finish-up with a portable vise to really clamp it in place, but it simply was not necessary.

In case you're wondering, the car is on a four-post drive-on lift in these photos. My car has been on a dealer's lift just 2-3 times and a local Euro shop's twice. I'm very choosy after having my Mk3's rockers messed up and probably won't ever allow the car to be lifted anywhere else. That's quite a grudge!

I use an oil extractor from IDParts.com when I change the oil and use my floor jack when I rotate the tires. I want to buy a jack with a longer lift arm so there's less lateral movement as I lift the car (which is what caused my pad to shift).

funoutdoors121 said:

Hi All;
Sorry to announce a sad discovery: after getting our 'free' 10,000 miles service on our new 2015 GSW TDI, we discovered both rear pinch weld jacking areas were totally bent/crushed.
Bringing the car back to dealership tomorrow so they can inspect.
The dealership is the only ones who have ever serviced the car.
I wonder how that can be possibly fixed, if at all?
Straightening it back up would only weaken the metal at the bend.
Weld a patch on top of that area? Tricky...
Thoughts?
(it's only an oil change, what could go wrong?
please don't remind me, it was a difficult call to make and we obviously made the wrong one)

Click to expand...

I would document this for rust protection issues. The only real problem with what they did is that the rust protection coating, and the finish on the metal underneath has been comprimised. Your cosmetic fix actually made it worse. But save these photos. Frankly it is unfortunate that you modified it after they damaged it. Still, make sure the shop foreman documents the damage in the records for your car.

DS - Are you sure you're not confusing the OP's damage with my photos? He hasn't shared photos or had anyone fix his damage yet. The damage to my pinch weld (three inches from my rocker) was superficial and there was no exposed metal. I actually feel pretty good about the "repair" I did; it's hardly noticeable. Odds are good that having the car rest on metal lifts or jack stands will cause more damage than what's currently on my car, which is minimal.

Stealth TDI said:

DS - Are you sure you're not confusing the OP's damage with my photos? He hasn't shared photos or had anyone fix his damage yet. The damage to my pinch weld (three inches from my rocker) was superficial and there was no exposed metal. I actually feel pretty good about the "repair" I did; it's hardly noticeable. Odds are good that having the car rest on metal lifts or jack stands will cause more damage than what's currently on my car, which is minimal.

Click to expand...

Yes. I obviously thought it was his pics. Duh. Well, even if you didn't do anything, the damage done by the lift WILL result in premature rust right there. If you want to mitigate, you might power spray, let it REALLY dry out, then seal it back up with primer and then a rust proofing compound. Might be available in a spray can. Expert "mechanics" can really do damage. A lot of hacks out there, especially at oil change bays. Even dealerships hire monkeys to do oil changes.

all newer VW rear pinchwelds bent??

Hi All;
My wife went to dealership to show her bent rear pinch weld jacking spots.
The service manager said that is how they all are, and showed her a Golf TDI on another lift with similar bent rear pinch welds.
At first I was in total disbelief: I have serviced my own cars for 30 years, mostly VWs, and never saw bent rear pinch welds.
I then checked my own 2015 GSW, and sure enough, my rear pinchwelds were also bent.
I then checked another few recent VWs in the same parking lot: all of the rear pinch welds were also bent, all of them inwards.
Very strange!!!
Can other forum members confirm if their rear pinch welds are also all bent, inwards?
Thanks, ML

Can you please post a photo of yours so we can see what you're talking about?

Can I just buy 4 of these and glue them to the jack points?

https://www.amazon.com/DEDC-Univers...ncoding=UTF8&refRID=C7XMNGXF4Y5GS9KF32D7&th=1

Probably... might look funny and may fall off or be pulled off eventually.

Here’s the factory solution to same problem/idea
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?p=5349377#post5349377

I like the suggestion in the comments of that thread - get used hockey pucks from a local ice rink and cut a slot in them.