What did you do to your MK7 today?

[turbobrick240]

Yup... Our 2019 was totaled, insurance paid out more than we paid for their car by over $15k due to generally high used car prices and used Tesla prices being even higher because delivery times were 6-8 months out.

We ordered the replacement and waited it out. I drove our Corolla for 6 months. We pocketed about 12k and "upgraded" from RWD Long Range (which was the perfect spec to me, but no longer made) to AWD Long Range. And my wife got the 19's she wanted .

Our 2022 is a refresh card course so after a wireless charging, blacked out chrome (which we had done on the old one), revised center console which is much nicer, and matrix LED headlights (these aren't active in the US yet but it's nice to already have them whenever that happens, they are now standard across model 3's globally but when we ordered our car there was still a chance you could get the old reflectors).

Not the worst car to have a bad accident in. Must have been nice to park the old Corolla when you got the new Tesla. If my stock portfolio recovers next year, I may just have to bite the bullet and upgrade from my 2010 Golf.

 

[Cuzoe]

Funny enough my wife's friend crashed, while driving my wife who literally had 2 drinks at a 4 hour event but is a paranoid lightweight. Got startled by the acceleration, lost control and hit a parked car (narrow WeHo streets). No injuries to either of them. Front right of the car pretty beat up, but all the airbags did deploy.

The 2006 Corolla is top level. I've taken it from California to South Carolina and back 4 times, it has no cruise control .

Spoiler: Totaled car bull jive.

I don't believe the car was totaled. But Tesla roadside showed up (Tesla called them when the car reported an accident, no call from me or my wife, pretty nice service) and took it to one of their "authorized repair" shops. That shop DOES NOT fix cars, haha. Of course I didn't know this... but they sandbagged with the insurance company for over a month before finally giving an estimate of something like $18k. Insurance said sure we'll fix it.

Two weeks later I call the shop to see how it's progressing and they say they hadn't been authorized to start fixing it. Insurance company says sure they have, and they signed for the $18k check that was sent certified mail. Shop now says they needed an additional form from me with a signature . I signed and returned it, and made sure to tell them my insurance company would know they had not contacted me.

A week later we get the post tear down estimate, it's now $36k, which the insurance company says is totaled. Fine with me, I either want my car fixed or the payout to get another car. It's now been 2+ months. Of course I have to sign over the car to whatever wrecking yard is buying it, no problem. I do that and go grab whatever little things we still had left in the car.

A week later the insurance company says the shop won't release the car, which is delaying my payout. The shop won't release the car because now that they are not fixing it they are charging storage fees that have accumulated (accumulated while they sandbagged). It's over $16,000 as they charge almost $200/day. Clearly they never intended to fix the car. But they keep a fleet of cars in their lot racking up storage fees.

I should note when I went to pick up the car this shop didn't even have a lift. It's basically an alleyway full of cars to a 2 car garage. When I went to get our personal items out of the car I also had to grab the license plate (vanity plate, I guess non-vanity plates go with the car to the junkyard). I asked if I could borrow a screw driver to take the plates off and the guy said they didn't have one available. I had to get one out of the repair kit I keep in the Corolla. Also everybody I saw working their had on clean shoes and clean white t-shirts, not mechanic sh!t, lol.

Insurance eventually settled with them for $11k, they released our car, then we got our check.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

WeHo?

 

[turbobrick240]

West Hollywood? That "shop" sure sounds like it has quite the racket going. Borderline insurance fraud, imo.

 

[Cuzoe]

@IndigoBlueWagon and @turbobrick240... Yes West Hollywood and yes an absolute racket. I'm sure USAA will be flagging them, at minimum. And from what I saw I would not have chosen them for the repair. Like a lot of the luxury/executive/premium excellence "repair shops" around LA which are full of cars waaaaaaaay nicer/more expensive than the Tesla, just a bunch of torn down cars and seemingly no one fixing anything.

For our car which had front impact damage they gave the initial estimate just visually, as usual. When that was finally approved and the tear down began, where you will likely find more damage (also expected) they needed to open the frunk to assess further. Although they did have the keycard (I gave it to the tow driver when the car was picked up from the scene) or they could have called us to remotely open it... they chose to sloppily cut around the latch mechanism of the frunk to "open" it. So automatically we now need to replace that and anything else damaged during that hacking.

The only reason the car went to them is because Tesla roadside called the tow truck and directed the tow truck on where to take the car. We therefore assumed it was a trusted place. Ultimately not our problem (besides the inconvenience of not getting a repaired car or payout for almost 3 months) and we had no say in it. Fortunately for USAA we have two extra cars and I don't pay for rental coverage, because USAA would have been out that cost too.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I wonder how much of the repair shop selection is dictated by Tesla. All of it, I'd imagine.

And streets in West Hollywood aren't that small. Try driving around some of the older parts of Boston and you'll know what I mean.

 

[Cuzoe]

You are correct. They aren't even that narrow compared to Charleston where I grew up. It's really the awful job of "parallel parking" that is the problem on most of them. You'll see one car out a foot into the road as compared to the cars in front/behind it.

And yeah Tesla chose that repair shop. Their Yelp said they specialize in "luxury" car repair, specifically mentioning Teslas. Tesla might not be that interested in what happens to a wrecked car anyway. Their roadside team/rep handling out car probably looked up the closest shop to where the accident happened that claimed to work on Teslas as that saves tow costs for them.

 

[whizznbyu]

I had my mechanic replace my S trim driver's seat with a Recaro LS. Now I need to find a way to make my steering wheel and curtain airbags work. And. Make sure the passenger seat's airbags all work. Right now I have an airbag warning light on. HoHum

 

[Cuzoe]

I had my mechanic replace my S trim driver's seat with a Recaro LS. Now I need to find a way to make my steering wheel and curtain airbags work. And. Make sure the passenger seat's airbags all work. Right now I have an airbag warning light on. HoHum

No personal experience, but... https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/index.php?threads/correct-seat-airbag-resistor.378040/

 

[tdidieselbobny]

Re installed my aluminum skidplate on the GSW Friday night after work. I've been running the plastic one since last time I took to dealer in February. I always take the belly pans off before taking it in, as I don't need any stripped mounting holes. Anyway, got all bolts cleaned up and went to mount it. Noticed the only 4 bolts I had were too big for the 3 rear holes, no other bolts in baggie I put them in. About ready to say eff it and try to find bolts next day at Home Depot I checked the baggie I put the plastic skid plate fasteners in- duhhhh, I forgot the aluminum plate uses the same 3 rear bolts as the plastic pan....

 

[tdidieselbobny]

I wonder what 5w30 oil the dealer used.

My invoice says Qty of 6, ZVW-055-530-1Q-DSP Eng. Oil. I Googled it before I left dealer, didn't see no image of any containers for it though. I'm thinking it's the same oil they use in the newer gas VW's along with TDI's(the ESP Mobil 1 5W-30)....

 

[Midwesthick]

Purchased the Kerma Inlet Pipe…for $130 why not. Lol

 

[Nuje]

@Cuzoe made me do it.

 

[Cuzoe]

@Cuzoe made me do it.

Yessss! Your cruise control distance button isn't illuminated... what gives?

 

[Nuje]

We were mid-coding at that point; rest assured that it is there now and fully functional.
For those wanting a quick overview (which I'm sure must number in the ones of people):

• Mk8 MFSW from VW AG Store at Aliexpress (~$600USD - when you "with ai r bag", you need to go with the $140 FedEx shipping)
• Clockspring for heated SW (previously installed for a Mk7 wheel) - ~$100USD
• Wiring harness for Mk7 heated SW ($25USD)
• Remote coding (~$100USD)

 

[Nuje]

For those wondering about the touch-buttons, they're actually pretty good. They're not touch-sensitive in that if your hand touches a button, it activates, but rather, you still do have to press.

And the haptic feedback is....interesting. Definitely noticeable and does a good job of fooling you into thinking you pressed something physical.
If you have a 2016+ MacBook/Air/Pro, the touchpad on those is same idea - nothing moves, but it "pops" under your press to give you the sensation that you "clicked" something. The steering wheel gives significantly more "pop" to its haptic click than the MacBook, though.

 

[Midwesthick]

041E435E-0ABF-4570-BA43-6CCE60CC38FA.jpeg

• Midwesthick
• Jul 21, 2022

AD44A260-3931-4D8A-96B7-0A250888FC67.jpeg

• Midwesthick
• Jul 21, 2022

Installed the Kerma Turbo Inlet pipe. Super easy to install and made for a much quicker spoiling and pulling turbo so that’s nice. I do have my Kerma tune off currently but I’m sure it’ll be better utilized once I get my new clutch installed and turn the tune back on.

 

[tdidieselbobny]

I washed the rims. The Delta Sonics have this "tire scrubber" ( brushes that press against tires as you ride along the wash track near end of wash), rims look dirty even after going through it. Sprayed the tire/rim cleaner on them and scrubbed them, got the outside of rims looking decent. Looking at the tires though, quite disappointed-they are all about a 1/16" from the wear bars, and they only have just over 30k on them-General Altimax RT43's. Looks like I'll be running the snow tires this winter ...

 

[GolfSW98]

Currently considering replacing this tire. Rear Right. I wonder if this type of wear is abnormal, I'm not the best at timely rotating my tires and I do have the 1.5 inch lift with Alltrack springs (rear only). Picture attached is touched up a bit to enhance the details. It seems like some feathering/cupping very strange, wonder if this is related to the the lift at all or maybe just a characteristic of these specific tires

IMG_2813.jpg

• GolfSW98
• Aug 11, 2022

 

[Midwesthick]

Big day over here for my GSW. Its almost at 100K miles and I wanted to give it some love.

-Installed new clutch with 407+ ft/lbs holding capacity - Clutch Kit
-Installed Darkside Charge Pipe Kit - Charge Pipe Kit
-Installed Powerflex dog mount insert
-VCDS Throttle Response changed to Direct
-Oil Change
-Coolant flush

Excited to turn my Kerma tune back on today and break in the new clutch!

 

[Adam35]

First big mod, and 2nd DIY mod for me. Installed BC Racing BR series Coilovers. Track next week!

 

[GolfSW98]

4x Michelin CrossClimate2 tires installed, good initial impression. Couldn't pass them up at $550 installed. Neat tread pattern

 

[tdidieselbobny]

4x Michelin CrossClimate2 tires installed, good initial impression. Couldn't pass them up at $550 installed. Neat tread pattern

Just looked at them, will be pricy to rotate properly(dismount/mount/balance). I prefer non-directional tires. Might go back to Ecopias for the mpg's...

 

[GolfSW98]

Just looked at them, will be pricy to rotate properly(dismount/mount/balance). I prefer non-directional tires. Might go back to Ecopias for the mpg's...

Just gotta do the front to back instead of the criss cross rotation style, thats how I usually did it before I knew most tires were non-directional. At $105 a tire, it wasnt much pricer than the walmart Generals I was running, those went from low 70s to $95!

 

[tdidieselbobny]

Just gotta do the front to back instead of the criss cross rotation style, thats how I usually did it before I knew most tires were non-directional. At $105 a tire, it wasnt much pricer than the walmart Generals I was running, those went from low 70s to $95!

Yeah, just preference of using all 4 corners vs. 2... and on the what did I do today to it- went out to dinner and the radio wasn't working-can't remember if rear camera worked. Googled problem at dinner. Said to hold power switch for 10 seconds or so to "hard reset" it. Tried it when done with dinner and luckily, it worked! Also filled up today- 348 miles on tank, still averaged just over 40mpg towing my trailer 105 of those miles...

 

[prsa01]

4x Michelin CrossClimate2 tires installed, good initial impression. Couldn't pass them up at $550 installed. Neat tread pattern

Who has this installed price? Limited time, I assume. Any hoops to jump thru?

Thanks

 

[Nuje]

Yeah - that's a deal.
I got a set from Costco for both our cars early in the year at $900CDN installed, taxes in. Currently $250 more than that.

 

[Nuje]

As for what I did (yesterday): Drove that baby just shy of 1200km.
Through the mountains from Seattle to Calgary, average speed of 100kph, which meant (with traffic and construction slow-downs factored in) the cruise control was pegged at a little over 120kph most of the time. On-car fuel consumption reading was 5.0L/100km for the day - so actual is probably gonna work out to 5.2L/100k, which - with A/C on the whole day (30°C+), is good enough for me.
(5.2 = 45mpg US for those not conversant)

Here's a tidbit, though: A couple tanks of fuel ago, I finally got around to putting the black plastic stone deflector on the hood. And it *seemed* like the fuel economy improved on highway drives (?). But with a varying mix of city driving thrown in, it was tough to tell.

But this certainly seems to be better fuel usage than I've ever had before on this car, so I'm almost thinking that the little stone deflector is helping the aerodynamics (?).

 

[Nuje]

....and then when I went to start it today (12hrs after the ~1200km trip ended), it was by far the longest cranking of the engine before it caught, I've ever had.
So much for every theory I've had on the long-crank-first-thing-in-the-morning issue.

 

[GolfSW98]

Who has this installed price? Limited time, I assume. Any hoops to jump thru?

Thanks

This option is only for those with 16 inch rims it seems like
3910pplus on eBay (not an endorsement or sponsor)
Had them at my door ~36 hours after ordering. Went to Discount Tire and they mounted, road force balanced, disposed old tire all that good stuff for $25 per wheel.

I picked the cross climate 2 because it is a new product - no old stock laying around. Pay attention to DOT date codes.
I see available from the same seller:
Cross Climate 2 - 205/60R16 runs $104.82
Cross Climate 2 - 215/60R16 runs $105.79

Also has a deal on Defender T+H (could be old DOT codes- send a message to seller for clarification)
Defender T+H 205/55R16 runs $101.41


It rained heavily today, Insane hydroplaning resistance, you can put power down with ease. They are a 20-30% noisier than regular tires at town speeds. I don't mind. I can't advise on the highway noise yet.