# Wheel Bearing extended warranty dealership honor issue



## burndtjammer (Feb 11, 2009)

In October, I took my 2010 VW Routan in to Cooley Motors for an oil change and wheel bearing noise that I was sure that was coming from the front. It's obvious that they never pulled the tires to visually inspect the front bearings because they claimed it was the rear right bearing that was bad and also suggested rotating the tires because the front tires are cupped. My understanding is that cupping is a symptom of failing bearings so rotating the tires will only cause the tires that aren't cupped to now become so. The front rotors have also warped 3 times since we purchased in Dec 2010. The 3rd replacement I replaced with drilled and slotted rotors and so far I haven't noticed any warping in the 8 months we've had them on.
There were a few snide comments from the employees that its not really a Volkswagen (we knew this when we bought it but just want the dealership to treat us like any other VW owner. I have a 2014 Jetta that im seriously debating on taking to a private mechanic and pay out of pocket for the "free routing maintenance.") They also managed to smash a side mirror, thankfully it only scraped the paint. I was so annoyed I took it home and replaced the rear right bearing on my own. The noise still persisted. 
A few weeks later I was able to have time to rotate the tires. The noise again, persisted, but what I saw I consider truly disturbing. The axle nut was disintegrating and there is what I consider excessive rust on the wheel bearing itself. 
I scheduled another oil change last week at Capital Cities Imported Cars because my wife thought she overheard the employees at Cooley saying to just put regular oil in the Routan. It was here at Capital Cities that I was informed that the EGR Sensor was faulty and would need to be replaced to pass New York State DMV inspection next month. I was also informed that the rear left wheel bearing is where the noise was coming from. I asked them to take another look at the front bearings, which they did with no issue, because I am really concerned about the condition of those because i truly feel that it's currently unsafe to drive and I told them that. They claimed that there was no sound coming from the front so they can't be replaced under the extended warranty. They also said it's just a little rust and it being in the state it's in is still safe to drive. However, if I want they can order replacement axle nuts for me at $20 each and I don't need to worry about any possible axle damage that may exist. I left. I ordered the sensor and rear-right bearing to again do myself this weekend. 
If the noise doesn't go away, what am I supposed to do? The extended warranty on the wheel bearings expires next month even though we are only at 70,000 miles. The attached picture is a picture of the front left wheel bearing and axle. I will take a picture of the right side tomorrow when I get it up on the jacks.

Front bearing:









Rear bearing:


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