rjs@hpfclo.UUCP (rjs) (07/12/84)
[] Gary, VW must have gotten a little wiser over the years. I had a '68 bug that ran into misfortune in '73. I came out of work to discover that someone had backed into my bug and destroyed the right rear fender. I got a replacement (new but unpainted) for $20. They had changed from the srews and bolts that you mentioned to pop-rivits. I had the new guy on in about 15 minutes! It took me about another 15 minutes to paint it and I was all set. When I think off all the abuse that that bug took from me I'm amazed at how little trouble it every really gave me. However, the bug did have it's drawbacks. My car met it's fate when the owner of a full sized chrysler ran a red light and hit my front-end. The chrysler suffered a crunched fender. My bug suffered a bent front axle, bent frame, and crunched front end. Bob Schneider hpfcla!hpfclo!rjs
libes@nbs-amrf.UUCP (07/20/84)
The front vent windows on my rabbit are glued to the metal pivots.
Last year, one came unglued. I tried various glues and cements
including epoxy, crazy glue and several adhesives suggested by the
glue expert (part of the Center for Building Research here at NBS!)
none of which did the job. Yes, I prepped it properly. The problem
is that the window gasket exerts a lot of pressure when the window is
shut.
A call to VW told me that it required a glue applied under heat and
pressure which could only be done at the factory and that barring
sending the car back to the factory, I could pay $100 for a new window
with pivots glued on. They keep a supply handy.
It seemed kind of dumb to pay $100 for a second window when the
original was in fine shape. Rather, they are sticking me $100 for a
"glue job". So I decide to put a bolt through the pivot and glass
(which is the way any idiot should have designed it to begin with).
Well, I found out that the hardest piece of metal on the car is this
stupid little pivot. After breaking several bits on it, I decided to
put a U-bolt around it by drilling 2 holes in the glass on either side
of the pivot. I then discovered that the vent window is the only
glass in the car that is not "safety" glass. It shattered into
thousands of shards and splinters, several of which politely embedded
themselves in my arms.
At this point, I admitted defeat and paid VW $100 for a new window,
now feeling I was going to get my money's worth. I asked them what's
to prevent it from happening again and they said, nothing (its
guaranteed the usual 6 months like any spare part).
Well, guess what happened today? The other window came unglued.
<FLAME ON>
This just seems symptomatic of the car as a whole. There are various
things throughout it that are just dumb. Yeah, there are nice
engineering feats in the car, but there are several steps backwards
too. I could understand it if VW just began making autos but....
And the Rabbit was made for 5 years before I bought mine.
What I'm saying is I will never again buy or recommend a VW. In fact,
I haven't since shortly after I bought it.
<FLAME OFF>
Don Libes {seismo,allegra}!umcp-cs!nbs-amrf!libesdave@rocksvax.UUCP (Dave Sewhuk) (07/21/84)
In defense of VW their German made cars are great. All the american made ones,
the ones with square headlights, are terrible. I had a German '79 and the
american '82, world of difference. The american one has unfortunatly been
americanized, irght down to putting the dome light on the headlight switch
that is a push-pull knob like an american car.
I had both of my vent windows replaced under warrenty for that failure. I was
going to try and external window place see if they do it correctly. In fact
the current failure has chipped of the glass. The window itself failed, leaving
strips of glass on the pivot!!
--
Dave
arpa: Sewhuk.HENR@Xerox.ARPA
uucp: {allegra,rochester,amd,sunybcs}!rocksvax!davewmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (07/23/84)
Doen't one of the Federal safety regulations require that ALL glass in a car sold in the US be shatterproof "safety" glass?
inc@fluke.UUCP (Gary Benson) (07/24/84)
It seems that Don Libes has just learned "the VW lesson" - I am happy to
report that my only VW in 20 years of car ownership didn't cost me as much
money, but certainly was as expensive in terms of wear and tear on my psyche.
I bought a '61 Beetle in 65, and just about every weekend wound up fixing
the most inane things imaginable: fuse holders, weird little plastic things
under the hood, odometer, you name it -- if it was hard to get to and
required a special tool to fix, it broke on that son-of-a b*tch.
One day, while returning a friend's stereo the day after a party, I was
backing in to the apartment complex. To get close to his apartment, I was
backing very slowly (less than 2 miles per hour, I'd say) between two brick
pillars. There was just the tiniest noise, indicating that I had scraped on
one side. I went forward, readjusted, then successfully backed in. When I
went to look at the scrape, imagine my surprise at seeing the entire rear
wheel well destroyed! It was hanging on by two (of about 13 original) bolts,
and was a total waste!
Well, it wasn't hard to find a replacement (seems v-dubs get junked out
quite a bit). It was the wrong color, but I figured I'd paint it later.
Well, some of the places for the 13 screws were damaged, so I had to drill a
few new holes. For safety's sake, I drilled them as close as possible to the
originals, but you know what? That wasn't safe enough, because as I was
drilling one of them, smoke started coming out of the drill hole! Now what
on EARTH? I asked myself. Smoke kept coming - I knew it had to be
electrical, but before I got the back seat out and located the correct tool
to disconnect the &*^&*^^% battery, the smoke had stopped. I began
investigating, and discovered that my half-inch variance in drilling
location had permitted me to drill directly into the main cable connecting
the dash and the engine compartment. Well, I spliced all the wires, and
finally completed the completed the sheet-metal job. What originally looked
like about an hour's job turned into half a Saturday.
This is the same car (sic) that turned it's engine into shrapnel exactly
half-way between Denver and Cheyenne, necessitating an expensive, unplanned
for towing job, an expensive, unplanned-for stay while a replacement was
installed, and an abrupt stop to what had been a vacation trip. The
replacement engine worked pretty well for nearly 600 miles, when it nearly
killed me -- seems the accelerator linkage decided to get sticky when I was
in the middle of passing a truck. An oncoming car was going too fast for me
to complete the pass, so I was going to just fade back in behind it, but
that's when the engine stuck wide open!! I was able to free it by reaching
between my legs and jiggling the pedal and linkage, but to this day, I
remember with a LOT of fear how I almost died near Omaha while "My Cup
Runneth Over With Love" played on the radio.
This is the same car that just stopped running one cold winter day in
Wisconsin. When it was towed in, the service station found that the battery
had frozen! Right in the middle of driving! Great place for a battery, isn't
it? Under the back seat, where it is guaranteed to never receive any heat!
(What little there was in that model -- and I had the optional heater
addition!)
For shlokky design, weird materials choices, difficult servicing, and
all-around pain-in-the-assitude, I nominate the VW. Your experience with the
window just tells me they haven't changed a bit, and confirms my resolve not
only to not recommend VW to anyone, but also to relate my experiences
whenever the topic comes up. I will never own another of their products.
Give me a Toyota any day -- I'll pay for quality!!
--
Gary Benson {ihnp4!uw-beaver}{sb1!allegra}{ssc-vax}
John Fluke Mfg. Co. {decvax!microsoft}{ucbvax!lbl-csam}{sun} !fluke!inc
Everett, WA, 98206 USA *- ALL INPUTS GLADLY MULTIPLEXED -*hamilton@uiucuxc.UUCP (07/26/84)
#R:nbs-amrf:-33600:uiucuxc:29800012:000:230 uiucuxc!hamilton Jul 26 01:36:00 1984 re: VW windows that come unglued don't feel too bad. a friend of mine and i had the same problem with the rear (vent-style) windows on our '67-68 vintage volvos. volvo seems to have wised up; my '74 doesn't have glued windows.