2nd Hand 2010 RS DSG Wagon - Buying Advice

[Pom]

Hi Everyone,

I have been looking at a 2nd hand 2010 RS Wagon, and have a few quick questions that I wouldn't mind clarifying.

1) It sounded like there was a wheel bearing issue on the rear wheel. I jacked the car up and checked the rotation, and also how solid the axle was, and couldn't see any issues.

Is this a common problem that exists.

The wheels definitely have hit a kerb before, but only from parking by the looks of the damage. I understand buying a 2nd hand car they are never going to be immaculate. So I am not too worried about the gutter rash.

2) The car HAS NOT been serviced for 29000 kms.

Last recorded service was ~35000kms and now at ~59000kms, and 22 months ago.

With the DSG and the issues that can arise from being mistreated, do you think that I should walk away based on the long service interval.

The owner didn't seem to be too worried about the long time in between services, although the service before was pretty much right on schedule.

Thanks for your help with this.

Pom

[R1 Crasher]

petrol or diesel? Did the present owner do the last service or was that prior to the current owner? buyers negotiation comes to the fore. If the current owner has not serviced the car,I would not be interested, unless it was very, very, cheap and risk taking a chance. K's for the DSG should not be an issue, how does the car drive? A lot of time you can tell how well a car has been maintained by looking at it, as much as the service schedule.

[woofy]

Sounds like a slack owner. It should have had 2 services in there. I'd walk away, with the new model there should be quite a few better ones about as people update.

[Antiplastix]

All vRS s came with a lot of -ve rear camber. This causes the rear tyres to wear on the inside, and depending on the tread pattern creates a howl from the rear end.

[Pom]

It's a petrol.

I did notice the inside of the rear wheels were worn a lot worse than the outside.

I wouldn't call it a howl though, more of a rotational noise.

I put the gearbox in neutral and the sound didn't go away, and definitely sounded like the rear end.

Thanks for all your help.

The owner is the first owner, and hasn't been using the car for a while. Have negotiated down to about 20% cheaper then the other ones for sale, and has a few extras such as leather, mdi, nav.

I'm sold on the price, just very wary of the risk.

[Pom]

And as for how the car drove, it didn't have any issues that I noticed.

Didn't lurch under braking, and the dsg wasnt juddering on take off.

Is there anything I should do while in a road test?

[brad]

For a 2010 complied/registered RS with that service history I wouldn't be paying more than $15k tops. Keep in mind that anything that goes wrong with these cars seems to cost $1k-$2k.

If you can prove that a 504/507 oil was used at the 35k service then maybe the missed service is OK as these vehicles can do up to 30,000km under ideal conditions on the variable service regime. If they only used 502 (a lot of dealers do) then combined with an uncaring owner I'd be concerned. I do wonder how the owner put up with the "service now" reminder at every start.

Check for bumps on the inner edge of the rear tyre. That's the most common issue for the rear end noise.

[daft1014]

My MY10 model had what could be a similar noise before I changed the tyres and got a proper wheel alignment. I'm guessing it has original Dunlops on it?

I put on a set of Federal Formoza FD2 tyres/wheel alignment and the noise is gone. Maybe this is the source of the noise?

On the early MY10 models there is a slightly higher risk of timing chain tensioner failure. There was a new tensioner fitted to later vehicles. I'm not sure exactly when it changed, but there is a long thread on the MK6 GTI area about it. If the engine fails Skoda will likely not come to the party and assist with a goodwill repair as it has not been logbook serviced.

As a minimum you will be up for $800+ for a DSG service if that was missed.

[zei20t]

inside rear wheel wear is not caused by camber, its cause by misaligned rear toe.

easy to correct. its called a wheel alignment

yes, badly aligned wheels may cause that sound, also cheap - and expensive - tyres.

[brad]

inside rear wheel wear is not caused by camber, its cause by misaligned rear toe.

easy to correct. its called a wheel alignment

yes, badly aligned wheels may cause that sound, also cheap - and expensive - tyres.

On the Octavia it's also excessive rear camber. There was even a TSB about it.

The top eccentric adjusts the camber, the lower one does the toe. They should be done in that order.

IIRC the factory spec for camber is -ve1.25 to -ve2.25. You really want to get it as close to -1.25 as possible & if you can get -1.0 that's what i'd aim for - especially on a vehicle witha few km on it (sad dampers & slightly sagged springs) or if it tends to carry rear passengers or a boot load.

Factory toe setting (total) is 2.1mm inward (+- 2.1mm) so it's unlikely that an Octavia would be running toe-out unless it's taken a hit.