Ridiculous condensation

[david.stark]

It would appear that the above seal is not the source after all. Or not the only source at least.

After the rain last night and today, the carpet is well and truly soaked in that footwell but as before, bone dry in every place as listed in my earlier post.

I hope when it goes in that they do not say it’s down to the rear dash cam installation and water is following the cables and has gathered in the footwell!

If they conclude that, I’ll have to pay as quite rightly it won’t be covered under warranty. I’d then have to sue Halfords!

Let’s hope that’s not the cause...

[david.stark]

I should also add that the car is booked in at the dealers on the 14th for this to be looked at.

[SRGTD]

Hope you get it sorted quickly David. Water ingress into the cabin longer term isn’t good for the carpets / upholstery, and can result in mildew/mould and damp musty smells.

Many years ago (mid eighties), I had an issue with water ingress into the front passenger footwell of a car. Every time I washed the car or it rained, the carpet in the footwell would get wet - not just damp but very wet. It turned out to be poor sealing of the bulkhead panel between the engine compartment and the passenger compartment. Water would run down the windscreen, into the engine compartment and seep through the poor seal into the cabin. Surprisingly, it didn’t cause condensation in the cabin.

From memory, it took the garage 2-3 attempts to find the source of the leak, and it ended up being a ‘dashboard out’ job to repair it!

Hope the source of your water ingress problem is easier to find and rectify. As I mentioned in an earlier post in this thread, defective door speaker sealing gaskets are a known cause of water ingress on the mk7 Golf, so if you don’t have a defective door seal, the speaker gasket seal could be the cause.

Please update us on the outcome.

[david.stark]

Well what a debacle with the buffoons at Parkway VW in Derby. I took my car in for 10am yesterday but was told that due to other customers needing their courtesy cars for longer than expected, they did not have any for me to take away. I was asked if I could return the car at 3pm when I would be guaranteed a courtesy car. I said no, you can come and fetch it from me due to the inconvenience caused.

Clock reaches almost 4pm so I phone for an update and I am told they have been snowed under so it will be after 6pm. I then receive a text message about 5:30pm to say they are on their way! After 6pm, the dealer phones to say traffic is horrendous and by the time they can get to me, it will be 8pm and they don't want to disturb my evening. They promise a 10am collection today.

10:30am I get a text from the dealer saying they are organising the car right now. I phone them at 11am to check and am put on hold for about 5 minutes until the guy comes on and says they will be there in about an hour. I told them to forget it!

Absolutely ridiculous! I told them that cold weather is coming in next week and I paid money for winter tyres on my car which I do not want to be without and clearly it will be next week now before they look at it. I have re-booked for the 17th but I plan to phone other dealers before then to see what they can offer on the booking front.

On another note...

I have been thinking again about the seal which I thought was the source. Perhaps it was in fact the source and I simply have not got rid of it. All I have done so far is blast warm air at it through the vents with air con switched on and this has dried the carpet but if there is a pool of water underneath, clearly it is going to soak through again.

My plan for a thorough drying process and to see if it really does come back, is to place a dehumidifier (got one in the shed), in the footwell and leave it running for a while to see if it will extract every last bit of water...

[Muldoon]

Hi David

Sorry to hear about your ongoing saga, sounds very stressful trying to contact the dealer and the changing arrangements - they always seem to be rushed and disorganised...

Maybe it's worth blotting the carpet in the passenger footwell with kitchen roll and then leaving some there to catch any water ingress, and might show a trace? If it's a long term leak it may have soaked into the carpet quite deeply and maybe the underfelt / sound proofing - blotting is often a quicker way of extracting the moisture then leave the dehumidifier in a while and see what it collects.

I have considered winter tyres - had some on my previous car and they were superb in the snow. Are you on 15 or 16 inch wheels? One option is to buy a spare set of used steel wheels online and fit them to those and swap over in spring, although not sure of the correct wheel size to buy with it being a recent model.

[Andy Beats]

With regard to winter tyres, I've just fitted 2 x Michelin Cross Climate on the front only.
See how I get on with those all year round.
I know they're a bit of a compromise in really bad snow, not as good as pure winter tyres, but the fact I can leave them on all year appeals.
I usually change tyres twice a year winter/summer/winter.

Regarding condensation, I've noticed the Polo windscreen does suffer from it really bad.
The other morning, despite full fan and aircon on, I was 10 minutes before I could drive.
My Leaf was bad for it too and I bought a little dehumidifer pad to sit on the dash overnight.
I wish I hadn't given it away with the Leaf now...

[david.stark]

15” Hankook tyres on mine. Check out my winter tyre topic in the chassis section

[RUM4MO]

With regard to winter tyres, I've just fitted 2 x Michelin Cross Climate on the front only.
See how I get on with those all year round.
I know they're a bit of a compromise in really bad snow, not as good as pure winter tyres, but the fact I can leave them on all year appeals.
I usually change tyres twice a year winter/summer/winter.

Snip ----- Snip

Not many people these days running around with winter/allseason tyres just at one end, that is not a good choice, take care, tell us when yoiu are out and about so that we can avoid you!

[Andy Beats]

Not many people these days running around with winter/allseason tyres just at one end, that is not a good choice, take care, tell us when yoiu are out and about so that we can avoid you!

Most people I know, with front wheel drive cars, only run winters on the front.
Been doing it for decades with no issues, not going to change that.
Thanks for your concern though.

[RUM4MO]

I agree that that is the way things used to be, ie winter tyres only needed on driven wheels, but I'm not aware of spotting many cars/vans with only 2 on nowadays that winter and all seasons tyres have become more available and they last far longer mileages than they used to.

I am down on the edge of the Scottish Borders area, but almost on the notional "snow line" in winter so I've been fitting winter tyres for 6 months and summer tyres for 6 months for many years - and the Michelin Alpins do not object to staying on from start of November to end of April - which did surprise me, I thought that they would wear rapidly if used in warmer temperatures.

A comment made in jest:- maybe it is the legendary Aberdonian trait that is holding you back from fitting them all round? (I'm a West coaster - I only live here!)

[Andy Beats]

I agree that that is the way things used to be, ie winter tyres only needed on driven wheels, but I'm not aware of spotting many cars/vans with only 2 on nowadays that winter and all seasons tyres have become more available and they last far longer mileages than they used to.

I am down on the edge of the Scottish Borders area, but almost on the notional "snow line" in winter so I've been fitting winter tyres for 6 months and summer tyres for 6 months for many years - and the Michelin Alpins do not object to staying on from start of November to end of April - which did surprise me, I thought that they would wear rapidly if used in warmer temperatures.

A comment made in jest:- maybe it is the legendary Aberdonian trait that is holding you back from fitting them all round? (I'm a West coaster - I only live here!)

Not really, I could fit four if I wanted.
Just done it for so long and and so many different cars now that I don't see the need.
All the winter tyres really do is ensure we get going - summer tyres have often left us stuck in our street.
Once we're actually rolling, we're not driving at any greater speed than if we were on summers.
So the rears aren't getting 'overpowered' at all.

[Muldoon]

I've fitted winter tyres before to all four wheels - often it's not the getting going it's the stopping which is the hard bit and where the back wheels better grip helps a lot. Having a big 4X4 isn't much use if you can't stop I think a 2WD with winter tyres is a better bet. Having said that I am still on summer tyres and hoping things don't get too bad - will gamble this year.

[RUM4MO]

I've fitted winter tyres before to all four wheels - often it's not the getting going it's the stopping which is the hard bit and where the back wheels better grip helps a lot. Having a big 4X4 isn't much use if you can't stop I think a 2WD with winter tyres is a better bet. Having said that I am still on summer tyres and hoping things don't get too bad - will gamble this year.

You are absolutely right there, I run a 2WD and a 4WD and both get winter winters on all wheels!

Getting moving initially in winter is only the start, stopping and steering is where having winters on all 4 wheels comes into its own, anyone only considering buying winter tyres for the driven wheels to "get moving" is a very big risk to all others around them, I think the insurance companies have already covered that idea.

[Andy Beats]

Getting moving initially in winter is only the start, stopping and steering is where having winters on all 4 wheels comes into its own, anyone only considering buying winter tyres for the driven wheels to "get moving" is a very big risk to all others around them, I think the insurance companies have already covered that idea.

I've yet to see anything from insurance companies saying that if you fit winter tyres, it must be to all four wheels.
When I've called insurance companies to check if they are OK with winter tyres, not one of them has said "yes, that's fine....but it must be to all four wheels"
I'd also argue that if people have limited resources, I'd really rather they fitted some than none.
You can argue about what the back wheels add to a scenario all you want, the fact is the bulk of braking is done by the front.
If you're looking in your rear view mirror at someone slithering down a hill behind you, the person with 'just' the two on the front is a far more preferable scenario to the one on summers....

[david.stark]

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Vi ... -tyres.htm