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BHPian Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: India
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| Volkswagen Vento 1.6 TDI Highline (2010). EDIT: Now 2,00,000 km up It has been six years of wonderful experience with this car. The car has clocked over 1,06,000 kilometers until now. It has been extremely reliable all these years. The ownership has been largely fuss free. Replacement of consumables has been minimal, apart from the usual oil and filter changes. The car is on factory installed clutch so far. Brakes pads changed twice. Rear brakes are barely used halfway through, as per the dealership. This write-up includes my initial impressions of the car, as well as the maintenance accounts of the jobs done during 1,00,000 kilometers. A detailed account is also included on the suspension type, and how the localized suspension components and incorrect installation, changes the dynamics and drivability of the car, and also impacts the performance of other vehicle systems, such as the brakes and steering components. What I like The highlights of the car: - The overall build quality - Engine - Heavy-duty suspension - Anti-theft alarm - The transmission (5-speed manual) - Impressive braking power (high traction from heavy-duty suspension) - Safety features: dual airbags and ABS Other tidbits: - Engine guard and underbody protector from factory - Anti-pinch windows - One touch roll-up and down for all windows - Front co-passenger seat adjustable, forward and backward, from the rear - Great, blue backlight of the head unit and the climatronic AC unit, and red backlight of the buttons and the instrument cluster display What I do not like The downsides: - An average steering feel - Sub-par stock Apollo Acelere tyres - Rear drum brakes (discs would have been nice) - Semi-independent rear suspension (heavy-duty suspension makes it hardly noticeable though) - Spare wheel is of a different size 175/70 R14 (steel rim for the spare wheel, is not a big deal to me) - Lack of USB/AUX-IN in the basic RCD-030 head unit - Speakers are good, but not great - Spare parts not available in the open market, and some priced very steeply at dealerships in India - No electronically foldable side mirrors (now added in recent models) I have detailed certain aspects of the car below. Suspension, braking, and, ride and handling This deserves a special mention. The heavy-duty suspension is great, and makes it an impressive driver's car, paired with the untamed engine. The car remains incredibly planted on the highways. It takes on the raised repaired patches and non-flat portions of the highways, even along twists-and-turns, without a hitch. The suspension makes even the fast drives very confidence inspiring. There is no uncontrolled vertical movement, and the suspension rarely bottoms out. The traction provided by the firm coil springs and hard struts/shock dampers is simply great. Braking power is massive because of this suspension and the traction it provides. There are no nose dives or tail squats due to the firm gas-assisted dampers all around. I have never felt the need to upgrade the brakes, thanks to this suspension setup. Having said that, as with sporty suspension, driving over potholes is affected, but the sharp handling response and minimal body roll, allows me to maneuver around the potholes, or take them head on albeit by driving on the raised portions of the potholes, without any second thoughts. There is no loss of confidence during the swerves, due to the heavy-duty suspension's characteristics. Ground clearance due to the firmer coil springs and gas-assisted shock dampers is 168 mm, and an additional ~5 mm due to 195/60 R15 tyre profile. Engine The 1.6 TDI engine is an untamed beast with a great turbo kick, that makes me feel the exponential rise in power, post 2,000 RPMs. It makes overtaking very effortless, especially on highways. However, the low end and mid range performance of the engine could have been better, especially the former for city driving. Changing gears accordingly makes it hardly noticeable though. Having said that, the engine is a bit noisy, but considering the performance that can be overlooked easily. Steering feedback The steering feedback is not bad. The heavy-duty suspension setup actually adds a lot to it, and makes it feel rather weighty and quite precise. However, the steering feedback could have been better. Although I take great care of the tyres in my car, with wheel balancing, wheel alignment, and wheel rotation at a maximum interval of every 5,000 kilometers or earlier if need is felt, miniscule uneven tyre wear especially on the inner edge of the front right tyre makes the lighter steering wheel stay off-center a bit. (Swapping the wheels along the same axle, in a way that results in the tire having lesser wear along the inner edge, on the right side, helps a lot. A re-alignment after about 1,000 kilometers fixes any remaining slight off-centering issue.) Transmission The manual transmission is impressive and smooth to operate. The short gear shifter stick feels effortless to use. There is no looseness or play even after all these years of usage. However, the short shifter is hard to use when the armrest is in the fully extended position. Perhaps the gear shifter mechanism should have been mounted a bit higher. Mounting the armrest lower may not have been a good idea, due to the lack of space because of the handbrake. Safety features The driver and co-passenger airbags are good to have. However, 6-airbags would have been great. Anti-lock braking system is a life saver, especially in the chaotic vehicular traffic we have. Wheels and Tyres The strength of the Riverside 7-spoke alloy wheels seems great, fared well over the years. However, I have never liked the appearance "swollen spokes" and that of the entire the alloy wheel. The factory installed Apollo Acelere 185/60 R15 tyres were extremely disappointing. There was a substantial amount of body roll, with these tires on. On wet roads, the grip loss made the drives very unsafe. The steering wheel wobbled way too much, due to the abysmal wet grip of the tyres. This car needed some good tyres for unleashing the true potential. I had the stock tyres replaced with Yokohama C-drive 195/60 R15, after about 16,000 kilometers on the odometer. Considering the firmer suspension, I went with this upsize for adding some comfort. The car has been on C-drives for the past 90,000 kilometers (or slightly more due to the error induced by the tyre upsize). The second set is about to be replaced now. Thinking of going with Vredestein Sportrac 5 in 195/60 R15, considering the C-drives are no longer available in India. I hope the Sportracs would enable me to drive with confidence even on wet roads at speeds nearing 100 kmph. Yes, I did that comfortably with C-drives and this suspension, despite the absence of any electronic stabilization. I remained on par with a BMW 320d E90 once on an eight lane road. Of course, I do not expect this car to be on par with the 320d in all road conditions and situations. Headlamps The chrome headlamps look nice with the Reflex Silver paint colour. The light distribution is subpar and range seems lacking with the OEM bulbs. My car had Philips 12342 H4 bulbs. Earlier this year, I got the European Philips White Vision bulbs, hoping they would be good, as they had a reworked design and coating. However, they underperformed, and I had to get Osram Night Breaker Unlimited bulbs to replace them. One of the stock OEM bulbs was crooked; capsule was slightly tilted from the base. I had to realign the headlamps after replacing the bulbs (twice). I did not upgrade to HID headlamps to avoid any headaches with the traffic police and even the RTO officials. Even if I had got the average performing OEM Valeo HID headlamps, I would have had a hard time explaining to the officials that the headlamps are officially approved. Moreover, the performance of those also seemed average. Interiors, space, comfort levels, and NVH The interior plastics look nice and premium, but the upholstery could have been better. I got faux leather-ish seat covers, with padded lower back and lower seat area. The padding is quite good. Now, after all these years, I may have to replace these seat covers, and I may not find something that is padded as good as these. The interior space is good. Leg room is decent for all people in the car, beats some other cars like Audi A4 B8 on this front. Boot space is great, at 480 liters. The passenger comfort levels are okay, could not be better without reducing the damper/coil spring firmness and taking away the dynamics of the car and perks associated with the heavy-duty suspension. Perhaps aftermarket premium dampers might offer best of both worlds, such as Konis. Overall NVH levels are okay, and would be a lot better had the engine not been "clattery". Exteriors The build quality is nice and the car feels solid. The panel gaps are consistent. The seam weld top/roof is great. The factory paint job is of great quality. The paint is nice and shiny, even after 6 years. The overall design of the car is good. However, the front-end should have been more prominent. The front grille should have had a bit more breadth, just as in the recent models. Even the international Polo 6R single chrome strip grille may do the trick. Visibility The front view/visibility is good. The side mirrors are also of adequate size, that provide good side views. The rear visibility is okay, and could have been better. Audio player and sound quality The factory installed RCD-030 unit is very basic. The speaker sound quality is average; lower frequency range is good, higher is lacking. I wanted to replace the speakers for that reason, and the music player due to the lack of USB and AUX-IN inputs. I did not like the Blaupunkt unit at the dealership, so decided against getting that. I did not look for another replacement unit after that. However, last year, I decided to add USB and AUX-IN ports to the RCD-030 unit, by opening it up and soldering the required components. The unit does have required interfaces in the hardware. Unfortunately, I never got around to doing it. It would have allowed me to double press the CD button for USB mode and also made AUX-IN accessible similarly. I had even thought of fixing the ports at the lower plastic trim on the unit, by making the necessary slits and holes, for a clean OEM like look, similar to the recent head units. Driver controls, and MID The wiper control stalk and indicator stalk seem high quality and well designed. However, they should have been swapped for the RHD variants. MID is good, has plenty of information to display that can be cycled through. However, it is a low-cost unit. The international Polos come with an instrument cluster that have a larger MID, which fills the MID "space" fully.. Accessories I got 3M Kagu like foot mats, way before 3Ms were (readily) available. I got the mud flaps from VW. Issues, over the years - The car has been extremely reliable all these years. The only "major" issue it had was a glow plug warning sign at about 54,000 kilometers on the odometer, during the 4th year of ownership. Replacement of a few wires was all it took to fix it. The service centre guys said rats chewing them up seemed likely. - Apart from that, there have been minor issues, like creaking sounds from the armrest in the first year of ownership, that was fixed by torquing down a loose fastener in it. - Tiny "locks" in the front fender linings got loose, had 3 of them replaced until now. - The steering column started making clicking noises during turns, last year, but VW dealerships did not have any solution apart from replacing the entire steering column. They all said I could continue to drive and ignore the noises. However, the noises stopped automatically after some time. As far as I have been able to tell, it was just a dried up bearing/bushing. - Rear door squeaks. I need to get some E-sockets, to remove, reinstall, and align the door, and white lithium grease, to lubricate the contact areas. - Sixth year of ownership, loss of pressure in windshield washer fluid spray. Washer jets seem okay. I suspect blockage either in the washer lines or the washer motor. To be fixed. Suspension overhaul The option codes, for the suspension are G33 and L42. Coil spring part numbers are 6R0 411 105 F and 6R0 511 115 G for front and rear, respectively, although the factory installed coil springs did not need replacement. - The suspension overhaul was the most challenging and troublesome experience of the ownership. It primarily had to do with incorrect installation, and not an issue with the car. A front shock absorber issue went undetected; blamed on the steering rack by the dealership and on the control arm bushings by an independent garage. Aftermarket Lemforder control arm bushings (wrongly) installed; went bad in like a month. Ball joints removed and reinstalled; not needed, messed up the handling characteristics (reasons ahead). At about 79,000 kilometers and 5 years of ownership, I got new control arms from VW. They were made in India and the design was changed. The earlier European units were discontinued. Luckily the localized control arms had the same imported bushings installed, as the European units did. At this point, I even decided to replace the ball joints with the aftermarket Lemforder units, which are OEM units, but available at a fraction of cost in the aftermarket. The price was 1.8k vs 10k for a unit at VW dealerships. I experienced a lot of issues with this, as the control arms and ball joints need to be installed in a certain way to retain the permitted flexibility in the suspension, ensure long life of the bushings, and prevent noises on rough roads. I have been fixing this stuff for a long time, as even the dealership techs were unaware of the intricacies. My findings:
The job would be worth the effort, if done right. There would likely be no need to tinker with the suspension again until the bushings or ball joints go bad. For me, another 1 lakh kilometers, or so, by experience with this car and this suspension setup. - The sway links (link rods) went bad at about 55,000 kilometers. VW discontinued the solid and firmer ones (part number: 6Q0 411 315 N), and introduced the hollow aluminium ones with soft ball joints (part number: 6R0 411 315). This threw the entire handling and planted nature of the car for a toss. The preciseness of the steering wheel was also compromised. I recently replaced them with aftermarket TRW units, that were based on the earlier firmer sway links. The planted nature and great handling was restored. (Internationally, VW has seemingly reverted to the earlier type of sway links (new part number: 6R0 411 315 A).) - The sway bar bushings were also replaced once at 79,000 kilometers. I am going to replace them again, as I feel this could control the body roll that seems to have increased a little lately. - The front strut mounts, top mounts and bearing plates were also replaced sometime after this. Bearing plates were (wrongly) replaced under the suspicion of the noises that turned out to be from the steering column. - Replacements for the mighty heavy-duty shock absorbers were a nightmare to get a hold of. VW dealerships put in the localized, normal suspension shock absorbers into my car. (No VIN number and part number cross checks prior to the installation. ![]() However, after a bit of a gravity-filled situation, I had them order the European heavy-duty shock absorber replacements that should have been installed with the heavy-duty coil springs. Part numbers of front and rear shock absorbers: 6R0 413 031 AJ, 6R0 513 025 A. The front ones made by FKG Germany, while the rear ones made by Monroe Czech Republic. Cost: 3325, 4605 a unit, respectively. To my utter shock, some oil seepage started happening in the rear right shock absorber barely after 6,600 kilometers of usage, presumably due to a manufacturing issue. This can happen with any shock absorber, even with the otherwise, extremely long-life units like these (more info at the end). The leak had just started happening; warranty claim apparently requires a fully leaked unit to process successfully. Shortly thereafter, it leaked as per the warranty claim norms. It was finally replaced under warranty, and I bought a new one for the other side to ensure equal damping. Yes, 6,600 kilometers of difference creates a noticeable difference in damping, throwing off the planted nature of the car. It turns out these shock absorbers have a strange wear-in pattern. Overly stiff for nearly the first 1,500 kms, followed by softer nature for another 1,500 kms, and finally the fully worn-in firm and punchy behavior after about 4,000 kms of usage. The rear damper pair is self-stabilizing (Monroe Reflex E1309), which make the rear-end of the car, punchy and solid. Almost no body roll, after about 4,000 kilometers of usage. Despite these cars being lower by about a centimeter on the right side, these dampers adjust to that too. Regardless, I have gotten the shock dampers replaced in pairs, along the same axle. Advantages of the heavy-duty dampers (apart from the performance): the factory installed front shocks lasted for about 55,000 kilometers and the rear ones lasted about 84,000 kilometers. They could have lasted until now, and not gone bad, had some of the situations been a bit different. The rear ones lasted for about 1,60,000 kilometers on another car, as per a service advisor. Phew. Pictures I may not have any pictures of the car from the time of purchase, but it's a largely unmodified car. I am including some pictures from other ownership reviews and official Team-BHP. Credit: msd63 for the first four pictures, GTO for the fifth picture, evilshantanu for the next one, nileshch for the rest. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The anti-theft alarm sensors. Last edited by halfbytecode : 1st December 2016 at 01:30. |
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The following 16 BHPians Thank halfbytecode for this useful post: | arunphilip, AutoIndian, dhanushs, GTO, hillsnrains, ike, jacobvarughese, JoseVijay, nileshch, ninjatalli, noopster, paragsachania, Rehaan, Researcher, shipnil, Vik0728 |
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Team-BHP Support ![]() ![]() | re: Volkswagen Vento 1.6 TDI Highline (2010). EDIT: Now 2,00,000 km up Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Long-Term Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing! |
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The following BHPian Thanks GTO for this useful post: | halfbytecode |
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BHPian ![]() | re: Volkswagen Vento 1.6 TDI Highline (2010). EDIT: Now 2,00,000 km up Congrats on achieving great milestone! I am happy for you, as your ownership is pleasant. Can you please let us know your experience with clutch, as you are still on stock clutch? I have a Skoda Rapid with ODO ~85K and the two things I hate are ultra heavy clutch and engine noise (both are almost truck like ![]() |
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BHPian Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: India
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| re: Volkswagen Vento 1.6 TDI Highline (2010). EDIT: Now 2,00,000 km up Quote:
The clutch on my car has always felt a bit heavier. It would be hard to compare the clutch with my car, especially if you have a newer car. However, a clutch turning harder over time may mean it could be going bad, especially if you have used it for 85K kilometers. I have read post-2012 Vento TDI cars have a lighter clutch. There are also two types of OEM clutches that VW uses, one manufactured by LUK and the other by Sachs. Moreover, there was a change in the clutch hose pipe design. My car did not have any issue, and continues to have one of the earlier design. The newer one made a clutch a bit lighter too. | |
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BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bangalore
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| re: Volkswagen Vento 1.6 TDI Highline (2010). EDIT: Now 2,00,000 km up I couldn't agree more with the positives you've noted. Ours is a 2013 Vento and it's just too fun to drive on the highways. Wife drives it within the city and so I don't have experience on how it fares in stop-start traffic. From what I read, your advice would be to not go with the local VW parts but replace them with OEM parts from VW as exact replacements. If possible, please share the costs for the parts that you've bought. Would be helpful for budgeting. ![]() Wishing you many more happy miles of trouble free motoring. |
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BHPian Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: India
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| re: Volkswagen Vento 1.6 TDI Highline (2010). EDIT: Now 2,00,000 km up Quote:
The issue was caused by installing shock absorbers meant for normal suspension, into my car with heavy duty suspension. This would likely never happen internationally, especially at dealerships. Around here, they seem to be taking advantage of relatively less knowledge and awareness among most. Even if they have to localize the parts to cut costs, they can localize heavy-duty suspension components too, along with localizing normal suspension components, and install the parts depending upon the suspension type of a particular car. They seem to be cutting down on the manufacturing costs for two types of components, and going with one type of parts for all cars irrespective of the differences in the car. Anyhow, the cost of the European heavy-duty shock dampers was 3325, 4605 a unit for front and rear, respectively. Their life is usually substantially more than the localized normal shock dampers. You can say 1 lakh kms vs 25,000 kms. They pretty much cost half as much as the localized ones, in the long run. Hope you enjoy your ride for a long time, too. Last edited by halfbytecode : 2nd December 2016 at 15:51. | |
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Senior - BHPian | re: Volkswagen Vento 1.6 TDI Highline (2010). EDIT: Now 2,00,000 km up Congrats Halfbytecode. My Vento had run 99K clicks with stock clutch. Running with Second set of Tires & Brake pads. I've found an oil leak near the head/Gasket. Had got replaced as a preventive measure. This seems to be common problem on all 1.6TDI(Source: Online). Apart from this, its all regular maintenance. Last edited by Ramsagar : 6th December 2016 at 13:32. |
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BHPian Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: India
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| re: Volkswagen Vento 1.6 TDI Highline (2010). EDIT: Now 2,00,000 km up Quote:
I am glad you got the oil leak sorted out. I will keep an eye out for that as well. Thanks for mentioning. There is an issue that I have been noticing about the engine belts. It keeps making "swoosh swoosh" sounds, as if the belts are loose. Something they did not do right while changing the belts, is reusing the old bolts, and also not torquing them down as per spec. The torque spec for at least one of them is crazy high, like 180 Nm + 90°. Not easily attained with a spanner or wrench, unless the person doing it is like a gorilla or something. An extension was certainly not used on the tool, to increase leverage. Anyhow, I suspect the bolts loosened over time, putting aside the under-torquing. I may have to get new bolts, and a torque wrench with the required torque range, and fix this myself. | |
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The following BHPian Thanks halfbytecode for this useful post: | Rehaan |
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BHPian Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: India
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| re: Volkswagen Vento 1.6 TDI Highline (2010). EDIT: Now 2,00,000 km up Update - Replaced the nuts on ball joints. Lemforder is the OEM for the ball joints on Polo/Vento. However, the nut that goes on the top of the ball joints was different than what came factory installed in my car. Anyhow, it did not seem to be a issue until I found out that one of the nuts was defective. Lemforder supplied elliptical lock nuts, of strength class 10. These nuts "go round" around the threaded hole, after torquing them down. However, the defective but did not go round, preventing it from locking in place. Consequently, it used to loosen over time. I got VW's nylock nuts (nylon lock nuts), of strength class 5 (part number: N 908 088 01). It should be noted that different nuts are factory installed, in new cars. Anyhow, I replaced the defective one, as well as the one on the other ball joint (to ensure consistent torque). I removed the ball joints fully (they get locked in the taper in steering knuckle, and should be removed to ensure proper torque and prevent them from being loose). After that, I cleaned up the threads using a nylon brush (dirty threads throw off the torque, by as much as 40% according to various online sources). After that I torqued them down to spec (20 Nm + 90°). No nut loosening issues anymore. Last edited by halfbytecode : 12th January 2017 at 14:33. |
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The following BHPian Thanks halfbytecode for this useful post: | Rehaan |
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BHPian Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: India
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| re: Volkswagen Vento 1.6 TDI Highline (2010). EDIT: Now 2,00,000 km up I have attached pictures of the nuts, I mentioned in the above post, in case someone finds them useful. First picture shows the nuts supplied by Lemforder, along with the ball joints. The but on the left did not become "round" after torquing it down, whereas the one of the right did. The second picture is of VW's nylon lock nuts. Credit goes to ECSTuning.com for the picture. |
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The following BHPian Thanks halfbytecode for this useful post: | Rehaan |
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| The Only Issue is Night driving with the stock headlamps. The throw is poor and lighting totally inadequate. Please suggest an alternative without making changes to wiring and altering the original setup. My car is a MY 12 Vento TDi Highline |
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BHPian Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: India
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| re: Volkswagen Vento 1.6 TDI Highline (2010). EDIT: Now 2,00,000 km up Quote:
There are newer bulbs available now, including Philips Racing Vision and Osram Night Breaker Laser. Available at powerbulbs.com For proper illumination, it would be good to ensure the headlamps are aligned according to VW's specs. | |
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The following BHPian Thanks halfbytecode for this useful post: | Rehaan |
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BHPian Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: India
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| re: Volkswagen Vento 1.6 TDI Highline (2010). EDIT: Now 2,00,000 km up Update - One of the front shock absorbers went bust after driving for about 19,000 kilometers. A bit strange considering such dampers have lasted for a lakh kilometers for a few people. Anyhow, I had a new pair ordered. However, prior to the installation I found one of the new dampers already leaking oil. I have had a new pair ordered. I am thinking it could be due to a manufacturing defect, or due to the dampers not being stocked vertically. |
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The following BHPian Thanks halfbytecode for this useful post: | Rehaan |
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Infractions: 0/1 (5) | Quote:
Hello Sir, May I also request you Information on where I could purchase the heavy duty shock dampers? Regards Bharath | |
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BHPian Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: India
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| re: Volkswagen Vento 1.6 TDI Highline (2010). EDIT: Now 2,00,000 km up Quote:
I had the VW dealership order them for me. However, I have come to know that some dealerships are not willing to order these dampers. If that is so for you too, then you can procure these dampers online. A quick google search with just the part numbers individually should work. Do calculate the shipping and custom duties, and take that into consideration. You might as well as get Bilstein B6s though (ask for Polo Sedan dampers). Quote:
Last edited by halfbytecode : 13th February 2017 at 08:54. | ||
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The following BHPian Thanks halfbytecode for this useful post: | Rehaan |
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