[Ragul]

Originally Posted by funkykar

Guys, firstly lets stop blaming the Bangalore water for the plastic woes! .

What about my hair loss?

In any case for a new car to have these problems speaks very very poorly about the QC and inspection of the dealer+manufacturer. How can they have the gall to deliver such stuff for such an expensive product? If the problems were noticeable on visual inspection, then they should have replaced it before delivery.

Just my Chaar Aanaas.

Cheers

[HammerHead]

Originally Posted by GreenDay

After an hour he calls back. His reply for white plastics is "Saar, don't wash car daily, instead do 'dry clean' daily and wash with water only once a week". I had no words for the reply.. For the rubber beading tear issue, he says, "Saar, close the door slowly just like the 'refrigerator door'. Then beadings will last for long".

I was not at all shocked to see SA's reply to 'white plastic' issue but was shocked to see his reply to rubber beading issue. It is so funny that he is actually comparing car's door to a refrigerator door!!

[MAS]

The fading of black plastics is uniform. IMO, It has to do with both the quality of plastics and the quality of water used.

In many apartments, water is generally "treated" before it is used by the residents. Such treated could have caused the bleaching and the use of 3M only might have aggravated it further.

About a year back, one of my friend gave me a car polish meant for keeping the shine of the plastics. The product was made by a formulation of one of the fast moving products in India and he wanted me to try it. I tried the product on my Fusion and applied it ONLY to the right Outside Rear View Mirror. It made it shine a lot but after about a month of usage, the ORVM started losing its colour and turned paler. I am sure with more usage it would have turned as white as the VW in the picture. It had to do with the solvents & chemicals in the polish.

Green Day: Please take this up with VW. They should change the door beadings, but i really doubt if they would do anything for the faded plastics. Wish you good luck.

[blackfire_9]

A really shocking response from the SA, especially about the rubber beading. Closing a door with more than adequate force also wouldn't puncture & tear those rubber beadings the way it has happened on greenday's car. It's a door getting closed, not a sharp weapon banging those beadings.

Also, about washing it daily, I don't buy that. Agreed, the water may be hard & it may be having a deteriorating effect on the car, but it's not just this car that is getting washed every day. As per one of the previous posts from greenday, he has other cars in the household that are washed every single day with that same hard water (with or without that 3M car shampoo which coming from 3M should be good & specific to car wash) without such serious ill effects. It is also to note that those cars are much older than this new Polo.

There is no time that you can set as being good enough for the life of a plastic component, but most here would agree that there is a certain expectation if nothing more & that too more from a company of such stature. I don't know about anybody else, but I am not comparing VW with maruti or hyundai or any other manufacturer. But what I am trying to do is set an example that even much cheaper cars & those too from manufacturers that don't have the edge of being called "tough" or "having great built" fare better under the same set of conditions.

And going by this, we might as well start sheltering our rides with umbrellas the next time it starts pouring as the rain water would have much more contaminants & these plastics might start showing their true colours.

Drive safe.

[v.anand]

@GreenDay, have you got the teflon coating or paint protection treatment done on the car from dealer or outside? Polish meant for painted surface could have caused this whitening of panels.

As for scratch on bonnet, are you sure wiper blades touch the bonnet when opened? The washing guy could be trying to lift the wiper while cleaning to cause this scratch. Can you post a pic showing the wiper and bonnet position when bonnet is open? Most new current cars now come with flat type wiper blades like in Punto but the ones in pics you posted shows them to be the older type. Has VW changed this detail for India?

[Thad E Ginathom]

I do not believe in the hard-water theory. Water does not dry in an even sheet, it forms droplets, and the minerals in those droplets form spots and circles as the water evaporates. More than a few of us have had fun getting them off our windscreens.

I do think it is possible that a cleaning or polishing compound intended for paint or metal might do this, but... all over?

The bonnet thing: There is something about this car and a special wiper position!

The rubber seal is in a ridiculous state. Any trace on the door where it contacts? It looks like something adhesive was there and has torn the rubber away!

[Mindgrinder]

if any body is blaming water than its purely lack of RnD on part of VW, water is not as good as germany or US anywhere in India..anyways check with VW..i am happy i went for a linea instead of a vento

[COUNSEL]

Like the way suspension of all cars are tweaked according to Indian Road conditions, why not plastic parts too. Borewell water being harmful is not an unknown mystery.

When Peugeot was launched in India in late '90s, the dashboard was not suitable for Indian conditions. There were cases where the dashboard used to crack because of Indian heat conditions.

[swathyd]

Please stop arguing on water problems , like to see how VW officially responds to this issue . An issue arose on my 'Adventure' when I bought it before 4 years . Certain patches started to appear on the paint if we leave it under rain for 30 minutes . It used to vanish after 2 hours . I reported it to my dealership but they were reluctant to accept it . So with the help of a Bhpian working with a cochin dealer I reported to Fiat . Fiat readily accepted my claim it was repainted in cochin .

The customer will get relief in this case only if VW accepts his claim , 'bashing' the brand wont do any help .

[uvmallya]

Originally Posted by v.anand

@GreenDay, have you got the teflon coating or paint protection treatment done on the car from dealer or outside? Polish meant for painted surface could have caused this whitening of panels.

As for scratch on bonnet, are you sure wiper blades touch the bonnet when opened? The washing guy could be trying to lift the wiper while cleaning to cause this scratch. Can you post a pic showing the wiper and bonnet position when bonnet is open? Most new current cars now come with flat type wiper blades like in Punto but the ones in pics you posted shows them to be the older type. Has VW changed this detail for India?

I had the Teflon coating done on my VW Polo car before taking delivery from the dealer. In the excitement of driving the new car out of the showroom I had not given importance to check out the minute finishing details on the car bodyline. But next day while washing the car I did observe mild white patches on the plastics at a couple of places. My friend who is a good painter attributed this to the teflon coating done on the car without taking proper care to see that it was not applied on the plastic parts. On subsequent visit to the workshop I brought this to the notice of the service advisor who applied some liquid (possibly some kind of polish) and the white patches had gone. But after a few days they have re-appeared once again although not prominently enough to be observed.

[RaguHolla]

Originally Posted by Mindgrinder

water is not as good as germany or US anywhere in India.

Not sure about US water, but I don't agree that Germany has better water than Bangalore! I stayed in Germany different parts for an about 2 years in past 6 years. Tap water supplied is more hard water than what we get it in Bangalore. It is more hard water than one which u get it in Borewell (again south Bangalore). Most of the utensils turn whiteish within two days in Germany!

Coming back to OP, every manufacturer dishes out one or two bad products. I have friend who has polo. The amount of abuse he dishes out on new polo, still it looks new. He stays in south Bangalore, parks his cars in open.

Its sad to see OP's car, but neither VW or dealer will own the problem. They deny everything and place blame back on OP. We have to leave with is customer rights, because we have one of worst justice system.

[srishiva]

I have used Surf or RIN to wash my cars. I have used corporation water and borewell water. I have different cars. I dont see the same problem.

It could be a combination of plastic quality and water. Quality is to be blamed. Hope my Vento will come with good quality plastics, not just good looking.

[GearOn]

Have been an owner of Polo for 5 months and never faced any whitening of any plastic panels. Quality is top notch and is still retains the shine present at time of delivery without me ever using any after market wax or shine.

As regards to misconception on the thread, wipers do not interfere in any way while opening the bonnet. It's only when you try to lift wiper during cleaning purposes without shifting it in service position, that there would be scratching of bonnet. Also as lot of Polo owners must have seen is that unlike other cars like swift, figo, windscreen washers are concealed and not visible on bonnet. When a car manufacturer takes as many pains for such minute details, you can rest assured that they must have had solid reasons for present design as its the same as with European counterparts.

Also my two cents, just check the particular 3M car wash bottle also, as it could also be the problem with whitening of plastic parts.

Originally Posted by Ragul

In any case for a new car to have these problems speaks very very poorly about the QC and inspection of the dealer+manufacturer. How can they have the gall to deliver such stuff for such an expensive product?

The manufacturer would have no indication of this problem at time of delivery. If that would have been the case, the owner could have flatly refused delivery at time of PDI.

[AnkitPrashar]

I think its safe to say that this is a one-off case. Hope you get it sorted out with the VW dealers.
On the other hand, you can at least be proud of owning a VW that took both 2nd and 3rd palce in ICOTY with polo and vento

"In car category, Ford Figo emerged as clear winner with 83 points while VW Vento (57 points),Volkswagen Polo and Skoda Yeti (37 points) had to settle with second and third spots respectively." -source wheeloshpere.

I didnt see any Marutis or Fiats Lineas making the cut!
@srishiva I don't think you need to worry about your vento besides the A.S.S.

Figo! hats off to it, no doubts about it being the perfect VFM

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by srishiva

I have used Surf or RIN to wash my cars. I have used corporation water and borewell water. I have different cars. I dont see the same problem.

Did you have tough stains to remove? Surf and RIN to wash a car?!

Coming to the topic, let's not pass judgements based on one car! I'm eager to know how VW deals/sorts the issue. Afterall their engineers have tested everything and even cry when the send the cars outside the factory.