Sorry for the necropost (and on my first post too! :D), but I was just keen to see how common this issue is.
I washed & polished my 06 GTI 2 weeks ago and noticed for the first time the dreaded bubbles appearing on the nearside front arch. When I looked inside the arch and saw the line of rust forming there I was unimpressed to say the least - the car is an obsessively maintained low mileage GTI which has been driven carefully in its 5 years of ownership.
Anyway, long story short, took it to my local VW Body Specialist (Gilders). 2 Weeks later I've got what looks like the default speel from VW - it's not covered under the 12 year corrosion warranty as it's a 'Mechanical Defect' caused by the wheel arch liner rubbing the arch, which means, as it's now out of the 3 year warranty that would have covered this issue, it's not VW's problem.
I rang Customer Service to play merry hell up, as it looks like UBZRM did before me. They knew about the problem immediately - they're obviously now getting a lot of claims in. The poor guy who answered could only keep reiterating 'but it's a mechanical defect' as I politely expressed my dissatisfaction, asked exactly how a clearly well known 'manufacturing defect' (there's been no fault in the assembly or manufacture of the plastic wheel arch liner - it does it's job fine) was not addressed during its servicing in the form of a TSB / Recall at VAG dealerships in both Wolverhampton and Sheffield. No explanation given.
In the end he gave up and has now referred it to their 'claims manager' who will apparently get back to me in 24-48 hours. Ideally I'd like VW to accept responsibility and fix the issue before the rust spreads, but they clearly don't want to accept fault - farcical given that I know the cost price they'd pay for a whole new wing is in the region of £80.
As this seems to be a (sadly) common issue now emerging for the 5yr+ GTIs, I was just wondering if anyone had any words of wisdom for me (apart from chill out - sorry, I know I'm ranting a bit and will stick my soap box away in a minute), and also just to emphasise that sadly UB7RM hasn't been alone in the issue.
If you have had issues, can you advise me how you got VW to accept liability?
If you haven't had issues and have a MK5 GTI please for the love of god check under your arches. I never thought rust would be an issue on a 5 year old car from a reputable manufacturer - boy have I learnt my lesson in the last fortnight!
