Dealer comes to their senses

They relented, though they got this nastygram about the same time they called me to tell me they would be honoring the warranty.

I did not run over anything or have any impact occur to the vehicle in the 500 miles I have driven it. There is no reason to deny my warranty claim.

Here are photos I took right after the Passat broke down. I looked up what a brake backing plate is. I do not see any way that a broken backing plate would have anything to do with a brake caliper being rotated up 1/2 of the way off of the rotor. The backing plate could have been damage when the partly loose brake caliper smashed into it. The brake caliper was free of its mount, or its mount itself was defective.

Your techs had the brakes apart at 61,094 miles- they resurfaced the rear rotors as part of the internal used vehicle reconditioning (7/28/2008). They were the last ones to install the calipers on the rotors, 500 miles before this happened.

Your techs resurfaced these rotors. VW does not recommend resurfacing these rotors. VW dealers will not resurface rotors, they only replace rotors. I am having VW of Durham measure the thickness of the rotors to make sure that your techs did not resurface them below spec thickness.

Also note that your techs should have used loctite to secure the brake caliper bolts to the mount. See discussion at passatworld.com. If they did not, the brake caliper bolt can work loose.

Other issues:
Your techs also did not use the correct oil during reconditioning. VW specifies VW-502.0 standard FULL SYNTHETIC is the only oil that can be used in this vehicle because of horrible oil sludging problems in the 1.8 turbo engine. There is a readily available TSB. According to your service techs when I called, they used normal oil. Also, when I inspected the car when buying it, it was clear that the techs had NOT changed the oil filter. It was abused and old looking, and the techs installed a new Fram filter. I subsequently paid myself to have full synthetic Castrol 5w-40 and a VW OEM filter installed.

The car had to have its belly pan replaced during the reconditioning. Why, I don't know. Prior impact?

The front right CV joint failed during my 10-minute test drive before purchase on 8/20. Your techs replaced it while I waited.

If your techs milled the rotors below spec during reconditioning then they are defective. I expect to have them replaced if this is the case. I will be double-checking the thickness myself after I get the car back.

Also, I am having VW of Durham pull the valve cover and do an oil sludge inspection. I had no idea when I bought this car that this engine was subject to sludging. I am having them take digital pics to show the condition. VW has extended the sludging warranty to 8 years & unlimited miles on this car if you can prove the oil service history. It is a fully recognized problem. Attached is the Audi TSB that covers the same engine type (ATW).

Regards,
Rob P