If you buy a Volkswagen Golf, GTI, or anything on the MQB platform, you’ll want to do this before leaving the dealership.

VW Vortex member @IrishAmerican recently bought a 2022 VW GTI SE for his wife and was perplexed when she reported back, after over 1,400 miles, that the ride was excessively rough and bouncy. Concerned, he jacked up the GTI, inspected the suspension, and found out the dealership left the transport blocks (AKA shipping pucks) in the suspension.

Check out a photo of what he discovered below.

Transport blocks are brightly colored pucks placed underneath the strut cover and in-between the spring to further prevent the struts from bottoming out. With Volkswagens tightly packed in shipping transport holds, transport blocks are supposed to prevent unwanted vehicle movement and damage against other VWs during the shipping process.

They are supposed to be removed during the pre-delivery inspection (PDI) but, since they’re not easily visible, techs easily miss them.

A quick google reveals Volkswagen mostly puts them on anything using their MQB EVO platform, that means Audi A3s, Skoda Octavias, and, Seat Leons.

Embed from Getty Images

“I specifically asked the dealership where they removed before sale and even the salesman said he asked the service department, and they told him that they were,” @IrishAmerican commented.

“I rang the service department and expressed my anger and now concerns about any possible upper suspension damage due to these being left in. I’m booked in to get them removed on Monday at 8 AM, as I want them to take responsibility for their screw-up and document it for any future accelerated suspension wear.”

The general consensus from quick reads of others who’ve found shipping pucks in their suspensions is damage should be negligible if you take them out after a couple of miles of driving.

More than 1,400 miles, however, is a different story.

If you buy anything MQB, before leaving the dealership, ask if the VW you’re buying has shipping pucks and if the tech’s removed them. If you can get the salesman to sign off on that statement, the better.

If you notice ANY suspension harshness going over a speed bump or patch of rough road and suspect the techs did not, in fact, remove the transport blocks, checking for yourself and removing them is easy.

VW Vortex member @Roger2050 wrote out a helpful guide.

“(After lifting, securing, and removing a wheel) Carefully lift the plastic cover to reveal the strut pucks” Roger2050 writes.

“You can see the first and second one in this picture. There were a total of 3 per side on my car. Simply pull them out – they should come right out with little effort.”

If you’d rather let the dealership deal with it, this VW owner who suffered the same fate was able to eke out a set of OEM splash guards for free.

Another yet suggested using this screw up as leverage to get a written extension of warranty on all suspension components for another 100,000 miles.

Finding transport blocks still stuck in your strut is ultimately really no big deal. That doesn’t mean you can’t ham it up to the service writer as something that’s greatly worried and inconvenienced you.

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