Hey all. Just wanted to give everyone here a heads-up about what went down at Klaus Euromotive in Londonderry NH about three weeks or so ago. I brought my b5 to them for the APR stage one. While they were in the car I had them inspect the timing belt which they told me was the original and "was on its last legs". The owner, Glenn seemed pretty nice, so I was inclined to believe him. He tells me he'll do the timimg kit for $1200.00....ouch, but I know it needs to be done, so I tell him yes but at a later date. He keeps presuring me to do it then, saying "it's amazing the thing hasn't gone yet". But I just can't swing that much right there on the spot. So I hold off. I get a much better price (almost half as much) from a garage down the street and have them do it. Then I get a call a couple of hours after I drop the car off, it's the mechanic who tells me that the timing belt itself is perfect, in fact it had probably just been changed out recently. I bought the car a couple of mos ago. Then the mechanic says that the water pump, and rollers look original, so we should probably do the kit anyway, and I figure what the hell for $650 including labor, might as well. When it was all done, I saw the belt that they took off and they were right, the damn thing was brand freaking new. Sorry for the rant, but my point is, if you go the KLAUS EUROMOTIVE in Londonderry NH, be careful. If they tell you you need some work, get a second and even a third opinion. These guys lied to my face and would have gladly stolen $1200 from me.

 

sounds like klaus is really the grinch

 

Sounds like you got a pretty good price for the timing replacement.

My shop charges me about 400 for labor. Parts from ECS are another 260

 

That is a rip fro that price

but NOT TO EVERYONE! the timeing belts on these cars. its nearly impossible to tell if they are old unless you run their S/N!!

what they are made of, they hardly give any sign of going, just all the sudden, a tooth will snap off and boom. ur f*cked. its not worth it. i didnt know if mine was waon when i got the car, but i did it anyway. chances are, it was old becuse they generally replace the water pump and such when its dont. so honestly, ifd u get a new car with over 80k miles, get it done. or have the S/N ran!

 

Yeah you definately can't tell from looking at the belt how old it is. Mine had 75K on it when I changed it... and it looked perfect still.
It's rarely the belt that fails, it's the tensioner. The "last legs" comment is obvious BS though.

 

lol sounds like another jiffy lube type place

 

Not at all. The place was really upscale, they had several highly modded audis including a 500 whp 92 S4. Plus they are, as far as I know, the only APR dealer in the New England area. There isn't a lot of info on them in this forum, so I wanted to tell everyone my experience so that they don't screw over someone in the future. I guess the real point here is alway get at least a second opinion and always shop around for the best deal.

 

i highly doubt that they were lieing to you not to be a dick but i have gone to klaus several times im about to have my 01 s4 chipped by them if they would have done that to me i would of borught the belt back to them and asked them if they thouht that was about to break...i have heard many many many good things about klaus they know their **** they have done alot of cars...they specialize in audi;s they make enough money i dont thinkthey need to screw people...