I am thinking of buying a new or used Volkswagen Eos. One consumer review said that if you wash the car and it’s colder than 40 degrees Farenheit, you destroy all the seals. It also said there are window condensation problems. Can anyone confirm or refute these assertions?
What kind of seals did it suggest would be destroyed? What kind of damage could possibly be caused by washing a car in temperatures above freezing, after all you drive it in the rain with temperatures lower than that.
I since I can’t think of any way it would cause damage to any seal by washing it above freezing.
Your question mystifies me as well; I know a lot of VW owners who visit the ski hills in my area, and their cars are always clean.
I would not recommend a Volkswagen for other reasons, such as significantly lower reliability and life of components, in addition to very expensive maintenance and repair costs if anything goes wrong.
I would be very curious to know the source of the “consumer review” that claimed that washing this car in temperatures colder than 40 degrees would “destroy all the seals”. As you may be aware, Germany experiences winter temperatures that are quite severe at times, thus leading me to tentatively put this “consumer review” into the Old Wives’ Tales category.
As Doc stated, there are many reasons to avoid buying a VW, but this seems like perhaps the most bizarre or invalid one that I have ever heard.
Here’s what the Consumer Reports survey said- “Much Worse Than Average” for Body Hardware ('07, '08), Squeaks and Rattles ('07, '08), Climate System ('07), and Power Equipment ('07). Conclusion? While I don’t understand the ‘destroy the seals’ comment, it looks like that very complicated roof mechanism causes problems.
I guess you can’t drive in the rain if it’s in the 30s, then.
The Eos has a folding retractable metal roof. Three pieces, I think. The OP is probably referring to the seals between the roof sections, although I doubt they can be damaged by cold weather washing. The car would be should be able to withstand rain and snow, I don’t see how washing it can hurt it.
There are plenty of good reasons to avoid this model, but worrying about washing it is not one of them.
The owners manual says to never use a car wash or powered wash for cleaning the EOS. I had a VW dealer proudly say we’ll bring it up right after cleaning it and I had a fit. He was ignorant of the caveat in the manual. He was able to pull it out if line and then hand washed it. The seals will also dry up like most rubber seals do and should be lubricated with specific non rubber degrading lubricant every year… part of the maintenance schedule which I’ve never seen a dealership do…the seals will fail if not lubricated or if powerwashed. There are great YouTube videos on how to get all the critical seals treated in the highly engineered roof system. Not hard just unusual and I’ve always had to special order the lubricant online.
I would guess that the person who asked the original question in 2009 has made a decision by now.
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I would hope so. But for any other EOS owners with roof ‘leaks’ it may be helpful.
Are there any Eos even left 
I think the last year available was 2016 and 5 years is beyond their lifespan.
Not only are that many left ( Not a big seller anyway ) how many of those will see this old thread ?
Bddyboo ( why would you use that for a screen name ) should post his info on a VW Eos forum.
And the dead shall rise again? Why are we recycling so many old old discussions? I know it’s been dead with few car problems, but really washing cars at 40 degrees causes seal failures from 12 years ago? Onward onward to oblivion.