Audi Paintwork

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Tue 15 Aug 2006 09:59
Audi Paintwork - fraser29
I recently bought an Audi S4 avant 2001(6 days ag0), one owner from an independant Audi specialist . The car was HPI clear and no obvious problems.

I polished the car at the weekend and noticed that there were "rust pimples" coming through on the bottoms of all four doors and also the two rear wings.

I took the car to a VAG approved bodyshop who tested the paintwork with an Elcometer and the measures were fine. However, the Manager was sure that the car had had paintwork on it as the car "was to clean" for a 5 year old car with 49k on clock (Surely that is no reason to say that a car has had work undertaken?). Therefore, the car would not be covered by Audi's 12 year Anti Corrosion Warranty.

Am I within my rights to give the car back and ask for a refund? I paid top money for the car as the car looked mint and was from a leading independant.

Or should I be taking this up with Audi UK?
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Tue 15 Aug 2006 11:48
Audi Paintwork - cheddar
Does the car have full Audi service history? If so the paintwork should have been inspected regularly by an Audi dealer and thus the corrosion warranty should be honoured.
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Tue 15 Aug 2006 12:22
Audi Paintwork - adverse camber
I would try and get the supplying dealer to take it back. Corrosion on all 4 doors and both rear wings is pretty poor. These are galvanised bodies so you shouldnt be getting this problem. Even if they respray it, you are not going to get a perfect job - how can they get it back to as new without regalvanizing. I would be expecting more problems in the future. How much grief is it going to take with audi ?
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Tue 15 Aug 2006 12:39
Audi Paintwork - Roger Jones
Does an Elcometer measure the thickness of the paint? Variations in thickness probably indicate respray jobs.

I'm astonished that there is such a problem with an Audi. With recent MBs it's no surprise, but I recall the excellent paintwork on my long-departed Audi 100 and have continued to think of Audi as being second to none in terms of paintwork quality.
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Tue 15 Aug 2006 13:43
Audi Paintwork - Tornadorot
Older A3s are also susceptible to rust bubbles forming just above the black rubber strip along the bottom edge of the door. This seems to be due to a combination of moisture being trapped behind the strip and the paint being abrading away by the strip vibrating. I think older A4s have similar strips.

If your car has any signs of respraying at all (and the warranty guys can spot it a mile off!), forget about the Audi corrosion warranty unless you can prove it was done in a VAG-approved bodyshop.

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Tue 15 Aug 2006 13:47
Audi Paintwork - AR-CoolC
You didn't happen to see the paint thickness readings did you? I would expect a factory paint job to be around 100-120 microns or so. over that would sugest that the car has had some paint work carried out.
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