Paint Chips

[Mike'A]

Collected my A4 last Thursday, missus dinked the nearside front wheel on Sunday (Great), out on my first daylight jolly today when an HGV pulled out in front of me in the outside lane of a dual carriageway, dust and grit emitting from the trailer wheels, it wasn't that bad I've experianced worse by a long chalk, no metalic stone noises etc. I was absolutely amazed at the damage the front end has sustained, even in the middle of the bonnet, right down to the metal. I've had a B5.5 Passat for five years, an A6 For 6500mls, and this A4 for six days, nothing like this has happened like this to me to this degree, is the paint quality inferior to what it once was? Thursday in at the dealers, the chip man comes twice a week, that says it all! Anyone else experianced anything like this?

[Tony2]

Hi Mike

Iv got to say my own car is ok, I do alot of motorway miles and especially through the snow i came into contact with loads of stony roads but my front end only has two or three stone chips..............Having said all of that my friend has a S5 and he is all ways complaining to me about stone chips. He had a 5 Series before that and he says the Paint isnt anywhere near as good

He went into Audi Essex (after i told him about my calipers) to try his luck and the dealer said to him ''Its Not BMW Paint, It wont last as long'' so it doesnt bode well does it.....
But the dealers arnt having any of it so the cost down to the customer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Anthony

[Mike'A]

I've already shown my feelings about this problem, I am hoping to meet the paint guy and get educated on this situation of what I consider to be a poor quality product surrounding an otherwise good product.

[Alan02]

I know when i had a warranty rust thru repair (very minor on rear door bottom edge) they went around the car measuring the paint thickness to check it hadnt had a previous repair.Maybe get them to check that its up to Audi spec.

[Sportwag]

So far I am finding the paint finish to be extremely good and robust (Lava Grey) - Audi paint seems very hard so when it does chip, it comes off in a chunk. Although the paint quality can vary - the Lava Grey Audi demonstrator that I had for 4 x days was peppered and it only had 1100mls!

I bought touch-up paint from Paints4U.com (they do a single stage touch up in a large tin so no need to apply lacquer separately) and the paint match is very good - I apply it using a piece of thin card cut into a point and so far "touch wood", I have only had a couple of small chips to attend to on the bumper (when an oncoming van drove into the verge and sent mud and stones flying) :-(

[robtt09]

Have a client who owns a large car repair business. Seemingly modern paint process for all modern cars are completely different to those of a few years ago.All about pollution and dear old global warming! So no point in saying your Morris 1000 never suffered from paint chips like a new Audi. Whether BM, Merc or VW they are all the same but,and this is a big but, prestige car makers apply the paint far better than mass production makers...seemingly !!

The other thing we ought to be pleased about is that Audi are the best built cars under the skin.....far better than a BM

[Tony2]

Have a client who owns a large car repair business. Seemingly modern paint process for all modern cars are completely different to those of a few years ago.All about pollution and dear old global warming! So no point in saying your Morris 1000 never suffered from paint chips like a new Audi. Whether BM, Merc or VW they are all the same but,and this is a big but, prestige car makers apply the paint far better than mass production makers...seemingly !!

The other thing we ought to be pleased about is that Audi are the best built cars under the skin.....far better than a BM


Well said but iv got to add that iv had many new VW Golfs befor this A4 and i cant fault them - No stone chips and everytime you polish a metalic vw it comes up looking like it did the day it left the factory....

But as i said my Audi has been fine....


Anthony:D

[vincentbob]

Damn it, I read this thread and it made me have a look at my 4 month old, 6000 mile meteor grey avant which was chip free last week when I cleaned it.
It now has a 3mm diameter chip right down to white primer on the front edge of the bonnet!!!
I think the paint is less resilient now than it used to be before we started using water based paints, but I put my damage down to a run to Norfolk last Friday on the A47 which is covered in pot holes and breaking up tarmac.

[pitch3110]

Another thumbs up for the paint quality and Lava.

Pitch

[Tony2]

On a related point iv never had a stone chip fixed but im sure it wont be long after reading this thread lol........ Wheres the best place to get them fixed audi or pro?? and can they make it flawless or will you all ways see it...??

Anthony

[Mike'A]

As I said earlier tomorrow is dealer day, I was thinking of getting a second appinion from a local spray bay that has a very good name localy, if they can spare the time, a golfing buddy picked me up in his 65,000 ml c class merc today he was astonished at the lightly peppered plastic bumper that I had not noticed due to the layer of dust and dirt on it, these pepper marks arn't chips they are best described as stressed lacker thats started to lift but not perferated, I'll keep you all posted.

PS. The Merc had two major indentations, the centres of which had paint missing, the rest of the front end was surprisingly undamaged, certainly unlike my Audi.