# Does this sound true from Audi UK about paint corrosion…



## MrHooky (Apr 9, 2010)

(Sorry to re post this it's just a slightly different question!)

I raised a claim through my local Audi Tamworth dealer re corrosion on the base of my drivers door above the sill. No cracked paint, just a small blister which has come up. Pic below for reference

I had the below email from Audi this morning:

"I am afraid I have some bad news. I have had a response from Audi but they have refused authorization for your vehicle due to, they put it down to zinc inclusion which is a paint defect, not corrosion and that it would have been only covered for three years. I have also checked for goodwill from Audi UK because sometimes they offer a contribution towards the repair but again no contribution was offered there."

"Zinc inclusion being a paint defect". I'm about to get researching but is this just total rubbish or what? Has someone spiked my paint with Zinc?!

Comments appreciated.

Ps. hardly surprised at the Goodwill comment - when they tried to charge me £400 for a minor service. They can sod off…


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## Miglior (Feb 12, 2006)

play hell with them mate, what a load of tosh!


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

If they're saying it was there at time of manufacture (I believe a Zinc Inclusion would be a manufacturing defect) you're still covered under the sale of goods act AFAIK.


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## MeguiarsUK (Apr 7, 2011)

Give Audi UK a call directly. 

I recently had a claim for my Honda that I tried to persue via the dealership. The delership apparently said that Honda could not help, I then rang honda direct and managed to get Honda UK to foot the bill for the part (£500) and I only had to pay the labour.


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## MrHooky (Apr 9, 2010)

Thanks all. I will pursue further. 

I'm also amazed that Audi UK can tell this just from a series of pictures that I have sent through to them and not inspecting the car properly!


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## moosh (May 8, 2011)

Call audi UK mate that's a galvanized blister and audi are well aware of it as they have been repairing these under warrenty for many many years, my audi also has them! My Vauxhall had them, we used to repair words and fists that had them!

What they are are small sand particles trapped under the paint and over time as the steel sweats they form moisture under the paint and pop up like you have shown, the small white head in the middle is where it is breaking out.

When the bare steel shell is made in the factory prior to being galvanized the shells are cleaned and part of the process is a fine sand blast and then a wash off, when washed off all the sand particles should be removed but some are missed.

Next up the shell is dipped and galvanized with a coating and these sand particles are trapped between the bare steel and the galvanized coating and its not until years later do they turn into corrosion.

If you were to burst the simple you will get a small amount of water coming out and if you scrape the area you will find a perfect circle of bare metal which won't be rust because it has always been sealed there needs to be oxygen introduced to create the corrosion.

The test and research was done by ppg so I was informed when researching these micro blister or galvi pop as they are called in the trade!

Audi UK will authorise a field engineer to inspect the car and as long as the car has not been painted other than factory it should be repaired by them, they may also as has the car been inspected every year for corrosion but if you have full dealer service history then you can expect this type of inspection should have been carried out for you when your vehicle was being serviced.
Audi uk
0800 699 888 they are great people and should be more than willing to help!

I'm on my mobile so excuses the lack of good grammar :thumb:


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## EliteCarCare (Aug 25, 2006)

It all depends on the age of the car and whether that door has had any paint since new. If you've owned the car from new then you have a case. Otherwise it may have been painted without your knowledge.

One of our customers with a Porsche 997 (which he'd purchased from new) came to us for some correction and under the halogens we discovered that half of the nosecone had been painted at some point by the dealership and the colour wasn't even a 100% match. 

As mentioned before, speak to Audi direct and I'm sure they'll do something to help. :thumb:

Alex


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## MrHooky (Apr 9, 2010)

EliteCarCare said:


> It all depends on the age of the car and whether that door has had any paint since new. If you've owned the car from new then you have a case. Otherwise it may have been painted without your knowledge.
> 
> One of our customers with a Porsche 997 (which he'd purchased from new) came to us for some correction and under the halogens we discovered that half of the nosecone had been painted at some point by the dealership and the colour wasn't even a 100% match.
> 
> ...


The Audi garage did take a paint depth gauge to the door when I took it in and confirmed it is all original paint. I haven't owned the car since new though but hopefully with Moosh's story I should get somewhere!

Thanks all once again - massively helpful.


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

Its surely a manufacturer defect as if its paint dipped and not gunned then it points to crap getting into the paint baths Or contamination very shortly after.Meaning other peoples cars could have the same issue.
I remember you posting this up a few months ago mate.


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## MrHooky (Apr 9, 2010)

moosh said:


> What they are are small sand particles trapped under the paint and over time as the steel sweats they form moisture under the paint and pop up like you have shown, the small white head in the middle is where it is breaking out.


What's the consequence of not getting it treated. Does the moisture eventually 'break out' thus allowing more to get in and slowly but surely destroy the base of the door or could it be a case that it doesn't break the surface/lacquer thus meaning it shouldn't deteriorate? I'm guessing it all depends if it 'pops' or not like you said.

I'm off to call Audi in the meantime...


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## bmwman (Jun 11, 2008)

Remember get everything in writing via email ideally. You may already have done so but for example Audi using a ptg and confirming original paint is a factor in your warranty process so you should have got one of the lads up there to send you an email with their "results." This means they will have trouble trying to say otherwise in the future.


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## slineclean (Dec 23, 2011)

I wouldnt just accept that chap , Id push it all the way.

First thing to say? Ive got some experience with Audi Tamworth when I enquired about the new A1.

The first time I walked in there , It felt as if I was something on their shoe I tell you. 

I landed up dealing with Audi at Halesowen in the end , I got much better service. 

Try and contact the main MD at Tamworth , I was told he was new and he transferred across to Tamworth from Halesowen ( I also heard that Tamworth was know to have a bad name ) and that was one of the reasons him going over because he did a good job at Halesowen. 

Def try and contact Audi uk by phone , I enquired about something I didnt receive a reply so try phoneing , I try and look for a email I saw on a forum of a good person to email in the event of not being happen.


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## TubbyTwo (Apr 14, 2011)

Good old VAG build quality


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## moosh (May 8, 2011)

MrHooky said:


> What's the consequence of not getting it treated. Does the moisture eventually 'break out' thus allowing more to get in and slowly but surely destroy the base of the door or could it be a case that it doesn't break the surface/lacquer thus meaning it shouldn't deteriorate? I'm guessing it all depends if it 'pops' or not like you said.
> 
> I'm off to call Audi in the meantime...


Yes your right mate, if its in popped its ok but if it pops then it will begin to corrode :thumb:

Just so you don't feel alone mate I have one on ky A3 arch and my mate has one on his A4 arch, his old bora had them on the Tailgate and my dads Leon also has them


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## MrHooky (Apr 9, 2010)

I rang Audi CS to tell them of my 'disappointment'. Really helpful girl on to my case. Hope to hear back tomorrow but a specialist paint expert is apparently going to look at my pics. Still sceptical as to what an expert can deduce from just pictures but we'll see.

I'm clued up enough now to argue zinc being galvanizing fault hence bodywork (12 years) and not paintwork (3 years) so I'm going to argue this as long as I can.

Fingers crossed for some good news tomorrow.


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## MrHooky (Apr 9, 2010)

slineclean said:


> I wouldnt just accept that chap , Id push it all the way.
> 
> First thing to say? Ive got some experience with Audi Tamworth when I enquired about the new A1.
> 
> ...


Completely agree with you about Audi Tamworth. Maybe because I tend to be going there with problems (my wife's new A5 has been there loads with Oil consumption issues) but they do seem a bit of a grumpy lot. Wouldn't buy a car from them in a hurry.

Nice A1 in the pics by the way. What colour is that?


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## Trip tdi (Sep 3, 2008)

I would call them, and explain your corner of defence.


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## MrHooky (Apr 9, 2010)

Update thus far... 

Audi Customer service representative came back to me this morning after speaking to ‘in-house paint specialist’ who confirmed that the bubble is caused by zinc in the paint, in addition to moisture build up causing the paint to bubble, meaning paint defect hence only covered by 3 year warranty. I explained that this doesn’t make sense, that the bubble is secondary to the moisture/blister being caused by poor galvanising and hence should come under bodywork defect, i.e. 12 years.. 

I don’t have exact comment although I’ve asked to receive this by email to help support my “Audi you’re talking cr&p case”. I’m also due a call back from either the paint chap and/or the customer service representative’s manager as I want to escalate it.

One question I’ve got is how they would treat actual rust. This ‘galvi pop’ may or may not result in rusting, but if it does, I’d hope as a fall back it would then be covered by the 12 year warranty. Unlikely I dare say…

Funny thing is. I’m not all that bothered by the blister, I just want to argue the case now out of principle…!


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## slineclean (Dec 23, 2011)

MrHooky said:


> Completely agree with you about Audi Tamworth. Maybe because I tend to be going there with problems (my wife's new A5 has been there loads with Oil consumption issues) but they do seem a bit of a grumpy lot. Wouldn't buy a car from them in a hurry.
> 
> Nice A1 in the pics by the way. What colour is that?


Aww thank you :thumb: its Daytona Grey


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

If you know a friendly body shop ask them their professional opinion.


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## MrHooky (Apr 9, 2010)

Latest update…

After speaking with someone more ‘senior’ they are sticking to the ‘zinc in the paintwork’ argument and that this is a paintwork defect hence only covered by 3 year warranty. Very annoying, and I’m awaiting this in writing to compile my counter argument.

What was frustrating was their response to when I asked if this bubble ‘popped’ thus leaving exposed metal which would then rust. They said because the cause of such rusting would be traced back to the paintwork defect then it would not be covered by the 12 year warranty. This is despite their general approach that rusting from the ‘inside out’ would usually be covered by a 12 year guarantee.

Really annoying the way they wriggle out of these things. I plan to go down the line of paintwork bubbling is secondary to the cause being a galvanising fault. They seem to be taking the approach that such a fault is manifesting itself as a paintwork defect whereas I’m wanting to sort the route of the cause i.e. bodywork.

Hopefully my response won’t fall on deaf ears. I’m going to call a bodywork specialist I know to get their opinion. May also try and get Anne Robinson on the case too…


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## moosh (May 8, 2011)

MrHooky said:


> Latest update…
> 
> After speaking with someone more 'senior' they are sticking to the 'zinc in the paintwork' argument and that this is a paintwork defect hence only covered by 3 year warranty. Very annoying, and I'm awaiting this in writing to compile my counter argument.
> 
> ...


What i find hillarious is how can they say it is zinc? Does paint have Zinc in it and if it does (which i dont think it does) what has activated it to react like this? Bull**** is what they are telling you!

I have one on my car and my friends motor has it to, i wonder if we went into our local Audi what they would say to us that it was because they used to repair them, my friend has an old S3 painted because of these galvi blisters!


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## MrHooky (Apr 9, 2010)

Moosh - how old is your Audi? Are you not bothered about getting it sorted?

Agree re the Zinc comment. I wasn't 100% sure either but I didn't think paint had zinc in it. I can see why Audi don't want to be dealing with an 8 year old car that hasn't been serviced by Audi for a few years given they've had none of my hard earned cash for a few years (in fact they've received nothing from me as I didn't buy the car new), but if that was the case, Audi as an organisation shouldn't be offering 12 year warranties if they're not going to honour them.

Going to continue fighting my case and see where it gets me...


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## moosh (May 8, 2011)

MrHooky said:


> Moosh - how old is your Audi? Are you not bothered about getting it sorted?
> 
> Agree re the Zinc comment. I wasn't 100% sure either but I didn't think paint had zinc in it. I can see why Audi don't want to be dealing with an 8 year old car that hasn't been serviced by Audi for a few years given they've had none of my hard earned cash for a few years (in fact they've received nothing from me as I didn't buy the car new), but if that was the case, Audi as an organisation shouldn't be offering 12 year warranties if they're not going to honour them.
> 
> Going to continue fighting my case and see where it gets me...


Mine is a 2007 56 and my friends is a 2007 07 

At the moment i am not going to see them about it but i will when the weather is a bit better and i can get the car looking good. I have just had 2 new injectors and a wiring loom fitted to mine as a recall because it broke down but that turned into a major sagga which i thought i was being helpful but audi UK turned it around on me and told the garage i was creating all sorts of hassles for them in which now one of the mechanics in the local garage (a friend) said he was told by his boss that they would not be entertaining me or my car in thier garage again.

to cut a long long story short, after a warrenty repair or recall audi uk call you to see how your experience was.

I say great but they only fitted 2 injectors but i thought it should be all 4, they say oh yes it should be all 4 take it back. I also noted the mpg was really bad sub 28 and its a 2.0tdi! So i do what they say book in and leave it with them for 3 days because i had notified them cold start wasnt great as well.

I go collect it and they say your car starts fine and we fitted no further injectors as audi uk said not to. - So i was alittle confused and had not even an arguement with the girl who gave me the car back, it was a confused are you sure??

So audi uk call me and say how was it? I say well embarresing to be honest!! You told me to take the car back to have parts fitted then you tell them not to fit parts?! They said its because the garage said the other two injectors were fine and the car started fine.

So i say well ok if you say so i will take your word for it that all injectors are fine, what about the mpg? They checked the map and its ok. So i said ok let me take the car on a good run over the weekend and get the miles on it and see if the mpg returns so they agree to call back monday.

Monday comes and bingo this time some other guy calls me not the original guy who was dealing with it. He is this time more hard ball where as the last guy was a nice chap. Before i even explain he says the problems i have are not related to them and i should book the car in and pay for the repairs myself. So i say i wont be doing that thank you, i had the car out and the mpg is at 35mpg now so i have decided to live with the lack of econemy and i was greatful for Audi Uk and the garage for all thier help and assistance.

Then i get a call from my mechanic friend saying id better go down there to which he nails me for causing all sorts of trouble with there garage and audi uk?!

He explained my injectors were the updated injectors hence they were not replaced! No one told me that? He also said mpg would return with mileage! No one told me that i assumed that as the ecu learns the new parts etc.

What can i do the garage and audi uk have now got me down as a knob when really their lack of an explaination is the problem and there lack of knowledge is not a great thing for a customer but lucky i have worked in the motor trade and have back round experience so i was able to try and work things out myself.

I wont be buying another Audi thats for sure they are 5hite!


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## moosh (May 8, 2011)

Hey mate have a sniff about on there, i did a quick general search but there will be screens of info on it with in that forum.

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-...rosion-warranty-results-please-post-here.html

:thumb:


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## MrHooky (Apr 9, 2010)

moosh said:


> Hey mate have a sniff about on there, i did a quick general search but there will be screens of info on it with in that forum.
> 
> http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-...rosion-warranty-results-please-post-here.html
> 
> :thumb:


Will do thanks Moosh. I've seen similar stories on the TT forum which I'm on and trying to see if there's similar experiences. I've actually got quite a bit of bubbling on my roof rails which is far worse than the galvi-pop culprit on the door, I just feel like I want to fight this out of principal!

Sorry to hear about your saga above. We won't be ordering another Audi either - we're replacing the A5 with a new Evoque (due May) which can't come quickly enough! There's some real disjointed conversations going on. Audi UK talking to various people at garages means that things easily get lost/overlooked/confused. Also, having people in Audi UK who aren't necessarily technically minded doesn't help. I'm not a paint specialist but I understood enough from your galvanising note to come across as knowledgeable to Audi UK so I bet they were probably a bit taken aback by me telling them zinc shouldn't be in the paint where others may have just rolled over and agreed.

An update to this is that I've just got off the phone to Audi UK. Despite them palming me off yesterday afternoon and me thinking case was closed they said they've been debating it all day today and have agreed to foot the bill for 50% of the repair works, and that Audi Tamworth will do the works at 'warranty rates'. Means the bill to me would be £165 inc the VAT. Not a bad counter offer but I'm still not keen on paying anything (plus that money could be better spent on a whole host of other things on the car!). The reason for their change of heart is I reminded them that my wife has had an A5 since new and it was always serviced through Audi Tamworth so there is a bit of indirect 'goodwill' going on here.

Going to mull it over over the weekend and speak to an indy paint shop specialist to get similar quote. I'm not sure exactly what the works involve but I'm guessing a respray of the door. I just now have a horrible vision of a half-arsed job respray by Audi which doesn't quite match the rest of the paint on the car!

Might be cheeky and ask if they'd extend this my bubbling roof strips instead and get those sorted as they're far worse than the galvi pop on the door!


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## MrHooky (Apr 9, 2010)

For those interested this case that I have had with Audi has now come to a successful conclusion. After receiving a detailed note from Audi CS stating that they would stump up 50% off the cost leaving me to pay the £165 I then went back to them stating I still wasn't happy mainly arguing the fundamental point that the fault had nothing to do with the paint and that 'zinc inclusions' was a cop out.

I received a call a week ago from Audi CS saying they'd received my note, can take my point although the powers that be have said they are not budging. I went on a bit of a rant to the nice girl on the phone about how I was frustrated at hitting a brick wall when I felt so strongly that I was in the right. Ended the call thinking oh well, remembering that this small blister is at ankle height and only really visible by cats, foxes, and other small animals around 1ft tall. Case dismissed I thought...

I then have a call from Audi CS tonight saying that they've (the CS representatives I've been dealing with) been thinking about my case some more (and that it flags up as 'open' on their system every day still) and that they've agreed to now fund the whole repair. So lower half of drivers door resprayed on the house. I feel chuffed to bits really. Bit of persistence clearly paid off. I must also say the girl I've been dealing with has been superb and she did sympathize with me in that each time she told me they weren't going to stump up it due to decisions being made above her. Sounds like an element of discretionary spend at a CS representative level means they've cleared complaining me off their to-do list...

Just need to sort the paint bubbles out on my roof strips which everyone can see...


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## Derekh929 (Aug 28, 2011)

Well done it is all about how you approach it as to what result you get and the dealer as if he though you may buy another he would have maybe tried harder


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## slineclean (Dec 23, 2011)

Aww glad youve had some good news


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

I haven't read all the posts but Audi's are quite bad for these almost pin head sized blisters,especially the B7 RS4's for some reason - usually the lower halves and rear arch edges. I know of one person at least who had this sorted under warranty and ever since I always seem to spot them.


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

Sorry but



moosh said:


> Audis are _s_hite!


You missed out the word expensive.
PS lots of us have known this for years,but some wont admit it.


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## id_doug (Apr 6, 2011)

Do all Audis come with the 12 year warranty? My wife has an 03 Avant and I have only recently noticed a couple of what I thought were rust bubbles on one of the arches and on the roof next to one of the roof rails.


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## Mirror Finish Details (Aug 21, 2008)

Well that's up sticking with BMW, fancied an a4 but after reading this any faults on the BMW have been fixed on problem. A audi have lost a sale in July.


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## MrHooky (Apr 9, 2010)

id_doug said:


> Do all Audis come with the 12 year warranty? My wife has an 03 Avant and I have only recently noticed a couple of what I thought were rust bubbles on one of the arches and on the roof next to one of the roof rails.


This is what I was referring to each time I went back to Audi. Mine is an 04 TT. I assumed that these T&Cs hadn't changed since the date my car was purchased...

http://www.audi.co.uk/content/dam/a...ingProducts/warranty-terms-and-conditions.pdf


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## id_doug (Apr 6, 2011)

MrHooky said:


> This is what I was referring to each time I went back to Audi. Mine is an 04 TT. I assumed that these T&Cs hadn't changed since the date my car was purchased...
> 
> http://www.audi.co.uk/content/dam/a...ingProducts/warranty-terms-and-conditions.pdf


Cheers for that. Will he give the local Audi centre a little visit me thinks. What's the worst they can say!


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