car keyed / paint bubbling roof combo

[paul_brad]

Well, I've been meaning the past couple of months to get in touch with Audi for getting my S3 in, for the bubbling around the drivers roof rail. First cropped up about 3 months ago.

Now, some scrote has keyed my drivers door last night! First time it's ever been vandalised or anything. Man.

Obviously looking to kill 2 birds with one stone, anyone any ideas on how much a reprayed door *should* cost?

The warranty man at Audi Leicester is away for 2 weeks, so can't get it in for assessment yet. Apparently Audi Leicester don't have a bodyshop there, and outsource to somewhere. The ideal is I can get it done at the independent's prices rather than Audis...

 

[S3mad]

try chipsaway they are great

 

[David]

Is the scratch in the door pretty deep?
If you can't feel it with your fingernail, then 9 times outta 10 it will polish out.

 

[paul_brad]

Chipsaway can deal with all mighty scratches? I shall investigate.
The scratch is all the way through the paint. It's a white scratch on a dolphin grey car and extremely noticeable!

 

[rickparmar]

Paul

Why is it i never you see around leicester driving your car ?

 

[paul_brad]

haha, dont know mate, I must be too quick!
Funny thing is, guess where it was scratched? your stomping ground - Oadby!

What's the place coming to eh?

 

[rickparmar]

Oadby you being serious thats ******, oadby's meant to be posh lol

where about in oadby ?

 

[paul_brad]

off rosemead drive old dude.
Drive from Wigston past Parklands leisure centre (where I saw your dad driving the A3, if you remember), get to mini roundabout, turn right. Speed bumps.

 

[rickparmar]

ahh yes rosemead drive, bunch of chavs around there,

Let me know if you have any luck with audi leicester as there a right load of tits

 

[paul_brad]

spoke to chipsaway, he felt that he wouldn't be able to perform a good enough job on it, and recommended I go to a bodyshop. He said the cost would be £150 - £200 from him anyway.

So, anybody idea of costs as per original post! cheers

 

[1animal1]

i wouldnt trust any mobile service for anything more than a small patch of paintwork...let alone a full body panel...they simply are not trained adequetely enough...... the last repair i had done, the guy used the wrong laquer on the bumper.....it reacted with the paint over an 8month period and needed doing again..... you need it baking properly etc...dont short cut

BTW my dolphin grey was done all down 1 side, ive been quoted £250 for the full side to be done properly

 

[paul_brad]

That sounds quite a bit cheaper than I was expecting...
Mind you, you are from the bleak starving north. (don't worry, I hail from Doncaster!)

 

[1animal1]

Paul i didnt mention that for that price it wouldnt be the same colour.......

TBH id just wait and speak to Audi...the bubbling issue would probably mean they would have to spray the keyed area....although im in dispute with Gilders in sheff as they are claiming that i have thicker paint on an inch square piece of paint near the bubbles.... if you have any work done before you could invalidate the warranty- im sure you know this already mate

 

[paul_brad]

I doubt they would be spraying the door too though?
The bubbling so far is just on the drivers side, above the petrol cap on the roof rail, or thereabouts.

 

[1animal1]

you'd be suprised, thats why im not having mine done yet..... Audi will do the job properly in theory which means a whole side so that it blends in better than a small part of a panel - or to cover their mistakes in terms of colour matching...is another way of looking at it

 

[Wicked666]

I took my A3 in as had gutter bubbling and the tiniest bubbling under the bottom sill.

Cost me £20 to insure a hire car and came back to the roof, both doors and both rear quarters resprayed. I was so happy as 10 years of scratches had disappeared and finish was perfect!

 

[Ian W]

you'd be suprised, thats why im not having mine done yet..... Audi will do the job properly in theory which means a whole side so that it blends in better than a small part of a panel - or to cover their mistakes in terms of colour matching...is another way of looking at it

I also thought this, I have a car park dint on my door, took it to the body shop and showed them the door with the dint and corrosion on, they wouldn't paint it as warranty work, they only painted up to the middle door trim to repair the corrosion (it does match the rest of the car but I was gutted that the dint was still there )

 

[paul_brad]

I shall wait with baited breath to speak to Audi then. When Mr comes back from his hols.

 

[Wicked666]

I went to the Listers in Cov - in case anyone local wants a recommendation. Perhaps I was lucky?

 

[1wheelonly]

i wouldnt go anywhere near leics audi, there all a bunch of wa***ers, they will only ship it out to an independant anyway,then if you ever have probs the will blame the independant and tell you its nothing to do with them.

 

[jojo]

My warranty claim for the bubbling roof rails came good at Birmingham Audi(Solihull), but the work was done over in Coventry, so Listers maybe? My detailer commented on what a good job they did, it made detailing that part easier for him.
Avoid Chipsaway at all costs unless you plan for a quick repair to sell your car on, it fades over time.... plus I think their work is better for solid colours than metallics and pearl finishes. I would pay a bit more for a better job done indoors on my S3.

 

[TheSpaceCowboy]

Pentagon have repaired the entire left side of my car and they have done a fantastic job, would highly recommend them. They are the company Audi in Hatfield uses to outsource bodyshop work. If you do decide to give them a visit ask for Dominic, great guy!

 

[jimbo_123]

I had the roof rails done on my 51 plate before I took ownership of my car in May this year (I beleive the work was done about a year ago?). Not sure which Audi dealer done the work but they made a very good job.
Anyway just out of curiosity, how long would you expect this "repaint" to last? Also if it goes again (within the 12 year anti corrosion warranty) are we covered by the warranty even if the original "repaint" was carried out by Audi?

Just a thought! Cheers!

 

[Jimmeh]

I'm taking the S3 into the sprayshop next to my local Audi dealer this lunchtime for a quotation on the respray work - did anyone else have to take their car for a quote prior to the work?

I'm also having a new MAF fitted too.. Win Win.

I have the corrosion on the roof sills and lower door panels - these should all be resprayed, correct? I did wonder if I could get the very lower sills resprayed whilst it was in?

Not too claim on the warranty, but to pay for this myself on the side.

Has anyone else suffered from the following stone chip build-up?

 

[Wicked666]

They'll charge a fortune for any additional work, cause it's Audi. Quoted me £160 to get rid of a bumper scuff on the corner - by blending it in.

Went to local person and for £70 got whole bumper resprayed with the chrome and slats around the audi badge also sprayed the same colour.

 

[Jimmeh]

The thing is its an independant Repair Centre that Audi use (not actually at the Audi unit..) so I'm sure we could come to some sort of agreement.

He did say though that they would begin to reappear as soon as it has been resprayed, as they will never be able to get the paint as 'solid/hard/proper' as the first initial respray. Something like that anyway.. BUT, can't you buy the opaque protective film that you could cover these areas with!?

Slightly off topic here guys, but what tool is required to change the MAF on the S3?

As I said, I went across to talk warranty work, and to buy a new MAF. I was hoping to buy and fit the new one there (to give the old in exchange there and then..) Yet the torx. screwdrivers that I was given did not fit. The MAF has a torx style screw, yet it has a pin in the middle.. Leads me to think there is a special 'driver required??!

Thanks.

 

[paul_brad]

Hibiscus Red S3? what an interesting colour, never seen one like that before!

 

[Jimmeh]

Forget the question above, I used the search the archives and found that they are "torx plus anti tamper " bits. Hmm!

Paul, yep!

 

[jojo]

The sideskirts chipping is normal, so I'd leave that... other work should be around £150 per panel paying cash.

 

[paul_brad]

going in to see audi today re the bubbling, he said he "just needs to look at it".

I've been quoted £250 elsewhere to do a proper job on the key scratch down the door.
This bodyshop is a friend of a friend, who happens also to be an approved Audi bodyshop, and get some of Leicester's work. Obviously I shall now try and angle it that way for the roof...

 

[themanthatcan]

Jimmeh,

I think when you buy a new MAF it includes the cylindrical plastic bit which the sensor itself screws into. Can't be 100% on this but that's how the ones on eBay are pictured.

I found the torx bit you need to remove the MAF from the housing impossible to find! I bought a torx bit set from Halfords which included security Torx bits but they didn't fit..they had too many "prongs" if I remember correctly. I ended up undoing the screws with a pair of pliers.

 

[Nilz]

Paul let us know how you get on....

 

[Jimmeh]

TMTC (themanthatcan ), that's right. Luckily, it did actually come as a whole. (plastics/piping included) It was a couple of crosshead screws and the new MAF was in.

Mine is in on the 10th for the corrosion work (as I keep saying, hehe), quite excitied to see the outcome really. As the rear quater is in for a respray, and it has a small ding in it, will they have to pop this out/correct it first?

 

[paul_brad]

Man at audi just took photo of the bubbling, which he says he will send to Audi HQ for approval. He said he didn't see any issues. Nice bloke. Will see.

Confirmed that the bodyshop I had in mind would be the very one Audi would send it to, so I'm safe in the knowledge that everything should be top drawer.

 

[paul_brad]

Update -
Alan @ Audi has rang me back to confirm all OK, he will forward my details on the bodyshop, who will then contact me to get it booked in.
So to clarify, he didn't do any paint readings, he just looked at it, then took a holiday snap to send to Audi.
All in all, Leicester Audi have been very friendly and helpful so far!

 

[Jimmeh]

All I had was a series of photos taken too..

I've had a bit of a twist in the job though.. Two hours after arriving home in my courtesy car, I have a phone call from the Bodyshop - "Mr White, I've just been in touch with Audi and we're only to correct/fix/spray the roof rail areas. The other areas are not to be covered on Warranty. I can give you a quote for these areas if you would like?"

This, I thought, was digusting. At no point was I told that the only areas that were to be looked at were the roofrails. The lower doors, rear and front quaters have been ignored. If I'd of known this in the first place, I wouldn't have gone through for the warranty! Waste of my time tbh.

I've tried contacting the Warranty chap at Lincs Audi but he's away on holiday; typical. I've been in touch with the Service Manager who is going to get back in touch with me RE the other areas that have been left. It's likely I'll have to pay another visit (with another day off work(!)) to drop it in a second time.

On the original visit, we went over the roof rails, the corrosion on the lower doors etc and as I say, at no point was I told that the only areas to be covered were the roof rails.

Not happy.

 

[Jimmeh]

Finally picked me car from the Bodyshop..

So I've only had the roofrails worked on... the wrranty guy is back in from holiday now, so i'm sure to chase him up as to why the rest was ignored!

The work they've done, I am pleased with. At this time, I have no before pictures (they're on the other computer, will upload them later this evening), but here is a after shot of the completed roof rail

Spot on.

Lots of polish residue kicking around, fair few scratches and light swirls to be seen.. which I'm not so happy about. Next time, there'll be a big fat "NO VALET" in the window.

Next up, new coilpacks & plugs! (still not running well...)