S3 rear hub rust

j0nny2013

j0nny2013

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So detailing the car and realised my rear hubs are starting to rust as well as my disks a little!

Surely this shouldn't be happening.

Any ideas what to do? Send back to Audi?

Any products out there that could help?

Or just get new facelift version which looks pretty awesome!
 
Oh no not another rusty hub thread!!!!!!

Where's a moderator to lock the thread when you need one:)
 
Last edited:
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If you do choose to paint and use hammerite then do two coats - I only done mine with one coat and 6 months later it's rusting through again.

I'm now replacing the discs with slotted and drilled ECS tuning discs that have alloy centres so hopefully this won't happen again.
 
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I have had the rusty hubs on my old vRS, my daughter had it on her fabia, also brother had it on his VW tiguan so could be VAG quality? He took it back to VW who said it was not a warranty issue.

TBH, I noticed it more after I treated myself to a £5 car wash, no doubt the additives and power jet helped... I did buy some hammerite paint, never got round to do it though...

After cleaning I always take the car for a drive to try and dry the discs and brakes off, as it does look horrible with brown discs!
 
blodwen715 said:
I have had the rusty hubs on my old vRS, my daughter had it on her fabia, also brother had it on his VW tiguan so could be VAG quality? He took it back to VW who said it was not a warranty issue.

TBH, I noticed it more after I treated myself to a £5 car wash, no doubt the additives and power jet helped... I did buy some hammerite paint, never got round to do it though...

After cleaning I always take the car for a drive to try and dry the discs and brakes off, as it does look horrible with brown discs!
Click to expand...

Not great quality then! Might have to look at getting them painted.

Might even chance my arm and see what Audi say mind.
 
Audi will fix them if you are persistent.

My 2012 A1 had rusty hubs and calipers and after complaining once to the dealer (who said it was cosmetic) and then to Audi UK during a service questionnaire, it got fixed.

The dealer had an OEM paint but it was black rather than silver. If they make OEM paint for the dealers then IMO enough people have moaned for them to have a "fix".

Since then I have stopped using aggressive wheel cleaners and have put Hammerite on my S3 hubs. Should have done two coats as it's cracking on the fronts. Will sort in the summer :sunglasses:

Interestingly my Renault ZOE hubs look brand new after 3,000 miles and 1 year of ownership.....
 
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Interesting is that, regardless of who manufactured the car, all of the cars I have owned has had the same issue. Looks even worse if you've rear drums as our fiesta has...
 
Not stainless though are they so bound to rust. Still looks sh*te though!

TX.
 
wd40.jpg
 
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Hammerite? These are precision components, you're not painting your garden gate here!

There are many many high temperature paint products available that will be better. A cold galvanising paint with plenty of zinc might be a good start. I've used 3M's scotch 1617 to good effect on gas turbine exhausts before, so temperature wise, it's more than a match for typical hub temperatures. If you wanted black then plasti-kite do a range of High-Heat paints that they reckon are good enough for 650C. If your brakes got that hot your wheels would be as soft as marshmallows.

Failing that, there are a number of specially formulated paints available that are specifically designed for brakes. Try them out before you crack open the Hammerite.

Lastly, don't paint the mounting faces. Paint on the mounting faces that mate to the drive flange and the wheel is a leading cause of wheel bolt failure. Just thought you might want to know that...
 
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Pagid paint there entire discs , so painting the mounting face is ok as long as you re-torque after a good run or 50 miles which is your standard tyre fitter good practice advice .

Further after Hammerite smooth spray painting both Pagid front and rear discs when new before fitting inc mounting face ( leave dry for a few days ) there is after 3 years .

No rust
No loose wheel bolts ( re-torque )
No burning off of paint .
 
Pagid (and other OE and OEM suppliers) have a Dacromet coating, which is 9 microns thick! A bit different to a brush coat of Hammerite :p


(That coating is just for protection from supplier to OE, transit and storage, rather than in-service durability)
 
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Gazwould said:
Pagid paint there entire discs , so painting the mounting face is ok as long as you re-torque after a good run or 50 miles which is your standard tyre fitter good practice advice .

Further after Hammerite smooth spray painting both Pagid front and rear discs when new before fitting inc mounting face ( leave dry for a few days ) there is after 3 years .

No rust
No loose wheel bolts ( re-torque )
No burning off of paint .
Click to expand...

Gazwould said:
It's rubbish paint , like a quick squirt of wheel silver.
Click to expand...


I'm not absolutely certain what the point you are trying to make is Gaz, you've speed typed a grammatical guessing game. But, if you're advocating painting the mounting faces, please don't. It's dangerous.

Placing a semi liquid, soft coating between the wheel and the hub means the clamping force is no longer directly related to the bolt torque. The bolts cannot then be guaranteed to tighten to the required level of elastic deformation, and the wheel may become loose in service. Loose wheels have an alarming tendency to very rapidly become missing wheels, and most users report braking effectiveness is dramatically reduced if wheels are not fitted to the car.
 
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I absolutely understand the theory , of course I didn't slab on Hammerite thickly with a brush to the mounting surfaces but gave them a quick spray and did multiple coats elsewhere .

Just saying , against the theory, I did paint and in 3 years , no problem .
 
Fair enough Gaz, you did it, and didn't have an issue.

But, for the sake of current and future readers, this is not theory. It's proven fact. There's nothing hypothetical in the engineering of nuts and bolts anymore.

So, please, dont confuse the age old "He did it and didn't have a problem, so it must be ok" with a statistically representative sample.

Paint between the mounting faces, unless very very hard, very very thin and absolutley uniformly applied (near impossible to achieve and then measure in your driveway with a tin of old fence paint from B&Q) is unsafe.
 
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I'm starting to think I may genuinely be the only user here who doesn't give a toss about this! Happened on my 8P, is happening on my 8V, it happens! Yes it's unsightly but not to the point I'm going to start getting discs (or at least wheels!) off to sand back and repaint.
 
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It's not just you...

Image
 
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batch said:
I'm starting to think I may genuinely be the only user here who doesn't give a toss about this! Happened on my 8P, is happening on my 8V, it happens! Yes it's unsightly but not to the point I'm going to start getting discs (or at least wheels!) off to sand back and repaint.
Click to expand...

.......by that analogy I suppose I give half a toss. I hate the look of them but can't be a4sed to do anything about it!! lol
 
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