Avant Roof rails damage - advice needed pre purchase

[simonrad]

Hi all, hoping someone may be able to help here, I'm looking at a late 2019 (b9.5) avant with silver roof rails, the previous owner has used roof bars which have left scratches on the 4 fixing positions. I have been sent some photos, not 100% clear, I'm wondering if the rails can be polished (are the rails finished with a plating/ clear coat or nothing?). At the moment the dealer has not suggested a solution although they are due to speak to their bodyshop at some point.

The dealer will also be carrying out some cosmetic repairs to bodywork but for some reason say this won't be included, (rest of the car looks ok from photos or will be sorted, I havent seen the car yet due to distance so trying to decide wether to proceed).

Is this something anyone else has experienced, if good quality roof bars are used is this avoidable?

thanks for any input.

 

[NHN]

Tbh best way forward is to swap the rails for either new or used that are in a good condition as repairing them on car is probably not going to happen either well or to any level your like, even new plating, chroming etc they'd have to be removed anyway.

It's not the greatest job to do, but if the dealer won't then give me a shout subject to location & I can swap them out, just realise it's not the cheapest job to do.

Do not any any circumstance paint them on the car or at all tbh, seen a client do that & the mess the paint shop made & the chipping was instant with a jet wash, looked awful & I ended up changing them out for him.

 

[simonrad]

Tbh best way forward is to swap the rails for either new or used that are in a good condition as repairing them on car is probably not going to happen either well or to any level your like, even new plating, chroming etc they'd have to be removed anyway.

It's not the greatest job to do, but if the dealer won't then give me a shout subject to location & I can swap them out, just realise it's not the cheapest job to do.

Do not any any circumstance paint them on the car or at all tbh, seen a client do that & the mess the paint shop made & the chipping was instant with a jet wash, looked awful & I ended up changing them out for him.

thanks for your reply, so is the surface layer damaged and therefore the scratches cant be polished out? as replacing the rails seems excessive and expensive, I could potentially be in the same position at some point if i use bars,

 

[NHN]

Someone has probably used for bikes & didn't take care with fitting as this usually isn't something I see happen to rails tbh, all comes down to the user & there level of delicate for a better word.

Even if they did polish, you'd probably be left with indents where these scratches are as you can clearly see it's not surface marks, there's a small depth to them,which is why I thought maybe bike usage & pedals caught the rails.

 

[spartacus68]

Thule roof rails use a foot pack with rubber protector. Suspect the previous owner has simply added a foot pack without this protector or used a different brand. I had something similar on my B8 Allroad but using Thule. After being on for at least 6 years, it left a mark, but not scratches, which was quickly remedied with Autosol metal polish.

This is a different kettle of fish, you'd have to use abrasive pad to initially remove scratches, then polish out with a compound - and no guarantees as to how it would look. As NHN has mentioned, only really way to improve is swap out roof-rails with new ones which means dropping the headliner.

 

[simonrad]

Thanks, deciding what to do, if the car was older I'd be less bothered

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