Help Please Another B8 Rusting on arches and on roof !

[Leebroath]

Hi guys,

We purchased our car from Audi Aberdeen in July 2015 and it’s a 2010 plate which has done over 62k miles

Before we received the car on handover there were a few things that got sorted, but specially ref the rust, the arches were done by Audi and so was the boot as there was rust forming beside the right hand rear light cluster. This was all sorted there and then and the car looked sweet

Now after a few years we have always noticed the rust re forming back up on the arches, it’s getting that bad that it’s now spreading up and over so you can see the orange, I just thought this was something that I would have to live with as all these cars have stones chipping away, but I’ve been looking at some other cars around my age and they don’t have this bad rusting at the arches which is making me think there is something wrong with my paint work.

The worst of it all now is, and it’s now embarrassing (due to the car being white) going out in the car, the roof is starting to rust on the passenger side water canals. This shouldn’t be happening, it’s starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth but I don’t want this to ruin my lovely Audi experience!

Anyway, today I sent the photos off to Audi customer services, so I’ll reply back here when I’ve had a reply

Has anyone else had any luck with their roof canals being fixed? I can understand the arches but the roof!

I see some people have been having to pay 30% when getting their arches done so will wait and see

 

[Leebroath]

Photos

 

[Marky007]

Surely thats covered is it a ten year warrenty on audi ?

 

[Lavis89]

Yea I'd have thought you'd be able to claim! That's some of the worst rust I've seen on one of these

 

[cyhliu]

I'm sorry to hear about/see your rust issues, that's pretty bad. Are you running stock alloys? Can think what could have caused it to rust so badly and as your say, having a white car doesn't help!

 

[Gazwould]

Could be worse .

 

[CarbonMike]

On my old B7 I had to have an entire new roof skin fitted by Audi under warranty. Only took 3 months...

 

[Booboo]

I thought Audi's were galvanized?
That is appalling !

 

[SteveMcB]

The warranty is 12 years, my B7 is just over 10 and the front arches are going as well - not so bad as yours though. The bodywork assessor has checked it over - he measures the paint thickness - and confirmed it should be a warranty repair. Glasgow Audi have the final word apparently but, despite prompts, I've now been waiting for well over a month for their decision.

My brother-in-law's B7 estate is a few months older than mine and the front arches are going the same way.

 

[Lavis89]

I thought Audi's were galvanized?
That is appalling !

Some were obviously galvanised on a Friday afternoon.
My wings are on their way to looking like this, taking it up to Audi on Tuesday hopefully to get them looked at.

 

[Booboo]

I had a civic Type R FN2 and they had a rust issue around the windscreen where the seal rubbed and doors filling with water so had to take out the bungs in the bottom. It brought memories of Datsuns back to me so it had to go.
You may be too young to remember Datsun!

 

[Leebroath]

This guys, I have emailed the pictures off to Audi Customer Services so will hear back in a few days

In the meantime I spoke with the guy who I bought the car off from who works for Audi

I spoke about the rust and he said it’s a very complex and mind numbing process, appamrlty the car goes into the workshop and is tested using a Micrometer. Pretty sure when they test my car it’s going to be screaming and bleeping! Lol

All jokes aside, I hope I don’t end up going through hell just to get the rust fixed and they do it for 100% not the 70/30 I’ve been hearing about! If it does also end up getting fixed I’m sure as hell getting the arch covers B8.5 (think that’s what you call them)

@cyhliu, The Alloys are what was already on the car when I purchased them so no idea if those are the ones which are upgraded or stock..no idea!

 

[Leebroath]

On my old B7 I had to have an entire new roof skin fitted by Audi under warranty. Only took 3 months...

Hi mate, did you water canals start rusting also, how old was your car?

 

[CarbonMike]

Hi mate, did you water canals start rusting also, how old was your car?

It was a 2007, 57 reg B7 saloon. I sold it Jan with 135k miles for a B8.5.

Yes there were tiny rust bubbles under the paint. On further inspection it had started to perforate the roof skin & make its way into the top chassis rail (surface rust).

This was June/July 2015. It took months of ifs an buts, but finally on 5th Nov 2015 it went in for repair. They tried to do the old 70/30 ******** but there corporate website says plain as day, if repaired under corrosion warranty, its FOC. So I had 2 courtesy cars over 3months of waiting/knuckle dragging. Even suprised visited the car in there "authorised repair agents" bodyshop. And found out the bootlid was being used a coffee table.

Obtained a copy of repair shedule, half the **** the bodyshop charge Audi for wasnt even done like labour cost to remove rear seats & console etc.

Got car back, paint was flawless red. BUT, scuttle panel & windscreen surround plastics were damaged, every door started to creak when opened/closed and the plastic undertray at the rear of the car hadnt been refitted properly. (Had a small rust repair on rear arch so rear bumper was removed for that).

By this time id moved house to nearly 200 miles from where it was being repaired & ended up fixing it all myself at my own leisure. Car didnt feel the same for months.

 

[CarbonMike]

I never had any problems with the front wheel archs but a friend of mine owned a 2008 08 reg B7 Avant and his front wings were rusted to **** by the time he sold it in December 2017.

 

[Leebroath]

Some better quality photos now the internet is a bit better Offshore

Last photos were a less resolution, but you still get the same idea lol

 

[Leebroath]

Yeh I’m not happy at this with the rust, and I hope they don’t try this 70/30 bull crap if they do decide to fix it

This shouldn’t happen on a car of this year, it’s like I’m going back in time

 

[CarbonMike]

Do you live near the sea at all?

I noticed the bubbling started once I started spending a lot of time near the coast as oppose to the Midlands.

Now I live 1 1/2 miles inland from the sea so keeping a close eye on this A4!!

 

[Leebroath]

I don’t live anywhere near the sea but the town is on the east coast of Scotland

If you notice on one of the pictures of the water canal

It’s not actually rusting within the canal more a line along above it, seems strange how it’s a straight line along. Presumably this maybe where the join is when it was manufactured before spraying?

 

[weekenny]

Best of luck getting it sorted out. I’m going to Audi this week to book mine in to have the front arches looked at.

 

[Leebroath]

Hope you have luck mate, let me know how your findings go?

I can't get over in this day and age, and with Audi being a very reputable car company

that if they knew of this then why continue making cars without protector bits in the arches

 

[weekenny]

Will do. Yeah it’s strange they added protection for the 8.5 so they know it’s a problem. For some reason my S3 8P didn’t suffer the same despite having no protection either.

 

[Leebroath]

Was there something I read about 8.5? Was that a later A4 edition and they put more protection on the arches?

I didn't know there was an 8 and half version

 

[weekenny]

Yes it’s the facelift 8. It has plastic guards that that cover about 6” or of the arch lip.

 

[Leebroath]

Ok update

Still hadn't received an Email back regarding this issue so I called Customer Service

Apparently the Email I sent was escalated to a guy called Luke (probably just passed to his neighbor)

Anyway, he apologized and advised me about the 'if that area has already been sorted etc' regarding the arches

But what he has said that he will contact the guy who I purchased the car from (who is now the dealer boss) and see if they will honor a good will gesture or claim this under the warranty.

Luke will get back in touch with me on Monday next week with the outcome

 

[Ibis Rob]

I brought mine in to get the arches looked at and first thing they wanted to see was the service history, I'm not the first day owner and the car was a UK import to southern Ireland. The chap I bought it from had it main dealer serviced and I currently have it serviced at the main dealer but since the history from its UK owner wasn't there they just said where not touching it unit they see a full main dealer history. Is this correct or have I got to speak to someone higher up the food chain.

 

[Lavis89]

Service history shouldn't make a difference. Not having a car serviced at a main dealer isn't going to effect the way a car rusts

 

[Ibis Rob]

Service history shouldn't make a difference. Not having a car serviced at a main dealer isn't going to effect the way a car rusts

I'll have to go in and play hard ball. I was thing the same thing.

 

[Leebroath]

Hey guys, thought I’d pop back and give you all an update

Called the Audi garage to book the car in and was told on the phone, without actually seeing the car, that the roof was probably a stone and the arches might not be covered if it’s already been done...great start I thought! Without seeeing the car they are already assessing the car.

Anyway, went up there this morning and one of the guys came out with the micrometer, notepad and camera. Placed the meter on the paint and it gave a reading of 180 to 200, a non resprayed paint is 160 the guys said. So he immediately said they would not do them but did however say the roof could get done. I told him that it was Audi in Aberdeen who painted the car so he back went inside, came back out 5min later and said Aberdeen are going to take the hit on the bill for the arches and we will do the roof. I asked about the roof rust line and he stated there is a lazer weld which is exactly where the rust was forming. I felt along the drivers side and there is also lumps staring to form...no doubt rust coming up. Asked him if he’d seen that bad of rust and he said no, for a 2010 Audi and only done 64k mikes he was shocked!

So great news all round, once the car is completed we will be trading it in for an A5 Sportback or Q5 and get as much as possible for the car being in excellent condition now.

Great on Audi and has restored my faith in them

 

[weekenny]

That’s great news. I went in to Glasgow Audi today and they said oh it’s not us you come to for body warranty and gave me directions to the bodyshop. Typical the traffic in that area is gridlock at lunch on a Friday. I’ll go to the bodyshop on Monday.

 

[rum4mo]

Glasgow Audi's paint shop - took fright and took my car into Western near Edinburgh as they are still Audi approved paint shop. It was the location that put me off, you could hide 200,000 illegal immigrants in that area and no one would ever know!

 

[desertstorm]

There is some rust coming through on the arches on my 2008 car but it's no where near as bad as that and it's done 120K miles. Thats pretty bad. The 90k 2001 TT I bought has less bodywork rust on it than my A4 and a lot less than your A4. Thats pretty poor.

 

[spartacus 68]

Good news.

For an 8 year old car that's pi$$ poor. I resprayed my old 2.5 TDI B5 Quattro a couple of years ago on the wheel arches, but that was for a car approaching it's 15th birthday and 172k miles.

My daily driver is a Skoda Fabia, so have just started process to claim on rust patches on tailgate under their anti perforation warranty. It's 2010. If it's any consolation my wife's BMW i3 was scraped down the side in December when it was parked. In Solar Orange, and John Clark body shop made a great job.

 

[weekenny]

I’m booked in to have the arches looked at on the 5th of June from there it’ll be passed on to a claim assessor. Wish me luck.

 

[666markyboy]

Unless you bought your car from Audi and it has Full Audi service history you will be lucky to get it fixed for free, every now and then if your lucky and are dealing with a good dealer they light do a claim as a Good Will gesture, If you own any model of A4 my recommendation even if it looks fine would be to remove the plastic inner arch, give it all a good scrub, touch up any loose paint and then give it all a generous coating of Waxoil around the inside edge of the front arches and then refit the inner arch, look at any older A4, they all rust around the front arch, I ihad to buy new wings for my old B6 in the end, strangely the A3 never seems to suffer, they rust at the bttm of the doors

 

[666markyboy]

These are the terms and conditions from Audis current web page, they could have been different when our cars were new but I have no way of checking, Current T&C 's state it's 3 years on painted surfaces and 12 years on internal cavities so to me that's 3 years cover for the front wings and no more, those having issues with the roof channels, that will be part of the structure of the car and have cavities behind it so that would be covered by 12 years

Three-year paint warranty
All Audi vehicles are provided with a warranty for a period of three years from the date of first registration against any manufacturing defects with the paintwork.

The only preconditions are:

• The defect must be reported to a member of the Audi authorised network as soon as it is discovered. This must, of course, be within the warranty period
• The defect must not be due to external influences such as accident damage, climatic, thermal, chemical or industrial pollution, insufficient care or maintenance. This will be determined by a member of the Audi authorised network at the time of inspection

Body protection warranty
All current Audi vehicles are fully protected during manufacture against rust attacking the internal cavities of the bodywork for 12 years from the date of first registration.

The only preconditions are:

• The defect must be reported to a member of the Audi authorised network as soon as it is discovered. This must, of course, be within the warranty period
• The perforation must not have been caused originally by damage, neglect, insufficient care or maintenance, or by external perforation from the inside out
• A member of the Audi authorised network must be advised about any perforation from the inside out immediately it is found
• All body repairs will be carried out promptly in accordance with the manufacturer’s technical guidelines, using only approved parts and materials, in order to maintain the original level of anti-corrosion protection

Paint and bodywork warranty
The paint and bodywork warranty on manufacturing defects is three years from the date of registration.

If a defect occurs during the warranty period, an Audi Centre will carry out the necessary repairs free of charge, even if they did not sell you the vehicle. The follow conditions apply:

The defect must be reported to your Audi Centre as soon as it’s discovered and within the warranty period.

The defect must not be due to external influences such as accident damage (climatic, thermal, chemical, animal, bird) or industrial pollution, insufficient care or maintenance. This will be decided by a member of your Audi Centre at the time of inspection.

Anti-perforation warranty
All current Audi vehicles are fully protected during manufacture against corrosion attacking the internal cavities of the bodywork.

This warranty protects against perforation due to rust penetration from within the internal cavities of the vehicle to an external surface for 12 years from the date of first registration.

In the unlikely event of this occurring within the warranty period, a member of the Audi authorised service network will carry out the required repairs free of charge, whether or not they sold the vehicle to you. The following conditions apply:

• The defect must be reported to a member of the Audi authorised network as soon as it’s discovered and within the warranty period
• The perforation must have not been caused originally by damage, neglect, insufficient care or maintenance
• The area giving cause for complaint must not have been previously repaired to a lower level of anti-perforation protection
• A member of the Audi authorised service network must be advised about any rusting immediately

All repairs will be carried out promptly in accordance with the manufacturer’s technical guidelines, using only approved parts and materials in order to maintain the original level of anti-corrosion protection.

 

[weekenny]

Nothing there about buying from Audi or a full Audi history. They never asked any questions like that either when I booked it in. The only conditions were original paintwork and they would take details and pictures to be sent for assessment. They are aware of the vehicle age and the fact it’s the front wings.

 

[hilly]

i got both front archers on my first b8 avant done for free that was a 58 plate. Didnt buy it from audi , it had full service history but not maindealer history. i was never asked about the service history
https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/corrosion-claim-accepted.246159/#post-2481140

 

[weekenny]

Inspection done, took about half an hour. Now it’s just the waiting game. All the paint measured as factory original as I’d expected but good to have it confirmed.

 

[sixpot]

I would of thought the front wings would have a zinc coating on the sheet metal to stop corrosion?