Facelift Wheel hub - Painted?

[Jonny_]

Long story short, I was supposed to picking up an audi approved s3 today. Got there and it all went wrong. It is the black edition, so the wheels as normal are not everyone's cup of tea, however unlike it was advertised on the website, when i saw it they had been painted by Audi in gloss black which looked horrific on a Navarra blue sportsback..

At first it wasn't a deal breaker until I noticed there were runs in the paint on every wheels at which point I just said to the sales rep how did this pass the quality check and i'm not taking it, I want the deposit back.

As a result of the wheels being black, correct me if i'm wrong, the wheel hub? that appears to be silver on the new models was very rusted, to be expected on a 66 plate car, but as it was behind black wheels it stood out much more then I was happy with. I asked if this could be sorted.

Can anyone confirm if this is painted or is the alloy finish?

 

[AlS3BE]

Long story short, I was supposed to picking up an audi approved s3 today. Got there and it all went wrong. It is the black edition, so the wheels as normal are not everyone's cup of tea, however unlike it was advertised on the website, when i saw it they had been painted by Audi in gloss black which looked horrific on a Navarra blue sportsback..

At first it wasn't a deal breaker until I noticed there were runs in the paint on every wheels at which point I just said to the sales rep how did this pass the quality check and i'm not taking it, I want the deposit back.

As a result of the wheels being black, correct me if i'm wrong, the wheel hub? that appears to be silver on the new models was very rusted, to be expected on a 66 plate car, but as it was behind black wheels it stood out much more then I was happy with. I asked if this could be sorted.

Can anyone confirm if this is painted or is the alloy finish?View attachment 180873

It’s a silver ish finish on the hub and yes they do get rusty looking very quickly. Mine is 8 months old and I can see rusty marks on all 4 hubs so on a 2 year + car I would expect them to looking very rusty. Some are worse than others and if you live in humid place near the sea they will get worse quicker. It’s just a lump of steel after all and the silver coating doesn’t last long in those extreme conditions.

 

[Jonny_]

It’s a silver ish finish on the hub and yes they do get rusty looking very quickly. Mine is 8 months old and I can see rusty marks on all 4 hubs so on a 2 year + car I would expect them to looking very rusty. Some are worse than others and if you live in humid place near the sea they will get worse quicker. It’s just a lump of steel after all and the silver coating doesn’t last long in those extreme conditions.

The reason I ask is because to me it looks like it is coated in something, assuming a paint. My sales rep wasn't sure so brought out the used car manager, who straight away was very rude and really not interested in talking to me. He insisted that this was the break disk which couldn't be painted which I argued it is not and pointed out to him what the break disk was.. he continued to say that these are never painted not even at the factory. I just can't see that this is an alloy finish... so wanted to know if I was wrong or not to argue with him.

 

[Mikeso51]

The hub you are asking about is integral with the brake disc. As AIS3BE has already said, the hub has a silver paint finish when new, but this quickly deteriorates and rust breaks though. A well known issue. In the last week someone posted a detailed description of how he repainted his hubs. You might find it informative to look at this.

 

[Jonny_]

The hub you are asking about is integral with the brake disc. As AIS3BE has already said, the hub has a silver paint finish when new, but this quickly deteriorates and rust breaks though. A well known issue. In the last week someone posted a detailed description of how he repainted his hubs. You might find it informative to look at this.

Thank you for your reply. I will take a look for that post, however it was more for clarification so I can go back to the Audi dealership and tell the used car manager the information he told me was wrong.

 

[oli356]

https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threa...-stands-rusty-hub-fix-and-gtechniq-c5.387632/
Can see before and after pics here when painted.

 

[AlS3BE]

It’s not worth their time to paint the discs. Easier and cheaper to just replace them. They are around £14-15 each for the rears for trw discs and in my experience are better quality and the coating on the hub lasts longer than audi oe just to put it into perspective.
Another point is you shouldn’t paint the hub part that makes contact with the wheel as even a slight variation in paint thickness can give you wheel wobble which will mimic the effect of a buckled wheel. Disc manufacturer will most likely machine the finish in the contact face to the wheel.

 

[RedDragon]

Just get some black hub 2 piece rotors when those wear out. Stock brakes don’t last long on these cars. I went with DBA5000 front and 4000 rear rotors.

 

[OCDaveS4]

It’s not worth their time to paint the discs. Easier and cheaper to just replace them. They are around £14-15 each for the rears for trw discs and in my experience are better quality and the coating on the hub lasts longer than audi oe just to put it into perspective.
Another point is you shouldn’t paint the hub part that makes contact with the wheel as even a slight variation in paint thickness can give you wheel wobble which will mimic the effect of a buckled wheel. Disc manufacturer will most likely machine the finish in the contact face to the wheel.

£15 for disc -really? That's not much more than a can of hammerite! You've also explained why I thought my rear hubs had been replaced (which I thought odd) - the discs are clearly nearly new (tad surprising after £11k miles on the clock?), but I hadn't realised the hubs were integral !

 

[AlS3BE]

£15 for disc -really? That's not much more than a can of hammerite! You've also explained why I thought my rear hubs had been replaced (which I thought odd) - the discs are clearly nearly new (tad surprising after £11k miles on the clock?), but I hadn't realised the hubs were integral !

From the other thread.

https://m.autodoc.co.uk/trw/7489104

https://m.autodoc.co.uk/trw/2189743

Fronts discs are around £50 each

 

[OCDaveS4]

Hmmm - think I’ve been ripped off a bit in my pre-Audi years !! Thanks for the link. Still gonna paint em though

 

[PhilsA3]

I've painted all 4 hubs in silver smooth hammerite. Simple & looks loads better than standard (rusty after 6 months) look......

 

[Stevelolly]

Asked the dealer if they would clean mine up when I bought it , they stood out like a sore thumb on an otherwise spotless car . They cleaned them up then painted them silver with no argument, looked spot on .

 

[Jonny_]

Asked the dealer if they would clean mine up when I bought it , they stood out like a sore thumb on an otherwise spotless car . They cleaned them up then painted them silver with no argument, looked spot on .

Could you confirm which dealership this was or PM me it? As i touched on in the first post, I asked the approved used car manager to touch these up as they were a state and he point blank told me they were never coated in the first place, nor would they do it.