WJM

I have 10k miles on my 99.5 A4 and the paint on the bumper and hood is chipped and scratched to hell. The scratch being from an exhaust section that a truck kicked up on the highway (GRRR!!)

Anyway a few months back... I had these panels repainted when some body work was done...5k miles later my car looks like I do rally races. Is this a typical audi problem or a bad job by the body shop??? If so what should I do? Is there a cure temp for the A4 paint?

Im going back to the body shop in a week+, being armed with something would help.

Thanks in advance
-Will

edwyo

I do claims adjusting. I see this happen every so often. When the shop repainted your bumper way back when, they should have sanded off all the old paint, with the bumper OFF the car, then prime the cover's surface, repaint, then put on clear coat. There is another thing they could have done and that is put in a "flex additive" to help the paint stretch and bend with the cover over time before cracking or flaking off. This flex additive is not normally used, but it is out there as an option. If the shop did not sand off all the old paint before properly, when your new paint went on it had old, slick paint to adhere to versus a primed surface. The paint would have been sanded down to some degree, so you wont see any edges under the paint to let you know if they took off all the old paint. Also, repainting a bumper cover should be done with the part OFF and free hanging in their paint booth... not with it ON the car outside in the shop. A paint booth has a vacuum and specially controlled heat settings to maximize the conditions for the paint to stick onto the part they are painting. If it was painted on the car, and out in the open, then dirt, cold weather, impurities can get into and mix with the paint and cause it to be "loose" on the panel. Also, painting outside would let the paint not cure properly because the temps will vary from time of day. If they painted it in the morning at 50 degrees, then at lunch its 70 degrees, then the paint has to cure over a wide temp scale and it can get affected this way. The shop is not going to admit how they painted your car. Period. Whether it is a shop run by the Pope or run by Vinny the mob guy, they will not admit to anything. Unfortunately, that will leave you guessing as to how they did their work. But look around in the shop. Do they have a paint booth? These booths can cost $120k and up. Small shops can't afford them. If there is no booth, then it was painted in the elements. If there is, hopefully they still used it. Check your paint. Is the clear coat coming off? This is a flaky clear-like material. This means they painted the clear onto your car before the paint cured. Is the paint itself bubbling and cracking? Then they painted it without priming the cover and did not use steady strokes and even amounts to coat the cover wth your paint. And then, look at where the cover comes up to and under such things like the grille, lamps, etc. Do you see edges to the paint? Or overspray? Or different hues in the paint? Then they painted it while your cover was still on your car. This is being cheap on their part, and it also means they were probably cheap in all the other work needed to paint your car. Most shops are not like this, and I don't mean to sound alarmist. Either way, I hope the shop will not argue with you as to whether or not it was them (yes!) or you (not!) who caused the paint to bubble and crack. Most shops now, and its going to be the wave of the future, offer guarantees on things like paint and panel alignments. Hopefully they'll just take your car in and redo it for you. If you really want the scoop on the paint from someone in person, take the car to another shop, ask them for help on explaining why the paint is doing what it is doing, play ignorant, and say this is to help try to resolve this with the other shop. Then say if your can't work it out with the prior shop, you'd take the car back to them (even though you may not) simply to illicit their cooperation and assistance. They will see you in an Audi, and consider you a cash customer, someone they'd like to have, versus every other person with Ford Aspires and Hyundai Elantras who whine and bicker and are cheap on everything. Good luck.

WJM

I had an "incident" with the car in which the bumper was replaced as was the hood and fender, with new panels. The paint finish looked beautiful (except one area, which is the reason I am initially taking it in.) The color matches well and the surface finish is mint. It just seems as if the adhesion, number of coats, and/or paint hardness is off wack from what it shoudl be. Therefore any piece of dirt that gets kicked up takes a chip of paint out of the front. for 5k miles it looks like I have have 200k miles on it, offroading.

Thanks for you input!!
-Will

edwyo

If the bumper you have on now is a replacement, then it came in a stock, primered condition (grey, black, or orange). The shop then will paint over this base material color with the color to match the rest of your car. If this is an issue of a new cover being repainted (versus repainting your old damaged one) then it is all really simple. #1, the shop didn't paint the cover enough (layers) or well (uneven layers) or #2,let it cure enough(some paint dries properly, while other parts are still curing and don't settle down, hence more fragile paint in areas than others) Also, if they were quick to get your car out (did it take a while for the repairs? did they let go of it quickly to try to get it back to you before they really needed to?) they probably did not let the clear coat adhere. Your clear coat should be absorbing all the chips without the chips getting into the base coat (your volcano black color). Either way, the cost of repainting a cover is about $250-300. Since the shop would hopefully take responsibility, it will only cost them about $100 (paint and materials, they'd absorb the labor cost). Ask them about putting "flex additive" into the repaint job. Covers are one of the most flexible parts on a car that get painted. Flex additive allows paint to be more elastic and resist chipping from cracking and bubbling. If the problem is mostly chipping, ask them to put on a little more clear coat. But if this was an insurance job that paid for the repairs, just know the insurance company wont take responsibility for the shop's quality (or lack thereof) of repairs, and insuance companies never pay for flex additive as most cars can be painted without it and be painted properly never needing this additive.
P.S. I've read elsewhere people putting on a "clear bra" in this forum. I plan to do this when my A4 comes in a few months from now. Even if the painting is poor, this "clear bra" could help alleviate some of the chipping problems you have. Good luck!

WJM

I really appreciate the help. I led a recent discussion on the clear bra and plan to put it on once i have an acceptable paint finish. This chipping doesnt seem acceptable.

Ill bring it up when i go up there.
thanks again.
-Will

You'll love your A4!
what did you get?

edwyo

Hope the paint comes out better this time. I ordered:
01 A4 1.8T
Quattro, all the packages and knick knacks, and manual tranny. Hib red with ecru interior. I plan on picking it up from Boston, visit the family in CT, and then take 1-2 weeks heading home to Wyoming. Stop off at Niagra, Great Lakes, Chicago (hope it doesn't get stolen there!), farm land of Iowa, nothingness of Nebraska, then into WY. My local Audi dealer is a country bumpkin. But getting it from Boston will be fun and a good way to shake out the A4!