gunsmoker

What do you think of the A4 B8's paint quality? Does it get easily chipped? How about damage from bird droppings?

My experience has not been very good with the two cars I have bought since 2004. One of them is a Lexus IS 250 and I expected a better paint quality.

ScottAW

I've had 4 Audis, 2 VWs, 2 Toyotas, 3 Hondas, and a handful of other Fords, GMs, etc. over the last 15 years. In my opinion, the Germans do the best paint job on cars. The Toyota and Honda paint does not seem nearly as thick, and is more prone to stone chips. Plus, I think the texture looks better on the Germans cars, a better spray pattern and process. I also noticed that the primer layer is much more durable and thicker on the German cars. Where a chip was exposed, the primer is still holding underneath it. Whereas the Japanese chips seem to chip through the primer too.

AutoRacer100

Audi B8 A4 paint job is worse than a honda civic. I had 2007 hond civic and now owns 2010 A4. There are severl paint chips on my audi since I purchased car a year ago and the car has been kept in an indoor garge and I drive it on weekends only. Scratches are the trunk, on the side and the front. I don't even know how did it get so much scratches from and I am not a careless driver, never got into any car accidents for the past 20 yrs. On the other hand, I had small tree branches fell on my civic which I parked it on the street 24/7. There weren't that many scratches on the civic (I had it for 3 yrs) as on the 2010audi (11 months since the purchase). I am speechless. This is my first Audi and will be the last.

gunsmoker

Is your Audi in a dark color by any chance, making the scratches more visible? What color was the Civic?

The last two cars I bought - 2007 Lexus IS 250 and 2005 Scion tC - were dark gray and dark red respectively and their paints didn't age well. Before that I had a silver 2001 Mitsubishi Galant which had an excellent paint. Someone told me that something changed in the US regulations after 2001 that made the automotive paints less toxic but less durable, but I couldn't find any evidence of that online.

I have an ice silver A4 on order. That's why I'm asking.

smurfs

Worse paint job I have ever seen. I has a black B8 and a black BMW X5 and the X5 hardly has any chips or scratches. I had 3 chips on the B8 within 2 weeks and they continue. Overall the car has some other issues as well (the slow speed shudder or shake is f'n annoying). I digress, pain = cheap.

NickZag

While I've been extremely happy with my A4, I would say the paint quality isn't that good. I've noticed it chips VERY easy and I've already noticed that both my front and rear bumpers have a slight yellowish ting (my car is white) that the rest of my car doesn't have. I'm a fanatic when it comes to taking car of my cars so it's not like it hasn't been waxed or cleaned. My other car is a C63 Mercedes and both of the paints are in an entirely different league.

a4-bob

Audi uses a hard clearcoat, similar to that of MB. I don't know how you'd judge 'quality', but the hard clearcoat will chip easily. I've become much better with touchup paint (and touchup clearcoat) and detailing since owning my Audi.

MrStuff

I can confirm this from multiple sources. Multiple dealers and multiple automotive paint shops.

I'm not sure when the switch happened... but paint from the 90s was bullet proof.

gunsmoker

Yeah, I don't recall such paint job durability issues with my 1992 Audi 80 B4 and my 1989 Opel Kadett GT back in Europe. I don't think those had a clear coat though.

The paint jobs of the two Toyota-made cars I mentioned (IS250 and a tC) are horrible, particularly when it comes to bird droppings. You let it stay for a couple of weeks and when you wipe it off, you see the clear coat has started to rise. You can even it out with a scratch removal paste, but if you let it stay longer, you may not be that lucky and the clear coat may crack.

redherring

Way, way better than on my '04 Acura TL (black, think it was one coat applied with spray cans in a dimly lit room), but so far not as good as my '09 Subaru. The Subaru, to be fair, is pearl white v. my Deep Sea Blue A4, so not as inclined to show chips, but it's also 19 months older and sits outside 24/7/365 while the Audi is garaged. The Subaru paint is perfect while the Audi has a few chips on the hood and doors (the paint pen is great for tiny chips, crappy for anything else). Those slab sides of the Audi do it no favors in parking lots, either--I know body side moldings are kind of lame, but they're pretty nice to have in an urban setting.