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Purchased my S5 SB last fall. Started seeing the chrome peeling off the exhaust tips around the inside edge throughout the winter. I'm taking my car in tomorrow for the speaker trim recall and a few rattles, but I'm debating on bringing this up again. They said it was "normal" the last time I had it in, but this doesn't look normal to me compared to other cars I've had. What do you all think...is this something I should be pushing the dealer to replace, or am I just being too picky?
It looks like some is being very aggressive with their "cleaning" routine.
Interesting that you said that. I had taken the car in early on for service and had them take a look at what I thought was excessive carbon buildup. They said it was normal at the time and I didn't look at the tips when I left the dealer. It was probably a month or so later I noticed what looked almost like scratch marks around the tips when I was cleaning it. I wondered if they used a hard tool on it. The most I've personally ever used is metal polish, and I just got that this weekend. That got rid of the carbon. Some of the marks look like the chrome just peeled off. Some actually show what look like stress cracks in the chrome (it's out of focus, but the bottom right of the first picture).
I purposely didn't mention what I thought looked like scratches in the chrome to see if anyone noticed it...and you did right away.
Looks like someone took a wire brush or equiv to them. That chrome plating isn't going to heal itself.
I've found that the P21S Polishing Soap is the perfect product for this task, but it's got to be used weekly assuming a daily driver. Once that carbon is permitted to accumulate, extreme efforts are required to get rid of it. One of our cars looks like yours. The other two are pretty good. Definitely requires some effort to stay ahead of that mess - - mostly a by-product of direct injection and oil consumption.
Try Bar Keepers Friend. Don't need much and put the power on a paper towel and wet it. No need to scrub at all.
It will not remove the scratches that's already there. But all the carbon buildup will come off very easy.
Exhaust tips are one of those things that I declared an unconditional surrender on years ago. The amount of time and effort needed to keep them shiny was jut not worth it to me. Let em go black and just forget about them.
Exhaust tips are one of those things that I declared an unconditional surrender on years ago. The amount of time and effort needed to keep them shiny was jut not worth it to me. Let em go black and just forget about them.
To some extent I'm OK with the carbon build up. I just feel that the chrome de-laminating shouldn't be occurring.
That is not normal. You could bring it with you dealer and see if they will warranty it for you, but I agree it looks like something was pretty abrasive on the finish causing the damage. I doubt that will be cheap because I believe the tips are part of the mufflers themselves.
04-30-2018, 05:24 AM
Exhaust Tips - Is This Normal?
