TanStarfield

Again, I never used anything abrasive at all, but I suspect the dealer did when I asked them to look at what I thought was excessive carbon buildup on the exhaust tips. I strongly suspected the service tech used something rough on it to clean off the carbon.

HudsonS5

Dang sorry to hear that. It is tough to clean the exuberant carbon build up. These tips don't have the thickest chrome and the rough rolled edge is a good place for pitting to start.

Glisse

I've seen almost identical photos in the German forums. Not a universal problem, but certainly others have had a similar experience. Speculation that it is aggravated by salt, so don't know if Ohio roads are subject to salting in winter. Some have used ceramic coatings (which have a high temperature tolerance) to good effect. Claims that Audi has done some cost cutting with cheap chrome plated parts here (and they are apparently made in China, from those who bought replacement parts), vs the polished stainless tips used in the B8 series. Seems to be only affecting S5 models. Unfortunately, these tips are welded on in the S5, so not so easy to replace.

I'm not fanatical on keeping exhaust tips in perfect condition - as soon as you start the car they start getting dirty again. But I don't think the peeling chrome plate is acceptable in a car like this, and Audi should be called out on their apparent cost cutting and replace yours under warranty. It looks like a component failure to me.

TanStarfield

Definitely lots of salt here in Ohio, especially this year. Regardless, I agree with Glisse that it isn't acceptable. Our 2017 VW Jetta has a chrome tip on its exhaust and also went through the same winter without any noticeable peeling of the chrome.
Turns out I was a week off from my appointment NEXT Tuesday. Glad I checked my calendar last night and didn't drive over there at 7am today.

SYMAWD

Mine started doing this too. My A3, Q5, and A6 never did.

Glisse

It seems to be a specific issue for the B9 S5 (and presumably the S4).

TanStarfield

So car was in last week. I initially got the “Well, this type of thing is just a wear item and isn’t covered after 6 months or 6000 miles”, then I pointed out that I’ve been mentioning it since early this year and have already complained about it. Now they have a message to Audi waiting for approval to replace. I’ve got my car back in the meantime. They fixed quite a few other things in the visit, but a bit annoying that I'll have to take it back in for the fix. Apparently they'll have to replace the rear section of exhaust since it's part of that.

S5owneralmost

I too have this issue with my inner two exhaust tips especially. They're black as heck. I tried keeping up on them, but definitely did not in the below-freezing temps of the Michigan winter. Now that I can try to keep it clean, I cannot even get the majority of it off. Where I can, there is definitely delamination of the chrome. I have not used anything abrasive as a cleaner or as a cloth to wash it off. It would be fine with me if they replaced the tips with black carbon! Why even try to clean it if it's just going to delaminate?!?

S5owneralmost

*black iron (not carbon)

BryanB8.5

Has anyone heard of this happening on the B9 RS5's? I know they use a different type exhaust, but possibly the same tip material? Over here they come with and without black tips ..."regular" and sport exhaust setup in the Dynamic Package. I hope this isn't something I have to pay attention to when I get my RS5 SB in the future.