Zed 2.0

Bought a black '98 A4 last week, which had some gravel paint chips on the front (which I knew about). Problem is, I've washed it twice (very carefully, with meguiar's gold wash and an Audi mitt and synthetic chamois) and more and more chips are appearing. Is it possible that the prior owner had more than just the front hood chipped and temporarily covered them to sell the car? I know the black paint is the softest, but there are pin sized chips to chips 1/8th of an inch in diameter ALL OVER the car. What the hell is going on here?

Also, what should I do to fix this? I'm going to wait and see if it chips more, but if it doesn't, should I just go in and fill these hundreds of chips by hand? Any tips? Thanks for your input.

RickM

....it's at least theoretically possible that the prior owner used something (pigmented liquid car wax comes to mind) to cover up existing chips before sale. But why would he do that on some areas of the car, and not others? Makes no sense that a seller would prep a car for sale with chips showing on the hood, but take steps to mask all the others. You don't say what kind of environment you're driving in, but from the tone of your message I'm assuming that it's simply not possible that the chips are occurring while you're driving. So masking <i>seems</i> like the culprit. Pigmented liquid wax doesn't last long.

As for repair, I can't imagine touching up by hand "hundreds" of chips. No way. But if you want to know how to do it right, there's a very good article on the subject over at carcareonline.com. If it were me, and the chips were really bothering me, I'd probably take it to a body shop and get an estimate. Then I'd decide whether eliminating the bother is worth the cost.

As a final point, and without wishing to insult your intelligence, are you sure what you're seeing all over the car are paint chips and not some kind of surface contaminant that's attaching to your paint? Just a thought.

Zed 2.0

I just did a full treatment to my car today- clay bar, scratch/swirl removal wax, and mother's gold cleaner wax and the chips are definitly still there. I'm beginning to think they were masked, because they are not flaking and look very much like gravel dings (ie, the previous owner followed an uncovered chip and seal truck too closely) and they are over all horizontal surfaces of the car. I don't think the front could be covered, it is simply sandblasted. Long story short, it looks beautiful (except for the chips) after today's waxing and the installation of Audi exhaust tips from clairparts. I think I'll swing by a shop sometime soon.

Reggie3

The car could have been repainted earlier too.Not as tough as factory paint.

Larrytt

I am the only owner of a 2000 TT Quattro. I have taken care of the car myself from day one. The car is Brilliant Black and is the softest paint I have ever seen in my life!

I have driven the car 35,000 miles in 19 months and I have hundreds of paint chips over every surface that faces forward. The ONLY part of the car not chipped is the passenger rear fender flare. Why is that surface not chipped? It was repainted with less than 10,000 miles on the car when the car was less than 3 months old. I got keyed and had the qtr panel repainted. Not a single chip is on that part of the car.

Audi refuses to repaint the car for me saying it is normal for paint to chip when driven on roads. I said I can accept paint chips, but I can't accept my black car turning white in front of my eyes!

I am at the point where I might either drag Audi into court to have them repaint the car or just get it painted on my own. That is the only problem I have with the car, outside of fuel sending units. The paint just plain sucks!

Evzen

from scratch.