R8ready

Hey guys

I'm getting mixed answers about rust proofing my car.

People say Audi does some sort of corrosion proof before they build the car.

Others say I should


Any thoughts?

KBeagle

I saw at least one other thread here mention that Audi already comes with a 10 year trust through warranty.

farmerjones

The car's body (and steel panels) are all dipped in zinc, a rust inhibitor that fills every nook and cranny. The during production the cars again have seams and openings sealed and filled with fillers. Then the underneath side of the car is sprayed with another coating to protect it from salt water during shipping, and a majority of that stays on the car for a very, very, very long time. And then the wheel wells are completely lined with plastic/felt/composite material and covers all metal. So......yes or no? The car has immense protection from the factory. Does "rustproofing" add provide additional protection? Yes...to a degree, it is another line of protection. Is rustproofing magical and amazing? Not really. It helps some, and comes with a warranty. The factory already has a 10 year warranty, and what the rustproofing warranty is varies by the manufacturer. Have you seen any rusting Audi's as a chronic problem in the last 10 years? I doubt it. So....how long are you going to keep the car and how long is the warranty?

All in all, it seem like a very limited enhancement that likely commands a premium price. 15 or 20 years ago rustproofing was doing something the car didn't have put on from the factory. Now it's largely a second application of something similar (slightly enhanced). If it were me I would save my money and skip it (and this is coming from someone that worked in the auto industry for a number of years at a high-line store. We didn't sell rustproofing, the excellent build quality from the factory made it irrelavant and we didn't sell this product). It's basically a corrosion warranty, a problem rarely occurring on a modern car today.

19hole

I would say NO.

Allroading17

I don’t think it’s nessecary. Honestly I have had so many audis over the years all exposed to snow, salt and terrible environments. They all have had no rust at all and been perfect. Now ford on the other hand, my brand new F150 was undercoated with a fluid film because I don’t trust them

Turbo Freak

Picture of my 2009 A4. Audi do rust...

2009 Audi A4

SFV A4

It's a scam. Your car already has all the protection it needs. Best thing to do is just clean the car regularly. That includes waxing.

19hole

A dealer applied rust-proofing would not have helped with this. They would not have covered any of the visible painted surfaces.

bigHUN

On my VW TDi I had 12 years rust warranty, the very last summer VW honored the warranty stood up to the promise and replaced the front both side fenders, my son runs now that car - hopefully for long years to come. Btw, I had a turbo upgrade and stage four on that diezel
I was waxing it maybe 3-4 times a year, replaced the invisible mask on lights maybe 3 times in the lifetime, and that car still outshines most of the others I can see on roads.
I have my A4 for some 15K and I wax it 3 times exterior and once the leather. This just reminds me I may do it again this weekend before the winter really hits.

Turbo Freak

Yes, some VW had a similar issue with the front fenders. This problem on the B8 A4 is not uncommon. In fact they protected that area better on the facelift and on the B9, but Audi Canada always refused to fix my left fender even if it started to rust when the car was only 4 year old. They wanted $2,000.00 to fix it!

They claimed that the rust warranty does not cover this type of rust! I told them that is was caused by a bad design of the car and the proof of that is that they tried to fix it on the B8 facelift. They said that they is no such thing as a problem with the design of their cars as they are perfect and they were sorry that I did not feel the same, but there was nothing they could do... I was pretty upset when I hanged up the phone to say the least.