<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/AudiWorldPics/2000/P0002010.JPG"></center><p>It's not my day today... I dented my 4.2 today - and it was my fault! The bodyshop told me that's probably more than 2000 US$ repair. Only partially covered by my insurance...
I think it's more expensive due to aluminium fenders? Does anybody have the same experience?
Ernst
A6 4.2QT / black & vanilla / NavPlus / Sport Package

 

Ernst, so sorry Whahappened?

 

It looks almost identical to my vehicle after I bumped in to a deer back in December. In addition to the fender bump I broke the lens on the passenger side Xenon light and had a small dent in the hood… I am still not happy with the repairs and my A6 is going back to a different body shop next week for a different coat of fender/hood paint and more work on the lights.

The biggest problems is that most places have a heck of a time matching Audi’s pigment and quality in a black paint and no body shop seems to know how to fix and/or adjust Xenon head lights. In addition most body shops won’t touch aluminum… If you have dented any aluminum, you will probably have to wait months for new parts.

With my newly found hindsight, I can recommend that you be careful on dealer and/or insurance recommend body shops. Make serious inquires in to whether or not the body shop has experience matching Audi’s black paint. Also make sure that the body shop has a very high quality clean room and down draft system for the paint room. If you nicked your headlight, then also make sure the body shop has worked with Xenon lighting systems.

Gosh, I really feel your pain… Your picture brought back bad memories that I am still fighting with.

Good luck!!!

 

<p>Richard
'00 A6 2.7TM

 

It sounds like the paint on your car was not done very well. Is that the case?

I saw a gentleman at my dealer last week who was dropping his 2.8 Avant off for the 15,000 mile service. The paint on his front bumper skin was peeling off in sheets and had hundreds of bubbles in it. He pulled over a parking curb and yanked the front end off when he backed out. The body shop he took it to said that it is very difficult to get paint to apply properly to Audi's plastic body pieces. This sounds like a cover-up for shoddy work to me, but this shop has an excellent reputaion around here. It makes me wonder. Has that also been a problem with your repair?

 

That’s part of the problem with the paint, but it is not a problem with “Audi” plastic. According to body shop #1, their automotive paint matching system (DuPont), takes a minimum of 3 coats of different DuPont “black” paints to try to match Audi’s black. Evidently 3 coats of paint is too much material for any plastic bumper cover to support. The end results is paint on the bumper cover that bubbles and comes off in sheets and regardless of how hard body shop #1 tries, they do not have the technology to get it right.

Even at it’s best the new paint job had a “pebbled texture” appearance effect that never quite matched the color and texture of the original. Also it is clear that body shop #1’s clean room isn’t… In some spots it is clear the body shop did not properly prep the parts and/or they got foreign material in the paint.

It is going to be a heck of a mess for the body shop #2 to strip all of these items down to the base material and repaint them properly. Also body shop #2 thinks they have the solution to my Xenon’s. My Xenon’s alignment has had a mind of it’s own since the deer hit. Body shop #2 thinks the inside lens is either broken and or free-floating so that the alignment is different after each bump in the road.

You can imagine how happy my insurance company, body shop #1, and my lawyer are with me. Since body shop #1 already got paid for the repairs, body shop #2 will have to bill them for more $$$$ then the original repairs to undo their mess and to hopefully get it right. You don’t even want to get me started on how long it took to get parts from Audi… I still like the car, but I don’t wish this experience on anyone.

 

Your unfortunate experience is scaring me back into my garage :-( Keep us posted.

 

I decided to go to a body shop which belongs to one of the largest VW/Audi dealers in my area. They have their own painting shop as well. Regarding the alu fenders: they will just replace it w/o trying to fix the dents. The same will apply to the bumper and the Xenon light. And the worst: I have to wait two weeks until I can bring in my car... I'll keep you posted about the quality of repair in my case.
Ernst

 

In discussing body repairs a week ago or so I had suggested not going through the dealership since all they do is job it out to an indie and mark it up handsomely (unless they actually do have their own shop). With Xenon damage and black paint though it probably IS worth the premium to have a high end shop that is very familiar with Audis do the work. It's probably not too difficult to find out who's doing their work if one wished to avoid the dealer as a middleman.
If it's any consolation, know that your post may help others in similar situations. I know I will go this route if Lady Bad Luck smiles on me. Remember it's only a car

 

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