Sports Exhaust- Black Bezels- Degradation

[nuwanda]

***Update***

That said, absolutely loving the car. Got VCDS from Ross-Tech as a Christmas present and have mades several small changes that have made the car feel even more tailored to me- the ability to select the default distance setting of ACC from setting 3 to setting 2 has actually made me glad that I specced ACC in the first place- one I had been regretting up till then!

Am interested in what codes you have played with VCDS.

[feeltheburn]

Surprisingly easy to make the changes- Ross Tech software has a lot of the features already identified. Managed to change something in the 4 cars that we have so already feel I've had value for money from purchasing genuine VCDS. All features that I have enabled are available on an Audi somewhere on earth so no warranty issues imo...appart from (maybe) the lowering option which actually involves invoking an Audi calibration function and lying to it about the actual heights at each corner- I will probably wait until the warranty has expired before doing this! Not interested in touching any gearbox or engine mapping/specifics (car already way too fast for my skills) so no chance of a TD1 being slapped on my car by Audi (and quite right too!). Some things might get reset when updates are applied by Audi but it will be easy to put them back again in a matter of minutes. I don’t have the list I assembled to track the changes I made with me, but from memory:

RS6
Rear LEDs on with Front DLRs
Close Rear Tailgate from Keyfob and Switch in Drivers Door
Heated Seat down-staging disabled (default is 10 mins on 3, then it switches to 2 and so on- keep the missus happy…for now)
Heated Seat default off when first starting car (may have already been a default but set anyway)
Chirp on Locking (getting old and audio confirmation seems to be more effective for my memory!)
ACC- default distance now selectable from MMI
Enabled “green menu” not sure what it can do for me yet
High Beam Assist Speed- lowered the speed as some of the B roads I use I don’t always want to have to race along them to get the high beams to automatically come on

To Do:
Auto handbrake when moving gear to P not working yet (different due to our gearbox)
VZE- Speed sign recognition still trying to enable- should have spec'd it
Lowering car- on air so another 15-20mm is possible- possibly wait until warranty expires just in case it could be used against me to turn down a claim for something
VIM- Video in Motion thinking about it but probably won’t

Q5
Rear LEDs on with Front DLRs
Kerb Lighting enabled (not sure about the “look” though)
Ambient Lighting enabled
Needle Sweep (RS style!)
Chirp on Lock
ADS enabled- don’t have hardware for Suspension or Steering but livened up the “feel” of the throttle and seems to stiffen the steering a little bit at speed (no where like dynamic steering though)

To Do:
Remote closing of Hatch- need to get some additional hardware apparently (car is MY2012)

Polo
AutoLock

To Do:
Get basic MMI to Show MPH and not just KMH- easy on the more advanced MMI but not this one

T5 Transporter
AutoLock

[Moonmonkey831]

Some pictures of my RS4 sports exhaust with black tips - similar issue?

[qwick69]

Exactly the same issue. How old is yours? Audis stance with me was it has been caused by outside influences. It does seem to me that the product is not up to british weather...
Are you going to get yours changed ?

[Chesterfield]

Some of these marks seem to be on the inside of the rim, last picture of the RS4 exhaust above shows this well. That would suggest its a corrosive issue, not an impact from stones/grit issue on the roads.

Given that they aren't part of the exhaust outlet itself, would heat be an issue in that area if it were protected with some form of hard wax or other coating to prevent this?

I suppose it may pick up some heat, so perhaps something like this would help protect them:
http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog ... cat15.html

[Moonmonkey831]

Exactly the same issue. How old is yours? Audis stance with me was it has been caused by outside influences. It does seem to me that the product is not up to british weather...
Are you going to get yours changed ?

New in April 2014 - 6k miles driven

Its booked in anyhow in a couple of week for a safety recall (airbag software) so they are going to look at it then - i've sent them pictures already, so am going to push to get them replaced - will see what they say - they are normally pretty good at my dealer - but up until now they have been obvious issues on my previous cars - this might be badged as wear and tear, based on other posts here.

Fingers crossed!

[qwick69]

It is obvious that there must be some sort of design fault with these, as its not just a "one off". If these bevels cant last more that a few 1000 miles without pitting then they are not fit for purpose.
I am expecting the new ones to go the same way, if they do, Audi have said they wont change them, and the dealer has said the first pair were under goodwill, but they wont do them again unless Audi take responsibilty, which is fair enough.
I wonder how many other people have the same issue, but have not complained. I wasnt going to untill I read the first bit of this thread. I didnt even notice them until my Son pointed it out ( he likes to put his go pro down near the exhaust and rev it hard

[wildbore]

I haven't got my car yet, but I will keep an eye out for these and be straight on the case. If we all do the same, then maybe we will get Audi to recognise the problem and do a proper fix.

[feeltheburn]

Looking at the latest pictures of the RS4, the "chips" could indeed be a corrossion issue. The damage on my bezels felt sharp which doesn't support such a mechnism though. However, If you look at the latest RS4 pictures there are distinct dark spots in the centre of each damage site- suggestion that there may be some form of acid attack (according to one of our corrosion gurus in our integrity team). This was not evident on my bezels- maybe I caught it in time and flushed the corrosive element off the surface - whatever. So maybe the degradation is coincident with the cold weather and not a factor of there being grit on the road?? [exhaust gases more likely to condense, exhaust system take longer to warm up] Post from owner who drove on a lot of grit in France and saw no damage and the fact that the bumper/diffuser etc are still pristine might also support this.

So given everyone doesn't appear to be suffering from this, what types of journeys and which fuel (Shell/Tesco etc) are typical for those with and without damage? I do quite a lot of short (<6mile) journeys and have been using Tesco99 in the main (convienience). Just trying to see if there is any correlation that might give an angle with Audi regarding poor design/material selection rather than external influences- e.g. grit (no doubt the quality of fuel would also be considerd as an external influence!).

Hard wax is worth a go I guess- that said I used high quality wax on the bezels on a regular basis and damage still occured. I love the sound the sports exhaust makes but the black bezel issue is really souring my choice of specifying it!

[Moonmonkey831]

hmm interesting.

I do relatively short journeys - daily commute is 30 mile round trip and the RS4 has only even known Tesco99 or Shell VPower

Pretty sure it wasn't there until the winter season kicked in - but I can't be 100% as I don't spend everyday looking at them, but listening to them instead

[qwick69]

In my opinion, it doesnt matter what the cause, whether its rust or chipping, any OEM exhaust system, including "finishers" should be designed in a way that allows them to cope with typical driving conditions and last more than several months and a few thousand miles.
If you came to chop the car in within three years, no doubt the first thing Audi would do would be to de value the car by a few hundred pounds because of the state of the exhaust.
Totally wrong.

[Mcma1]

Just washed my car today. My tips have gone too. 2k miles on the clock.avoiding any nasty weather. Will be down to the dealer on Monday to see what's what but I doubt they can avoid a warranty claim.

[feeltheburn]

Just washed my car today. My tips have gone too. 2k miles on the clock.avoiding any nasty weather. Will be down to the dealer on Monday to see what's what but I doubt they can avoid a warranty claim.

What brand and type of fuel do you usually fill up with? [Shell V power, Tesco99, BP Ultimate/97.....]just curious to see if it is a factor- I predominantly used Tesco99 before now only going to run BP 97 as a trial- probably unrelated so will make no difference!

[Mcma1]

BP97

[feeltheburn]

Ah- looks like "cheap" fuel is unlikely to be a factor then- no other options than Tesco/BP in my local area so chipped/pitted bezels are likely again for me in a few months Hopefully the ones Audi replaced are to a higher paint spec!