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Thought i,d give the car a wash today as i havent bothered since the bad weather started..

I now realise why its such a bad thing to leave salt on the car!!!


Wheels ruined salt has got into refurbed paint and blistered on all 4 wheels!!

But worst of all....

The aluiminium strip on the boot lid is fucked!!

Covered in small blisters under the matt finish..i assume salt "eating" into the matt finish.. ARRRGHHH

Also the surrond on the grill has had the same fate...

God i,m pissed off and i,m usealy very anal about car cleaning and the strip was plastered in wax ete which i thought would prevent this.

Any one else had the same?

Wouldnt care had the boot strip replaced under warranty for the same issue last year..but cars out of warranty now!

Any detailers now how to get rid of these "bubbles"?? very very fine wet and dry maybe?

IDEAS ANYONE???

Bubbles are exactly that, the paint has lifted so cant do anythiong im afraed, they wont need a full refub, just a sand and paint, as for the strip , a new one is needed. This is the reason in the uk mos detailers will do a full winter prep useing hard weraring selants rather than waxes, as its about protection etc

Salt shouldn't cause the bubbling and never heard it doing so before, how long has it been on the car for?

What products do you use to wash the car? The trims are prone to damage from acidic based cleaners that leave circles where left to dry.

How long ago were the wheels refurbed? I'd be going back for their opinion and pushing for them to do again if within a year, it sounds like they weren't done properly in the first place - they need to be shot blast and start from stratch to be sure it won't happen again.

Trim,s been on car about 4 months..it was brand new and all i treated it with was Autoglym wax/polish.
and now after the car being pitted for about 4 weeks this has happened...so i,m a bit stumped they are defo bubbles raised from the surface.

To be fair the wheels were refurbed nearly two years ago and i knew it wasnt the best job even though Audi did them!! not that arsed about them as i was going to get them refurbed soon anyway.

go for Zaino !

Audi refrubed wheels are usually mobile refurbishers, i.e. sand down, overspray and lacquer then bake with portabel heater. Never the ideal solution to a propoer refurbishment as previously said.

As for the trim I am stumped as well as my car has now endured 2 winters and a lot of salt and I can't say any of the trim has bubbled. Was it replaced under warranty parts for it to be so new?

P_G wrote:Audi refrubed wheels are usually mobile refurbishers, i.e. sand down, overspray and lacquer then bake with portabel heater. Never the ideal solution to a propoer refurbishment as previously said.

As for the trim I am stumped as well as my car has now endured 2 winters and a lot of salt and I can't say any of the trim has bubbled. Was it replaced under warranty parts for it to be so new?

The trim was replaced originally as one big bubble had formed on it!!! so i assume it was a brand new part Audi used...now i have loads of small bubbles!!!!

STRANGE!!!

If it were replaced by Audi under warranty I would go back to them again and ask for it to be done again.

If you have original silver trim somewhere on the car that has not ben replaced and it has not bubbled and the new stuff has they can't argue.

Had the same with my new front bumper after a front end bump, the paint and lacquer were not sticking to the plastic and they took my car back and did the whole front end again until it had no paint defects as there was no evidence anywhere else on the car to say that it was my ownership or maintenance that was causing the paint to flake as all the other OEM panels were fine.

Deffo go back to the dealer re the trim. A new part should carry 12 months "warantee" anyway, shouldn't it?

I've also found the exact same problem on mine today whilst giving her a much needed clean, bootlp ali strip is all bubbled up luckily I still have 7 months warranty left so I will be on the phone to the dealer first thing in the morning! could do without the hassle of it to be honest... also must be an area that’s prone to salt and grime build up as all the other trim is still ok??

I know it's not a popular view with detailers but I've always found little and often gives better results ie just a quick wash at least once a week in wintery/salted conditions (unpleasant in the weather I know) with a decent product concentrating on wheels/lower bodywork/arches rather than relying on one major 'protection' to last the distance.

I've seen brake dust corrode alloys quickly but never salt?....hope you get her back to how she should be soon.

You could get the boot strip colour coded like with the black optic pack that will stop it corroding

Yep, when I had my RS4 I had to have the trim strip above the rear bumper replaced due to corrosion. It was not covered under warranty (apparently trim is not covered by the corrosion perforation warranty, or whatever its called). It cost me about £50 to have it replaced and fitted. Radiator surround was fine, but all the matt silver trims were always prone to 'staining' where the water had sat for any longer than 2 minutes...very delicate indeed.