Wheel Finish Damage: 2012 Audi Ti Wheels
03-15-2013, 08:17 PM
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Wheel Finish Damage: 2012 Audi Ti Wheels
A couple of weeks ago, I posted some questions on the B8 forum about what I thought were scratches that cropped up suddenly on all four titanium package wheels on my 2012 S4. At first I thought that these were scratches, but after taking the wheels to a wheel repair/refinisher, I was told that the damage was actually under the clear coat. (You can seem some of the damage in the photos attached).
The wheel refinisher told me this kind of deterioration was something that you might see on wheels that were badly maintaned after 100-150,000+ miles, but not on wheels with around 7000 miles. He was also sure that this was not caused by some external cause (road debris, salt, brush or improper wheel cleaner). The car had just been detailed before I saw the damage for the first time, so even though I had never had a bad experience with the detailer, I had initially thought some kind of harsh brush was the cause. Since I really think highly of the detailer, I was kind of relieved that the wheel repair guy was sure it was not caused by a brush.
The wheel refinisher/repair guy based his assessment on the fact that there is no external damage and on other wheels he has seen that have been treated with an overly harsh chemical, which you can easily see is not the case here because there is no gouging or pitting.
I took the car to Audi Rockville and after convincing the service guy to actually examine the wheels (his first knee jerk reaction was to diagnose it as damage from a brush), Audi came back the next day with an offer that as a “good will” measure Audi NA would buy two new wheels for me if I bought two. Audi also wrote me an email that said “it is Audi’s determination that the finish “cracks” are related to chemicals being used on the wheels during detailing. This is something Audi has seen before on the titanium wheels and it is NOT a defect in material or workmanship on their part.”
I went back to the detailer I use to check whether the damage could possibly be caused by their wheel cleaner (I use P21S or Audi wheel cleaner), and they checked with their supplier who confirmed it was safe for all alloy wheels (Audi seems to treat these wheels as some type of special “titanium” material). There is no special requirement for cleaning the Ti wheels, just the standard instructions in the manual that the cleaner must be acid free.
At this point I decided to go ahead and accept Audi’s offer, figuring that I could cut my losses by using the damaged wheels for winter. But, when I called Audi back, the Service Manager (the service advisor wouldn't call me back for a week), told me that the Audi offer had been modified, now I had to turn in the damaged wheels (all four) to Audi so they "wouldn’t show up somewhere else."
I contacted Audi NA and asked them to reconsider and either replace/repair all four wheels, or at least go back to the originl offer, but they dismissed my request without even waiting to get my photos and description (they basically just called the dealer and reconfirmed the whole mistaken diagnosis). So I think my next step is to file a complaint with the BBB Mediation Line.
Has anyone filed a complaint with the BBB mediation service? I imagine they will just rubber stamp Audi’s decision, but the warranty seems to require this step before the next one, which in my case will be small claims court (here in VA the amount can be up to $5000, and the filing fee is pretty low).
I would also be interested if anyone else has experienced this kind of damage to their S4 titanium package wheels. Anyone ever seen damage like this (keeping in mind that there is no pitting, gouging or any evidence on the outside of the clear coat of any damage -- it can't be felt and if you look at it with a magnfifying glass it looks like its underneath the clear coat).
The wheel refinisher told me this kind of deterioration was something that you might see on wheels that were badly maintaned after 100-150,000+ miles, but not on wheels with around 7000 miles. He was also sure that this was not caused by some external cause (road debris, salt, brush or improper wheel cleaner). The car had just been detailed before I saw the damage for the first time, so even though I had never had a bad experience with the detailer, I had initially thought some kind of harsh brush was the cause. Since I really think highly of the detailer, I was kind of relieved that the wheel repair guy was sure it was not caused by a brush.
The wheel refinisher/repair guy based his assessment on the fact that there is no external damage and on other wheels he has seen that have been treated with an overly harsh chemical, which you can easily see is not the case here because there is no gouging or pitting.
I took the car to Audi Rockville and after convincing the service guy to actually examine the wheels (his first knee jerk reaction was to diagnose it as damage from a brush), Audi came back the next day with an offer that as a “good will” measure Audi NA would buy two new wheels for me if I bought two. Audi also wrote me an email that said “it is Audi’s determination that the finish “cracks” are related to chemicals being used on the wheels during detailing. This is something Audi has seen before on the titanium wheels and it is NOT a defect in material or workmanship on their part.”
I went back to the detailer I use to check whether the damage could possibly be caused by their wheel cleaner (I use P21S or Audi wheel cleaner), and they checked with their supplier who confirmed it was safe for all alloy wheels (Audi seems to treat these wheels as some type of special “titanium” material). There is no special requirement for cleaning the Ti wheels, just the standard instructions in the manual that the cleaner must be acid free.
At this point I decided to go ahead and accept Audi’s offer, figuring that I could cut my losses by using the damaged wheels for winter. But, when I called Audi back, the Service Manager (the service advisor wouldn't call me back for a week), told me that the Audi offer had been modified, now I had to turn in the damaged wheels (all four) to Audi so they "wouldn’t show up somewhere else."
I contacted Audi NA and asked them to reconsider and either replace/repair all four wheels, or at least go back to the originl offer, but they dismissed my request without even waiting to get my photos and description (they basically just called the dealer and reconfirmed the whole mistaken diagnosis). So I think my next step is to file a complaint with the BBB Mediation Line.
Has anyone filed a complaint with the BBB mediation service? I imagine they will just rubber stamp Audi’s decision, but the warranty seems to require this step before the next one, which in my case will be small claims court (here in VA the amount can be up to $5000, and the filing fee is pretty low).
I would also be interested if anyone else has experienced this kind of damage to their S4 titanium package wheels. Anyone ever seen damage like this (keeping in mind that there is no pitting, gouging or any evidence on the outside of the clear coat of any damage -- it can't be felt and if you look at it with a magnfifying glass it looks like its underneath the clear coat).
03-17-2013, 03:47 PM
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I would also recommend getting an written estimate or some kind of review from wheel repair shop and list of all the chemicals that was used on the wheels for the court. Good luck
03-20-2013, 04:56 AM
#3
A couple of weeks ago, I posted some questions on the B8 forum about what I thought were scratches that cropped up suddenly on all four titanium package wheels on my 2012 S4. At first I thought that these were scratches, but after taking the wheels to a wheel repair/refinisher, I was told that the damage was actually under the clear coat. (You can seem some of the damage in the photos attached).
The wheel refinisher told me this kind of deterioration was something that you might see on wheels that were badly maintaned after 100-150,000+ miles, but not on wheels with around 7000 miles. He was also sure that this was not caused by some external cause (road debris, salt, brush or improper wheel cleaner). The car had just been detailed before I saw the damage for the first time, so even though I had never had a bad experience with the detailer, I had initially thought some kind of harsh brush was the cause. Since I really think highly of the detailer, I was kind of relieved that the wheel repair guy was sure it was not caused by a brush.
The wheel refinisher/repair guy based his assessment on the fact that there is no external damage and on other wheels he has seen that have been treated with an overly harsh chemical, which you can easily see is not the case here because there is no gouging or pitting.
I took the car to Audi Rockville and after convincing the service guy to actually examine the wheels (his first knee jerk reaction was to diagnose it as damage from a brush), Audi came back the next day with an offer that as a “good will” measure Audi NA would buy two new wheels for me if I bought two. Audi also wrote me an email that said “it is Audi’s determination that the finish “cracks” are related to chemicals being used on the wheels during detailing. This is something Audi has seen before on the titanium wheels and it is NOT a defect in material or workmanship on their part.”
I went back to the detailer I use to check whether the damage could possibly be caused by their wheel cleaner (I use P21S or Audi wheel cleaner), and they checked with their supplier who confirmed it was safe for all alloy wheels (Audi seems to treat these wheels as some type of special “titanium” material). There is no special requirement for cleaning the Ti wheels, just the standard instructions in the manual that the cleaner must be acid free.
At this point I decided to go ahead and accept Audi’s offer, figuring that I could cut my losses by using the damaged wheels for winter. But, when I called Audi back, the Service Manager (the service advisor wouldn't call me back for a week), told me that the Audi offer had been modified, now I had to turn in the damaged wheels (all four) to Audi so they "wouldn’t show up somewhere else."
I contacted Audi NA and asked them to reconsider and either replace/repair all four wheels, or at least go back to the originl offer, but they dismissed my request without even waiting to get my photos and description (they basically just called the dealer and reconfirmed the whole mistaken diagnosis). So I think my next step is to file a complaint with the BBB Mediation Line.
Has anyone filed a complaint with the BBB mediation service? I imagine they will just rubber stamp Audi’s decision, but the warranty seems to require this step before the next one, which in my case will be small claims court (here in VA the amount can be up to $5000, and the filing fee is pretty low).
I would also be interested if anyone else has experienced this kind of damage to their S4 titanium package wheels. Anyone ever seen damage like this (keeping in mind that there is no pitting, gouging or any evidence on the outside of the clear coat of any damage -- it can't be felt and if you look at it with a magnfifying glass it looks like its underneath the clear coat).
The wheel refinisher told me this kind of deterioration was something that you might see on wheels that were badly maintaned after 100-150,000+ miles, but not on wheels with around 7000 miles. He was also sure that this was not caused by some external cause (road debris, salt, brush or improper wheel cleaner). The car had just been detailed before I saw the damage for the first time, so even though I had never had a bad experience with the detailer, I had initially thought some kind of harsh brush was the cause. Since I really think highly of the detailer, I was kind of relieved that the wheel repair guy was sure it was not caused by a brush.
The wheel refinisher/repair guy based his assessment on the fact that there is no external damage and on other wheels he has seen that have been treated with an overly harsh chemical, which you can easily see is not the case here because there is no gouging or pitting.
I took the car to Audi Rockville and after convincing the service guy to actually examine the wheels (his first knee jerk reaction was to diagnose it as damage from a brush), Audi came back the next day with an offer that as a “good will” measure Audi NA would buy two new wheels for me if I bought two. Audi also wrote me an email that said “it is Audi’s determination that the finish “cracks” are related to chemicals being used on the wheels during detailing. This is something Audi has seen before on the titanium wheels and it is NOT a defect in material or workmanship on their part.”
I went back to the detailer I use to check whether the damage could possibly be caused by their wheel cleaner (I use P21S or Audi wheel cleaner), and they checked with their supplier who confirmed it was safe for all alloy wheels (Audi seems to treat these wheels as some type of special “titanium” material). There is no special requirement for cleaning the Ti wheels, just the standard instructions in the manual that the cleaner must be acid free.
At this point I decided to go ahead and accept Audi’s offer, figuring that I could cut my losses by using the damaged wheels for winter. But, when I called Audi back, the Service Manager (the service advisor wouldn't call me back for a week), told me that the Audi offer had been modified, now I had to turn in the damaged wheels (all four) to Audi so they "wouldn’t show up somewhere else."
I contacted Audi NA and asked them to reconsider and either replace/repair all four wheels, or at least go back to the originl offer, but they dismissed my request without even waiting to get my photos and description (they basically just called the dealer and reconfirmed the whole mistaken diagnosis). So I think my next step is to file a complaint with the BBB Mediation Line.
Has anyone filed a complaint with the BBB mediation service? I imagine they will just rubber stamp Audi’s decision, but the warranty seems to require this step before the next one, which in my case will be small claims court (here in VA the amount can be up to $5000, and the filing fee is pretty low).
I would also be interested if anyone else has experienced this kind of damage to their S4 titanium package wheels. Anyone ever seen damage like this (keeping in mind that there is no pitting, gouging or any evidence on the outside of the clear coat of any damage -- it can't be felt and if you look at it with a magnfifying glass it looks like its underneath the clear coat).
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