adriangroom

Firstly... I read on another Audi forum (Tyresmoke) that some guy over here in the UK paid £800 for a genuine set of the wheel arch extension trims and I nearly fell off my chair, as had a few others that had read the same thread judging by the posted comments. That's $1200 in your neck of the woods... so if the stealer's quoting $2400 you're getting severely ripped off in my opinion!

Secondly... if the cars a 2008 and only 2.5 years old the dealer should damn well be replacing these free of charge. As you stated in one of your posts, it's a $60K vehicle... a premium vehicle.

I'd make the stealer's life hell until they replace them.

gluvbunny

I wish it was that easy. Audi at this point has been exceedingly difficult with this situation and I have been trying to get help from them for the last 4 months. It's pretty much their word and yours means nothing. I feel that regardless of why the paint on the trim is actually not holding up should not matter, the car is still under warranty and the trim should be replaced no questions asked up to 4 years/50,000 miles. I also looked into removing the sline trim altogether and unfortunately when they looked to see if that was a possibility their body shop said that the paint under the trim is ruined from the glue. My hands are tied and that is why I wanted to reach out and see if anyone else has experienced the same problem.

adriangroom

When you say Audi has been extremely difficult are you referring to the dealer or Audi USA (AoA)?

It's not up to them to 'help' you, it's their obligation to uphold their part of the contract between you (any warranty, written or implied), and if they don't want to do that then they've got to justify why.

This seems to be Audi through and through, bully the customer enough and they'll give up... but don't.

I've never heard of this problem before, but remember there's always going to be a first person with any problem, maybe it's you in this case!

gluvbunny

Both the Audi delearship and Audi of America. The dealership doesn't want to cover it and I haven't exactly gotten an answer as to why except that they are insisting it must have been washed with something that peeled the paint, thus making the warranty void. I can't prove that they are wrong and nor can I prove that their paint job was defective. Since I am the only listed case that they have seen, they are assuming it's the owners fault. Audi of America said that trim is only covered up to 12 months or 12,000 miles on all Audi's which ever comes first and there is nothing they can do to assist me. What's interesting is the dealership is saying the 4 year 50k miles on the warranty so they obviously are both on different pages. I am going to continue to keep fighting it, but at some point I just want my car back as it's been in the shop for the second time for 2 weeks now.

adriangroom

I see where you're coming from! I'd love to know what Audi think you've 'washed' the car with, especially if it's miraculously had no effect on the paintwork on the surrounding bodywork.

Let's narrow this down... what color is the paint that's peeling off? Is it the same as the body colour?

I've just been doing a bit of research and 'official' spec for standard supply S-Line wheel arch extensions appears to be Stone Grey metallic with a notation 'can also be painted in body colour after appropriate pretreatment'.

So if they're not the standard Stone Grey Metallic, then who painted them?

Jusforfun

Your car must have originally been on 20" rims then changed to 21" by dealership.
I say this because as others point out 21" standard arch trims are not painted, they are black vinyl so your set must have been painted before fitting.
I think an independant paint shop/expert could do the job in situ.

It might be worth pushing them on the question of original rims on this car as they may have some liability due to alterations.

Jusforfun

Pretty sure we are talking about wheel arch extensions.

gluvbunny

I am not sure of the color of the trim, but it is not the same color of the car. The car is Daytona Gray Pearl Effect and the trim (wheel arch) is a darker metallic grey (not black) so may be the stone color you mentioned. I am not sure how to find out where they were painted as the car was purchased from the dealership with the trim already on the car at 20 miles. I will call the original dealership tomorrow and see what I can find out. As for the washing, I made the same point with Audi and they had no response. I feel that their paint on every part should with stand any cleaning solutions made for the car, so how can they win this one???

gluvbunny

Thankyou, good point and I will have to make a phone call to the original dealership tomorrow morning and see if I can get an investigation started.

They came with 21's and it's on the original car sticker as well listed as

21-Inch S Line Wheels w/ Summer Performance Tires

According to my Audi dealership all of the arch trims come from the factory and need to be painted and put on by each dealership, which is odd to me since the car comes as an Sline from the factory.

Another problem that my dealership pointed out was that the arch trims comes with a double sided adhesive tape which is used to place the trim on the car, but the trim on my car was glued on ruining the paint under it on the car. My dealership insists someone worked on these and since no one has since the car has left he dealership for sale that would leave me to think the dealership sold a car without disclosing all information which is unconscionable.

adriangroom

If this is what they have actually said to you then this is a done deal, as:-

a.) if there was only 20 miles (delivery) on the car when you purchased it, this means THEY must have painted and fitted them.

All Audi's are shipped (worldwide) with a uPVC covering on the main body panels. For overseas shipment most are additionally fitted with compressible foam blocks attached to the wheel arches, front and rear quarters and door edges to avoid damage in transit (as the vehicles are driven on and off the ships and then onto trailers on arrival in their destination country), so it is possible that these trims are supplied loose to eliminate the possibility of damage.

b). it stands therefore as unsurprising that Audi [as a manufacturer] has no previous record of this being a problem and that you are the only 'listed case' as the recording of faults and the subsequent issuing of TSB's (where appropriate) occurs only in relation to issues arising from defects at the point of development or manufacture... and NOT work subsequently carried out by a [franchised] dealership or other third party.

c). I have yet to find ANY information which states that the trims (where S-Line configurations are concerned) should be fitted in any other condition than that in which they are supplied, i.e. in their manufactured Stone Grey Metallic finish. I will attempt to see if I can find any further reference to this in the official Q7 workshop manual which I have on disk, but this may take me a while as it's not the easiest piece of software I've ever navigated.


They are correct in stating that the trims are supplied with 3M adhesive tape with which they should be subsequently fitted.

The dealer is shooting himself in both feet from every angle from the information you're giving on this thread...