tinfoilman

I have a brilliant black 2010 A4 Prestige and it is the worst paint durability I have ever seen. Within a few months I had at least a dozen paint chips. The primer is still there, but it looks like total crap with a black car. I even have a few chips, including one on the driver's door, that are more than 1/8th inch long. I have put 8k miles on it and I'd say there are about 50 chips total now. Most are on the front of the hood. When the car is clean and in the sun you can see the chips from 50 feet away! It's sickening.

In contrast, I have a 1999 Buick Regal, also black, that has probably half as many chips after 113k miles, and none of them are very big.

I like the car, but the paint makes me mad. I've been meaning to get some touch up paint, but that is going to be a big chore. I will probably only try to fix the large chips. Opting for the clear paint protector bra thingy might actually be a good idea. It would look a lot nicer than what I have now.

QUA77R0

Our '09 A4 Avant in Ibis white has zero bumper chips after 13,500 miles of use. Those miles include 12 track days with ACNA, NASA, and TMR at various tracks. I do have a single chip on the passenger side A-pillar. That happened at Laguna Seca at well over 100 mph before entering the braking zone of the Andretti hairpin when a car in front tossed up a rock. It is amazing that while the paint and clear coat in a 3mm area are gone, the underlying white primer is completely fine.

So how is it that we have no chips after the treatment that our avant receives? 3M Clear Bra. I had it installed over all frontal and side areas as well as the rear bumper when I had my limo tint done the day after we bought it. Having hit multiple rocks and debris on the track at triple digit speeds, I vouch for the effectiveness of the product. When it gets hit, it sometimes has a hazy look where contact is made. By spraying on a lil Griots spray wax and a quick wipe with a microfiber cloth, the haze is gone.

But..., I have had to mandate that the dealer NEVER washes my car as they use high pressure washers manned by careless individuals. I came to understand this after I picked up our car from the dealer after they replaced our wheels and noticed that the clear bra had been torn on the front bumper and that water was under it. The service writer knew immediately that one of their car wash guys had hit the bumper with the metal tip of the HP washer and then blasted it. Whomever washed it then tried to cover up the fact by pushing the clear bra back down. To Stevens Creek Audi's credit, when I brought this to their attention, they paid for the car to be re-covered not just on the front bumper but the entire car. They have been a great dealership to deal with.

Someone mentioned that their Mercedes paint is in a different league. I beg to differ.. I own an E55 with 15,000 miles with no clear bra, only 2 track days in its 10 years and the front bumper is freckled with pits from small rocks. And this is a car with "real" paint unlike the new water based stuff that we are all stuck with now. Our Mitsubishi Evo, has seen HARD usage for the past 60,000 miles and has done very well the paint on the bumper actually seems to just bend inward where hit but doesn't crack.

Anyways, on any new car I would highly recommend a clear bra product. I would also recommend that you cough up the extra dough to have the edges wrapped otherwise, most shops only go to the edges. The guy I used (just retired) had a contract with the local Ferrari/Maserati dealer and the bra they did on those is amazing... completely invisible since they cover the entire front of the car (hood everything and wrap all edges). I bring that up because on darker colored cars you can see the edge of the clear bra across the hood (as well as on lighter colors if not kept very clean).

I hope this is not construed as a thread jacking... I felt bad reading about the chips that many of you are having to deal with and wanted to offer my experience and solution. Hope it helps.

jbradle7

Mine is only six months old and look at the size of this chip...

Seriously though... I drive on the interstate every day behind big trucks etc and have maybe one or two minor chips. I'd say the paint quality is pretty good.

jbradle7

Forgot to mention (and can't seem to edit my orig post)... the paint quality was great until the front end got run over by a large 4x4 in a parking lot.

QUA77R0

Ouch

Man I feel your pain.

Old Dog

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SFV A4

This thread has me curious. My 2003 A4 had average paint. My 2008 IS250 seems to be very good. But I was attributing the color as part of the reason. Black on my Audi seemed to show everything on the bumper whereas my silver IS's bumper appears blemish-free.

a4-bob

That's just a color issue. Black on any car is going to show every imperfection, though it will look amazing when you detail it. Silver will hide a lot of dirt and imperfections, thought it will look kinda similar dirty as when detailed.

MrStuff

It's funny you say that about BB paint. I have the Phantom Black Pearl... I feel ya, however I don't have that many chips. I have 1 decent sized one which I am fixing before winter (that hit even took out the primer :\), about 5 little ones and probably 20 to 30 "specs" (very very very small chip that I would never even try to fix with a paint pen. A good wax usually hides them pretty well). I also have almost 40k KM on the car... AND I also got out of the habit of following close... which has helped alot.

As crazy as it sounds, I feel like I get MORE chips and "hits" during the summer.

p.s. almost all highway driving too.

NickZag

A friend of mine works at Lexus and said an ISF has over 35lbs of paint and that isn't much more then the standard IS. I wouldn't be surprised that it's holding up well.

While I'm very happy with the my A4, I'll call a spade a spade. The paint quality is horrible. It's extremely thin and it's not just the brittle clear coat that someone else mentioned. This might sound like sacrilege, but I've been driving the same commute for over 10 years and my 2009 Corolla didn't even chip this easy. Thats not the type of quality I expected when upgrading from a crappy $15k car to a $40k+ tier 1 car like an Audi. I also noticed that both my front and rear bumpers are starting to develop a slight yellowish ting even though it's always garaged.