So, I have a red A6 and I washed my car yesterday like I usually do. I always go to the regular old car wash in town (self wash with the spray gun), so I don't use any harsh chemicals other than what they have in their system. Well, I have clear coat coming off in 3 places after my latest car wash. Am I alone here? Does anyone think Audi of America would be willing to correct this as the car is only 6 years old (manufactured 02/02).

Here's a picture of the worst of the 3 areas. I assume I need to get the car mostly repainted if I want this to stop happening (which I am not against doing since it will look sweet with a fresh paint job), but its still a bummer since I am sure it will cost $2k that I wouldn't have otherwise spent on this.

 

what enviornment was the car in, theres no way even with a thinner german clear should it peel. ive only seen this happen to cars that had bird crap and such on the car for a while and neglected waxs.(not that im saying you nelgect your car), audi probably wont fix it since theyll make something up.

 

Well the car is parked out doors, and it does frequently get bird poo on it. I've only owned this are for about a year now, and I haven't ever waxed it. I also have never waxed my Stratus either though, and I've had it for 5 years now (also an 02 model) and I've never seen any problems with it. We get enough rain around here that the car stays pretty clean, but it was getting pretty dirty so I put it through the wash. Nothing exceptional that I haven't had other cars survive though.

Also, I am not sure that the car hasn't been repainted in the past so I won't say for sure this is the factory finish. I know that at least the driver side door has been repainted because it didn't perfectly match the rest of the car and you could see the chips that were painted over. I have since had the door repainted because the slightest shade difference drives me nuts. Here's a pic of another area (passenger door) that is peeling, and an over all picture of the car. I hope these illustrate that the car isn't "exceptionally" neglected and is in generally good shape. I would expect to have to do much worse to get peeling clear coat. I only wash the Stratus maybe 3 times a year (the Audi, more than once a month on average), and again, the Stratus's paint is doing fine from what I can see

 

A body shop should be able to buff and re-clearcoat the bad areas.

 

The mystery has been solved. I called Audi of America and found out I actually am under warranty until 100,000 miles (98,500 now). This pisses me off because the dealed i bought it from (not an Audi dealer) sold me a warranty that covers less and lasts until 108k (45k warranty from Preferred Warranties Inc.). So that warranty was useless. I got some more battles to wage now. Good news is that my powersteering pump which has been lightly squeaking is now getting replaced for free and we are going through all of my service records and Audi will refund me some money.

They won't cover the paint, so I went to my body shop to get an estimate. They said that none of the paint is the factory original (thus it is not Audi's fault which is good because I really don't want to switch brands for my next car). They quoted me $2600 to repaint the entire car, or $600 to repaint the passenger door and hood. I will get the hood and door done, and when other parts start peeling, we will do them then. They warranty paint jobs for life, and they are the ones that repainted the driver side front door pictured above. They do good work.

Sooo.. I now know about my warranty, and I am getting my PS pump replaced, refunds on previous service, plus some beautiful fresh paint. In the end, I come out ahead since I would have never known about my soon to expire warranty if not for this problem.

(am I too much of a silver liner seeker?)

Thanks for the replies