Fender Paint Wear

[Aronis]

Hello all,

Back from vacation....I HATE TRAVELING BY AIR.

Anyway, my previous A6 had a problem with excessive paint wear at the leading edge of the rear fender. This is due to SAND PAPERING Effect of road sand and debre.

The RS6 is also a victim to this design FLAW.

Both the leading edge of the rear fender well (from sand from the FRONT TIRES) and the trailing edge of the front fender are being 'sanded' to bear metal/plastic, and my car only has 6000 miles on it!

I want to know now many others have had this wear problem and what we should do about it?

I think the dam wheel wells need an extension such that the tires are just inside the well top to bottom. While this may make the Fruity Design guys with their tight designer pants and designer glasses cry, but tough, the looks of a car CANNOT take the front seat to FUNCTION and if the paint strips off the car because the wheels and tires are open to the side of the car, then this is a serious design flaw.

Mike

[nene]

I thought the leading edge was covered by a plastic cover?
Maybe you can have that 3M film that is usually added to the front of the car, and put it there as well. Just a suggestion.

[Bauer]

I have clear bra covering the front of the car, the flared fenders fron and rear, lower rocker panals, and a top of rear bumber to protect from crap being draged in and out of the trunk. The stuff works magic.:thumb:

[Aronis]

Great Suggestion....

Where can I get the Clear Bra?

I can perhaps salvage these areas!

Mike

[Bauer]

Here is the link to their web site. There were other types discussed on a thread previously, so might want to check it out as well....just use the search feature...good luck

http://www.clearbra.net/home2.html

[nene]

If you live in Massachusetts, you can go to Tint King in Billerica. They use the latest 3M product line, and they do a pretty good job.

Or you can go to Autoband (not sure of the spelling though).

[gregoryindiana]

and i am happy with how it is working, but at the same time, long time readers here will remember that Audi originally promised that the A6 4.2 spash guards would fit our RS6.

Only after dealers tried to install the front spash guards and they wouldn't fit did Audi backtrack, say there were no options for our cars of this sort, and that high costs of tooling up to provide them for such a small production run would prevent them from doing it.

Agree with all you say, paint sandblasting is not acceptable wear.

[JAXRS6]

My RS6 came with standard clear plastic to guard the lower front of the rear fender well; didn't yours?

Soon after delivery I enhanced protection with a 3M kit from England, with pattern designed for RS6, and it has worked very well: No nicks, scratches, or "sandpaper" effect anywhere. Just a few small "bubbles" where the pastic took a hit & protected paint underneath.

If you are getting a sandpaper effect on the paint at the trailing edge of your FRONT lower wheel wells, I would suspect a defective paint job rather than design flaw ... because I'm not protected there but have no such effect @ 18,700 miles. That includes a few minutes at 140 mph on Bonneville Salt Flats. Car was covered with salt from belt line down afterwards; still, no sandpaper effect. It all washed off easily & looked fine; still does.:D

By the way I had a paint flaw at delivery, but of a different type. There was an area about 3x3 inches on my hood that, in sunlight, looked lighter than the rest of my mugello blue. No difference in shade. Dealer sent me to Autometrics in Detroit area, both of us thinking that Autometrics would have to repaint the hood. But they didn't -- just repainted the affected area & buffed it out -- and to our amazement, it worked!

[gjg]

Jax, do you have contact info for the 3M outfit in England?

I also have rear mud flaps available if someone wants them - my Avant came standard with it and I did not like the look of it .....

:looking:

[Aronis]

The rear part of the rear fender does not appear to be as badly effected!

I'll try to post some pictures of the wear today.

That specific 3M kit for RS6 sounds very interesting!

Mike

Thanks for the input.....

[JAXRS6]

Originally posted by gjg
Jax, do you have contact info for the 3M outfit in England

In Europe, start by contacting the mfr directly re their 3M paint protection product with a pattern for the RS6: Armourfend.com I'm told they are located about 45 minutes outside London in a town called Nazeing.

In the US, the exclusive distributor is the SE Michigan company that installed mine: PaintShield, web site bikeshield.com and phone 888-884-8468. Principals are Tim Allen, who actually looks a bit like the actor of the same name, and Greg Young, who just told me they have installers in CA, FL, AZ & elsewhere, and generally can find one for any major market.:thumb:

[Aronis]

Thanks,

I sent a fax to Bike Shield just now, could not send request via web site since they have a bug on the email window. Perhaps I should have tried using the Internet Explorer instead of Netscape?

I'll post their pricing...

Mike