# Rust bubble on rear wheel arch



## maxppp (Dec 5, 2015)

Hi all, was washing my car today and came across a very small rust bubble on my rear ns wheel arch.

Is this something that requires immediate treatment? Also, I've heard Audi have a 12 year corrosion warranty (car is a '56 plate) would such a thing be covered?


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## Roller Skate (May 18, 2015)

maxppp said:


> Hi all, was washing my car today and came across a very small rust bubble on my rear ns wheel arch.
> 
> Is this something that requires immediate treatment? Also, I've heard Audi have a 12 year corrosion warranty (car is a '56 plate) would such a thing be covered?


Good luck with that 12 year corrosion warranty.

Let's put it this way, it's not going to improve over time ... but it's far from the end of the world. It's a good smart repair away from being as good as new, just make sure the jobs done properly.


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi, 12 year warranty, no chance. It's been caused by a stone chip Sir, so not covered.
Hoggy.


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## Graham'sTT (Dec 6, 2014)

Whilst much of the TT's body is aluminium, including the outer rear wheel arches, the rear floor pan is steel, and the two are bonded together at the edges of the rear wings (hold a magnet to this area and you'll see).
You are not the first on this forum to report this, although so far it is rare.
I would take it to your Audi dealer if it were mine. You are correct about a body warranty against perforation.
Our recent experience with an all steel bodied VW Polo starting to corrode at the edge of a wheel arch within the body warranty period was disappointing as they firstly checked the paint thickness to see if there was accident damage / subsequent paint repair, and then having agreed there hadn't been any explained that "folded edge corrosion" wasn't covered by the body warranty, rather the three year paint warranty which had expired. I'm not saying this is how Audi will respond, but it may be.
In the end we pressed them and the best we got was a 50% contribution towards the repair, which has held up for 18 months to date.
A successful repair in this area on a TT will need to be done by a body-shop geared up for aluminium body repairs. But I am worried that the proximity of steel in this area may be encouraging dissimilar metal corrosion - a worry for all of us.
Here's a list of Audi approved body shops, including those capable of working with aluminium.
http://www.vwgroup-paintandbody.co.uk/g ... ocator.asp
Do let us know how you get on.


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## Roller Skate (May 18, 2015)

Hoggy said:


> Hi, 12 year warranty, no chance. It's been caused by a stone chip Sir, so not covered.
> Hoggy.


It was caused by being kept outside in all weathers.

"What do you mean you don't keep it in the living room Sir ... ".


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## TT-driver (Sep 14, 2010)

Audi's 12 years perforation warranty isn't going to help you here. There is no perforation from the inside out.

But I can report that I have fixed various oxidation bubbles on my TT. It is a painful procedure, where you have to remove paint and white aluminium oxide until you get to the bare metal. (this hurts) Then use some primer and touch up paint until your repair area matches the factory paint in height and colour. Wet sand and polish to make the repair invisible. With your paint colour this should be doable.

So far, knock wood, on non of my repairs the oxidation came back. On the one spot I decided to wait with repairs I found oxidation doesn't stop. Nope, it spreads instead. Perhaps even at a faster rate than with galvanised steel.

My advise: don't wait with repairs. Repair thoroughly, not giving any oxidation the chance to start again. Don't contaminate the aluminium with iron. A rusty screwdriver is not the right tool! Aluminium oxide sandpaper is OK to use. A stainless steel kitchen knife seems OK too (don't tell the missus)


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## maxppp (Dec 5, 2015)

Thanks for the replies guys.

I'm currently time-poor, so may skip Audi altogether depending on the sort of quotes I get rather than potentially wasting a morning on the weekend - anyone care to estimate how much to get this sort of thing repaired? (Quietly hoping a few hundred quid isn't an outrageous suggestion  )


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## Shug750S (Feb 6, 2012)

If that's the only spot would guess a smart repair guy would be £75-80 or so?


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## Shug750S (Feb 6, 2012)

Roller Skate said:


> Hoggy said:
> 
> 
> > Hi, 12 year warranty, no chance. It's been caused by a stone chip Sir, so not covered.
> ...


Don't joke. There was a thread in the mk3 forum a few weeks back where the dealer blamed the owner for leaving the car outside, and advised it should be garaged... :roll:


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## Roller Skate (May 18, 2015)

Shug750S said:


> Roller Skate said:
> 
> 
> > Hoggy said:
> ...


Oh, I seriously don't doubt it. :lol:


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## TT-driver (Sep 14, 2010)

maxppp said:


> Thanks for the replies guys.
> 
> I'm currently time-poor, so may skip Audi altogether depending on the sort of quotes I get rather than potentially wasting a morning on the weekend - anyone care to estimate how much to get this sort of thing repaired? (Quietly hoping a few hundred quid isn't an outrageous suggestion  )


Really should be less than 100 quid. It's not a lot of work, it's the waiting time between steps. It may even help if you provide the guy with the correct paint.

I wouldn't go overboard with any spraying. That will always be visible and will never have a factory paint gloss, finish and scratch resistance. The bubble is probably the result of a collision with a stone ( :wink: ) and should be treated as such.


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## GaryG (Aug 21, 2016)

TT-driver said:


> Really should be less than 100 quid.


I think you are being very optimistic. Labour rates of £130/hr and cost of paints and the probably need to do a whole panel would mean at least £260 at the cheapest place. I went to the specialist Audi/aluminium bodyshop in St Albans for "keying" to a door on my other car and was quoted a little short of £1000 - granted prices hereabouts are high.


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## Graham'sTT (Dec 6, 2014)

Three things need to be established:
1. Is it simply the result of a stone chip (or similar - a door banged against the wheel arch edge), or rusting from either a previous repair or corrosion emanating from the inside of the arch;
2. How far does the problem extend now if the original problem was not noticed straight away;
3. Given the answer to the above, how good and lasting job do you want.
I would say the cost of repair bearing mind all of the above could be anything between £80 and £500.


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## andyk17 (Aug 30, 2016)

Hi,

Anti rust warranties are generally a bit of a joke, years ago I had a MK3 Escort which had rust on the bottom inner part of the doors (where it meets the sill, so not visible when the door was shut) Fords 'expert' said stone chip damage, but no explanation how it could possibly have happened (in fact he wouldn't talk to me direct ). Luckily the dealer whilst not admitting any liability fixed both doors including a reskin as it was pretty obvious it was rusting from the inside. From memory I contributed £100 as they also fixed a few spots in other places including the roof which could have been stone chips.

Amazing where stone chips can occur.

On most modern cars rust perforation can take quite a while to come through, generally it will be outside the warranty period. My wife's Puma was about 11 years old when rust started to come through on the rear arches (a notorious rust spot on these as Fords seem to use some sort of felt to line the wheel arches) but this was well outside the warranty period.

Out of interest anyone had a warranty claim for rust perforation approved on an Audi?

Andy


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## Graham'sTT (Dec 6, 2014)

andyk17 said:


> Hi,
> 
> Anti rust warranties are generally a bit of a joke, years ago I had a MK3 Escort which had rust on the bottom inner part of the doors (where it meets the sill, so not visible when the door was shut) Fords 'expert' said stone chip damage, but no explanation how it could possibly have happened (in fact he wouldn't talk to me direct ). Luckily the dealer whilst not admitting any liability fixed both doors including a reskin as it was pretty obvious it was rusting from the inside. From memory I contributed £100 as they also fixed a few spots in other places including the roof which could have been stone chips.
> 
> ...


My 1984 mk 3 Escort (bought new) had not even been painted on the door bottoms. Well, not until I took it back to Evans Halshaw to complain. Didn't keep it long enough for it to rust. Most modern cars are built better than this.
VAG used to be excellent w.r.t. corrosion warranties - no resistance to fixing almost any reasonable complaint. Now I think they squirm out whenever they can - see my earlier post about the VW Polo (above).


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## brittan (May 18, 2007)

Rust bubble, smubble.

Run an old Discovery; all the bits you can't see simply dissolve :!:


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## TT-driver (Sep 14, 2010)

Well at least the days are gone where you find your car looking like this, the day after its first wash:


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## andyk17 (Aug 30, 2016)

TT-driver said:


> Well at least the days are gone where you find your car looking like this, the day after its first wash:


For an Alfa that is pretty good my brother had a GTV 2000 where the front wings and bonnet were held together by the paint (apart from that it was a great car to drive, at least in its day, same with his Lancia Beta coupe, both were only 3/4 years old).

Luckily most modern cars seem to last a little better.

Andy


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## Rory_ward (Jun 29, 2015)

May be a little late to the party here but on the assumption the OP is yet to get this issue rectified, I too experienced a rust bubble of the exact same size in an almost identical location - took the car to a local body shop that I have been to for a number of jobs in the past, both small bumper touch-ups and for a quarter, door and wing repair in the past - the cost for repairing the rust and blending to the swage line on the quarter was a total of £345 (materials, labour & VAT included). Repair is faultless, you wouldn't know it was blended at all! The paint on the quarter was relatively fresh however, having only been painted about 2 years ago.


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