Peeling paint

**petenkaz** · 30-06-2015, 09:39 PM

Thanks for that poptop pricing Zebt, found a panel beater near work who quoted me last week, waiting for the quote back. his solution was just to paint a bit either side of the roof, still not the whole roof. i'm not too wise in the ways of painting so I hope this solution is cheaper and works long term.
Interesting Sunny43.5 for the take on the T5. I find it's a great car, now done 140,000 with to date no major issues touch wood (other than me filling with unleaded). Still feels much more solid than a Japanese car. I wonder how my Triton will feel after doing the kind of work my Beach has done, I doubt as well put together as the VW. It's also time for a big service, last one was a year ago now and half way through towing a van on a half lap of Australia. Always serviced by VW, until I got jack of their lousy service, or a VW specialist.
Torn between a really good old fashioned tart up, i.e. new wheels and tyres and a big service/detail and shifting it. Would love a Multivan these days for the passenger comfort, shame they're out of my price range though!
I will ring VW as you suggest, though I think they'll just brush it off

**Zebt** · 01-07-2015, 03:19 PM

Just called VW. They told me to go back to the dealer and ask for the paint issue to be raised with warranty and submit a 'request for goodwill'. Also interestingly they mentioned that the corrosion warranty is 12 years, one of the peeling areas is now corroding. I am guessing that the corrosion warranty only covers the major steel structural areas and not the body work, although I suspect that the roof does form part of the safety integrity of the vehicle. I will contact the dealer again.

**petenkaz** · 01-07-2015, 04:28 PM

Thanks for that Zebt. i'll chase up. Unfortunately I bought it from Burwins in Victoria and not a local dealer. Will let you know if I get any satisfaction from them!

**Sunny43.5** · 01-07-2015, 06:08 PM

Corrosion should be covered where ever it is , they could not separate certain areas . If you think about it the most logical place for rust would be down in the sill area as it would be the most exposed to rocks etc . Just don't give up on them keep complaining I know it worked for me even though it took two years for them to do the right thing in my case .

**petenkaz** · 08-07-2015, 01:57 PM

First inspection by the warranty guy at VW, and you see it's all my fault. Because despite being way outside of the paint warranty period I should have taken it to them, so they could have no doubt knocked back my claim then. And the rust is because of me, not crappy paint? So the VW guys advice was to get it fixed when I get the roof painted, i.e. me fix and don't waste their time. Also as the car's so old it's bound to happen. He will get back to me once they've lodged the warranty claim with VW. guy at work pointed out a good fact, warranty is on corrosion and not paint, so should be on bare metal. Makes sense to me and the basis for a good argument with VW.

So I guess my chances are nil on the first go. However, I can be a real stubborn bastard and rather annoying when it comes to such things!

**brad** · 08-07-2015, 02:26 PM

generally corrosion warranty requires the bodywork to be perforated - IOW: rusted through. maybe vw are different...

**Sunny43.5** · 08-07-2015, 04:39 PM

My advice is to jump onto Volkswagens Facebook page , vent your spleen there and 2008 is not that old in my opinion . Like you I am a stubborn grumpy old bastard as well , it took me two years of getting under their skin but in the end they did do the right thing . Oh and ours was a 2004 T5 first one they came good after the van was 10 years old .

**Zebt** · 12-07-2015, 09:20 AM

My last conversation was with the warranty manager at Bill Buckle Brookvale, nice chap who agreed with me that the peeling paint and subsequent corrosion was not caused by any external issue, ie. roof racks etc etc. He instructed me to go and get a quote for repair locally and he would submit it to VW. So the final decision is yet to be made. Quote to redo the rails is around $1k.

Interestingly he also noticed the damaged paintwork on my front bumper which was a result of a nudge, however the paint is flaking in huge pieces and obviously wasn't painted correctly (I had the bumpers colour coded when I bought it from VW). So he called the sales dept and asked where it was done, turns out they are a local mob who is now out of business so no recourse on that, but the guy who quoted said he may be able to bundle it in to the whole job to make it cheaper (will need a new bumper due to the time it take to strip the paint of mine!).
All in all so far a much better response from VW than I have had before. Always the optimist!

**petenkaz** · 06-08-2015, 10:28 PM

Ok, chased up VW warranty guy as I was sick of waiting by the phone, and yep of course it's all my fault. They were going to email the response straight away, guess I can expect that in a coupla weeks going by rapid responses to date. So about to start going up the food chain at VW I guess. I haven't been able to find the VW Facebook page, can anyone please point me in the direction?