Warning don't repeat what I just did...

[woofy]

I just washed the car for the first time myself, the dealer has done it the last two times which were on pickup and fixing the lights.

Anyway was dirty as all hell, the pre delivery detail was crap....and then I did what I've done to all cars....when I wash while raining, go to drive it in the garage so I can dry it off.....Bang clunk..scrape......the bloody auto wipers went off and took paint completely off the inside edge of the bonnet.....I'm used to "normal" wipers so left them up so i could dry the windscreen.

Paints completely taken off over about an inch of that edge ....and half and inch from the drivers side one. I can see bare metal which shines right at you when driving it.....off to get some touch up paint this week I think...

[gregozedobe]

Ouch, sorry to hear that. Hope your touch up paint is a good match.

I knew there had to be some advantages in being an untrusting control freak !

I never leave the auto washers on (and in fact the few times I have used them I definitely prefer the older style manually adjusted interval wipers, as didn't seem to matter which "sensitivity" setting I used, it was never quite right).

I don't leave the auto headlights on because it adds unecessarily to the on/off cycles, which is what wears out HID (true Xenon) globes.

[Treza360]

I suppose this is the good thing about the MkIV rain sensors. When you turn the car on even if the wipers are already auto, they won't turn on unless you turn them off and back on or adjust the sensitivity.
However the wipers don't disappear under the bonnet like they do now so this wouldn't happen anyway.
Hope things turn out ok with the touch up.
Cheers,
Trent

[woofy]

It should be ok with the touchup....at least it happened in an area thats pretty much out of sight.....as long as I get to it quick enough there should be not much probs with corrosion.

[woofy]

Ok apparently there isn't any touchup as such, as the paint they use has a hardner added and sets very quickly, also apparently this happens a hell of a lot since they have started using the concealed wipers.

So they have touchup guys that come around and fix it each time, so I can either go find a good body shop and get them to do it, or take it in there. Taking it in there is the easiest as I get a free courtesy car.

At the moment, my stupidity is shining right in my face all morning.

[gregozedobe]

I was given a small bottle of touch up paint with my Octy when I bought it. It was just in a small nondescript bottle, not a commercial thing like you would buy as a spare, so it may have been from a bigger batch mixed up for a repair job or something.

No idea if it has gone hard yet or not. I was hoping I wouldn't need to find out for a while, but seeing as I'll be getting my new mudguard and bumper painted by the crash repairer soon, I'll ask him for a bottle of touch-up too.

The paint may be different for metallic/pearl colours.