Brushed aluminum trim scratches

[sixpakldp]

Just purchased a 2018 S5 yesterday. Clean, low miles with one caveat being the brushed aluminum trim was not well cared for. Has anyone succeeded in refurbishing the brushed aluminum? Curious I’d products like scratch b gone might work or if there os no way to do it. It looks like it can be done, but interested in hearing what others have experienced.

[kmarei]

Very hard to fix
I had bought a used set that had scratches
I figured I would sand it to get the brushed look
But the oem brushed one has some type of clear coat on it
So if you sand it, the clear coat is worn off
It's the nicest looking trim, but delicate
At least the carbon fiber is easy to remove scratches on

[Sir Soysauce]

Very hard to fix
I had bought a used set that had scratches
I figured I would sand it to get the brushed look
But the oem brushed one has some type of clear coat on it
So if you sand it, the clear coat is worn off
It's the nicest looking trim, but delicate
At least the carbon fiber is easy to remove scratches on

Thanks for the heads up! I recently got my S5 back in August and had similar issues so was wondering if there may be any resolutions. If its a clear coat scratch we’re concerned about, I wonder if we can actually fill in the clear coat with a few layers and gently sand it down to even out the finish and make the scratches less pronounced.


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[Liquid Smoke]

it will be tough to blend it in. i think you can try to just sand the whole thing down so it's even, and then use your own clearcoat to seal it back up uniformly. will be a tough repair though as it's a complex finish, i think if you take it somewhere, a wheel refinishing shop might even be able to do it nicely.

[CurvesAhead]

How many trim pieces are scratched? Might be easier to just replace the bad ones and have a pro detailer fix the other ones.

[kmarei]

it will be tough to blend it in. i think you can try to just sand the whole thing down so it's even, and then use your own clearcoat to seal it back up uniformly. will be a tough repair though as it's a complex finish, i think if you take it somewhere, a wheel refinishing shop might even be able to do it nicely.

I've done that
I sanded for ages, and it's almost impossible to keep all the grooves parallel to the trim, like the oem trim
Replacement pieces are not cheap
I had wood trim on my old B6 S4 that I had wrapped in dark grey bushed finish that looked great
And because it was vinyl, it was a lot tougher and didn't scratch like the actual metal pieces
It actually had a brushed texture you could feel if you rubbed your hand across it

[kmarei]

This is kinda what it looks like
You can easily remove the door trim pieces and try wrapping them
Worst case if you don't like it, peel the vinyl and put the trim back
If you like it then move on to center console
Then do the dash pieces last as they are tricky
I actually wrapped trim in matte cf on my RS5
The oem cr trim is super shiny and reflects too much of the led lights at night

https://www.ebay.com/itm/26552320621...cAAOSws3ph9Jp4

[sixpakldp]

Sounds like not such an easy repair unless you wrap. I really like the look but replacing is expensive. Going carbon fiber isn’t cheap either. Any carbon kits that folks have used that don’t cost $800?

[kmarei]

Sounds like not such an easy repair unless you wrap. I really like the look but replacing is expensive. Going carbon fiber isn’t cheap either. Any carbon kits that folks have used that don’t cost $800?

Is yours a coupe or sportback ?
I have the oem CF trim from my rs5 coupe
Was taken off the car with less than 10k miles on it

[sixpakldp]

It’s a sportback.

- - - Updated - - -

It’s a sport back

[HurrayFive]

Yeah, unfortunately this isn't really able to be repaired unless you're willing to sand every piece down so they all look the same, and then it loses the original look and is really hard to get them all just right. My previous lightly used B9 S4 had the brushed aluminum trim and the first owner left scratches in the driver side door panel and on the panel on the center console...I had priced them out new through the dealer for about $600 total but decided not to buy them, then I traded it in for my RS anyway.

https://www.rvinyl.com/3M-2080-Brushed-Vinyl-Wrap

I was going to attempt to wrap all of the pieces in this first so they all looked the same, can always just take it off if it doesn't look right, but if you scroll to the bottom of this page to the reviews, it looks like a B9 A4 owner used it to wrap their pieces and it looks fairly convincing. A loooolltttttt cheaper than new or used pieces, heh. Might be worth a shot if you can't find any used pieces for a decent price!

[sixpakldp]

It’s a sportback

[sixpakldp]

I ended up ordering the 3M product and a set of plastic trim tools from eBay. I tried to work some scratches in a small area out and found out why it can’t be done. I thought about pulling the trim off, getting all the scratches out so the trim matches everywhere but my gut tells me I’ll be doing that sooner rather than later. So for $35 I’ll give the vinyl a try. Otherwise I’m going to go nuts looking at the scratches. I’ll follow up with how it turns out. Going away next weekend so likely will be two weeks from now.

[kmarei]

I ended up ordering the 3M product and a set of plastic trim tools from eBay. I tried to work some scratches in a small area out and found out why it can’t be done. I thought about pulling the trim off, getting all the scratches out so the trim matches everywhere but my gut tells me I’ll be doing that sooner rather than later. So for $35 I’ll give the vinyl a try. Otherwise I’m going to go nuts looking at the scratches. I’ll follow up with how it turns out. Going away next weekend so likely will be two weeks from now.

Post pics when done please :)

[Liquid Smoke]

vinyl wrapping them is the way to go, should hide all the imperfections and you can wrap it in whatever finish and color you like now. i'm sure you'll be happy with it, as long as it's installed properly. also along with those tools, a heatgun/blowdryer will be super helpful.