[200q20v] RUST!?!?!

[Henry A Harper III]

> Is this something other owners have encountered? Granted, I live in New
> England, and we get our share of salt on the roads, but I am shocked
> nonetheless. I do have a vehicle history on the car. Bought at the Audi
> dealer in Manhatten, she spent some time in Houston, before eventually
> returning to Connecticut.

My car has this too. The second owner's story (service manager at the Idaho 
Falls ID dealer where I eventually got the car) was that the first owner 
(airline pilot in Jackson WY) had a rather long gravel driveway, and what with 
no mudflaps this area was pretty well sandblasted when he got the car. He had 
it redone with the proper thick paint, but after the third owner (realtor, back 
in Jackson) the paint was trashed again. FWIW, mine looks generally 
rust-colored but the rust does not appear to be making structural inroads; no 
flakes, holes, etc. noted. It's about the same color as the stainless-steel 
exhaust on my other car :) As much time as the Audi spends sitting instead of 
being driven lately, I'm not all that worried about it.

Henry Harper
hah at alumni.rice.edu   http://www.mindspring.com/~hah3
1991 200 quattro, 112k, a/c still dead, might be time to think about an 
age-related timing belt change
1988 GTI 16v, 220k, a/c mysteriously somewhat better last weekend