Is the only way to fix this is to repaint+compound

I was detailing my car this afternoon and saw this above the drivers side wheel well:



The rest of my car is fine, I do a complete detail twice a year (spring & winter prep). Anyone else have this or know how this happens? It's bubbled off the panel and feels like I could rip it off exposing the panel. I thought that VAG cars did pretty well b/c of their hard clearcoat.

Is the only solution to get the whole panel repainted, compound, polish, ect? I'm concerned that the whole car will require a repaint in order to maintain uniformity with color.

 

Could be a pint defect from factory but if you never saw it before almost like panel got hot from buffing and started to delam/bubble up....I see it more often on plastic parts but maybe someone else can chime in. Almost like a paint stripper got onto the paint also...

You could paint locally and blend locally and can get good results.

 

Rust.. Fix it now before it gets worse. Is that on the front fender or rear quarter? Either way, not a huge job, should only take a few hours to complete. A color match won't be an issue because the rust issue isnt near neighboring panels. If you spray color on an entire panel, it's hard to get a perfect color match. A repair in the middle of a panel allows for plenty of room for the color to be blended out, making the repair less noticeable. Plus your car is dark, much easier to blend than say a silver car. Just make sure you go to a reputable shop and you'll be fine. You can always drive it down to PA and I'll fix it for ya!

 

If it trully is rust, VAG warranty should cover it within 10 years i think is the rust warranty on the cars....

 

VAG will cover it under warranty as long as its an inside out defect. Meaning, if there has been a something underneath the paint that has caused a bubble etc, they will cover it.

But if its an Outside in defect, like a stone chip that started it, or improper use of solvents/chemicals etc they won't cover it.

Its quite hard to prove this things to be honest, but VW did cover a job on my car after 9 months of ownership. The body shop manager didn't realise who i was or what i did and he tried to feed me some bull about rust. It was a plastic freaking panel, i got my paint thickness gauge out, gave him a LOT of technical jargon they didn't teach him at college and threw him the keys saying "sort it or ill be phoning trading standards"

Needless to say, they sorted my car out super quick plus they gave me a very nice Toureg for the week

 

Thanks everyone for the input. I'm going to take it to the dealer to see if they'll cover it. I guess that golf MKVs have some foam under the fender (for sound deadening I suppose) which can lead to this kind of bubbling. Just a heads up for anyone who encounters this while working.

 

I have seen nothing like this on my mkv gti, nor do i know how the fender line can cause this but could you get some larger view shots and do update...also dont tell them you have detailed the car....just makes it easier and less blame...