[moltuae]

Originally Posted by spannerrash

Well this has really peaked my attention as the main reason I bought my D2 S8 was because of the resistance to corrosion.

I understand galvanic corrosion but surely aluminium just left exposed doesn't corrode does it? I actually bought a spare A8 wing, rubbed, burnt and ground some paint off in three separate areas. I left it exposed in the garden for 2 years and could find no real corrosion issues. Does aluminium not self heal?

Are we talking real penatrive corrosion here or are we taking paint lift.

Am really interested in if someone could clue me up on how big a problem this is / can be.

I would say that, with the exception of galvanic or chemical corrosion, aluminium oxidisation tends to be limited to the surface. Unlike steel, which will continue to oxidise until nothing remains, surface oxidisation of aluminium actually prevents deeper oxidisation (which is essentially how anodising works). Aluminium oxidisation can of course get under the paint and spread across the surface if left untreated but it's not generally structurally damaging.

By comparison, here's a Mercedes S class of a similar vintage to a late D2 A/S8:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMFmVYvYqyA

Now the Merc may be a particularly badly neglected example, but I've never seen an '8 with anything like as much surface corrosion and structural corrosion seems to be pretty much non-existent on '8s (with the exception of the steel subframes of course).