Awning rail discolouration

[Maud]

We took Ariadne into the VW dealership for her roof recall today, where she had the tape applied.

When we picked her up, we noticed that the passenger side rail looks awful - like the plastic is covered in weird rust spots. The caps on the ends of the rails on both passenger and drivers sides were also loose and we had to push these on ourselves. We have queried this with the dealership and the manager has said that they have only done the roof taping and that he has seen this discolouration before, suggesting we use back to black to get the colour back. We are really confused though as we have been away in her all week until yesterday and washed her a week ago and we are certain we would have noticed this ugly marking before now. Has anyone else had this issue with their rails?!

 

[Jay20cali]

These are black aluminium not plastic the end caps are plastic if this is what you mean????
They do sometimes look slightly purple in sunlight..yours looks more like chemical contaminants has caused the spots eg degreasers
Try wiping it wth wd40 on a soft cloth

 

[Maud]

These are black aluminium not plastic the end caps are plastic if this is what you mean????
They do sometimes look slightly purple in sunlight..yours looks more like chemical contaminants has caused the spots eg degreasers
Try wiping it wth wd40 on a soft cloth

Thanks Jay,

The manager at the van centre told us they had a Matt black plastic finish so it’s interesting that they are in fact aluminium. We think it looks like a reaction too... we will get some WD40 tomorrow and hope that this will remove it!

Christine

 

[Jay20cali]

Thanks Jay,

The manager at the van centre told us they had a Matt black plastic finish so it’s interesting that they are in fact aluminium. We think it looks like a reaction too... we will get some WD40 tomorrow and hope that this will remove it!

Christine

I think it will work just fine... wd40 is excellent at removing contamination on most surfaces Inc aluminium....spray it on a cloth wipe it down the rail then use a clean dry cloth afterwards to dry it off good luck

 

[Maud]

I think it will work just fine... wd40 is excellent at removing contamination on most surfaces Inc aluminium....spray it on a cloth wipe it down the rail then use a clean dry cloth afterwards to dry it off good luck

Thank you, that is really reassuring as we don’t want it to stay looking like this! I will let you know if it works.

Christine

 

[pjm-84]

If you haven't noticed it before my suggestion would be the detergent that they washed the roof with wasn't completely rinsed off.

The silver rails also pick up an patina (mine has) but a lot less noticeable. I've come across this before with other items as a result of the coastal environment I live in.

 

[Scott and Linda]

We took Ariadne into the VW dealership for her roof recall today, where she had the tape applied.

When we picked her up, we noticed that the passenger side rail looks awful - like the plastic is covered in weird rust spots. The caps on the ends of the rails on both passenger and drivers sides were also loose and we had to push these on ourselves. We have queried this with the dealership and the manager has said that they have only done the roof taping and that he has seen this discolouration before, suggesting we use back to black to get the colour back. We are really confused though as we have been away in her all week until yesterday and washed her a week ago and we are certain we would have noticed this ugly marking before now. Has anyone else had this issue with their rails?!

View attachment 45654

View attachment 45655

 

[Scott and Linda]

Hello,
We collected our new CALI last week and also have this weird discolouration on our nearside awning rail, picture attached. We had Life Shine applied so may have reacted?We also have it on offside but the main awning cover itself is OK. Well we are back to the dealership, Breeze Poole, next week for warranty inspection!

 

[Soton Campers]

All of mine eventually go the same way. It's character!