Gutted we've dented our roof on the bike handlebar!

[cleve]

After a lovely 3rd trip away in our beach we've come home gutted that we've seriously dented/buckled the roof.

Annoyingly it could have been avoided but after a lovely sunny, picnic & bike ride, 3 kids each making their demands, running late for a party, we rushed to get away.

My husband started loading the bikes on whilst I lowered the roof but stupidly we should have checked all around like we usually do as I lowered the roof but as we've got the bellows bungee now didn't think much about possible other obstacles! My husband had loaded his bike on first instead of one of the children's (which we always did on our caravelle so he went back to his old autopilot!). When I lowered the roof it came down on his handlebar and now we have a pitch in the rear of the roof so it no longer seals or lays flat above the tailgate :-(

I was really surprised that it happened so easily though! The piggy bank is still recovering as we have only had the beach a few weeks so I really hope it's not a big job to repair!

Anyone else done something similar?

 

[Zebedee]

Oh no poor you. I was in a hurry today to leave the campsite with 3 eleven year olds and a dog in tow and was paranoid I would do something stupid. I'm sure you're not the first, or the last....I hope it's not too expensive!
Zebedee

 

[beardie]

Not the same but with the roof down I put a bike on the rails but it slipped before I tightened the arm and the metal handle fell against the roof panel (between the tailgate and elevating roof panel) the panel there seems very soft and has a small but quite deep dent - that went through to the metal. Thank fully it's not really visible from ground level so not too much guilt!

 

[cleve]

Perhaps we have the first california beach with a pitched roof?! Just so cross with myself!

 

[Californiaman]

I once closed my roof onto a tiny rubber grommet that fell out of the mechanism and it put a kink in (towards the front) luckily as it is only aluminum, a little force with the flat of the hand pushed it back. I considered taking issue with VW as it was a 'fault' but never bothered.

If you have a significant 'bend' but the paint isn't damaged/cracked, consider visiting an old school coach builders/car paint specialist. Armed with some decent dollies, a decent knowledgeable chap should be able to make it disappear with a little effort.

 

[18hunts]

If you normally put your child's/childrens bikes on first please be aware that the heaviest bike should always go on first and then reducing in weight until the lightest bike goes on last. It's all to do with forces and moments/ lever affect etc so that you reduce the forces on the bike rack as much as possible. Your bike rack instruction will tell you this; ignore it and accept the possible consequentness.

 

[Custardtart]

If it's a dent and the paint isn't broken/cracked then you can probably get a mobile paintless dent repair specialist to fix it.

If the whole roof has buckled or creased then probably not.

PDR isn't expensive (typically under £100) and it's amazing what they can fix.

 

[cleve]

Sadly it's more than just a dent, the rear end of the elevating roof won't sit flush on the rubber seal, there's about an inch gap between the 2 seals when the roof is completely closed. At least it does close everywhere else so we could drive it home!

 

[Goldie]

After a lovely 3rd trip away in our beach we've come home gutted that we've seriously dented/buckled the roof.

Annoyingly it could have been avoided but after a lovely sunny, picnic & bike ride, 3 kids each making their demands, running late for a party, we rushed to get away.

My husband started loading the bikes on whilst I lowered the roof but stupidly we should have checked all around like we usually do as I lowered the roof but as we've got the bellows bungee now didn't think much about possible other obstacles! My husband had loaded his bike on first instead of one of the children's (which we always did on our caravelle so he went back to his old autopilot!). When I lowered the roof it came down on his handlebar and now we have a pitch in the rear of the roof so it no longer seals or lays flat above the tailgate :-(

I was really surprised that it happened so easily though! The piggy bank is still recovering as we have only had the beach a few weeks so I really hope it's not a big job to repair!

Anyone else done something similar?

I'm getting quite worried. I have already had a new roof on my Beach, replaced by VW, but the garage told me the cost was about £3.5k

I have a bike rack I have never used but could easily see me doing the same thing. Not having carried bikes on a rack for some 15 years I am wondering whether you can still turn the handlebars through 90 degrees to align them with the wheels to stop them fouling the roof.

As the aluminium is quite soft I'm sure that you should be able to find someone with skills to fix it. I suspect that a VW dealer may suggest insurance and replacement as they don't have the skills in house. You would be amazed at what can be fixed, and there are some really good people building and fixing aluminium motor cycle tanks.

Andy

 

[cleve]

I'm really hoping we can find someone to work it back into shape!

If the 1st bike is fitted using the cross bar then the handlebar gets in the way, if it's fitted using the 45 degree angled bar lower down then it clears the roof. From now on we'll definitely be rotating the handlebars or putting one of the smaller bikes on first so it doesn't happen again!

That's helpful to know what a new roof might cost, just hope it doesn't come to that!

I'm interested to know what the bike rack instructions say about using it with a california. We've been borrowing the dealer's display bike rack so no instructions until our new one arrives as it took longer than they told us when ordering. I do wonder if we'd had instructions if there's anything written in there about preventing this happening!

 

[BMVS-Camper-Hire]

Do you have a picture, as Im sure a dent man\decent body shop can sort it. Its only aluminium.

 

[cleve]

Do you have a picture, as Im sure a dent man\decent body shop can sort it. Its only aluminium.

 

[Custardtart]

I reckon a PDR specialist would do that ok.

Look up paintless dent removal on youtube to see what they can do - then you'll feel much better.

 

[calikev]

I reckon a PDR specialist would do that ok.

Look up paintless dent removal on youtube to see what they can do - then you'll feel much better.

I agree that should be an easy fix

 

[James]

I reckon a PDR specialist would do that ok.

Look up paintless dent removal on youtube to see what they can do - then you'll feel much better.

I agree that should be an easy fix

Yes - I've used PDR - I've always been told, as long as they can get access, not a problem

 

[cleve]

I reckon a PDR specialist would do that ok.

Look up paintless dent removal on youtube to see what they can do - then you'll feel much better.

I agree that should be an easy fix

Yes - I've used PDR - I've always been told, as long as they can get access, not a problem

Thanks for all your support and advice everyone. It didn't seem so bad having slept on it. I think it seemed worse when sunburnt, sleep deprived & running late! I'll post how we get on once repaired.

Is there a particular pdr company anyone recommends or just get a couple of local quotes? A nearby ford garage has an accident repair centre, I did wonder about taking it there as it's a 2 hour round trip to get an opinion from vw!

 

[BMVS-Camper-Hire]

Do you have a picture, as Im sure a dent man\decent body shop can sort it. Its only aluminium.

That looks like an easy fix. Any decent body shop or PDR specialist should be able to sort that no problem. Our paintshop and dent man could certainly sort it, its only a single skin of aluminium.

 

[Custardtart]

If there's a VW main dealer (even a car dealer) nearby, you could phone up and ask for a PDR recommendation.

I think the main dealers and even bodyshops often sub this type of work out.

Good luck - I'm sure it'll work out fine and not very expensive either.

 

[smgcowfoldparts]

Would have thought that it would come out. Majority of PDR's are franchises so might be worth searching for a recommended company and individual.

cheers and good luck

 

[StephenH]

Dented roof just happened to me as well today. I had checked the canvas on the way down, had the windows open... but somehow a bit of canvas at the back must have got trapped and the roof twisted as it came closed and now there is a buckle in the right hand side in the centre. The canvas is hardly damaged, just a tiny mark about 1 cm long. Hoping that the aluminium roof panel will be covered under warranty but after reading several posts about this problem, I'm not sure it will. So I might have to try to get the bend sorted out independently.

Will be ordering the bellows bungee now, was on my list of things to do - just wish I'd got around to it sooner.

cheers - Steve

 

[cleve]

Dented roof just happened to me as well today. I had checked the canvas on the way down, had the windows open... but somehow a bit of canvas at the back must have got trapped and the roof twisted as it came closed and now there is a buckle in the right hand side in the centre. The canvas is hardly damaged, just a tiny mark about 1 cm long. Hoping that the aluminium roof panel will be covered under warranty but after reading several posts about this problem, I'm not sure it will. So I might have to try to get the bend sorted out independently.

Will be ordering the bellows bungee now, was on my list of things to do - just wish I'd got around to it sooner.

cheers - Steve

Gutted for you too Steve! I've just spoken to vw vans in Norwich & they gave me the number for the dent man they use & he said he's got a kink out of a cali roof before which happened when the canvas got caught & he's going to have a look to see what he can do for ours when it's at vw for a towbar next week. Really hope we don't have to go down the body shop route as it will take them 5 days + to fix it, not to mention cost over £1000!

I bought the bellows bungee before even collecting the van but we're still with dented roof. Think it gave us a false sense of security, thinking we didn't need to check the canvas as it does such a good job!

 

[StephenH]

Hello

I really hope you get it sorted without too much expense. I have been doing some reading and it seems aluminium is a little trickier than steel to get back in shape. It stretches apparently when it is bent. Steel just bends and if it's not too far or creased, goes back where it was without heat. Doing it properly with aluminium needs heat to get it to shrink back to where it was.

I hope we both have success. I'll let you know what my VW garage says - it's booked in for Wednesday for a look. I really think this shouldn't have happened - I'm so careful with the raising and lowering of the roof. I've actually tried to repeat what happened up to a point (obviously not to the point of jamming the fabric again)- but I can't.

Good luck - BW - Steve

 

[cleve]

The dent man vw use had a look today & although he has fixed a creased california roof before, he said ours is much worse than it looks as there's such a gap between the seals.

Vw also took a look as the passenger side roof clip has always been really stiff. Turns out the roof is completely out of alignment with blatant evidence of bellows being caught. Sadly not during our ownership as we've had the bellows bungee on from day 1.

So it looks like a new roof for us. Hope the insurance covers it!

 

[StephenH]

Oh dear - that doesn't sound great.

I have joined the ranks of 'roof bent and not covered under warranty'. But... my van centre kindly told me, 'There would be no charge for looking at it'. Well they did raise and lower the roof 6 times so I suppose I might expect to be charged for that!

I have written to VW Commercial Vehicles Customer care informing them that I did follow the instructions in the manual but i'm not expecting much - we'll see.

Bungee has arrived and will go on this weekend.

Good luck with your insurance - it seems like it should be covered - it was an accident after all.

Cheers - Steve

 

[cleve]

Still trying to resolve this....

After some very helpful advice from vw customer care they referred us to another vw branch for a second opinion. Turns out our local branch didn't know what they were talking about, have caused a kink in the roof by making the wrong adjustments and apparently apart from the roof dent, after several adjustments it's all fine! No need to worry about a £5100 roof replacement after all. And where did they get that ridiculous figure from? Oh, my local vw centre can't tell me as the guy doesn't work there anymore!