Ripple on the roof

Victor · May 1, 2017

I feel such a fool! When leaving the campsite today after a lovely weekend away, we lowered the roof and half way down it stopped, I put it back up again and re lowered it and it was fine so we drove home. Once home I noticed a ripple on the side of the roof so I put the roof up only to find a tear in the canvas.

I realise this is user error, anyone have an idea or cost of repair?

GrannyJen · May 1, 2017

Well Victor, in my case, the cost of repair is about 20 quid. That's the cost of tear aid which fixes the nick in the canvas. The ripple in the roof is just that, a ripple. I don't even notice it anymore, it does not affect the functioning or integrity of the vehicle, you have to look hard to see it so just ignore it.

WelshGas · May 1, 2017

Victor said:
I feel such a fool! When leaving the campsite today after a lovely weekend away, we lowered the roof and half way down it stopped, I put it back up again and re lowered it and it was fine so we drove home. Once home I noticed a ripple on the side of the roof so I put the roof up only to find a tear in the canvas.

I realise this is user error, anyone have an idea or cost of repair?

The Canvas can be repaired with Tear Aid. https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/shop/product-category/roof-fabric-awning-repair

The roof damage can be repaired. A good body shop or Dentmaster, or equivalent can make it go away . Probable cost £100-150. You are not the first and won't be the last.
@snowy55 had the same. See this thread.
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/thread...dent-in-roof-advise-please.14484/#post-155532

Jukebox70 · May 4, 2017

WelshGas said:
The Canvas can be repaired with Tear Aid. https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/shop/product-category/roof-fabric-awning-repair

The roof damage can be repaired. A good body shop or Dentmaster, or equivalent can make it go away . Probable cost £100-150. You are not the first and won't be the last.
@snowy55 had the same. See this thread.
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/thread...dent-in-roof-advise-please.14484/#post-155532

Victor said:
I feel such a fool! When leaving the campsite today after a lovely weekend away, we lowered the roof and half way down it stopped, I put it back up again and re lowered it and it was fine so we drove home. Once home I noticed a ripple on the side of the roof so I put the roof up only to find a tear in the canvas.

I realise this is user error, anyone have an idea or cost of repair?

I had mine repaired under warranty , they also replaced the tent with the new T6 one.

tim newton · May 8, 2017

Sorry to jump on a thread with a question but its so closely related and I was thinking about posting anyhow.

I noticed a small ripple in the roof side wall on our T6 cali recently (1 year old). We have never had any issue putting the roof up or down and haven't had a tear in the canvas so I've no idea how this happened, its possible its been there from day 1 but I think I would have probably noticed it before. I'm not worried about it as it doesnt seem structural, however I'm not sure if its something I should take back to the garage to get fixed while the warranty is still valid, in fact I don't know if this would be covered?

Any advice appreciated.

Tim

Martin · May 8, 2017

tim newton said:
Sorry to jump on a thread with a question but its so closely related and I was thinking about posting anyhow.

I noticed a small ripple in the roof side wall on our T6 cali recently (1 year old). We have never had any issue putting the roof up or down and haven't had a tear in the canvas so I've no idea how this happened, its possible its been there from day 1 but I think I would have probably noticed it before. I'm not worried about it as it doesnt seem structural, however I'm not sure if its something I should take back to the garage to get fixed while the warranty is still valid, in fact I don't know if this would be covered?

Any advice appreciated.

Tim

When you trap the canvas it does not always rip or damage it, however it can still put the ripple in the roof.

Chris Hardern · Oct 1, 2017

Jukebox70 said:
I had mine repaired under warranty , they also replaced the tent with the new T6 one.

Hi. I have the same problem and wondered if you have anything from VW accepting it as a warranty job? I have seen some threads where the dealership have said a new roof is needed because aluminium does not repair well. Was it just the dent/ ripple that they repaired or did they need to replace the roof? They should have a consistent approach to this. I am taking it to the dealership in the morning and in my view have a design issue as the mechanism does not stop when it traps the canvas. The thickened part of the canvas got caught and I did not realise it. No warning at all. The engine tone changes as usual and I thought it had closed OK until I saw it in the morning. Thanks

CampervanTime · Oct 2, 2017

Ouch, these sound a bit nasty.

Can I ask if you had a roof bungie cord fitted? Just wondering if it is suitable 'insurance' against these kind of issues?

SimonB · Oct 2, 2017

itguy said:
Ouch, these sound a bit nasty.

Can I ask if you had a roof bungie cord fitted? Just wondering if it is suitable 'insurance' against these kind of issues?

The bungee certainly helps but is not totally foolproof and you can still get the canvas trapped. For the price it is certainly the one of the cheapest extras on the vehicle and can help avoid a very large bill in the worst case scenario. I use our Cali on my own a lot of the time in Snowdonia and don't have the luxury of extra eyes outside to check it is folding correctly. It is especially difficult when the wind gets up overnight. Recently there were 50-60mph gusts at 1.00am and despite the back of the roof being pointed into the wind, I still felt I needed to get the roof down quickly.
The standard procedure is to make sure you have opened a window(s) on the downwind side so the air being displaced by the roof coming down has somewhere to escape, otherwise the canvas just expands outwards rather than folding inwards. Put your head up in the roof to check that the 4 strengthened pieces are correctly folding inwards as you lower it. Stop a couple of times as it comes down to check from outside that it is all going correctly. There is a reminder on the control panel as the roof lowers, I always check the items mentioned in the warning even when in a hurry. It is the one time you don't that something goes wrong.

Chris Hardern · Oct 2, 2017

itguy said:
Ouch, these sound a bit nasty.

Can I ask if you had a roof bungie cord fitted? Just wondering if it is suitable 'insurance' against these kind of issues?

Yes one was (still is) fitted.

Bramco · Oct 2, 2017

Jukebox70 said:
I had mine repaired under warranty , they also replaced the tent with the new T6 one.

Hi Jukebox70 how did you get them to repair the ripple under warranty. We also have a very small ripple and warranty is about to expire, so I'd love to know how you got them to fix something which most people would see as wear and tear.

GrannyJen · Oct 2, 2017

itguy said:
Ouch, these sound a bit nasty.

Can I ask if you had a roof bungie cord fitted? Just wondering if it is suitable 'insurance' against these kind of issues?

The only insurance is number one eyeball.

I had a bungee and it was a still day when it happened to me. It was probably the first, or at most the third, time that I had lowered the roof without a walk round half way through. I had relied on looking into the roof cavity as it closed.

No point moaning about it. My fault. A few seconds getting off my butt and checking would have prevented it. On a positive note I have lowered my roof probably close on 500 times without incident, at times in really foul weather, without incident. The ripple can barely be seen, the fabric damage minuscule and easily patched with tear aid.