Roof Bellows Warranty Work

[murray0710]

Re: Roof warranty work

The whole roof thing on the Cali is a bit of a joke. Having to open every window and door and have four pair of eyes to watch out for any billowing when lowering the roof is ridiculous. When we picked up our van the demo of the roof resulted in the bellows being torn slightly, not an issue will be fixed under warranty, but a pita. Next time lowering the roof when showing it to a neighbour something else went wrong and ended up with a bulge in the roof panel. All we had done was put the roof up then lower it again. Will be replaced under warranty but again a pita. Next time we put it up and lowered it was on a site. Everything in the van open wife outside watching, me watching inside. Started billowing out to the side, used the awning rod to push back in. got it lowered and thought everything was ok only to find large part of roof canvas sticking out the front this time. Poor, poor design, it's got to the stage we are frightened to put the roof up.

 

[Californiaman]

Re: Roof warranty work

If there is a breeze, I would be wary of opening everything. You are looking for negative air pressure in the van - so opening all windows including those into the breeze could result in the positive pressure that causes the bellows to billow outwards.

 

[MickyBlue]

Re: Roof warranty work

If there is a breeze, I would be wary of opening everything. You are looking for negative air pressure in the van - so opening all windows including those into the breeze could result in the positive pressure that causes the bellows to billow outwards.

Correct!

This is what happened with the salesman who destroyed ours on handover, a door opened in the direction the wind was coming from effectively 'inflated the bellows'.

IIRC the handbook states a window or door on the leeward side, which thus creates the negative pressure within the bellows.

 

[Brisbees]

Re: Roof warranty work

An update on response from VW.

Customer Service said they would phone back within 48 hours. That would have been Friday. No word.

 

[smgcowfoldparts]

Re: Roof warranty work

HI brisbees,

Who are you speaking to at VWCC? They are norammly very good at coming back to people, but when I spoke to them on Thursday about a different matter they were extremely busy.

If you need any help then feel free to contact me and I will see if I can help in any way and get them to call you back a bit quicker.

cheers

 

[Brisbees]

Re: Roof warranty work

So after waiting 4 and half days for a response to say they were looking into it (Monday), I got a call back from the Van Centre (who have been fine) to say that VWCS have offered to patch the bellows. This would obviously look like a dog's dinner, and doesn't deal with dent in the roof.
So when they call back I will say I'm not accepting this...

The more I think about this, it really feels like a design fault. The struts just shouldn't bend the wrong way past 180 degrees under normal weather conditions, a bit like a knee joint.

 

[Stu]

Re: Roof warranty work

Do you store anything in your roof when you close it?

Do you 'assist' the folding of the bellows? I always stop the roof as it comes down to fold in and pull tight the bellows in the roof hatch opening which I hope will lessen the chances of ours getting caught up.

 

[sebking]

Re: Roof warranty work

I'm with Stu -
Check and double check that the space is clear, bed down and light stowed
Open both windows
Open Side Door
drop roof 1/3 check all round that it is folding in
drop roof 2/3 check all round that is is folding in and help the front bellows fold
drop roof 3/3 check all is well
fold up corners of bellows from inside
Slide cover

 

[BerndRos]

Re: Roof warranty work

I had my roof and bellows replaced FOC....had to pressure though....

Now I stick my head up and watch as the roof comes down to ensure its doing ok...

 

[CannellWalker]

Re: Roof warranty work

+1 for sticking my head up and watching it come down.

 

[inthemidnighthour]

Re: Roof warranty work

+2

i let the roofpush my head down whilst i watch :?

dave and lisa

 

[MichaelB]

Re: Roof warranty work

Me too. Watching the roof down is the way to go. Along with paying attention to wind direction.

 

[shambly]

Re: Roof warranty work

Yes, for us this was really emphasized at hand over. Stop half-way and check everything is folding inwards. We've had two occasions now where this check has prevented potential damage...

 

[Linda]

Re: Roof warranty work

+2

i let the roofpush my head down whilst i watch :?

Rolf rolf

 

[Linda]

Re: Roof warranty work

The more I think about this, it really feels like a design fault. The struts just shouldn't bend the wrong way past 180 degrees under normal weather conditions, a bit like a knee joint.

We do all the checks and watch the roof like hawks after one near miss, I've noticed that while the right hand side always folds perfectly the bottom half of the left strut has a tendency to bend outwards a little before popping into a correct fold- regardless of wind direction.

 

[BMVS-Camper-Hire]

Re: Roof warranty work

I have had three roofs replaced under warranty now for this issue, and am presently working with Alex at SMG and VW for a possible modification to prevent it happening again.

I had a great chat with VW customer services this week, about another roof, and I said that the Manual doesn't explain in enough detail how to open and close the roof, and if you stick to the instructions in the manual, it is easy to damage the roof. VW agreed. I also mentioned I had another couple of roofs with very small marks/cuts and he said it would be no problem, just book them in to be sorted.

I have always found VW to be excellent with any problems (maybe its because we buy 50 VWs a year)

 

[GTturbo]

Re: Roof warranty work

Dear All, I've done exactly the same on a recent trip to France. The torn canvas is on the bellows so no daylight visible but a bit p#*++d off! I've patched it with normal tent patch; any idea where to get identical canvas to make it look better? Apparently £800 to replace whole tent so not doing that just now!

GT :cry:

 

[BMVS-Camper-Hire]

Re: Roof warranty work

To all that have had their roof replaced, please can you look at this thread. I need your help.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2433

Thanks in advance.

Oli

 

[Doogle]

Re: Roof warranty work

We have just returned from a two week trip around bonny Scotland where we had a problem with the roof bellows material becoming trapped in the scissor mech. We were woken at 4am when a storm came in, I decided to drop the roof as the wind was quite strong and although the drivers door and sliding door were open, the material got caught as the roof dropped. I think that the air pressure must have been to high inside the van due to the wind. I have to accept that this is my error although I do think the bellows design needs some more thought. The damage is a small cut in the fabric where it is double thickness over the collapsing strips and a slight kink in the side of the roof.

My question is has anyone out there tried repair work. As the roof is made from plastic I am thinking that if heat is applied then the kink could be reformed. I have spoken to a guy I use for motorcycle repairs, he is used to working with plastics and he thinks that by using a UV lamp and heating the plastic from the inside (not heating the surface only that could damage the paint) he might be able to fix the problem.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[BrendaGoodwin]

Re: Roof warranty work

We have had the same problem with the roof. We bought brand new and only the 2nd time used we dropped the roof and were horrified to see it twisted and a hole in the belows caused by the scissor machanism. The roof has been left with a slight kink on one side, very annoying on a new £50,000+ van. The Bristol dealer says 'user error' and we should have been warned to watch for this when we picked it up. My wife made copious notes on collection and when we checked these there was no note on potential problems with dropping the roof. We have also had the right hand bracket break on the rise and fall bed and are awaiting to see if this will be fixed under warrenty. I strongly believe that the roof should design should be changed to prevent this problem and have written directly to VW. There are just too many fellow Cali owners that have had this problem and its not right that dealers say user error when their own staff are doing the same thing !!
Maybe the owners club should make a collective complaint to VW about this ? After all the Cali's are not cheap !!
Bath Barry

 

[smgcowfoldparts]

Re: Roof warranty work

We have just returned from a two week trip around bonny Scotland where we had a problem with the roof bellows material becoming trapped in the scissor mech. We were woken at 4am when a storm came in, I decided to drop the roof as the wind was quite strong and although the drivers door and sliding door were open, the material got caught as the roof dropped. I think that the air pressure must have been to high inside the van due to the wind. I have to accept that this is my error although I do think the bellows design needs some more thought. The damage is a small cut in the fabric where it is double thickness over the collapsing strips and a slight kink in the side of the roof.

My question is has anyone out there tried repair work. As the roof is made from plastic I am thinking that if heat is applied then the kink could be reformed. I have spoken to a guy I use for motorcycle repairs, he is used to working with plastics and he thinks that by using a UV lamp and heating the plastic from the inside (not heating the surface only that could damage the paint) he might be able to fix the problem.

Any thoughts on this?

I have seen some that have been repaired and look ok. If you do the same patch on both sides it will look better.

cheers

 

[trevorfearnley]

Re: Roof warranty work

Hi - we have had the roof and bellows replaced on our 2010 Cali. The roof was not closing properly and buckled even though we always had the windows open when putting it down. This happened in Germany and I must say driving down a German motorway with a half closed roof at 60 kph was not fun especially as it was only six weeks after taking delivery! We took it to VW in Munich and they immediately identified the problem of no lubricant on one side of the lifting mechanism, hence the roof had twisted when coming down. They managed to close the roof for us although it now had a big crease in it and had torn the bellows. Happy to say that the UK dealer agreed to replace it under warranty and it took two days to do the replacement and since then it has been excellent with no problems. Just thought I would add this to the other comments - we love our Cali and have done 47,000 miles in it in just over two years. Our second home!

 

[Yorkie]

Sorry to resurrect this thread but i too am running out of warranty and have 3 tiny holes in the bellows; 2 near a bracket but 1 is at the rear so away from the mechanisms. I don't know whether i should raise it when i take him in for the little repairs to be done.

Does any one have experience of leaving these things and them not getting any worse?

 

[Emil Silenhag]

I have torn canvas, small cut/hole in three places. Biggest one 30 mm and the other two only 10 mm or so. They were there when I bought the van in feb. 2015. I put a patch of "Tear Aid, type A" over it, transparent super patch. Works brilliant.

 

[CannonDale]

My bellows are being replaced next week under warranty. Job being done by Breeze of Poole, I have already told them i expect it to look like new and they have reassured me that it will. Will let you know how we get on.