Roof canvas coming away from roof

[Swissie]

Somehow the roof canvas of my beach is coming away from the roof (top left corner). Tried to thread it back in unsuccessfully. Has anyone experienced this and any tips on how to correct. Still under warranty but hoping I don’t need to visit the dealer if I can help it

 

[Hotel California]

Give it a go and do a search on existing threads , lots of them

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/search/135530/?q=Canvas+coming+away&o=relevance

Thisone come close to your problem

Bellows becoming detached

Hi all, I have a bit of a belllows issue on my T6 Beach... in hot weather the bellows peel away from the seating at the top corner, per the photo. 1. Has anyone else had this problem? 2. Should I go to the dealer as a warranty issue or should I solve myself by applying some superglue or...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[Jabberwocky]

Unfortunately I suspect this calls for a visit to your dealer, especially as you say the Cali is still under VW's warranty. Don't mess an invalidate your warranty. Let us know how you get on.

 

[barry]

Get the dealer to do it.

Otherwise,elevate the roof enough to be able to get at the problem area (about 25% elevated).
Use the handle of a screwdriver to systematically work your way along the seperation forcing the rubber into the slot until you sense a click (the chances of doing this with your thumbs are small unless you're a gorilla). Don't use anything remotely pointed to do this or the rubber will tear - it's dead soft.
Put the roof tent under tension by elevating it 100% to see if it pops out.

Speaking of gorillas. Put a smear of gorilla glue (the superglue version which sticks rubber to metal) into the slot before pushing the rubber in above. It gives you about 5 mins to work. 1. It lubricates the pushing in of the rubber. 2. It makes it less likely to pop out under tension when the roof' elevated once the glue's set. Leaving elevating the roof 24 hours for the glue to set properly shoulkd help. Quicker in warm weather and direct sun heat

I've seen no end of calis with the roof up with this problem.
The gorilla glue tip was from a guy who fixes them professionally.
It works.

 

[briwy]

Don't overdo it with the Gorilla glue. Iv'e found that it expands slightly when it sets and leaves an ugly mess which is bugger to remove.

 

[Hawthorn37]

To save starting a new thread… the canvas bellows has started to come away from the roof on our MY 6.1 Ocean. Around 150mm gap with the rubber edge seal coming away from its slot. This is on the nearside rear corner, which is off as there appears to be little stress on the canvas.

Anyway, I don’t fancy trying to poke it back in, so it’s booked in to be looked at by the Sheffield Van Centre in 2 weeks. Quite impressed- they’re doing overnight work to deal with the demand.

Will let people know how it resolves.

 

[Stu@rt]

To save starting a new thread… the canvas bellows has started to come away from the roof on our MY 6.1 Ocean. Around 150mm gap with the rubber edge seal coming away from its slot. This is on the nearside rear corner, which is off as there appears to be little stress on the canvas.

Anyway, I don’t fancy trying to poke it back in, so it’s booked in to be looked at by the Sheffield Van Centre in 2 weeks. Quite impressed- they’re doing overnight work to deal with the demand.

Will let people know how it resolves.

Can I ask if you have a roof bungee? If so might be prudent to remove it prior to them looking at it, as they might try to blame it for pulling it away?

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Can I ask if you have a roof bungee? If so might be prudent to remove it prior to them looking at it, as they might try to blame it for pulling it away?

Good point @Stu@rt
We bought a roof bungee whilst waiting for our Cali but decided against using it after reading of other people having this issue. The t6.1 canvas folds very well and in our opinion does not need the bungee.

 

[Hawthorn37]

Can I ask if you have a roof bungee? If so might be prudent to remove it prior to them looking at it, as they might try to blame it for pulling it away?

Yes, and it’s already off! I‘m fairly confident the bungee hasn’t contributed to the issue as it was quite loose/ not deforming the canvas. But I agree, it’s not a good look at the dealers!

 

[Perfectos]

To save starting a new thread… the canvas bellows has started to come away from the roof on our MY 6.1 Ocean. Around 150mm gap with the rubber edge seal coming away from its slot. This is on the nearside rear corner, which is off as there appears to be little stress on the canvas.

Anyway, I don’t fancy trying to poke it back in, so it’s booked in to be looked at by the Sheffield Van Centre in 2 weeks. Quite impressed- they’re doing overnight work to deal with the demand.

Will let people know how it resolves.

Would you be kind enough to post a couple of photos before the remedial work is carried ( for reference )

& update after the work had been done to assist others pls

 

[Hawthorn37]

Would you be kind enough to post a couple of photos before the remedial work is carried ( for reference )

& update after the work had been done to assist others pls

Sure - I’ll post a photo over the weekend. The rectification work is booked in about 2 weeks from now. I reckon we could poke the seal back in (with a blunt butter knife) but I want VW to look at it to try and ensure it doesn’t happen again.

 

[Cali Phillip]

A bike tyre lever works well, and small smear of sikaflex which seems to have worked.

 

[Hawthorn37]

A bike tyre lever works well, and small smear of sikaflex which seems to have worked.

Thanks @Phillip T - I gave this a go today and it worked a treat. I managed to persuade the rubber into the slot without using any lubricant - with the hot weather the rubber had a bit of give. To do the job, I closed the roof slightly, so the canvas was a bit slack (couldn’t do it with the roof fully up). I prodded the rubber in from the outside with the cycle tyre lever, and then from inside the roof to get it fully in. The result is that there’s about 1mm of the thinner section of the seal showing at the corner when fully up, this is just the same as the offside corner. I’ve had the roof up and down a few times and it’s holding okay. I expect the real test will be when it’s colder and the rubber stiffens.

On this basis I’ve cancelled the booking at the Sheffield van centre, but if it happens again they’ve said to rebook. It’ll save me 2 round trips to Sheffield (160 miles = 18 litres!).

I’ll add some before and after photos.

 

[Cali Phillip]

Thanks @Phillip T - I gave this a go today and it worked a treat. I managed to persuade the rubber into the slot without using any lubricant - with the hot weather the rubber had a bit of give. To do the job, I closed the roof slightly, so the canvas was a bit slack (couldn’t do it with the roof fully up). I prodded the rubber in from the outside with the cycle tyre lever, and then from inside the roff to get it fully in. The result is that there’s about 1mm of the thinner section of the seal showing at the corner when fully up, this is just the same as the offside corner. I’ve had the roof up and down a few times and it’s holding okay. I expect the real test will be when it’s colder and the rubber stiffens.

On this basis I’ve cancelled the booking at the Sheffield van centre, but if it happens again they’ve said to rebook. It’ll save me 2 round trips to Sheffield (160 miles = 18 litres!).

I’ll add some before and after photos.

View attachment 96171View attachment 96169View attachment 96170

Very welcome glad it worked for you too. I put mine in twice and it gradually came out again, I put it down to it was an early January build date, new year blues !
Maybe someone else has researched this but it seems the tent appears to be shorter on one side where it comes out, I never investigated if the roof up stop sensor could be adjusted down slightly.
Not taken it apart but I would assume its like a std industrial Hall effect sensor on the outside of the hydraulic cylinder to give the controller a up and down limits.

 

[barry]

Get the dealer to do it.

Otherwise,elevate the roof enough to be able to get at the problem area (about 25% elevated).
Use the handle of a screwdriver to systematically work your way along the seperation forcing the rubber into the slot until you sense a click (the chances of doing this with your thumbs are small unless you're a gorilla). Don't use anything remotely pointed to do this or the rubber will tear - it's dead soft.
Put the roof tent under tension by elevating it 100% to see if it pops out.

Speaking of gorillas. Put a smear of gorilla glue (the superglue version which sticks rubber to metal) into the slot before pushing the rubber in above. It gives you about 5 mins to work. 1. It lubricates the pushing in of the rubber. 2. It makes it less likely to pop out under tension when the roof' elevated once the glue's set. Leaving elevating the roof 24 hours for the glue to set properly shoulkd help. Quicker in warm weather and direct sun heat

I've seen no end of calis with the roof up with this problem.
The gorilla glue tip was from a guy who fixes them professionally.
It works.

Two years on, this fix with the gorilla super glue is still holding - both front corners and rear off side corner. As the poster immediately following my first post pointed out "use the glue sparingly because it dries ugly" I wish I'd realised that because they're dead right.

 

[StevoC]

Interesting to see that its not just me. My bellow is coming away from the left side also.
I have an 200 mile round trip to bring to the garage.

 

[Hawthorn37]

Interesting to see that its not just me. My bellow is coming away from the left side also.
I have an 200 mile round trip to bring to the garage.

View attachment 96840

I just think they’ve cut them a bit on the neat side.

 

[Hawthorn37]

Interesting to see that its not just me. My bellow is coming away from the left side also.
I have an 200 mile round trip to bring to the garage.

View attachment 96840

if you could give an update on what the dealer says and does, that would be of interest. I’m thinking that our fix might not be long lasting, so a trip to a van centre might be needed at some point.

 

[Meoncoast]

We had this issue on our 2016 T6. pushed it back but came out again after 3 or 4 trips. Taken to the dealership when about 30 months old bellows changed no issues warranty claim approved. After a summer of trips came away again both front corners. Although would have been covered by the warranty I decided to push back myself and use some clear mastic sealant which so far seems to have done the trick. We did luck out as the replacement tent was updated type with full front opening.

 

[LPGoodwood]

My ‘70 plate Coast had this issue. I got Breeze to fix it during the 1st oil change a couple of weeks ago. They have glued it, in-line with VW instruction. Haven’t used it yet but fingers crossed. They squashed the bellows in the latches, but seems to be in tact.

 

[Meoncoast]

They have glued it, in-line with VW instruction.

Interesting VW has changed its instructions then. Breeze changed mine.

 

[Dave Wickham]

Good point @Stu@rt
We bought a roof bungee whilst waiting for our Cali but decided against using it after reading of other people having this issue. The t6.1 canvas folds very well and in our opinion does not need the bungee.

Agree, the roof canvas folds away very well (clear of the roof struts) in my cali so never saw the need for this bungee

 

[Cali Phillip]

Interesting VW has changed its instructions then. Breeze changed mine.

Good to know the glue method is VW approved.

 

[Hawthorn37]

Good to know the glue method is VW approved.

If and when you need to change the canvas, isn’t glueing going to make that job tougher ?

 

[Cali Phillip]

If and when you need to change the canvas, isn’t glueing going to make that job tougher ?

When I say glue, I mean a smear of Sikaflex in one corner, at worst if the bellows are toast, the rubber will probably detect first. I hope the bellows last 10 years +, if is like tents its UV deterioration is probably the major cause of failure ? if you don't trap them