Perfectos
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All the side blind in the Cali work on the same basic principle, with the exception of the rear blind.
The side pull down blinds run in a guide channel, the blinds have plastic guides on either side of the aluminium bottom rigid bar.
The plastic inserts have some felt material applied to both side of the insert from factory.
The slider Blind has a couple of cables / wires either side which assist it keeping the blind level when pulling down / retracting.
Reported Issues such as :
blinds won’t always stay in the down position,
blind pop up when closing the slider
blind allows light into the van,
can become an issue when the blinds have been used frequently.
The fix is quite often very simple, here I give two different real life fixes to slightly different issues with pull down retractable blind.
Blind won’t stay Down:
Lowering one side of the blind whilst raising the other side, taking care not to crease the blind material too much, you should now be able to gently remove the bottom bar from the trim grooves either side (note if there are wires attached to the sides do not try to remove the blind any further than absolutely necessary and only one side at a time - an assist will help)
Check either side of the aluminium bottom bar to ensure you have two black end inserts (one either side) ?
The inserts have a very thin moleskin felt friction material applied to the front and rear face to ensure a good amount of friction and a slight interference fit when fully pulled down (to resist the roller return) this gives the roller that unique zip sound !
If either End insert is missing look in corresponding trim channel.
To stop the the blind self retracting / popping up on its own apply some self adhesive thin moleskin felt to either end.
I recently did this on an Ocean and. Beach, both were identical.
The material can be bought from Pound land Diy section “assorted Anti skid & scratch Pads” (I presume other sellers also)
It comes in a sheet form, the pack also contains some small pre cut dots and some sponge circles etc.
the sheet material can be cut to the width of the original factory felt and applied directly over the worn factory felt.
You can apply it to just one side first to see if that fixes the issue, on mine it cured it 100% on the other Cali the owner wanted it to be tighter so applied to both side of the two end inserts.
it will cure the issue 100%.
The blind now work better than when the van was new with a very satisfying zip sound.
Window blind that would not slide up or down smoothly/ correctly if the blind is not entirely jammed try lowering one side of the blind whilst raising the other side, as above, taking care not to crease the blind material too much, you should now be able to gently remove the bottom bar from the trim grooves either side (again if there are wires attached to the sides do not try to remove the blind any further than absolutely necessary).
Check either side of the aluminium bottom bar to ensure you have two black end inserts (one either side) ?
The inserts have the same felt friction material applied to the front and rear face.
If either End insert is missing look in corresponding trim channel.
The inserts can come out of the bar and stick in the channel, particularly if the blind is not put away evenly.
I had a passenger side window blind which was not going up or down smoothly, despite it staying down OK.
I could not see an issue or a reason why, until I removed the blind from the guides,
i then saw that one of the black end inserts was missing from the aluminium bottom bar .
It was stuck at the bottom of the channel.
The result was the blind to had no friction / guide on one side and only a partial guide on one side, hence it would not go up & down smoothly and when being operated, it tried to fold when retracting and come down at an angle when deploying.
I used a pair of long nosed pliers to remove the insert from the channel, it was stuck and required minimal pulling to remove it, I simply put it back into the bottom bar and reinserted the bottom bar back into the guide channels which fixed it and the issue has not returned.
I hope that helps some in future , here are a few photos to assist. The last photo shows the product in its retail packaging
The side pull down blinds run in a guide channel, the blinds have plastic guides on either side of the aluminium bottom rigid bar.
The plastic inserts have some felt material applied to both side of the insert from factory.
The slider Blind has a couple of cables / wires either side which assist it keeping the blind level when pulling down / retracting.
Reported Issues such as :
blinds won’t always stay in the down position,
blind pop up when closing the slider
blind allows light into the van,
can become an issue when the blinds have been used frequently.
The fix is quite often very simple, here I give two different real life fixes to slightly different issues with pull down retractable blind.
Blind won’t stay Down:
Lowering one side of the blind whilst raising the other side, taking care not to crease the blind material too much, you should now be able to gently remove the bottom bar from the trim grooves either side (note if there are wires attached to the sides do not try to remove the blind any further than absolutely necessary and only one side at a time - an assist will help)
Check either side of the aluminium bottom bar to ensure you have two black end inserts (one either side) ?
The inserts have a very thin moleskin felt friction material applied to the front and rear face to ensure a good amount of friction and a slight interference fit when fully pulled down (to resist the roller return) this gives the roller that unique zip sound !
If either End insert is missing look in corresponding trim channel.
To stop the the blind self retracting / popping up on its own apply some self adhesive thin moleskin felt to either end.
I recently did this on an Ocean and. Beach, both were identical.
The material can be bought from Pound land Diy section “assorted Anti skid & scratch Pads” (I presume other sellers also)
It comes in a sheet form, the pack also contains some small pre cut dots and some sponge circles etc.
the sheet material can be cut to the width of the original factory felt and applied directly over the worn factory felt.
You can apply it to just one side first to see if that fixes the issue, on mine it cured it 100% on the other Cali the owner wanted it to be tighter so applied to both side of the two end inserts.
it will cure the issue 100%.
The blind now work better than when the van was new with a very satisfying zip sound.
Window blind that would not slide up or down smoothly/ correctly if the blind is not entirely jammed try lowering one side of the blind whilst raising the other side, as above, taking care not to crease the blind material too much, you should now be able to gently remove the bottom bar from the trim grooves either side (again if there are wires attached to the sides do not try to remove the blind any further than absolutely necessary).
Check either side of the aluminium bottom bar to ensure you have two black end inserts (one either side) ?
The inserts have the same felt friction material applied to the front and rear face.
If either End insert is missing look in corresponding trim channel.
The inserts can come out of the bar and stick in the channel, particularly if the blind is not put away evenly.
I had a passenger side window blind which was not going up or down smoothly, despite it staying down OK.
I could not see an issue or a reason why, until I removed the blind from the guides,
i then saw that one of the black end inserts was missing from the aluminium bottom bar .
It was stuck at the bottom of the channel.
The result was the blind to had no friction / guide on one side and only a partial guide on one side, hence it would not go up & down smoothly and when being operated, it tried to fold when retracting and come down at an angle when deploying.
I used a pair of long nosed pliers to remove the insert from the channel, it was stuck and required minimal pulling to remove it, I simply put it back into the bottom bar and reinserted the bottom bar back into the guide channels which fixed it and the issue has not returned.
I hope that helps some in future , here are a few photos to assist. The last photo shows the product in its retail packaging
Last edited:
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