I've damaged my Cali roof

A warning when lowering your Cali roof! A light breeze was blowing directly on to the driver's side of our Cali; we had the side door open whilst lowering the roof. The breeze blowing into the Cali through the door must have caused the canvas to bulge out on the passenger side of the vehicle. Result - the canvas got pinched in the rear struts, we didn't spot it from inside the vehicle and continued lowering the roof. The roof shut, but remained wedged open where the canvas was trapped in the strut.

We immediately raised the roof again. There's a hole in the canvas, which of course can easily be patched. More worrying, though, is that the roof now has a definite crease in it at that point, which is very visible even from a distance because the very shiny nature of the roof catches the light. Not good on a Cali only in its second year of use!

Has anyone had similar problems, or experience of repairs to the roof? Hate to think what a new one would cost.
AndrewB

I had a similar problem last year, and a crease appeared - though pretty minor and with a dark blue colour barely visible.

In my case, it doesn't seem to affect the function at all and I am not bothered about it - and my canvas part was replaced under warranty. In fact, the crease seemed to develop later, not sure why . . . .

Hi Andrew, unfortunately you are not alone, this has happened a few times on different vans. We are currently in talks with VW about this very problem as some members have had it covered under the warranty and some not??? However the problem shouldn't occur and that is part of our conversation.

I imagine we won't get answers overnight but we will certainly keep you updated with the outcome.

Just for your info, I believe VW quote somewhere in the region of £1500 to replace the roof!

It would be worth taking it to your local dealer and seeing what they say but please report back with the outcome. Many thanks

We have had the same happen to us and in fact the hinge made a tiny tear.... we were just out of warranty so VW offered a discount as a good will gesture, but still £850 OUCH.... We opted for a simple patch on the inside (tent Repair tape) and its been good as gold since then.... ok the Cali is not "perfect" but tell that to the idiots who insist on letting there kids (back door) dink my sliding door in tesco's car park Grrrr

Just out of interest Steve, which van centre did you take it to?

Birmingham VS they were pretty good at contacting Germany and getting a "good will" price guess it was a 50% discount.....

Thanks Steve. Glad your sorted

To report back, having started this thread, I took the Cali to two VW dealers, each of which said: "Take our advice and ignore it. The roof still works fine." So that's what we've decided to do. The crease in the roof is only visible from certain angles when the sunlight hits it. Lesson learnt - we now check thoroughly when lowering.

did u have the zip windows open?

Hi, just got back from our first trip to France with our Cali and have damaged the roof. Almost exactly the same as AndrewB 's situation. Storm started about midnight in the Pyrenees so decided to drop the roof as per the hand book recommends. Opened the drivers door to lower and the canvas got caught up in the hinges at the back on the passanger side,. It has kinked the roof both sides and torn the canvas. Gutted! Love my Cali.
The Cali was registered in March 2012, so is still under warranty, going to take it to my local VW agents to see what they say, I will update this post after they have seen it.

Hi, Just fighting with VW about damage to a Cali roof where the canvas has been trapped in the mechanism and put small bends in both sides. Standard VW answer is that there are clear instructions in the handbook about roof operation and that it must be the operators fault and VW do not recognise a (warranty) problem. In my view the design is poor and some form of internal tension is required to stop the canvass bellowing out when dropped. So keep complaining and maybe they will recognise the fault. On the repair front, the roof is made of aluminium so it can be repaired and painted.