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Update...Corrosion repair , the Dutch way....

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Hotel California

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As owner from new bought (in Belgium ) 2012 SE , i was aware of the corrosion issue due this wonderfull forum . I knew from the start what the issue (the corrosion itself ) was owning a LR Defender for 10y and those nice tin cans also have alu bodyparts witch make contact with the metal bodyparts witch gives the nice bublles from underneeth the paint .
Curiuos as i was checking my roof since a while i started seeing the effect from about a 2,5-3 y old Cali and from thereon every time i washed the Cali .

Never ever visited my Belgium dealer after buying i (as some of you will know :D) am a client in Camper Centrum Nederland (CCN) at Amersfoort - Holland . There they told me that there was no problem or worry at all about this issue and i was put down on the (long) list to wait for the VW approved repair .
CCN works very close with the factory , specialy with the Cali assembling plant at Limmer (seen this when i did the factory visit with CCN before we did the visit with the forum ) and for a fact part of the way and handeling of the official repair is done now , is come together in assocation with CCN as they have huge deal of knowledge regarding Cali's .

Given the fact it's a major work , cutting out the front section of the fixed part of the roof i was concerned it beeing done on my 2012 Cali as it was not all that a lot corroded yet , but if not done now the warrenty got by and i would have to pay myself if later work should be needed , if things got worse . I was concidering to not go in to the repair for a while but in the end went thru with it . Note that all this corrosion is mainly just optical and not cause problems with the stiffness of the roof .

This is mainly what the damage was until last week , 6,5y old .
Rear right /below
IMG_9382.JPG
Right side about in the midlle of the roof lenght
IMG_9383.JPG IMG_9384.JPG
Front section under the roofIMG_9385.JPG
Front section above the windscreenIMG_9387.JPG
All very litlle noticeble if not aware ...

I brought it in last week sathurday and picked it back up today .
They need the Cali 5 working days to get the repair done , but as i'm 160km away from Amersfoort i took the time to drive there on a sathurday so was without my Cali 7 days .

The elevating roof was taken of , and the front section cut out by CCN .
All the parts including the new plastic cap/front section was painted by a bodyshop working close to CCN as they do not have a bodyshop themselves . They do 2-3 repairs each week for a few years now ...
On thursday all the parts got back and put on again together with a new canvas . Note that in Holland the procedure "was " to change the canvas in a new T6 canvas with every roof repair but since a while now VW has brought this back to "try and re-use the canvas if it's come out undamaged" (the cost where to high i guess?)
As i was concidering to go for a new blue (like on the two-tone) canvas i informed if this was possible to change to and the reception got back to me over telephone saying it would cost me about 500€ as this was not included in the repair . Thinking it over i put the idea (500€ ?) out my head and asked CCN to change in a normal light grey standard T6 canvas if needed ...

Supprised i was when picking my Cali up today a brand new blue canvas was put in !
It came totally unexpected as i was talking to the owner of CCN when i brought the Cali in last week and he agreed to make sure a new (standard T6 ) canvas was to be put in regardless the old one came out unharmed .
Now it seems as i was informing before to go for a blue canvas in a way this all was noted somehow and the mecanics thought i wanted a blue one....witch i not signed for (500€ remember) .
Now i can see if i like the blue one and they agreed to change it back in to a standard canvas if i want to . Must say i first liked the idea , then (500€) rather disliked it and finally set my mind on a light grey (standard) canvas also the wife not like the blue at all...
We will see in time , no pressure is given i'm free to say if needed a change in time :thumb
This is how i got it back , pictures taken in the rain unfortunate...
IMG_9432.JPG
IMG_9440.JPG
 
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On the roof itself it all looks like this
IMG_9433.JPG IMG_9434.JPG
Look careful and see the tape applied

IMG_9435.JPG IMG_9436.JPG IMG_9437.JPG IMG_9438.JPG

All looks good , fingers X-ssed it stays this way as i don't want to end up like some reported UK repaired Cali's ....
 
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looking good, I like the blue tent
 
Thanks for posting HC, work looks good

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Looks a nice job. I can see the blue canvas is not the best match for the colour of your van though. But not too bad, and most of the time it is out of sight so not to worry, also the blue colour keeps out the sun in the mornings! And a hassle to get it changed back to grey. But we have to keep wives happy! :thumb
 
Today had a Cali-makeover ....
As per above the blue canvas was not fully approved , think i could live with it but the wife disliked it , so Camper Centrum Nederland kindly took it out and put in a standard T6 canvas .
Original from new :
IMG_0393.JPG

Afther the roof-repair job end november and mixed-up communication :
IMG_9432.JPG

Now today another make-over....
IMG_9954.JPG

Now my warrenty roof repair is out of the way , let the summer roll-on !
 
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Good that they sorted it for you.
 
What great customer service, really glad for you, proves VW can do it.

I have to agree the grey canvas looks better with your colour scheme

Enjoy
 
Must say i’m pleased with the new T6 style canvas i got !
It’s the first time we actualy used the Cali to sleep in since the makeover .
The light grey color is nice . I like the front window !
4A26C225-8F2F-4D2E-9BF8-D9E2018DABC0.jpeg
EBFFC08C-54D8-4C61-8ECD-049DCDB93C34.jpeg
2CA94BEB-CDD8-49D8-8639-CD0220AACC6F.jpeg
Nice sunset to watch while reading upstaires.

Also noticed when it rained the whole night yesterday , drops on the outside bottom/rear where the water comes of the roof . With my old style T5 canvas it mostly felt moist on the inside also , the new fabric was complete dry inside .
 
With your brown Cali the blue canvas doesn't really do it justice. The red one would be awfull. The grey is the best choice.
Why is a single sheet of fabric so expensive? VW!
 
@TripleBee ,
Is your allready treadted for the roof rorrosion? I got mine free while the repair was done....
If you want to pay it yourself :
IMG_1461.PNG
 
Mine was already done a couple of years ago.
I also got a new tent, but still the canvas one. It was before the T6 came out.
The new tent is a bit darker than the first one, which I prefer. I prefer a darker place to sleep, and in some campings they are so kind to put a lighting pole right in front of the pitch. :mad:

I was informed about the problem and found the beginning of corrosion.
IMGP0915.jpg
Now I only need to get the protection films. This only recently came out, and mine was just the replacement of the front spoiler and roof, not yet the film.
 

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