Tiny blisters on roof
- Thread starter ClaireDe
- Start date
Tony Bartlett
Member
I’ve just returned a MP that I bought from a MB dealer in Ulverston, who was surprised that MB’s Used Car Warranty did not cover this defect (3 months out of manufacturer’s warranty). I’m still looking for a MP. Is there a third party product fix for this?
J
j200george
Top Poster
VIP Member
I wasn’t aware we can reject cars in the UK, especially used cars. Did you have a battle with the MB dealer in Ulverston to get them to accept the car back?
Tony Bartlett
Member
The return was pre-agreed at the time of sale and also covered by the dealer’s 14-day guarantee. It was hassle but they honoured their word. Used cars that are physically viewed (i.e. not a ‘distance sale’) can be rejected within 30-days if something is found to be wrong with them.
J
j200george
Top Poster
VIP Member
^^thanks for the response. Good to know.
BLCSO
Active Member
Just had a replacement roof fitted by Mercedes Benz Blackpool. Bought the van privately with circa 2 weeks left on the 3 year warranty. Van is a 2019 Black AMG. Left a deposit with the previous owner on the proviso that the roof would be replaced by Mercedes. All done now and fingers crossed that it doesn’t reappear, however the van is garaged so I’m hoping it will be ok
Attachments
J
j200george
Top Poster
VIP Member
So is the common thinking on this issue that this is a defect in the body work or defect in the paint?
I get the manufacturers warranty on mechanical parts is three years but if this blister issue is paintwork or body work aren’t these covered by a much longer warranty?
anyone feeling litigious?
I get the manufacturers warranty on mechanical parts is three years but if this blister issue is paintwork or body work aren’t these covered by a much longer warranty?
anyone feeling litigious?
J
j200george
Top Poster
VIP Member
Surely though Mercedes’ cover body work against corrosion for 30 years as advertised or paint work for say flaking/ blistering for up to 8 years.
We buy the cars from MB not westfalia, though no doubt they’ve squeezed in a get out clause somewhere.
I bought my car used so have no relationship with any MB dealer. I suppose what we need is one out of warranty challenging the system legally. Not quite sure I have the capacity these days to lead the challenge.
be interesting to look at that small print however and see just why MB say it’s not covered under either body or paint defects.
We buy the cars from MB not westfalia, though no doubt they’ve squeezed in a get out clause somewhere.
I bought my car used so have no relationship with any MB dealer. I suppose what we need is one out of warranty challenging the system legally. Not quite sure I have the capacity these days to lead the challenge.
be interesting to look at that small print however and see just why MB say it’s not covered under either body or paint defects.
Hi people, this is my first post but is based on two years of MP ownership. Ours is a May 2017 AMG which we bought privately with 7k miles, now 18k. Being an Engineer, sailor and boat inspector, finding Osmosis on my MP roof was not a welcome sight and I remain disappointed that Westfalia didn't reference the years of experience with resins in the Marine Industry before manufacturing these roofs. You can google Osmosis yourselves, but in essence moisture passes through the gelcoat/paint into the laminate where it mixes with the residual resins, expands and creates small blisters which in boats (with a heavy laminate) can become quite large. I reported mine to my local MB dealer (Bury St Edmunds) on 13/5/21. This got passed to Barons bodyshop in Norwich who requested the local dealer to take some (more) photos and record various codes on the bodywork, which were done and sent on.
It then went quiet. Now I wasn't that bothered as I know this is not structural and from my perspective had been reported, so a stake was in the Warranty ground, but when literally nothing happened for months and months I decided to follow up in June 2022. Needless to say the MB Service Manager had left, as had my contact at Barons and you guessed it, NOTHING had happened. So I started again and in October contacted MB BSE who then quickly put me in touch with Barons again. I then arranged to drop in to Barons in mid-Oct to have them inspect and report to MB. Then silence again.
I contacted Barons last week and was told they are awaiting a response from MB. I pressed MB BSE and they essentially said there was nothing they could do as it's down to MB HQ, so I am back in no mans land.
Pretty poor customer service all round.
As if this wasn't bad enough I also discovered one side of the roof had split. I have a Thule roof box which has fixed mounts and the after one is positioned just in front of where the rear lifting arm attaches. I should stress that the roof is never raised with anything in the box, but is raised with the box itself attached (as to remove would be ludicrous).
Reverting to my Engineering knowledge (Beam theory to you), the roof is indeed a beam with the sides acting as the lowest upright sections. Sort of like an RSJ. When a beam is loaded and subject to bending one edge is generally in compression and one in tension. In this case the bottom of the side sections suffer the maximum tension force, but as they are only thin GRP offer little resistance and as with me a crack propagates, upward. Some thickening of the laminate on the lowest edge would help prevent this, but without it I suspect the result will be the same for anyone planning to raise the roof with something on top. Westfalia really should have been on top of this (pun intended).
My last gripe, would be that bloody useless locker in the roofspace just fwd of the rear hatch. My one pops open over a bump even when empty. The latch is rubbish and the fact that the structure is so flexible means that any load will cause the latch to slip. I tried repositioning the latch but the issue is the flexing in the door and other than fitting stiffeners there's no simple solution. Have others had a similar experience?
Otherwise, driving the van is a blast and was great touring Germany this year.... Happy days.
Happy New Year to all fellow MP people.
It then went quiet. Now I wasn't that bothered as I know this is not structural and from my perspective had been reported, so a stake was in the Warranty ground, but when literally nothing happened for months and months I decided to follow up in June 2022. Needless to say the MB Service Manager had left, as had my contact at Barons and you guessed it, NOTHING had happened. So I started again and in October contacted MB BSE who then quickly put me in touch with Barons again. I then arranged to drop in to Barons in mid-Oct to have them inspect and report to MB. Then silence again.
I contacted Barons last week and was told they are awaiting a response from MB. I pressed MB BSE and they essentially said there was nothing they could do as it's down to MB HQ, so I am back in no mans land.
Pretty poor customer service all round.
As if this wasn't bad enough I also discovered one side of the roof had split. I have a Thule roof box which has fixed mounts and the after one is positioned just in front of where the rear lifting arm attaches. I should stress that the roof is never raised with anything in the box, but is raised with the box itself attached (as to remove would be ludicrous).
Reverting to my Engineering knowledge (Beam theory to you), the roof is indeed a beam with the sides acting as the lowest upright sections. Sort of like an RSJ. When a beam is loaded and subject to bending one edge is generally in compression and one in tension. In this case the bottom of the side sections suffer the maximum tension force, but as they are only thin GRP offer little resistance and as with me a crack propagates, upward. Some thickening of the laminate on the lowest edge would help prevent this, but without it I suspect the result will be the same for anyone planning to raise the roof with something on top. Westfalia really should have been on top of this (pun intended).
My last gripe, would be that bloody useless locker in the roofspace just fwd of the rear hatch. My one pops open over a bump even when empty. The latch is rubbish and the fact that the structure is so flexible means that any load will cause the latch to slip. I tried repositioning the latch but the issue is the flexing in the door and other than fitting stiffeners there's no simple solution. Have others had a similar experience?
Otherwise, driving the van is a blast and was great touring Germany this year.... Happy days.
Happy New Year to all fellow MP people.
Carol
Top Poster
Hello I reported my blisters to Mercedes Benz dealership
In November 2020 and was assured it would be replaced in September 2021 , at there own bodywork shop which unknown to me was shut down as when l contacted in September the telephone number was not recognised, l have been in contact with Colchester dealership and was assured is was booked in for November 14 th 2022 , we returned from a Europe holiday specific to get the roof replaced , but was told apparently the new workshop could not take my van in at the moment . I will start chasing again in the New Year, but my experience is MB after sales service is non existent
Grand Tourismo
Top Poster
Hi Sailorman,
And thanks for the comprehensive update...I can confirm that my 1st roof (2017MY which has now been replaced) also developed a crack, in the place that you indicated, just forward of the forward lifting strut and on the side (down-stand) of the roof. I had no roof box or weight on the roof, ever.
There is a thread on here somewhere if you search "roof crack", mine was not the first to develop this.
Regarding the rear locker, there is an MB update fix for this but it is easy enough to repair yourself...there is a thread on here somewhere. Basically you want to space the locking mechanism off the mount point with two small 2 or 3mm washer/spacers...just enough to close the gap between the lock tang and receiver. The new gap is specced. at 4mm but I made it more like 3mm (or less) to be sure.
I did this mod. and the locker door never opened on its own again, but it did operate normally on the catch mech. as it should.
Keep pushing MB customer services as they are "the driver" in all this (forgive the pun!) The dealer is not motivated to operate a warranty for you as it is a time consuming and risky job (done badly can cost them lots of money!)
The best bet seems to be to seek an MB dealer who has done plenty of these before, it may mean you have to travel but it's worth it to get a good one working on your side.
Good luck
Tony Bartlett
Member
I had a quote from MB Poole for around £6K for non-warranty replacement. I wondered about taking mine to the Westfalia factory?
Thank you for the replies. We bought our van 2 yrs ago (I know this as it had just had a service and is due again now) with 7k and had been stored indoors so really no excuse for the blisters. What concerns me is that the blister and crack issues will not cease until MB/Westfalia modify the structure and resins used which I'm not aware is happening. If not then this cycle will just keep repeating even where the roof is replaced. This reminds me of the air suspension struts on the Audi RS6 which Audi knew were a faulty design but made no effort to redesign. They just replaced under warranty until this ran out and then kept supplying faulty units post warranty at significant cost to owners (I was not one). We should never assume manufacturers want to solve problems, they just seek to manage their exposure....
It was for this reason we sold our MP. Our 2019 model had the roof blisters. The roof was replaced but only lasted a couple of months before it also blistered.
Aside from the roof it was the most unreliable vehicle I’ve ever owned. To be fair our local MB dealer were great at resolving problems with the vehicle but worse than useless with anything to do with the camper.
I would not have wanted to own it once the warranty expired so at 3 years and 25k miles we part exchanged it for a motor home. We now have decent living space with all the luxury that we didn’t have in the MP, proper cooking facilities, proper toilet, shower etc in a vehicle just 1.5m longer.
The dealers for both chassis and motorhome know the vehicle inside and out. Running costs are about the same.
We loved the MP when it was functioning properly but would never go back.
Steve B
Top Poster
A camper is always a compromise with space, ours is our daily driver so needs to get into multi-storey carparks. Its frustrating that the dealers sell but don't care about the specifics of the MP, its easier to shift bland Euro boxes that are all very similar I suppose. Ours has been reliable, except replacing a blistered roof, and we've got used to it's noises and foibles. I think in years to come a motor home would be a preferred option for us, but we wouldn't get the use out of it for the next few years, so the MP is a great compromise.
Carol
Top Poster
Yes , we also love our van , had no problems only small niggles easily sorted ,just the roof and MB after sales that’s crap , Once roof is done our van won’t see the dealership again , plenty of independent MB specialists out there with good reputation using MB parts and able to upload into the digital service history .Happy camping for the New Year , Robert & Carol
Carol
Top Poster
That’s great news , l am hoping to get new roof fitted February, after a 2 year wait
