Tiny blisters on roof

[IJB]

Hi all
I am on here as part of the bubbly roof club. They are present on our 2020 v300D. We bought it from a dealer and were unaware this was a common problem so it was not until a friend whose ‘been through the roof replacement mill’ enlightened us that we looked and there were the blisters. Small but present. I’m seeing lots of varying experiences on the forum but is it likely to be a pointless exercise to chase MB for a replacement roof and all that aggravation?
Our MP goes in for a B service next week (to keep the breakdown continuity) and I have raised this roof issue. They seemed unaware of this issue with roofs but They have arranged for someone from a local body shop they outsource to to look at the roof on the day. What do people here advise. Push for warranty roof replacement or repair / paint the affected areas. It seems from a few of the posts that the blisters return on the replacement roofs. I am assuming that if our MP three year warranty has ended, then we are still covered by our MB one year warranty as we bought it in December. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Grahammf]

Hi all
I am on here as part of the bubbly roof club. They are present on our 2020 v300D. We bought it from a dealer and were unaware this was a common problem so it was not until a friend whose ‘been through the roof replacement mill’ enlightened us that we looked and there were the blisters. Small but present. I’m seeing lots of varying experiences on the forum but is it likely to be a pointless exercise to chase MB for a replacement roof and all that aggravation?
Our MP goes in for a B service next week (to keep the breakdown continuity) and I have raised this roof issue. They seemed unaware of this issue with roofs but They have arranged for someone from a local body shop they outsource to to look at the roof on the day. What do people here advise. Push for warranty roof replacement or repair / paint the affected areas. It seems from a few of the posts that the blisters return on the replacement roofs. I am assuming that if our MP three year warranty has ended, then we are still covered by our MB one year warranty as we bought it in December. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Our 2018 MP was well out of warranty but Mercedes replaced the roof cost free in January this year. It was a struggle as our local dealer knows nothing about MPs but we were persistent! So far so good. It is only a cosmetic problem as far as I’m aware and ours wasn’t particularly bad.

 

[The Rocket]

Hi all
I am on here as part of the bubbly roof club. They are present on our 2020 v300D. We bought it from a dealer and were unaware this was a common problem so it was not until a friend whose ‘been through the roof replacement mill’ enlightened us that we looked and there were the blisters. Small but present. I’m seeing lots of varying experiences on the forum but is it likely to be a pointless exercise to chase MB for a replacement roof and all that aggravation?
Our MP goes in for a B service next week (to keep the breakdown continuity) and I have raised this roof issue. They seemed unaware of this issue with roofs but They have arranged for someone from a local body shop they outsource to to look at the roof on the day. What do people here advise. Push for warranty roof replacement or repair / paint the affected areas. It seems from a few of the posts that the blisters return on the replacement roofs. I am assuming that if our MP three year warranty has ended, then we are still covered by our MB one year warranty as we bought it in December. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Mercedes Benz are holding Westfalia to account and they were brilliant in sorting the problem for me, despite buying the vehicle second hand four years old from a private sale. Pursue through Mercedes dealer.

 

[RichnNat]

Hi all
I am on here as part of the bubbly roof club. They are present on our 2020 v300D. We bought it from a dealer and were unaware this was a common problem so it was not until a friend whose ‘been through the roof replacement mill’ enlightened us that we looked and there were the blisters. Small but present. I’m seeing lots of varying experiences on the forum but is it likely to be a pointless exercise to chase MB for a replacement roof and all that aggravation?
Our MP goes in for a B service next week (to keep the breakdown continuity) and I have raised this roof issue. They seemed unaware of this issue with roofs but They have arranged for someone from a local body shop they outsource to to look at the roof on the day. What do people here advise. Push for warranty roof replacement or repair / paint the affected areas. It seems from a few of the posts that the blisters return on the replacement roofs. I am assuming that if our MP three year warranty has ended, then we are still covered by our MB one year warranty as we bought it in December. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Hi

I am very doubtful that an MB shop will not have heard about the roof issue, as its such an expensive mistake. You are right in that the warranty from your MB purchase should cover the roof, but you will need to keep the pressure on with regards to it. We have been through this but were one of the lucky ones. They acknowledged it, sorted it and returned it within about three weeks. Will it return, who knows. If I am cynical then I might suggest the repeat offenders may have been older roofs from stock.

However, the facts are that MB know about it, have repaired many, have messed about many more before relenting, and in some cases haven't been such a great dealership. If you cant get anywhere with the dealer go straight to MB HQ in the UK and get started on customer services. It shouldnt however detract from what is an amazing piece of engineering and we have done just short of 40,000 in two years which, apart from the roof has been faultless.

Rich

 

[Greens_Peace]

I have just been through the process of buying a '21 used Marco Polo, and then rejecting it. I was unaware of the blister problem when considering this particular campervan, but having got the vehicle home I found the roof absolutely covered in these tiny blisters, some of which had 'burst' leaving pits in the GRP. The previous owner must have been aware, but chose not to have the roof replaced under warranty. A used Mercedes Warranty excludes bodywork, although there was mention that the paint warranty would cover such an issue, this was never confirmed though. There were other issues with the vehicle, the MBAC system although having just had a new Module fitted failed the day after I got home, and then the media/speakers wouldn't play anything without a constant popping/crackling sound.

On returning the vehicle the dealership did all they could to persuade me, that all these issues were fixable, and to some extent I knew that to be true. However the joy of owning such a vehicle had very quickly been sucked out of us, so I asked for my money back, which they have returned without any hassle.

I did have a very interesting conversation with the Dealership service manager about the roof issue. I queried that if Mercedes-Benz, Westfalia, knew about this problem and seemed to have done so since at least 2019 (that's when I find reports of it on this forum) why hadn't they resolved the problem. As many of you will know or will have read, it is caused by the unpainted GRP roof panels not being stored in a dry atmosphere so when they are taken into the paint shop and painted prior to fitting, the moisture in the GRP gets locked it, in time this moisture reacts to heat or cold hence the blistering. Apparently the 'cure' for this, and this is what the Dealership told me that they would do, is to take the unpainted replacement roof and place it is a paint shop drying oven the day before it is to be sprayed and 'bake' it dry. They then paint it as normal, they assured me that this process would mean that the blisters would not return, which certainly made sense to me. So those who report that they have had more than one replacement roof, clearly the Dealerships that they used were not following this process.

For the time being my dream of Marco Polo ownership is on hold, the V300 we bought certainly was a great drive. But it would appear the Marco Polo comes with issues, both the roof blisters, and the MBAC system failing, both being popular topics on this forum.

 

[Steve B]

Each to their own; I'm coming up to 6 years of ownership and have had the roof replaced, and its still OK. The other issues I've had are not so significant that I've wanted to sell on. We've used it as a van, car every day, safe haven during covid when you could legally travel and the main thing - the high end camping. So happy with our lot.

 

[IJB]

Many thanks for the responses - really insightful. As reported elsewhere on the forum, I’ve just had the B service on our 2020 V300. Mercedes had arranged for someone from their (outsourced) Bodyshop to look at our roof. They took pictures and will feed back to Mercedes, but told me they had replaced a few MP roofs. It sounded quite encouraging. Mercedes told me any work would come under the paintwork warranty. I wait in anticipation,

 

[Andofire]

So far , I haven't had a problem with the roof, but I there any coating to put on it to protect it and prevent damage?

Has anyone used Marlin Roof silicon paint? as a cover/protector?

 

[j200george]

So far , I haven't had a problem with the roof, but I there any coating to put on it to protect it and prevent damage?

Has anyone used Marlin Roof silicon paint? as a cover/protector?

I’d be really interested in what a good body shop says about this. Mine so far doesn’t suffer from it, at least as far as I can see. Is there an issue with the paint adhesion on the roof material? Is this related to the material, the preparation or the paint, or even the painting process itself?

Surely unless you’ve a cracked roof why are Merc changing the whole roof? Which I suppose suggests it could be a base material issue.

Some people however have had a few roofs replaced which tells you if it is the material used prior to painting that they haven’t actually found or fixed the root cause.

If this ever becomes an issue for me I’d look at some kind of wrap or repaint job.

What is Merc warranty these days? Is it still 3 years? This I assume is also paint defects. Sadly as mine is a 2019 I am now long out of any kind of protection.

 

[Greens_Peace]

I’d be really interested in what a good body shop says about this. Mine so far doesn’t suffer from it, at least as far as I can see. Is there an issue with the paint adhesion on the roof material? Is this related to the material, the preparation or the paint, or even the painting process itself?

Surely unless you’ve a cracked roof why are Merc changing the whole roof? Which I suppose suggests it could be a base material issue.

Some people however have had a few roofs replaced which tells you if it is the material used prior to painting that they haven’t actually found or fixed the root cause.

If this ever becomes an issue for me I’d look at some kind of wrap or repaint job.

What is Merc warranty these days? Is it still 3 years? This I assume is also paint defects. Sadly as mine is a 2019 I am now long out of any kind of protection.

Mercedes paint protection warranty covers these issues with the roof for ever it would seem. The reason the whole roof has to be replaced is because the original coatings were put on a 'wet' roof i.e. it hadn't been properly dried, (they leave them stacked outside awaiting use) before the coatings were applied. This is why the blisters form, from being left in the hot sun, the moisture wants to dry/evaporate and has nowhere to expand, similarly when too cold the moisture wants to freeze and therefor expands.

 

[j200george]

Mercedes paint protection warranty covers these issues with the roof for ever it would seem. The reason the whole roof has to be replaced is because the original coatings were put on a 'wet' roof i.e. it hadn't been properly dried, (they leave them stacked outside awaiting use) before the coatings were applied. This is why the blisters form, from being left in the hot sun, the moisture wants to dry/evaporate and has nowhere to expand, similarly when too cold the moisture wants to freeze and therefor expands.

That’s great to know, of course unless I am mistaken that you find out within the first three years since first registration.

If indeed this has been identified as a known defect and issue with wet roofs, are Merc fixing cars that appear outwith the three years?

 

[Tony Bartlett]

I have just been through the process of buying a '21 used Marco Polo, and then rejecting it. I was unaware of the blister problem when considering this particular campervan, but having got the vehicle home I found the roof absolutely covered in these tiny blisters, some of which had 'burst' leaving pits in the GRP. The previous owner must have been aware, but chose not to have the roof replaced under warranty. A used Mercedes Warranty excludes bodywork, although there was mention that the paint warranty would cover such an issue, this was never confirmed though. There were other issues with the vehicle, the MBAC system although having just had a new Module fitted failed the day after I got home, and then the media/speakers wouldn't play anything without a constant popping/crackling sound.

On returning the vehicle the dealership did all they could to persuade me, that all these issues were fixable, and to some extent I knew that to be true. However the joy of owning such a vehicle had very quickly been sucked out of us, so I asked for my money back, which they have returned without any hassle.

I did have a very interesting conversation with the Dealership service manager about the roof issue. I queried that if Mercedes-Benz, Westfalia, knew about this problem and seemed to have done so since at least 2019 (that's when I find reports of it on this forum) why hadn't they resolved the problem. As many of you will know or will have read, it is caused by the unpainted GRP roof panels not being stored in a dry atmosphere so when they are taken into the paint shop and painted prior to fitting, the moisture in the GRP gets locked it, in time this moisture reacts to heat or cold hence the blistering. Apparently the 'cure' for this, and this is what the Dealership told me that they would do, is to take the unpainted replacement roof and place it is a paint shop drying oven the day before it is to be sprayed and 'bake' it dry. They then paint it as normal, they assured me that this process would mean that the blisters would not return, which certainly made sense to me. So those who report that they have had more than one replacement roof, clearly the Dealerships that they used were not following this process.

For the time being my dream of Marco Polo ownership is on hold, the V300 we bought certainly was a great drive. But it would appear the Marco Polo comes with issues, both the roof blisters, and the MBAC system failing, both being popular topics on this forum.

Hi, I went through the same process but with a 3 year old vehicle with only 3k miles. The dealership proposed to replace the roof under warranty but were relying on MBUK to honour this commitment. They did not. I had paid top dollar for the van but the rejection process was successful. Later, I bought privately and at a price that allowed me to replace a roof (through Merdeces Birmingham’s third party body shop) with only some contribution from me and the remainder from MBUK. Two years, plus, later, and the roof is still looking fab, and the van’s done 20k miles more with only normal maintenance-related parts replacement. I had thought about wrapping the new roof with a carbon effect finish but was recommended against this by the body shop for fear of promoting osmosis in the fibreglass.

 

[Andofire]

I’d be really interested in what a good body shop says about this. Mine so far doesn’t suffer from it, at least as far as I can see. Is there an issue with the paint adhesion on the roof material? Is this related to the material, the preparation or the paint, or even the painting process itself?

Surely unless you’ve a cracked roof why are Merc changing the whole roof? Which I suppose suggests it could be a base material issue.

Some people however have had a few roofs replaced which tells you if it is the material used prior to painting that they haven’t actually found or fixed the root cause.

If this ever becomes an issue for me I’d look at some kind of wrap or repaint job.

What is Merc warranty these days? Is it still 3 years? This I assume is also paint defects. Sadly as mine is a 2019 I am now long out of any kind of protection.

Ahh. No I’ve not got an issue. But for me I was looking at preventative measures
It seems quite a few have either bubbles or cracks and was looking round. It’s a 19 plate so passed warranty I guess but want to keep the baby for some time as I love driving it

 

[Tony58]

As Carol has pointed out in her profile post, we have discovered tiny blisters on the roof of our MP. Has anyone else got the same? Anyone been to MB about it?
We will talk to MB and let you know what they say. FYI our MP is 2018 model.
Thanks ClaireDe

Same problem with my MP 3 years ago, Mercedes North Wales said it was covered under MB warranty.
New roof fitted 3 months later in Chester. Great service.
Don't believe the outside storage excuse though!

 

[Carol]

Ahh. No I’ve not got an issue. But for me I was looking at preventative measures
It seems quite a few have either bubbles or cracks and was looking round. It’s a 19 plate so passed warranty I guess but want to keep the baby for some time as I love driving it

Mine was registered Dec2018 , l had my 4 th roof replacement earlier this year under warranty, the last roof was supposedly from the newer batches that the problem was fixed , however it blew again last winter , Fingers crossed this is fixed , will try storing under cover this winter as its seems the frost causes it to blow ,

 

[screechxl]

Mine was registered Dec2018 , l had my 4 th roof replacement earlier this year under warranty, the last roof was supposedly from the newer batches that the problem was fixed , however it blew again last winter , Fingers crossed this is fixed , will try storing under cover this winter as its seems the frost causes it to blow ,

Hi, how recently was your last replacement please?
The roof of my 2019 MP was replaced in 2022 under warranty but has now cracked again after 3 years.
Trying to judge how far outside of warranty MB will support a replacement.
Many thanks.

 

[Carol]

My latest roof was brought to the attention of the dealership last February , as usual l heard nothing so contacted them , 2-3 phone calls , then it was inspected, Again heard nothing so rang dealership in Feb this year , a few weeks later l was contacted by a bodywork shop that took about another 4 /6 weeks before being booked in for replacement .
I think l need to keep it away from cold weather as all my blisters have happened after frosts