Westfalia Pop Roof - damage/repair/replace?

[Andofire]

Following on from the long threads of blisters/cracks/leaking to the roof of the beloved Marco, has anyone had any work done re a new coating?

I appreciate some have had new roof's fitted, but for those who are not in a position for a new roof to be replaced by MB, have anyone had some fibreglass treatment and painting done to repair, make good??

Would be interested to hear or see some solutions please

 

[j200george]

You’d think a good body shop/ paint specialist place would be able to repaint or even wrap the middle section of the roof easily enough. Be worth contacting a local paint shop that you trust.

 

[1508ian]

On our third roof after a couple of years about half a dozen very small blisters have appeared, nothing like as bad as before, and a couple of have “popped” over the summer. I’ve applied a ceramic wax type coating over the whole body, and am hoping that will be enough to keep any water seeping in, without making things worse.
But like you I’d like to know if a body shop is likely to have a permanent solution, or if this is osmosis which is more of boat specialist thing. There must be people used to dealing with GRP and fibreglass car bodies with these kinds of issues??

 

[j200george]

I’ve to go into a body shop some day soon with my wife’s car, I’ll ask the estimator guy for his advice on these roofs.

Actually I’ve just asked chat gpt some info on the roof construction. It’s pretty amazing stuff on there.

Outer / hard cap / shell — sold and listed as a plastic Westfalia/Mercedes part (part no. A4476505200 appears in reseller listings and is described as “material: PLASTIC”). This is the rigid painted panel you see when the roof is closed.

there is a price listed for part number A4476505200, which corresponds to the hard pop-up roof shell (plastic cap) used on the Westfalia conversion of the Mercedes V-Class Marco Polo.

• RBS Spares (UK reseller) sells the used genuine Westfalia roof (part A4476505200) for £139.99 including VAT, reduced from an original price of £299.99 – listed as plastic material .
• Another listing (also used parts) shows it available for £90.99, likely depending on condition or seller’s pricing
• Wonder how much Merc want for it directly. Probably worth checking.

So it’s a plastic which you’d think given the proper preparation and treatment must surely be able to be painted correctly.

 

[1508ian]

That doesn’t sound right to me far too cheap…
I understood the cost of a new roof was into the £thousands, and I can’t see the whole roof only being £300 or less. If they were I’d snap them up… Also I’m pretty sure it’s not “plastic” as such - must be GRP. I’ll be interested to hear your body shop guys thoughts on this.

 

[j200george]

That doesn’t sound right to me far too cheap…
I understood the cost of a new roof was into the £thousands, and I can’t see the whole roof only being £300 or less. If they were I’d snap them up… Also I’m pretty sure it’s not “plastic” as such - must be GRP. I’ll be interested to hear your body shop guys thoughts on this.

Indeed. This was my first thought too. I’d like to confirm the part number and costs with Mercedes. I do also have to contact their parts department for a cost on a rear offside taillight cluster. I’ll ask them re this part and report back in due course.

 

[1508ian]

Indeed. This was my first thought too. I’d like to confirm the part number and costs with Mercedes. I do also have to contact their parts department for a cost on a rear offside taillight cluster. I’ll ask them re this part and report back in due course.

Good luck! I'll be interested to hear you get on.

 

[j200george]

Jesus. Third degree at Merc right now. We can’t give you part numbers out because you’ll just go on eBay and get them cheaper lol. Honest to god. £100k car.

So, after a fight they tell me the roof part is £2400 lol and the tail light which they wouldn’t give me a part number for hahaha is £240.

Arseholes. Glasgow Mercedes parts department.

 

[Van Diesel]

if youre gonna fix yours ....im pretty sure the old ones are not plastic. you might wanna consider the possibility that the blisters are caused by some resin mix failure or something..... get a fiber man to look at it, maybe a drill out of the failed spots and some new epoxy is a good idea, so it wont happen again..... but im not sure about whats causing it..... all i know it was a failure in production some years ago.. since most roofs are ok. D GL

 

[j200george]

if youre gonna fix yours ....im pretty sure the old ones are not plastic. you might wanna consider the possibility that the blisters are caused by some resin mix failure or something..... get a fiber man to look at it, maybe a drill out of the failed spots and some new epoxy is a good idea, so it wont happen again..... but im not sure about whats causing it..... all i know it was a failure in production some years ago.. since most roofs are ok. D GL

Actually mine is ok at least as far as I can see. I have a chip out of the roof but that came from a stone off the motorway.

Just for reference here is the link to the RBS spares site.

Roof part?

 

[Lefeuvre]

Following on from the long threads of blisters/cracks/leaking to the roof of the beloved Marco, has anyone had any work done re a new coating?

I appreciate some have had new roof's fitted, but for those who are not in a position for a new roof to be replaced by MB, have anyone had some fibreglass treatment and painting done to repair, make good??

Would be interested to hear or see some solutions please

Hi, i know that some people in France go to sailing boat shops for their MPs. They know fiberglass

 

[1508ian]

I think Glasgow Mercedes know nothing about Marco Polos. At least they didn't when we went there a few years back to ask about them. We got ours from M-B Edinburgh at Newhouse, who have replaced the roof twice and do seem to know about them. I think that if the bubbles recur then it will be time to explore the GRP/boat repair possibilities rather than get another new roof.

 

[Tony Bartlett]

Following on from the long threads of blisters/cracks/leaking to the roof of the beloved Marco, has anyone had any work done re a new coating?

I appreciate some have had new roof's fitted, but for those who are not in a position for a new roof to be replaced by MB, have anyone had some fibreglass treatment and painting done to repair, make good??

Would be interested to hear or see some solutions please

I faced the same decision until I had a major contribution from MB to replace. The recommended approach was to grind out the resin beneath the blisters (with a dremel or similar), refill with epoxy and paint. I never took this approach but believe it’s how GRP boat hulls with osmosis are treated.