Cracked Roof (?) - Anybody seen this before ?

[Deetees]

Hi All,

whilst admiring my filthy grubby CC in this afternoon's sunshine, I noticed what I assumed was a scratch in the roof panel that sits between the top edge of the windscreen and the front edge of the sunroof.

But on closer inspection it turns out to be a crack - this roof panel is evidently made of some form of plastic (as proven by a convenient fridge magnet). The crack runs from the front edge of the panel above the windscreen diagonally across to the roof edge above the driver's door.

The attached photo shows what I'm on about - it's not easy to see at first but look at the distorted reflections and it becomes clearer.

There's no sign of any paintchips around this area so I'm pretty sure the roof hasn't been hit by anything.

Anybody got any experience of anything similar - or advice ?
I will be off down the VW dealer to discuss later this week. Oh joy.

The car is a September'08 vintage so has been around a bit longer than most...is there such a thing as plastic fatigue ? :confused:

[Jamiem]

Is it the Original front screen? If so I'm sure you can claim on your 3yr warranty. If it's had a new one, you may be in for a fight as they will claim it's been damaged by the screen fitter. Good luck!

[Deetees]

Good point.

As far as I know it's the original windscreen - I've never had it replaced. I did buy the vehicle 'pre-owned' though. From the same dealer that I will be visting. It was previously owned by them as it was one of their demo vehicles, so even if the screen had been replaced before I bought it (over 2 years ago now) then they would be responsible for making sure the fitter had done it properly in the first place.

Dave.

[johnloaderuk]

As it's now a three year old car I wouldn't hold out much hope of a free replacement. I assume you've had the car for a while, and if you haven't noticed it before maybe it's just happened. The dealer may take the view that something could have damaged it by dropping on it or something, but good luck with the dealer - thay may play and replace if you are nice to them.

[eob]

The rigidity of the CC has been called into question over on the American VW forums (http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4937898-Rattle-is-Driving-Me-Nuts....Any-thoughts/page3).
I started to experience a problem late last year which I could only describe as a metallic clicking coming from the boot. (Boot emptied and everything secured)
The problem seems to be with some of the seam welds in the boot area.
Its hard to explain, but I can replicate the noise by gently turning the wheel on a smooth road and can only put it down to body flex which makes me agree with the Americans.

Your crack looks like it could have been caused by similar flexing of the front corner. Maybe you caught a pothole and the force travelled up the A pillar and nudged the plastic.

As mine is a company car, I'm not too fussed and the noise is only intrusive when the radio is off. I'll mention it at the next service.