VW T5 Topaz Wardrobe Door

by rgermain Wed 7 Jan 2015 - 20:10

Has anyone had a problem with the Wardrobe door skin coming off!

I had the plastic side panel replaced, at my cost, by Autosleeper at the Factory due to cracks where the piano hinge is fitted, ( over size screws ? ) and the door catches at the top corner opposite the hinge ever since.

I can only assume this is what has caused the skin to come loose, although it is over the entire door.

I have been advised to stick it back with Super glue.

Has anyone else had the same problem?

I also had the basin area replaced due to cracks, the two side cant rails and the sliding door surround replaced all due to cracks some 3 years ago, on a 2007 van! shrugg

by daisy mae Wed 7 Jan 2015 - 20:27

Sorry cannot help with your Topaz problems, I had a 2002 Topaz and had no problems and it was/is solid, I have heard that most vans even Auto-sleeper after 2006 were not as well built as the older ones, such a shame and frustrating for you as they are not cheap vans.
Hope you get it sorted.

Kind regards,
Margaret

by Paulmold Wed 7 Jan 2015 - 20:33

Rgermain

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by rgermain Wed 7 Jan 2015 - 21:03

Thank you Margaret for reading my post.

You are dead right they are not cheap! Autosleepers used to be top of the range, but in recent years they seem to have changed.

All my problems were due to wear and tear according to them even at 9000 miles and 3 years old.

Such a shame, as the T5 is such a dual purpose van and we now tow a caravan and only sleep in the Topaz when touring France.

Regards

Richard

by -mojo- Thu 8 Jan 2015 - 2:12

I'm afraid it's not just the later vans that have issues like this - my 1999 Flair had similar problems with cracking of the moulding around the sliding door, which started to go when it was only around 5 years old.

If the door has delaminated in a big way then I doubt it can be stuck back and look anything other than horrible - you have to catch that sort of damage very early and glue where it is starting to come apart before it starts to spread. If it were mine I would look at replacing the complete door - possibly in a completely contrasting finish, unless you can still get a panel that exactly matches what's there.

by Pete Taylor Sun 11 Jan 2015 - 22:31

Richard,
We, until recently, had a 2007 Topaz too. Our previous DPO (Damned Previous Owner) seemed, fortunately, not to have ever used the "bathroom" and thereby wetted the wardrobe door, which was a good thing. However, we, quite soon, came to the conclusion that the Topaz "bathroom" is best-regarded as a large cupboard and never used it either.
If only A-S could come up with a long wheel-based VW without that excuse for a bathroom but with added storage space.

by daisy mae Mon 12 Jan 2015 - 0:54

My Topaz was on the long wheelbase T4,
Perhaps that was the difference.

I used the bathroom in my Topaz, I think it had / has the best bathroom of the conversions vans, jmho , I think it beats the one I have now in my Anniversary Clubman, the van is great, wish it had the loo area of the Topaz.

Hope you get your wardrobe door sorted.
Regards,
Margaret

by rgermain Sun 15 Mar 2015 - 11:19

Hi All,

Thank you for all your replies, I have managed to secure the skin on the door with Screwfix 2 part super glue.

I also very gently filed away some of the door where it caught on the main side panel opening.

So far so good up!

Just moving the water heater switch to the outside area by the heater controls.

Regards

Richard

VW T5 Topaz Wardrobe Door

VW T5 Topaz Wardrobe Door

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