There’s at least two alternatives if you go back a couple pages.
Skyline Aurora Pop-Top opening on motorway?
- Thread starter Creamytash
- Start date
I did this a couple of weeks ago, just stainless rods embedded in the slider, and matching holes in the frame, it allows me to close it when up in the roof and gives support to the slider when the pillows slip and I end up putting pressure on it during the night.
Hi all. This is my first post on here as i didn't want to post in the heat of the moment and wanted everything to settle down in case I went off on a rant.
I have converted a 2016 T6 into a totally awsome van, but have had quite the journey courtesy of my aurora popping up when I was doing about 60 on a dual carriageway.
The big issue I had was that neither tbe fitter or for a good 5 months Skyline would accept responsibility. My stance was that I cared not and simply.wNted it fixed, however, skyline were suggesting the fitter had completed the install in a superseded manner and consequently had done something along the lines of left only 6 threads of tbe locking cam showing when there should have been 8 and placed a washer in a diff location (don't quote me on that as I'm no roof fitter). Nevertheless, after an outright appaling service from the fitter (who at one point wouldnt even return the trade cost of the roof) many hrs of bickering amongst themselves and me ended up suggesting perhaps everyone should meet in a car park for a thumb war to sort it out, I finally got hold of management at Skyline amd quite quickly all was resolved. Although i will never claw the 6 months of calls, emails and stress back, Skyline in fact collect the van, took it to thier yard and fitted an entirely new roof and fabric for the cost of materials so I can't ask more than that. What I will say is that the locking mechanism now is completely different to how it was before. It's now very clear when it's engaged and when it's not and although I'm still a little wary (trust me this is a vast uplift from tbe first few times a drove it after) I'm now pretty confident she's staying in place. I guess a few take homes for me would be.
Never had another aurora to compare it to how was I ever going to know what was right and what was wrongly fitted.
Clearly there must have been some issues otherwise there wouldn't have been an alternate fitting system generated.
No matter how good the product, if the fitter is an arse there is always going to be an issue when cutting the roof of off a vehicle and replacing It with a hinged piece of fibre glass.
If troubles arise, don't talk to the monkeys, talk to the organ grinder. (This may have saved me 6 months).
Having had this happened I now know for certain there are other cases of this happening (apparently there is even dashcam footage from a vehicle behind the event and its a terrible shame if Skyline are still denying this) but I'll suggest my roof now is an amazing product and one I'm very pleased with.
Although a total arse at the time, the problem in my case was driven by the fitter more than Skyline and I concluded quite quickly that, on the grand scale of things, me getting upset about an issue with my life long dream of owning a VW Camper when it was one that could be fixed, just simply wasn't worth it.
OK post over. I'll leave it to you guys to decide amongst yourselves what you choose to do.
As for me and my kids. WE ARE SUPER HAPPY WITH OUR ROSIE AND THE ROOF ;0)
I have converted a 2016 T6 into a totally awsome van, but have had quite the journey courtesy of my aurora popping up when I was doing about 60 on a dual carriageway.
The big issue I had was that neither tbe fitter or for a good 5 months Skyline would accept responsibility. My stance was that I cared not and simply.wNted it fixed, however, skyline were suggesting the fitter had completed the install in a superseded manner and consequently had done something along the lines of left only 6 threads of tbe locking cam showing when there should have been 8 and placed a washer in a diff location (don't quote me on that as I'm no roof fitter). Nevertheless, after an outright appaling service from the fitter (who at one point wouldnt even return the trade cost of the roof) many hrs of bickering amongst themselves and me ended up suggesting perhaps everyone should meet in a car park for a thumb war to sort it out, I finally got hold of management at Skyline amd quite quickly all was resolved. Although i will never claw the 6 months of calls, emails and stress back, Skyline in fact collect the van, took it to thier yard and fitted an entirely new roof and fabric for the cost of materials so I can't ask more than that. What I will say is that the locking mechanism now is completely different to how it was before. It's now very clear when it's engaged and when it's not and although I'm still a little wary (trust me this is a vast uplift from tbe first few times a drove it after) I'm now pretty confident she's staying in place. I guess a few take homes for me would be.
Never had another aurora to compare it to how was I ever going to know what was right and what was wrongly fitted.
Clearly there must have been some issues otherwise there wouldn't have been an alternate fitting system generated.
No matter how good the product, if the fitter is an arse there is always going to be an issue when cutting the roof of off a vehicle and replacing It with a hinged piece of fibre glass.
If troubles arise, don't talk to the monkeys, talk to the organ grinder. (This may have saved me 6 months).
Having had this happened I now know for certain there are other cases of this happening (apparently there is even dashcam footage from a vehicle behind the event and its a terrible shame if Skyline are still denying this) but I'll suggest my roof now is an amazing product and one I'm very pleased with.
Although a total arse at the time, the problem in my case was driven by the fitter more than Skyline and I concluded quite quickly that, on the grand scale of things, me getting upset about an issue with my life long dream of owning a VW Camper when it was one that could be fixed, just simply wasn't worth it.
OK post over. I'll leave it to you guys to decide amongst yourselves what you choose to do.
As for me and my kids. WE ARE SUPER HAPPY WITH OUR ROSIE AND THE ROOF ;0)
Please Note. The graphics on the van are NOT the roof fitter. They were who stepped in and pulled it all back together for us when things started to get sticky. These guys are totally awsome and I can't rate them highly enough.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I had an issue with my aurora opening on me on a dual carriageway. It was the day after I picked up the van after fitting. I’m pleased to say that the company that fitted the roof could not have worked harder to fix the problem. There were 4 fitters and the boss pouring over it to work out what could have gone wrong and how to prevent it from happening again. My roof has been rock solid since. Really pleased that you’ve regained confidence in your roof and van and hope you get many years of fantastic memory making out of it.
I can't see the graphic that clearly. Looking for a fitter myself just now and interested to know who you used to fix it?
Who did you use?
I used Big V Kampers in Swindon.
You pays yer money and you makes yer choice.
I thought I would post an update. My build was based on trip to find nessy and here we are 1000 miles in and the van and roof have been awsome. It must be said I was very smug when we were surrounded by cali's at Loch ness Shores, only to open the roof right up so I could sit up there and drink my coffee. ;0)
@Creamytash. Whats your thinking. We all make our choices and i did pay a fair bit of money? Would you have gone for something else maybe?
I wouldn’t second guess. Your van is sorted and you’re enjoying it. No point in looking back.
Having viewed a few different pop tops, I’d buy my Aurora again without hesitation.
Hello Gizzard & Run DSG, the converter that was doing my pop up roof suddenly, between quoting and fitting, withdrew from fitting Skyline Aurora roofs. I was offered a few options but they were limited as my van is a LWB. I opted for a type with the traditional strap/pulldown method. I looked at a good few reviews for the manufacturer of the roof I was having fitted and they came well documented so I went a head, I am not going to mention the make.. Yes the roof is sorted and I am well happy with it, but I am still working on further aspects of the conversion so it is a long way off finished. It must be a relief to you that with some of the latch failures that have happened with Aurora's that you have no issues. In fairness there are a lot of people that give good feedback on their Aurora's, however I was guided by the advice of the converter who was doing mine and with me being a novice at this, when a converter stops fitting a products it makes you question why.
Defo not looking back, but was interested in the comment I think. For all the troubles I think I might be enjoying it a little more even. Think Skafell pike. Tiz tough but worth it
Remains my opinion that problems are attributed to poor fitting. My roof was fitted by Skyline themselves.
I’m not relieved, and I guess that’s because I’ve never had a real reason to feel concerned.
Converters are just people - they can have a wide range of reasons to fit or not to fit a particular product. It could be safety, it could be profit margins, it could be personal, it could be that they aren’t trained.
jacktheripper1967
New Member
Just had t6 converted and same is happening to mine, taking it back to installer
Yes they do fail on motorway! 3rd June 22 the latching mechanism on my Aurora failed. I will post full details and pictures over the weekend.
Not sure if this will help anyone or not, but heres my 2 pence worth for what it is.
With reference to the mechanism failure. I've got the Skyline aurora roof on my van which I fitted myself to see if its any good to be used for other fit outs (plus also stock for Austops was non existent when I done my own van).
The aurora comes with a replacement latch (see image red line), as the one that comes with the lock is too short so you have to swap these when fitting to ensure they correctly catch the bars on the roof. Again Skyline send this as part of the kit for the installer to swap out themselves.
One mod i had to do on my roof due to factory tolerances, was to fit 2 penny washers on my drivers side bar to make sure that the bar was low enough for the latch to catch it properly. (image green line)
This image is annotated from one of the earlier posts (couldn't be bothered to pop my roof as its raining!)
I wonder if all these "miracle" fixes that people have been reporting is just the installer actually looking at the latch and going "shit we forgot to fit the right one!" moments.
Another area which may cause latching issues is this:
When you fit the Aurora it comes with a metal brace which goes under your roof in the cab, this thing has very minimal play, fits pretty much only one way (I could only move it maybe 0.5cm due to the way it naturally sits. This frame gives you the guide as to where to drill for the two locking cams to drop through (see image with two red arrows), this ensures that the locks are positioned in the correct place in relation to the bar on the roof which effectively lines up with these locks (assuming the installer followed the dimensions for the cut out correctly!)
Again this could be another "magic fix" when people are taking their vans back to installers, as the roof can slide back and forth a slight amount for fine adjustment to ensure good alignment over the latch should the dimensions of the actual cut out be wrong.
(Image from my install in July 2021)
I've fitted Austops and went for the Skyline Aurora due to the stock availability at the time, you are meant to have a Skyline supervised fit as an installer doing the first install to make sure you know what you are doing, however due to Covid, I was doing mine over the phone remotely with their support team and didn't have any issues with the roof after installing it. Touch wood still no issues to this day.
When I shut the roof my I have to pull the roof down with one hand for the catch to do its thing, it then really pulls the roof down giving it a good seal. Personally having used different roof locking mechanisms, I think this is the best one and is a much cleaner setup (but i guess that is personal preference).
Much like anything with Camper Van conversions, it's who does it and how much care they have in doing your conversion.
I cant see how these locks "fail" as they are solid, so it's either poor fitting or purely down to user error not locking the roof and checking.
Anyway, hope this helps anyone.
If anyone wants anything measuring to check if they have the right part installed let me know happy to help where I can.
With reference to the mechanism failure. I've got the Skyline aurora roof on my van which I fitted myself to see if its any good to be used for other fit outs (plus also stock for Austops was non existent when I done my own van).
The aurora comes with a replacement latch (see image red line), as the one that comes with the lock is too short so you have to swap these when fitting to ensure they correctly catch the bars on the roof. Again Skyline send this as part of the kit for the installer to swap out themselves.
One mod i had to do on my roof due to factory tolerances, was to fit 2 penny washers on my drivers side bar to make sure that the bar was low enough for the latch to catch it properly. (image green line)
This image is annotated from one of the earlier posts (couldn't be bothered to pop my roof as its raining!)
I wonder if all these "miracle" fixes that people have been reporting is just the installer actually looking at the latch and going "shit we forgot to fit the right one!" moments.
Another area which may cause latching issues is this:
When you fit the Aurora it comes with a metal brace which goes under your roof in the cab, this thing has very minimal play, fits pretty much only one way (I could only move it maybe 0.5cm due to the way it naturally sits. This frame gives you the guide as to where to drill for the two locking cams to drop through (see image with two red arrows), this ensures that the locks are positioned in the correct place in relation to the bar on the roof which effectively lines up with these locks (assuming the installer followed the dimensions for the cut out correctly!)
Again this could be another "magic fix" when people are taking their vans back to installers, as the roof can slide back and forth a slight amount for fine adjustment to ensure good alignment over the latch should the dimensions of the actual cut out be wrong.
(Image from my install in July 2021)
I've fitted Austops and went for the Skyline Aurora due to the stock availability at the time, you are meant to have a Skyline supervised fit as an installer doing the first install to make sure you know what you are doing, however due to Covid, I was doing mine over the phone remotely with their support team and didn't have any issues with the roof after installing it. Touch wood still no issues to this day.
When I shut the roof my I have to pull the roof down with one hand for the catch to do its thing, it then really pulls the roof down giving it a good seal. Personally having used different roof locking mechanisms, I think this is the best one and is a much cleaner setup (but i guess that is personal preference).
Much like anything with Camper Van conversions, it's who does it and how much care they have in doing your conversion.
I cant see how these locks "fail" as they are solid, so it's either poor fitting or purely down to user error not locking the roof and checking.
Anyway, hope this helps anyone.
If anyone wants anything measuring to check if they have the right part installed let me know happy to help where I can.
I wonder why they changed from the original camlock (mine was one of the first batch of Aurora's to be produced) the early design overlapped the locking bar so much more than the subsequent (two) different versions and the camlock finger is straight on mine while the later ones are both bent to different degrees.
