Headlining Replacement/Refurb

[Red McGregor 10]

Well having fixed the sunroof mechanism, now I have to fix the headlining on the sunroof panel which has disintegrated. I've found a close material match and I'm reasonably confident I can refurb this BUT how about the overall headlining because inevitably if I don't do the lot in one go it will look crap. The overall headlining is in good condition,just grubby and is very much glued in place. So could/should I just try and glue the new material over the old or do I nee do strip the old material off completely? A third option is to try and clean it and see if it comes up better; if this drags the old material off as it gets wet so be it. However, before I start all thoughts/ideas etc welcome.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Red

[seanl82 23]

Worth having a go at cleaning it certainly. I managed a thorough clean using apc and an interior cleaning brush, but a soft bristle shoe Polish brush is exactly the same. Dilute the apc 50:50, dip the brush and flick off all the excess. This will leave the brush feeling a little dry, but anymore and it'll break down the glue. Wipe it over with a microfiber to remove any more moisture and dirt and it'll come out great!

Definitely don't glue new material to the existing one though. You'll need foam backed stuff to stop the glue leaking through so it'll be too thick. Just peel the old stuff off, use a scraper to get as much of the old foam and glue off as possible, and re-cover if you go that route.

[Roger Chatfield 0]

I've got my old headliner kicking about in the garage, the material has 90% fallen off so it would be easy to get it all off.

 

Free to a good home if someone wants to have a go at recovering without messing up their fitted one.

 

Also I know Dan at devondubshack has at least one rado headliner in his stock (because I had the other...lol)

 

Rog.

[lilfuzzer 1]

some good advice from sean there mate

 

if you get stuck I have one or two

[Jim Bowen 1]

Recovered mine successfully. Was one of the things i was really pleased with. Never attempted any sort of work with material before.

 

Will try and link the pics and description when I'm at my pc next.

[Red McGregor 10]

righto guys thank you for the advice. Cleaning route first to see how it comes up; then if necessary plan B strip the whole thing and replace with new foam backed material. I had wondered if adding the new material over the old would make it too 'fat'. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

all the best and thanks for the spare liner offers (hopefully I won't need it but you never know)

 

BW

Red

[southerner88 10]

I took a slightly more "lets see what happens if" approach. I took the old headlining out and jet sprayed it, then snow foam, and jet spray again to rinse.. left it a while to dry out and then sprayed it with some fabric spray from amazon. Its come up really quite nice, a little rough to touch but how often do you touch it?

 

My fabric hasn't lifted at all and no sags, its been in the car about a year too now...food for thought...

[Rocket Ron 1]

With mine took it out completely and used my VAX on it with small attachment came up like new.

[VW_OwneR_85 1]

I did mine awhile back with faux black leather along with the sun roof panel and dyed the sun roof seal black aswell , looks awesome!, from the prep side of things I didn't want to go through all the hard work and time for it to start peeling off a few months later so I ripped off the old liner along with the foam which was disintegrating anyway and started from the ground up which I think is the best way to go, obviously up to you how you approach it but doing things twice really sucks!

[will 2 0]

I did mine awhile back with faux black leather along with the sun roof panel and dyed the sun roof seal black aswell , looks awesome!, from the prep side of things I didn't want to go through all the hard work and time for it to start peeling off a few months later so I ripped off the old liner along with the foam which was disintegrating anyway and started from the ground up which I think is the best way to go, obviously up to you how you approach it but doing things twice really sucks!

 

thinking about doing my headliner in the same as you done , where did you get it from

[Red McGregor 10]

To close off my experience having started this thread, refurbishing the headlining (out of the car) was a dusty but very straightforward job. Spray glue, and new material (close to the original) all from flabby and a wire brush to clean off all the old material and some patience are all that are required. The panels are the template and by just spraying both the panel and foam backing and smoothing the material on and trimming he edges it was all in place quickly. I then left it for a day to dry and for a clear bright day and single handedly had everything fired in a little over an hour having never done the job before. The refurbished off works brilliantly, it'll be better when the new foam backed material has flattened in a little more, but overall very chuffed.

[VW_OwneR_85 1]

thinking about doing my headliner in the same as you done , where did you get it from

ebay, theres quite a few sellers on there, normally sell it by the meter, the areas around the sun visor can be tricky , I used an adhesive called mitre bond that's like super glue but much better , be careful to set it right before it goes off, allows you to get it into shape without it springing back 10mins later.. p.s I didn't use a foam liner , just got my headliner really clean and smoothed out any lumps from the adhesive..

Edited April 12, 2016 by VW_OwneR_85

[will 2 0]

ebay, theres quite a few sellers on there, normally sell it by the meter, the areas around the sun visor can be tricky , I used an adhesive called mitre bond that's like super glue but much better , be careful to set it right before it goes off, allows you to get it into shape without it springing back 10mins later.. p.s I didn't use a foam liner , just got my headliner really clean and smoothed out any lumps from the adhesive..

 

do you have an ebay link I can look at thanks

[Tizedes 10]

I have done mine couple of weeks ago (replaced the full headliner). It was a really cost effective. It is cost me 50 pound.

 

I bought the material from the ebay (textile + glue)

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161884566405?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&var=460851439489&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

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Edited April 12, 2016 by Tizedes