Headliner & Trim swap to black?

have a 02 golf with grey pillars and headliner. Did they make 4 doors with black headliners and the such or do I need to do it myself?

In Europe (and the rest of the world, there were 4-door MK4 GTI's and I'm sure the cars came with black headliners/trim for certain interior colours.

Too bad the Golf and Jetta headliners are different because the GLI headliner is a direct swap for any Jetta with a sunroof. That's my next planned cosmetic mod.

haha figures, just my luck.

I know there's somewhat of a writeup of re-upholstering the headliner on VWVortex. Though, that guy used a plaid fabric. I believe he just used fabric adhesive. It looked great though!!

I would just spray dye it. Black is the easiest color to dye to. I'd remove the headliner to do such a task, and let it air out a for a few days as well. I've used SEM brand spray dye for my car, redid my Grey leather seats and they turned out awethum!

At most car dealers that detail their own cars, chemical trucks will stop by, much like the Snap On or Mac truck stops by for the techs, these chemical trucks are for the detail and sales department to keep cars looking great. Most of the ones I've been on carry SEM brand rattle cans of dye, not all that expensive.

The one thing to keep in mind, you have an 02 model, if you have air bag curtains, be ready to for a surprise if you do go to pull the headliner out. If you need details, I'll spill 'em.

Does the dye come off or fad bad? I never bought into it, but I never tried it haha.

There is a headliner removal "how to" on the tex, from what I read its a huge ordeal. Plan on several hours just to get it out. With this kind of time invested I would rather just get a used OEM vs having the dye fade.
Mine is showing the cars mileage, I spend a ton of time in the drivers seat and it just kills me to see it dirty.
Is there any cleaners ?

Haha I hear you, I think I won't dye it. I would pay to have the black shipped from overseas if I found a way to get it. I want black that bad. My wife is great with her car, but she takes it to the camp sites in the mountains and the such so the top is dirtier then I would like. Some how I will get black, just not going to dye it I think. Was a site to see a lower tdi going up a rocky road hahaha. Thank god for skid plates....

I doubt the SEM dye would fade, 2 reasons... quality product and with it being a headliner, it won't be in direct sunlight unless you roll the car.

Pulling the headliner out it fun, but the real problem comes in for cars with airbag curtains, there are some single use hardware clips that hold the A pillar in place, and removing them without damaging the A pillar trim panels can be a challenge, even with the correct tool. The C pillars also have the same single use clips, but I've never had any problem removing them. Most B pillars are held in place with a screw, but some of the very early ones were a single use trim panel... remove the B pillar, replace the trim panel with the updated version that uses a screw.

With the car in question being a Golf, removing the headliner out the rear hatch isn't a big problem, a Jetta is a bit of a hassle.

penclnck said:

Pulling the headliner out it fun

Click to expand...

Is that supposed to read "is fun" or "isn't fun". I only ask because this is in my near future - I just got a set of interior monitoring rear map lights.

Thanks,
-Chris

Cars with airbag curtains have special hardware holding in the pillar trim pieces. Said hardware is single use, in other words you have to replace them when you go to put things back together, not that big of a deal, the parts are not expensive. The issue is that hardware uses a special tool so you can take things apart, and you've got a 50/50 chance it will come apart correctly. If it doesn't, then you pretty much end up having to replace the pillar trim as well, which is kind of expensive.

Hatch back cars are easier to remove the headliner out of, the Jetta sedan is a PITA since it does out a door opening. Mk5 Jetta headliners....

Awesome, thanks for the explanation! I have a jetta wagon without airbags, so it should be fairly "easy" for me!!

Cheers!

Blizz, your list of OEM improvements keeps growing everytime I see you post! LOL! Time for some upgrades under the hood too! Gotta match the "show" with some "go"!

Looking forward to meeting you sometime and checking out the Wagon!

Ed's TDI said:

Blizz, your list of OEM improvements keeps growing everytime I see you post! LOL! Time for some upgrades under the hood too! Gotta match the "show" with some "go"!

Looking forward to meeting you sometime and checking out the Wagon!

Click to expand...

Tell me about it!!!!!!! I just can't make up my mind about what to do on the power front. One minute I think I've decided, then I get cold feet.

Last night I was thinking about a 4-motion transplant with a pd150 bolted in... There's a complete r32 running gear for sale on vortex (in ontario) for like $1700 cdn. THAT would make a cool wagon!!!!!

Either way, I'm not nearly this indecisive with the non-power mods, so when I see something come up for sale, I jump on it!

And yeah, hopefully we get to meet soon!
-Chris