headliner sagging. How to fix?

VWWV

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2003
Location
Florida and WV
TDI
passat 96, candy white
Three thoughts:

1. Headliner install by pro. Should be about $100

2. Thumbtacks or staples?

3. Move out of the sun belt once you get it fixed.

Mine drooped here in Fl. Once bought a '90 that the PO sprayed with bedliner. Worked great.
 

Michael_Akamatsu

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 26, 2005
Location
Austin, Texas, USA
TDI
Jetta, 1999.5, green
I was thinking about making a small hole in the fabric, and spraying adhesive in between the fabric and backer board. Does this sound reasonable, or have I been huffing too much of that adhesive? I really don't want to spend $100 to fix a problem that I could handle with a few staples. Thanks for the feedback.
 

JASONP

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 24, 2008
Location
Guelph
TDI
2015 Golf TDI Comfortline 6spd
Wrong adhesive will bleed through the fabric and end up as a stain,not recommended
 

puter

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 19, 2007
Location
Tacoma, Washington
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS
I think if he sprayed in some elmers spray adhesive and waited at least 10 minutes (maybe closer to 15) it should still be tacky but wouldn't bleed through.

never done it before though, so take that with a grain of salt.
 

JB05

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Location
Il.USA
TDI
Golf,2005,anthracite blue
I once tried some head liner adhesive from an areosol can, but it wouldn't work because the headliner had foam backing which was coming loose and created a big mess. In other words there was no firm backing for the adhesive. This was on an old Chrysler, Laser. IMO, the $100 professional sounds like a much better option, and would be less tacky.
Pun intended.
 

Michael_Akamatsu

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 26, 2005
Location
Austin, Texas, USA
TDI
Jetta, 1999.5, green
But seriously folks, JB05 makes a good point. The adhesive needs something to adhere to. Loose foam rubber mixed with spray adhesive would be quite the mess. I finally get it.
 

davebugs

Vendor
Joined
Sep 15, 2003
Location
Pittsburgh suburb
TDI
2001 Golf TDI Automatic, MKIV rear axle bushing install tools
Never had a good remedy for VW or GM that didn't involve replacement.

I do have some nifty - hard to find headliner clips that are glorified clear thumbtacks that I used to use in Saturns.

But as someone said - for less than 100 bucks you can probably have it done correctly? How much money do you wanna spend for a ghetto look?

After that foam deteriorates you're kidding yourself about anything that includes glue.
 

TexLabo

Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2009
Location
Dallas, TX
TDI
Searching feverishly for a good deal
I'm having the same issue with my '00 Golf. I bought some headliner spray adhesive, but haven't really gotten into it yet to see if it'll work.

My question is, do I have to pull the pillar covers off to get the headliner out? The rest just looks like taking all the little dome lights and visors off.

If I have to take the pillar covers off, do they just pop outward at the top, then slide upward to release the bottoms?

~Tex
 

compu_85

Gadget Guy
Joined
Sep 29, 2003
Location
La Conner, WA
TDI
... None :S
You have to remove the pillar trims to get the headliner down. But getting those off isn't that hard.

My headliner is starting to fall around the sun visor indents. It looks like the fabric was stretched too thin and after 10 years the glue finally failed.

-Jason
 

Tom W.

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2005
Location
Raleigh, NC
TDI
mash-up GettaTDI150, 1986 Jetta Delux D, 2005 Passat TDI sedan
Headliner repair

Had the same problem in a chevy truck. Pulled out the headliner, scraped off the crapped out foam. Bought some headliner fabric off of Ebay- it comes with a new foam backing. $15. Sprayed the headliner w 3m headliner adhesive, laid down the fabric, re-installed. Looks brand new.
 

dieseldorf

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 11, 2000
Location
MA
TDI
ex- 1996 wagon, ex-2000 Jetta
Tom W. said:
Pulled out the headliner, scraped off the crapped out foam. Bought some headliner fabric off of Ebay- it comes with a new foam backing. $15. Sprayed the headliner w 3m headliner adhesive, laid down the fabric, re-installed. Looks brand new.
This is the correct approach. The spot repairs won't last for the reasons already mentioned.

There are places that sell the correct material for re-covering. It might be $100 for a roll.

This is the correct glue, I've seen it at Wally's:

 

JonDiesel

Active member
Joined
Dec 1, 2009
Location
Florida
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI w/01M
Michael_Akamatsu said:
I think the foam from my headliner is coming out of my heater vents.
My headliner is sagging also, and I have some kind of dark colored foamy stuff blowing out of my vents once in a while too. I have no idea how the headliner is possibly connected to the air conditioning / heating system... but I sure hope it's just headliner material blowing out and not something else that is part of the AC system going out.


01 - Jetta TDI - 118,000 mi, with a new 100K timing belt, water-pump, and associated other goodies from DieselGeeks.
 

pnocean2003

Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2012
Location
South Bend, Indiana
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagen
I realize this is an old thread. I just took delivery of a very nice 2003 Jetta TDI Sportwagen. Met the truck in Northern Indiana up from Florida and did not notice the sagging headliner 'til I got the Jetta home. It is VERY nice, on ly 120K on it and everything works. The headliner is sagging right over the area behind the back seats. When I turned on the heat/fan, black bits of foam blew out of the vents.
How can the vent system be connected?
Any ideas on repair?
Thanks for keeping up a great website!
 

aja8888

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Location
Texas..RETIRED 12/31/17
TDI
Out of TDI's
I realize this is an old thread. I just took delivery of a very nice 2003 Jetta TDI Sportwagen. Met the truck in Northern Indiana up from Florida and did not notice the sagging headliner 'til I got the Jetta home. It is VERY nice, on ly 120K on it and everything works. The headliner is sagging right over the area behind the back seats. When I turned on the heat/fan, black bits of foam blew out of the vents.
How can the vent system be connected?
Any ideas on repair?
Thanks for keeping up a great website!
What's coming out your vents is the foam off the heater/AC blend doors. Welcome to sun/heat damage to nitrocellulose foam!
 

nkfry

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2012
Location
Roseville, MI
TDI
2004 Jetta GLS TDI
I reupholstered my headliner about a month ago and it wasn't a hard job at all. If you have time to watch a football game you have time to reupholster the head liner. I went to the local fabric store where they had headliner specific material, used 3M super 77 spray adhesive (DO NOT GET IT ON ANYTHING YOU DON'T WANT TO GLUE!!) and had a brand new looking headliner in less than 5 hours. Yes the pillars have to come off, but as stated its an easy removal, and while they're off you can cover them too. :p

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 

PDJetta

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 6, 2003
Location
Northern Virginia
TDI
'04 Jetta GLS TDI Pumpe Duce Platinum Grey w/ Leather
What's coming out your vents is the foam off the heater/AC blend doors. Welcome to sun/heat damage to nitrocellulose foam!
This, and other damage caused by the sun and heat is specifically why I park in the shade, whenever possible, and use a sun shade in the windshield when I can't. Headlight cover clouding and speaker cone disinegration is other damage I find.

--Nate
 

aja8888

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Location
Texas..RETIRED 12/31/17
TDI
Out of TDI's
This, and other damage caused by the sun and heat is specifically why I park in the shade, whenever possible, and use a sun shade in the windshield when I can't. Headlight cover clouding and speaker cone disinegration is other damage I find.

--Nate
My 2000 was parked indoors in Texas all the years the PO had it (11 years). I leave it outdoors. My headliner is still OK but the door speakers are disintegrated (new ones on order) and the blend doors are probably completely foamless. I have to replace the heater core (currently bypassed) and when I get to that, I will fix the blend doors. Sun/heat is hard on the older cars, for sure.
 

tongsli

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 31, 2000
Location
Baltimore, MD
TDI
2000 Jetta TDI, 2004, Jetta Wagon TDI PD
Mine is starting to peel at the sun visors as well. A new headlliner is $400, ouch. Don't need to deal with it right now. but eventually.

It'd be nice not to replace it with a fabric coated headliner. Wish there was a way to strip and finish the existing headliner with just a black paint.
 

volmaniac

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2003
Location
McFadden's Ford, Stones River NMP M'boro, TN
TDI
02 Golf GLS
We did a 99.5 jetta without a sunroof a bout 15 months ago and it took a couple of hours to 1) remove all the hardware 2) pull it out of the car (through the driver's side rear door, with the driver's seat moved and tilted up. Driver's seat removed would make it even easier.) 3) clean off all the old foam 4) glue down new foam 5) reinstall. I had a blast because my son did most of the work and he did a great job (he was 17 at the time).

There is a how to on the vortex for the jetta and youtube on how to install the generic liner. Cost for materials was around $50 (source of headliner was a local fabric shop, Joanne's IIRC).

Lito - the 02 golf is starting to do the same thing at the visors. Golf's would be a piece of cake to remove. Paint is an interesting idea but the new headliner was pretty sweet. (great to see you back on the forums again, you were missed and hope you enjoyed the sabbatical!)
 
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FordGuy100

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2011
Location
Silverton, OR
TDI
2004 Jetta TDI
Just did mine. The only thing I would say, is go slow when putting the new fabric on. The oh-crap handle area's are a pain to get perfect, and the corners are semi tricky as well. I ended up with two creases in the o-crap handle area's. At least the new fabric is held in place though!

Still have to install.
 

FordGuy100

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2011
Location
Silverton, OR
TDI
2004 Jetta TDI
Got it put back in. In my haste I didnt cut the fabric where everything screws back in (handles, visor, etc...) it was fun trying to locate the holes
 

lojosh

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 3, 2012
Location
Kansas
TDI
2001 Beeetle TDI
I have the same problem with my headliner,and the owner before myself tried the glue and it did bleed through. Not a nice look. Maybe next summer I will try to replace it or get it replaced by a pro.
 
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