Headliner longevity

squeegee_boy

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2003
Location
Denali, AK
How many of you have an original headliner with no failures?

I'm asking because my sister has a 99 NB TDI that has had a sagging headliner for years and it seems to be a common problem on all MKIV Volkswagens (based on forum posts).

Here's my situation. I am repainting my 2004 Jetta with my daughter. Upon removing the roof rails, I noticed some delamination of the paint (at the stud penetrations). Proper repair meant mitigating any corrosion that is occurring on the bottom side of these holes. It turns out that it won't be significant to arrest, but it did require removal of the headliner. So now I have a perfectly good original headliner sitting on the shop floor. It was not a 30 minute job to remove, so I'm fearing that after l reinstall it, I'll have a failure next summer.

I quick search did not reveal that these are even available for sale anymore, but taking a step back, am I worrying about something that probably has many years of life left in it? More specifically, how many of you are still running with your original headliner without any sags? I know forum posts tend to only bring out those who have had an issue and not the 90% who do not.

My car has lived a relatively temperate life, 8 years in northern Minnesota and an additional 8 years in Alaska, but it will likely be donated to one of my daughters in the coming year or two, which means a much warmer climate (Indiana or Montana). Am I on borrowed time with respect to the headliner?
 

ekincaid

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2013
Location
North Carolina
TDI
03 Golf TDI
I have a 2003 Golf. The headliner was sagging extremely bad. I'm in North Carolina. Humidity killed it. I took it out and recovered it this past summer. Not a difficult job. A little time consuming though.
 

Gothmolly

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2005
Location
Providence, RI
TDI
2002 Golf
Mine's still in good shape, despite a split rear wiper fluid line and VERY leaky rear sunroof drains. Lived in New England its whole life, which is a rough place to be a car. Luck of the draw I would say.
 

STDOUBT

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Location
Portland, effing Oregon
TDI
dos jettas
My '03 was fine from new to 2019 then started sagging right from the center.
In late 2016 I started having to park her outdoors... so 3 just summers of heat and humidity did mine in once it was 16 years old.
I'm convinced heat played the most destructive role for mine. When I re-do it I plan on installing some kind of heat barrier between the liner and the ceiling.
 

Andyinchville1

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2016
Location
Virginia
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI wagon, 5 sp, 226K miles
At nearly 400k my headliner is mostly good ... a little sagging in the rear but not low enough to cause issues.

I still plan on having the headliner removed and recovered tho ... mainly so I can remove the roof racks for better aero ( and as a side benefit one less place for a molotov cocktail to get caught up on ;-)) , install sound deadening on the roof and maybe add wiring for a cb antenna.... yeah cb!
 

irvingj

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2006
Location
Etna,NH
TDI
2005 Jetta Wagon TDI (PD/BEW)
"I'm convinced heat played the most destructive role for mine" ...That might explain why mine is still in such good shape.

Shortly before purchasing my TDI wagon, I was able (after 18 years without) to build a garage. My little blue beastie normally has been garaged ever since. I really do think that helps a great deal and am happy that I was fortunate enough to have the space and money to finally get a garage built.
 

rwthomas1

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2002
Location
Wakefield, RI
TDI
'03 Jetta
Heat has nothing to do with it. Mine has been garaged since 05. Headliner completely sagged. The foam layer between the cloth and the cardboard breaks down, and it falls apart. Foam is a poor choice. Think of the foam on the doors of the HVAC system. The only solution is to remove the headliner, scrape all the crap off and install new. The rub is I've seen many cars from the 60's and earlier that have perfect headliners. Old fashioned upholstered headliners last forever. This cardboard and foam ****e does not.

RT
 

Stupendous60

Veteran Member
Joined
May 18, 2019
Location
.
TDI
.
Of my four NB's only the latest, a 2000 non sunroof from Denver has an absolutely perfect headliner. How it survived is a mystery but the interior of this one is practically flawless...my one from Arizona then Texas, and the one from Texas sagged and the fabric has been removed. The one from North Carolina is currently sagging. Now, ascetics are not my strong point. Having said that, the two that have no fabric I took the head liners out, rubbed off the spongy foam till bare then spray painted them both silver. It gives them a "custom/vintage/etc look" (yes, I am sticking to that definition) but I am more interested in how they perform.
 

Andyinchville1

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2016
Location
Virginia
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI wagon, 5 sp, 226K miles
Heat has nothing to do with it. Mine has been garaged since 05. Headliner completely sagged. The foam layer between the cloth and the cardboard breaks down, and it falls apart. Foam is a poor choice. Think of the foam on the doors of the HVAC system. The only solution is to remove the headliner, scrape all the crap off and install new. The rub is I've seen many cars from the 60's and earlier that have perfect headliners. Old fashioned upholstered headliners last forever. This cardboard and foam ****e does not.

RT
Interesting but now that I think about it you probably hit the nail on the head...

I had an old pick up that had some cloth / vinyl covered wood ( unless it was solid cardboard that got hard over the years) on he inside roof for a headliner ...

I doubt that was going anywhere anytime soon unless termites got to it before it had time to petrify.

They don't build them like they use to
 

arcking

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 15, 2017
Location
Western PA
TDI
2x '04 Jetta Wagons (BEW/09A), '13 JSW
I have 2 '04s that have been in PA, WV, and MD. Both have headliners that sag from the B pillar back.
 

rwthomas1

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2002
Location
Wakefield, RI
TDI
'03 Jetta
I should add this story: Decades ago one my ex's had a MKI Rabbit. It had a similar headliner. One day, for no particular reason, she started poking at it, it was funny because she could "write" stuff on it, and it took a while for the foam to spring back. Well, the whole damned thing failed and sagged the very next week. I'm guessing that poking at it isn't a good idea. RT
 

benmarks

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2003
Location
Portland, OR
TDI
2004 Jetta GLS Sedan Platinum Gray
I quick search did not reveal that these are even available for sale anymore
Your dealer might be able to get one, but they're about $450 and availability may depend on the color. I got a black one back in May from my dealer here in Portland, Oregon.

In my current 2004 Jetta, I replaced the original grey headliner with a black one bought from a GLI part salvager. It started to sag almost immediately, but then I got lucky (or so I thought) when I found a new-old-stock black one on eBay, still in its original box. It sat in my apartment for a year but then when we unboxed it this past spring to finally use it, we discovered it was sagging out of the box. The box looked sealed, so I have no reason to think I got scammed. At that point, I bought a brand new black one from my dealer and used the black fabric off of my eBay one to make black C-pillars to support my roll-up sunscreen (since C-pillars with the hooks for the sunscreen never came in black.)

So, I'm on my 4th one. My friend just bought a car identical to mine from my TDI mechanic in Portland, and that headliner is sagging too. She might also get one from the dealer and, to make the swap easier, install it when she gets her windshield replaced with the rain sensor version (in order to add an auto-dimming mirror.) While expensive, at least the dealer option gives you a bit of warranty protection on the part. The fabric to redo one from a place like HeadlinerExpress.com is $200 and it's a lot of labor to scrape off all the old foam, so depending on how much you value your own time, the dealer option may not seem so bad.
 

wonneber

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 12, 2011
Location
Monroe, NY, USA
TDI
2014 Jetta Sportwagon,2003 Jetta 261K Sold but not forgotten
My 03 JSW started sagging when it was several years old.
When I sold it a couple years ago it was rather bad.
The car did have the sun roof and the only problem with water when the front roof drain flaps stuck together.
If I remembered to pinch them every few weeks they were OK so not much rain coming in.
 

squeegee_boy

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2003
Location
Denali, AK
I appreciate all the input. I think I'll put it back in an hope for the best. I have some fear that I may harm it by trying to clean it up, but I'll report back if that happens. I put a few notes in my shop manual to make it go faster next time.

FWIW, given differing thoughts on failure mechanisms, I performed a quick internet search and found that heat and humidity (plus time) are seen as the biggest factors causing the foam to deteriorate. One headliner shop in Georgia anecdotally reports higher rates of headliner failures in cars from the seaboard part of the state.

My favorite headliners are the bow-rod style vinyl liners that all my old Sciroccos, German-made Rabbits, and 70's and 80's Mercedes' had. Unless you tear them, they would probably last for 50 years; and if they needed repair it was a simple sewn piece of fabric.
 

RexNICO

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2013
Location
South West OH
TDI
2011 Tiguan, 2011 Q7
Your dealer might be able to get one, but they're about $450 and availability may depend on the color. I got a black one back in May from my dealer here in Portland, Oregon. ...
I believe yours is a sedan, and the OP has a wagon. Good (or new OEM) wagon ones will be much harder to locate and very unlikely in black.

... gets her windshield replaced with the rain sensor version (in order to add an auto-dimming mirror.). ...
An auto-dim can be added without changing over to the rain mount style, but if adding the rain sensing is the plan obviously the windshield change makes sense.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
I would re-cover it or have it re-covered at an upholstery shop. Headliners aren't just a common failure item on VWs, they're a common failure item on all cars. The one in my Wagon finally gave up last year and I had it recovered because I couldn't find a new one. Replaced the one on my '99.5 Golf when I bought it a few years ago. My son's '02 Jetta's is sagging, and my other son's '02 Golf is starting to go.

I do think sun exposure does accelerate deterioration. Regardless, if it's out of there get it re-covered.
 

BobnOH

not-a-mechanic
Joined
May 29, 2004
Location
central Ohio
TDI
New Beetle 2003 manual
My original '99 headliner failed in 2012. My current '03 is in fine shape. Yours could fail tomorrow or last the life of the car.
 

Genesis

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 26, 2003
Location
Sevier County TN
TDI
'03 Jetta Wagon
I recovered mine on my own. If you have a place to work it's not a terrible job at all; it takes longer to (carefully!) scrape off the residue from the old than to actually redo it.
 

STDOUBT

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Location
Portland, effing Oregon
TDI
dos jettas
My favorite headliners are the bow-rod style vinyl liners that all my old Sciroccos, German-made Rabbits, and 70's and 80's Mercedes' had. Unless you tear them, they would probably last for 50 years; and if they needed repair it was a simple sewn piece of fabric
Sounds like a mod waiting to be born!
 

flashmayo

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2007
Location
Santa Cruz CA
TDI
'03 Jetta - Gator Tuned
If it's out, now's the time to replace it. Otherwise, once it does start to sag, a set of upholstery tacks will hold it up for a long time.
 

cjman

Active member
Joined
Aug 26, 2015
Location
Hutchinson Mn
TDI
2002 Jetta
Mine sagged at about 300,000. I took it out and rubbed the foam all off and sprayed it with bed liner to match the gray interior parts. Turned out pretty nice and the best part it will never sag again!
 

Nozzleman

Veteran Member
Joined
May 30, 2014
Location
About 15 miles from Venus
TDI
2002 Ford Ranger ALH
The one on my wife's 03 Jetta started falling down and the foam turned into a semi liquid goo to the point it stained the fabric. I never found anything that would totally take the stain out. Black car in Texas heat will get to 160* plus in the summer.
 
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