DIY: Headlining fabric replacement (pic intensive)

[Mack25]

Dude awesome write up ..
Followed your step by step today and mine came up a treat , now the rest on the interior looks **** lol ...
Decided I'm doing the lot now

[Mack25]

Hey by the way how to you get the back seat belt panels out I tryed but did want to break so as I didn't need them out today I left them half on ..
It looked to have a massive clip but not like the others and also hooked up under the parcel tray, do I just rip them out ?

[RubAVeeDubDub]

Great guide. Really helpful.

I'm making my way through retrimming much of my interior, but I'm stuck on the B Pillars.
My material is a rather think tripe woven fabric that almost exactly matches the factory beige - problem is it's thickness is making it incredibly difficult to get around the curves at the top of the B pillar trim.

Any suggestions on how to get the material around the curve? Does heating up help it? Or can a professional stretch it?

[rayray086]

I had problems with the Mk3 B pillars too - there was no way I could stretch the micro-suede fabric enough to cover the entire curve without any folds, and even when I did, the glue wasn't strong enough to hold it in place. You can see here what we did as a compromise:



It may be annoying to the perfectionist, but in reality, you rarely look up at that spot in your interior and it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb as it's all the same colour.

Sorry for the late reply.

[RedMk2Gti]

Hi, Ray

As far as you know is that spray glue in page one the best we could get in Australia ?
Recently I repaired one door card in one of my BMW, I used 3M general purpose trim adhesive, got it from VG auto paint, I believe it is similar to this 3M General Trim Adhesive - Transparent, high strength spray adhesive, in a convenient to use spray can..

The job failed ! Under Sydney hot sun, the door trim popped out again in a few days. I'm flustrated we oz people can't buy all the good stuff that's available in America.

[rayray086]

Hey Eric!

My headliner and my mate's one (the one pictured in this thread) managed to last more than 2-3 years. The Permatex one is good, but you need to make sure the surface that you're spraying on is clean, and that you follow the instructions on the can (from what I remember, you had to leave the product for 5 minutes after spraying). A lot of fabric adhesive works this well (contact adhesive) and if you apply it before it dries and becomes sticky, it will not stick very well, and if your fabric is thin, wet spots will show up.

The other adhesive I've heard that was good are the ones that come in a tin, like this - Contact Bond - Bostik brand all purpose glue.. I think they're effective as they're brush on, so you can put on a nice, even coat of adhesive rather than rely on spraying.