# Did my headliner tonight.



## DrTrae (May 31, 2005)

Well for my first time doing it, and the difficulty of the material I used, I'm... Not really happy with the finished product. 

The material I used is a black leatherish type of stuff, with some kind of fiber on the back of it. Has almost no stretch to it, so getting it to wrap around the A-Pillar parts was more than difficult, and actually didn't work very well at all. Another problem area was where the sunroof controls slope down to where the sunvisors rest. 

To make an excuse, my Wife said she was going to help me do this, and promptly went to sleep.  If you want a great finish, depending on the material you use, this really is a 2 man job. 

Anyway, on to the pictures. 

Headliner, very little of the foam scraped off. 









My daughter, Cora, showing me how to do it right. 









Headliner and Sunroof shade void of the stock foam. 









Headliner "Done". 









Sunroof shade "Done", obviously not trimmed. 









Sunroof controls slope to Sunvisor rest, awful spot where I couldn't get it to stick.. 









Wrinkles on left A-Pillar section. 









Wrinkles on right A-Pillar section. 









Thanks for looking. I'll post pictures tomorrow when I reinstall it. Trim pieces will be plastidipped black at a later date.


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## 1999.5GTIVR6 (Jun 15, 2011)

looks good :thumbup:


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## VWBugman00 (Mar 17, 2009)

What type of glue did you use? I heard that the 3m spray glue is pretty good stuff.


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## DrTrae (May 31, 2005)

Originally, I had purchased two 4.93oz cans of "3M Headliner Spray Adhesive". I heard that it was great stuff. What confused me, was that people kept referencing "3M 77" and "84" and so on, and I can't find any product numbers at all on these cans. 

I realized I probably didn't have enough adhesive, and I needed a T20 to get the sunroof glass off anyway, so I went to Advanced and they had "Permatex Heavy Duty Headliner & Carpet Adhesive" in 16.75oz cans, so I grabbed one. This was the stuff that was used in a DIY I read on NB.org. The 3M spray nozzles have this neat tip on them that sprays really well. 

I used the Permatex stuff on the headliner, using pretty liberal coats, I got just about 2. Used a small amount out of one of the 3M cans to cover some stuff detail areas. The Sunroof shade was exclusively 3M. 

When I re-do the headliner next time, I won't think twice to use either of these products. They both worked great. The Permatex stuff sprays nice, but make sure you stay in that 6-8" range. The 3M stuff seemed to evaporate and become tacky quicker than the Permatex stuff.


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## EgoKILLER (Oct 26, 2011)

Its vinyl, take a heatgun (very very very cautiously) to it. It will help mold the material around the curves and smooth it out, just make sure you dont melt the it. You have to re-adhere it after. When you do, coat both the back of the material and the headliner board with a thin even coat of whatever glue you use, wait and let it tack up then while you are laying it down take the heat gun to it.


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## DrTrae (May 31, 2005)

Got a few pics from the Driver's seat this morning before work. 


















I'll get a few more if I get back to the shop before the sun goes down...


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## VWBugman00 (Mar 17, 2009)

DrTrae said:


> Got a few pics from the Driver's seat this morning before work.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 I really like that, it's pretty awesome.


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## DrTrae (May 31, 2005)

Last picture. Thanks for looking.


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## pugle (Apr 25, 2013)

*Did my ....*

Nice job!  .. I might need to hire you down the road...lol.. 

All the best!


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## VWBugman00 (Mar 17, 2009)

This is pretty awesome what you've done here man. If this was my car, the next thing I'd do is take all the beige trim down, and paint it black. or go find some that's already black, and install it. It kinda clashes in my opinion.


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## DrTrae (May 31, 2005)

Absolutely. I fully intend on at least Plastidip'ing all of the trim black, and reupholstering the sun visors with the same material. You can find black ones, but not with the vanity mirror that switched the light on.


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## blksabbath (Jun 28, 2001)

I've attempted to recover mine twice over the past 5 years...both times i used headliner fabric with foam backing and could never get those curves right. My new plan is to plastidip the whole thing.


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## DrTrae (May 31, 2005)

That's actually an awesome idea. Spray the whole thing with a high build primer, smooth it all out, and spray the Plastidip. Hmm... Wonder how it would hold up during reinstallation. I've been considering getting some 3M Matte Black Vinyl Wrap, and seeing how that turns out... :screwy:


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## cabriosnap (Apr 24, 2009)

looks good!

I'll have to show this thread to my wife and talk her into wrapping her headliner as well...


knowing her it'll be sunshine and rainbows though, not black....lmao....


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## CC Rider (Jul 29, 2010)

just picked up a 2000 beetle for my daughter, it needs a headliner. how easy is it to take down? any DIY on info on this?


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## DrTrae (May 31, 2005)

cabriosnap said:


> looks good!
> 
> I'll have to show this thread to my wife and talk her into wrapping her headliner as well...
> 
> knowing her it'll be sunshine and rainbows though, not black....lmao....


Thanks! I've seen some pretty flamboyant headliner jobs over on NB.org, I'm sure it can't get much crazier. 



CC Rider said:


> just picked up a 2000 beetle for my daughter, it needs a headliner. how easy is it to take down? any DIY on info on this?


I thought I had listed the DIY I followed in my first post, but I guess not, sorry! Here ya go.

Valdez's Headliner DIY

To view it, I'm pretty sure you need to be a member of NewBeetle.org. It is seriously a great information resource for any Beetle owner. VWVortex is pretty dead when it comes to Beetles. We're not the "in-crowd".


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## EgoKILLER (Oct 26, 2011)

Always start from center out and stretch like hell around corners. Comes out smooth everytime. 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## CC Rider (Jul 29, 2010)

DrTrae said:


> Thanks! I've seen some pretty flamboyant headliner jobs over on NB.org, I'm sure it can't get much crazier.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


thanks for the link. Being the "in crowd" isn't all that.


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## DrTrae (May 31, 2005)

CC Rider said:


> thanks for the link. Being the "in crowd" isn't all that.


That's why I'm here!


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