# DIY Upholstry?



## SpoolMe (Jun 9, 2009)

Headliner is starting to sag, and the cloth portion on my door panels is separating as well....Looking into a little DIY project but i wanted some input from you guys...
On the door panels, has anyone re-done the upholstry on them? I was hoping to get a step-by-step on how you did it.
Also, I know the center portion of the panel is fabric and i will just remove/replace it..but the rest of the vinyl, do you just cover over it with the new fabric? what was the technique to wrap it?
Also, what fabric did you use when you re-did everything? I found some Faux suade that matched the exterior color, but i was unsure of how big of a difference the material itself made when upholstering. It had a slight strechy-ness, but not extreme. 
Depending on how well I can replace the center cloth portion will determine if I press on to do the remainded of the door panels and eventually on into every other panel on the interior (for the most part).
Hopefully get some good answers from you guys so I can get started!
This is on a 2003 MkIV


_Modified by SpoolMe at 5:50 PM 4-19-2010_


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## SpoolMe (Jun 9, 2009)

No one? Damn, Guess I'm going in on my own!
Bought 2+ yards of the blue suade, getting ready to pull the panel off when the wife comes home and give it a tryl...










_Modified by SpoolMe at 11:47 AM 4-20-2010_


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## rokstar (May 24, 2009)

i hear you dude. i just picked up some fabric and im looking to start with my center console. having a hard time finding tips to getting the job done right.


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## SpoolMe (Jun 9, 2009)

yeah. This is definitely something I want to do right the first time...


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## SpoolMe (Jun 9, 2009)

quick Pic.








new suade is already cut out and being un-pinned from the old crap and about ready to be put on....


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## SpoolMe (Jun 9, 2009)

Finished with first one:


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## rgisassi (Apr 25, 2009)

Nice job, SpoolMe. I'm in the same situation on my '01 VW Jetta 1.8t Wolfsburg. I was wondering a few things.

After you took the old material from the door panel, did you sand the foam from the door? What did you do to prepare the panel?

Also, what spray adhesive did you use? 

Thanks!


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## Duke_18t (Apr 5, 2010)

hey man, looks really good. I was looking to do a similar project with my car, and I was wondering, was the lack of strechiness of the suede an issue? I was thinking it might complicate parts of the doorcards and corners of the headliner


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## TrueNoob (Jan 15, 2010)

how did you do that! how did you tuck the material in? what adhesive are you using?


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## beatrixkiddo (Apr 26, 2008)

nice work spool. 

we're about to do ours in leather, got the insert out for now. i also noticed that the black finish is just a wrap on the base panel. thought the door panel was black plastic lol. it appears to just be a pressed vinyl or something. i'll come back here and post some pics when we're done with one.


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## Unit01 (Dec 26, 2008)

TrueNoob said:


> how did you do that! how did you tuck the material in? what adhesive are you using?


This


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## TrueNoob (Jan 15, 2010)

Unit01 said:


> This


what?


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## Cementface. (Sep 18, 2009)

go to home depot and buy 3M Super 90 Spray adhesive. Also i used steel wool to take of the foam backing. hope this helps


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## solidcustoms (Feb 2, 2010)

the best thing guys is a water biased contact cement you can get it in spray cans or if you have a adhesive gun you can but it in bulk... read the directions haha


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## GTI 20th AE #1421 (Dec 7, 2006)

looks good man. let us know how you did it.


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## MarksManB (Jul 2, 2002)

My question is: Did you seperate the center, fabric covered portion from the rest of the door, or leave it in place when you recovered it? I looked on the back of mine and saw that the way it's attached is a flimsy styrofoam/plastic rivit-like protrusion through the insert. On my passenger door, the rear portion is broke and loose. I need to find out how to reattach it when I'm done.


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## octink (Feb 21, 2010)

This is the project that I started yesterday and finished this morning. One bit of advice I would like to give is to make sure that the material, that you are using, has the ability to stretch pretty good. I used a micro-fiber suede, that didn't have a lot of give, so some of the corners got a little jacked up. Not to mention, you will end up with a few more wrinkles than you would like. Compared to the old grey, stained, and funky looking material before, this project made a world of difference in the look of my car. The mistakes I made on this one I will not make on the GTI. I couldn't get a good pic of the headliner because of the sun. The last pic shows what happens if your material doesn't stretch very well. Here's the pics.


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## iamhollybear (Mar 5, 2010)

^^
what he said..
the #1 thing I learned from redoing my headliner this weekend was- when the people online tell you to buy fabric that stretches, they know what they're talking about... listen... :banghead:


looks good tink.


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## jcollins (Mar 10, 2010)

*Stretchy Material*

I was just using standard black microsuede from hancock fabrics. What type of material is there available with the suede type look/feel that is going to stretch the corners?


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## octink (Feb 21, 2010)

HEAT!!! Son O Bishes! The heat! If you install the headliner shortly after doing it, make sure it's not going to be South Africa inside your car. I have now found that a small section, that's hardly noticeable sagged a little. They always say learn from someone else's mistakes and not your own. Well, here you go, learn from mine. :banghead:


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## iamhollybear (Mar 5, 2010)

jcollins said:


> I was just using standard black microsuede from hancock fabrics. What type of material is there available with the suede type look/feel that is going to stretch the corners?




Not sure, I the website where I got my fabric was http://warehousefabricsinc.com/ .. They had a huge selection of stuff .. I meant more that I didn't listen at all and purchased a canvas type of fabric because it had the print I wanted and it didn't stretch at all .. I did the pillars first and I would say if you have a hard time getting the fabric to stretch enough for the pillars then its a red flag :banghead:'


edit: I should have mine in this weekend Ill show what I mean..


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## VRSexAddict (Jun 22, 2010)

yea im gunna be doin my headliner also. going to be doin it myself... i foind a really good source for fabric but my only problem is that i found the pattern i want but they dont say what type of fabric its made of. they do say it has a leather backing and is good for car applications but i dont wanna buy it if it isnt going to stretch properly. how promising does this sound


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## Dude Wheres My Jetta (Aug 12, 2002)

when you dissasemble the door, do you have to worry about the airbag going off? (for those of you with door airbags)


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## onelowdub82 (Sep 24, 2006)

hey octink. saw ur post about redoing headliners in the interior forum. have a question for ya? how'd u get it to lay nice around the sunvisor indents and the jut out for the sunroof motor? i'm trying to finish mine tonight/tomorrow before waterfest saturday and am having a bish of a time getting it to lay nice. thinking about pulling off what i got and redoing it...but the rest is laying really nice...any suggestions? btw ur PM mailbox is full, tried PM'ing u on this but couldnt' 

or if anyone else can help?


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