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My customer was quoted $1000 to install a new headliner by VW dealership. He brought it to my shop to install a new headliner. This Jetta has a sunroof. Since I cannot take the headliner board out of the vehicle (snap in on a plastic outer rim that could not possibly fit through the door opening) I am doing all the work inside of the vehicle. Loosen all the trim enough to tuck the headliner material in around the edges when gluing the new foam backed headliner piece in. Order, or buy, enough headliner to cover the complete headliner board (headliner material comes in 54" and 60" widths and is sold by the yard). Take off all hand holds, lights, visors and in this case a roof console. Pull off old headliner. I use a small shop vac and my hands to clean the shell. The left over foam will rub off. I suggest staying away from wire brushes as this could ruff up your board which if damaged will show through as roughness to your headliner. Now to install the new liner which can be ordered through an auto trim shop or a supplier to the auto trim industry. Lay out the new liner and mark a center line with chalk. Mark a center line with chalk to the liner board still in the roof of your vehicle. Now comes the hard part...Use DAP contact adhesive or 3M 80-90 rattle can spray adhesive. (I use DAP in my spray gun). Spray down the CENTER of your board. First spray one way then do the same again in the other direction. Let spray tack up. Now spray the center of your headliner foam backed fabric. Spray another light coat to the headliner board and line up your chalk line. (Remember to leave enough fabric to the rear and front of your liner board to glue in later) Start at center and work out to the edges. Do not press the fabric hard as this will cause your foam to compress causing dimples in your new headliner. Smooth out with your open hands. Repeat the glue application process as you do each area until you have come to the edges all the way around your headliner board. Always work from center out. Now you are at the edges of your board. Carefully trim off excess headliner, leaving enough to tuck in around (usually an inch on the sides and 2 inches to the front and back of the board). Spray adhesive on the parts you have cut a little at a time and tuck it under and around where your trim pieces will be put back in place. I do the sides first then the back and finally the back. If you don't have a tucking tool, use a spatula. Something thin to fit into the crevices to push in the remaining headliner. Let your headliner sit overnight. Now re-locate everything that was taken off. If you are having problems locating screw holes, use a long needle or very small screw driver. Now the reason why I say to let your headliner sit over night is because the glue will still be tacky and when you push against the foam trying to find a screw hole you could compress the foam backing and cause a dimple. It's up to you on weather you want to let it set over night, or not. Too, you may have to vacuum up some of the old residual foam that your vacuum didn't catch when cleaning your headliner board and you may get some glue on your seats, or trim pieces, but all this can be cleaned with a little lighter fluid. Hope this helps out.
I would never, ever, ever buy another VW product. I had very fond memories of my old '60. That thing was so reliable and pennies to fix, ahh the good ole days. This 2006 Jetta has had 5 recalls that I'm aware of. In addition the original stereo literally peeled and bubbled. When I first spoke with VW they said that I should not wear hand lotion when operating the stereo??? Hmmmm... I didn't see that in any of the paperwork I signed. They eventually fixed it but it was such an outright hassle and the car was still under full warranty. Yikes the fun continues. The dealership ripped of my tire key so I had to spend money to get the lug nuts replaced so I had a key to my own tires. Now this headliner issue... This car has been garaged the entire time I've owned it. I live in So Cal so they cannot blame humidity. It's a really weak product that could be what it should be but they forgot about quality and workmanship somewhere along the way. I really hate org's the create proprietary common items like the lug nuts with too many different types of locking ones to mention. To me that creates hazard for someone who has roadside issue with tires. They are at the mercy of VW, especially when they steal the keys when you bring your car in for service. That's what happened to mine. Had it for tire replacement a few years earlier, then took it in for 40k service and it was never to be found again. I know they used it because they took my tires off to check brakes, etc. NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, AGAIN.....buh bye
You're over thinking this OP, let me offer some insight. My dad was a pioneer in the mobile headliner business in FL back in the early 80's. He was one of the first (if not first) guy doing it mobile. There are probably many mobile guys in your area, so maybe consider this:
1- Hit up Harbor Freight for some dirt cheap molding removal tools (specialty tools for popping off your trim pieces without damaging the clips/pieces).
2- Remove all moldings and trim, take a few cam phone pics as you work so you remember where it all goes back together. Number the insides of them if you need to.
3- *Schedule a windshield removal and a "later in the day" reinstall at a local glass place. Shouldn't be too horribly expensive, it's an easy job and they can get it out in minutes typically. Explain to them your situation and what you're doing.
4- *Also schedule a mobile guy to come out and meet you on site near the glass shop. If you have to drive a few blocks so he isn't working in the glass shop parking lot, you'll be fine.
5- Bargain with the headliner guy beforehand on price making sure he knows there are no moldings and no windshield, you just need a basic removal, scrape and glue, and reinstall.
6- Pay the guy, drive back and have the glass reinstalled.
7- Enjoy new headliner.
If you can get the glass shop to be cool about a mobile guy doing the job in the parking lot, you're home free. If you have to drive a block or two, it shouldn't be too big of a deal.
Regarding what you said about the material being good but the foam is bad, the whole thing is shot. The material is a foam backed material and you can't salvage it when the foam goes.
I have a bag full of fun headliner stories from the 80's when I was a kid riding shotgun with my dad running headliners at buy here/pay here lots. Those were the days.. if you ever bought a car with no dome light in FL in the 80's from a buy here/pay here, you're welcome! Dealers loved the extra $10 bucks off by snipping the wires and deleting the dome light..
My customer was quoted $1000 to install a new headliner by VW dealership. He brought it to my shop to install a new headliner. This Jetta has a sunroof. Since I cannot take the headliner board out of the vehicle (snap in on a plastic outer rim that could not possibly fit through the door opening) I am doing all the work inside of the vehicle. Loosen all the trim enough to tuck the headliner material in around the edges when gluing the new foam backed headliner piece in. Order, or buy, enough headliner to cover the complete headliner board (headliner material comes in 54" and 60" widths and is sold by the yard). Take off all hand holds, lights, visors and in this case a roof console. Pull off old headliner. I use a small shop vac and my hands to clean the shell. The left over foam will rub off. I suggest staying away from wire brushes as this could ruff up your board which if damaged will show through as roughness to your headliner. Now to install the new liner which can be ordered through an auto trim shop or a supplier to the auto trim industry. Lay out the new liner and mark a center line with chalk. Mark a center line with chalk to the liner board still in the roof of your vehicle. Now comes the hard part...Use DAP contact adhesive or 3M 80-90 rattle can spray adhesive. (I use DAP in my spray gun). Spray down the CENTER of your board. First spray one way then do the same again in the other direction. Let spray tack up. Now spray the center of your headliner foam backed fabric. Spray another light coat to the headliner board and line up your chalk line. (Remember to leave enough fabric to the rear and front of your liner board to glue in later) Start at center and work out to the edges. Do not press the fabric hard as this will cause your foam to compress causing dimples in your new headliner. Smooth out with your open hands. Repeat the glue application process as you do each area until you have come to the edges all the way around your headliner board. Always work from center out. Now you are at the edges of your board. Carefully trim off excess headliner, leaving enough to tuck in around (usually an inch on the sides and 2 inches to the front and back of the board). Spray adhesive on the parts you have cut a little at a time and tuck it under and around where your trim pieces will be put back in place. I do the sides first then the back and finally the back. If you don't have a tucking tool, use a spatula. Something thin to fit into the crevices to push in the remaining headliner. Let your headliner sit overnight. Now re-locate everything that was taken off. If you are having problems locating screw holes, use a long needle or very small screw driver. Now the reason why I say to let your headliner sit over night is because the glue will still be tacky and when you push against the foam trying to find a screw hole you could compress the foam backing and cause a dimple. It's up to you on weather you want to let it set over night, or not. Too, you may have to vacuum up some of the old residual foam that your vacuum didn't catch when cleaning your headliner board and you may get some glue on your seats, or trim pieces, but all this can be cleaned with a little lighter fluid. Hope this helps out.
We used to use cabinet glue, contact glue, five gallon container. Spray on, let it get totally dry (10 minutes tops), smooth out the half, then repeat on the other half. Sucker was never coming down with that stuff. I wonder if that glue still exists (has it gone the way of R12? Probably). Wire brushes are indeed bad, a good brush is a very stiff brown bristle brush. They used to come in yellow plastic, I wonder if they are still around?
That cabinet glue was great. You could spray it at a wasp in the air and it's wings would immediately stick to itself. Fun times.. ::sigh::
They actually do the job quite nicely. I mapped out the placement of them ahead of time, made a symmetrical pattern and now it looks a little bit like the buttoned headliners you see in big rigs.
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