Just a quick post on how I repaired the headliner in my Mk2. I know there are other ways of doing it but this is how I did it and what I learnt from doing it. I did this at home with no prior experience and on the cheap. I know you can use fibreglass but I didn't have the experience to do so, so thats why I did it this way. I did this in July 2016 and the board is still absolutely fine. As always any feedback is appreciated. I bought Mk6 Golf GTi headliner material from a fabric supply company, this is similar to the black material in the car but gives it a slightly more modern look while not being too in your face. Removal To get the headliner out of the car, you need to take out the trim piece above the rearview mirror with the sun roof handle (if you have this), the rear view mirror, the sun visors, the grab handles in the roof above the doors and the trims clips in the middle of the roof. The boot also has a trip piece at the top under the rubber seal which needs to be removed, you'll also need to pull down each of the door rubbers to remove the headliner. Be careful when removing the headliner as the the board is very fragile and is often broken so getting it out in as few pieces as possible. If your car has a sunroof its possible that you might have some surface rust on the inside of the roof, so treat this with rust treatment before it goes back in. Removing the old material Once the board is out, carefully peel back the material from the board, taking care not to worsen any cracks or cause any more damage. Fixing the board My board had a few cracks on the edges as well as being cracked all the way through by the rear view mirror. It was missing some large chunks on the edges as well as the entire corner by the drivers side A pillar which was broken off and in too many pieces to fix. I started by using papier-mâché to cover over the cracks in the board, I did 3 coverings on either side of the board to make sure it had strength. Where the headliner was missing chunks in the side, I made a template out of paper and transferred it to a sheet of cardboard, which i held in place with masking tape while I glued it in and then covered with papier-mâché. For the corner that was missing, I extended the board using papier-mâché and cardboard and used the opposite side to take measurements and make a template to transfer the side I was fixing. I then cut this as per the marking from the template. Applying new material Before gluing down the new material, I covered the whole board in 2 coats of pva glue using a roller. This ensured that the board was smooth and the contact adhesive would have more chance at holding the new material as it was covered in lots of small balls of glue and headliner material. I then started at the back of the headliner and with the help of my dad, sprayed a foot wide line of contact adhesive and rolled the material out, smoothing down with hands and a roller. Doing it in stages ensured that the contact adhesive did not go off before the material was laid down. https://imgur.com/NQveirr Refitting Trim off the excess material but leave an inch lip around the edge of the headliner board to fold over and glue down. From the back of the board, punch a hole through the new material for the grab handles, clips in the middle of the board, sun visors, rear view mirror and sun roof handle. I also took this opportunity to fit a grab handle next to the driver as my car didn't come with one. If you have a sunroof now is the time to cut out the hole for the sun roof - make sure to leave an inch lip around here as well as the sun roof seal also holds the board in place. If you don't leave any material it is likely that the sun roof seal won't hold the material in and won't look very good.
Well done - I haven't used paper mache since I was in primary school and I hated it back then but now I finally see a practical use for it. Nicely done Sir!!
I had a similar thought while doing it, one of those skills you learn and never really forget. Must go and thank my year 2 teacher for the headliner repair skills
Nice, I like that. I ripped mine to bits when removing interior as I knew I was going to be buying new. Now I wish I’d given it a go
excellent work mate, it looks great! Did you scrape off the foamy stuff before you recovered your board at all? also which fabric adhesive did you use please? I've got to attempt this on mine you see, its stored away but will need repairing like yours did. many thanks, stew
Thanks mate, I used a razor blade and flat scraper to scrape the majority of it off. What remained got encased in the PVA glue so wouldn't cause an issue to the contact adhesive. From memory I think I used 3M stuff as I found a deal on eBay. It's better to buy a better one and do the job once than have to do it all over again in my opinion!
