Evening Alan,@Gilbertd Good to hear of another success story Gilbert for a task that is coming to be more frequent. How about some pics of your handiwork
For those doing the whole job themselves, what glue did you use to fix the headlining?
If you are suggesting a single sheet then I think that is an option. I did suggest that to the company who covered mine. I offered to fill the groove so that it was level all over but they said they could manage with the groove. In the end, the fabric in the groove was not brilliant and they inserted a cord (beading) which I quite like. Given the experience of others, I wish I had separated the inner and outer panels.Could the headliner be sticked around the central section recess on standard cars?
Evening,I think the biggest problem with filling the centre and making it into one big piece would be cracking whatever it was filled with when getting it back into the car. Even diagonally, it has to bend quite a bit to fit through the hole.
Sorry just realised my post was supposed to say stitched (with a needle and thread so the material would be pulled firmly into the groove) not sticked, sorry for any confusion!If you are suggesting a single sheet then I think that is an option. I did suggest that to the company who covered mine. I offered to fill the groove so that it was level all over but they said they could manage with the groove. In the end, the fabric in the groove was not brilliant and they inserted a cord (beading) which I quite like. Given the experience of others, I wish I had separated the inner and outer panels.
It looks like I am going to have to undertake this task in the near future (when the weather is a little milder).End Result
Some photos of the finished project.
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It’s more the recovering that is concerning me given the quite curvaceous nature of the biscuit, especially if the centre is removed. @Gilbertd clearly had difficulty having to cut the fabric. Having watched several videos on the covering process, smoothing out from the centre seems to be the normal process, not possible with the centre removed but I will give it a go if I can get a good match on the fabric..Hi Geoff. It's not that daunting to remove and reinstall. I did not do the recovering but others on this forum have. As to sound improvement I did not notice that much difference given most noise is from tyres/road surface and wind at higher speeds. I think it deaden the sound of rain which can be pretty loud on an A2. Some members I recall also put insulation inside the door panels.
Soundproofing project
The one gripe that I've always had with my TDi has been the amount of road and engine noise transmitted in to the cabin. There's not a great deal of soundproofing on the A2, which of course has its benefits in keeping the weight down for better fuel economy. For me though, I'd happily sacrifice...www.a2oc.net
With your experience of different fabrics, do you have a recommendation as to who is the best supplier both in terms of matching the original colour and flexibility for fitting?I've retrimmed my own OSS headliner for the 2nd time, and will be going for number 3 when the weather improves. No1 was with good material 2mm foam backed and tins of contact hi-temp adhesive. I was just a bit bad at it, and took it off again, reordering fabric from the same company. The 2nd lot arrived with a different backing. Still 2mm foam but not as stretchy. I was better at it, but it was tough to do around the front of the overhead console and the corners of the OSS aperture. It began to bridge too, so it will all come off again. However, it was done from one piece without cutting etc, and it will go better next time. If not, I'll try again. Its a good skill to learn I think..
My fabrics were the same ones (but actually what they supplied had different backings). The fabric came from FabricOnline. Companies send out samples for next to nothing (or nothing) and you can find some- its listed as 'Headliner Fabric' and is a standard one in 4 colours. Grey is the one you have there (light grey).With your experience of different fabrics, do you have a recommendation as to who is the best supplier both in terms of matching the original colour and flexibility for fitting?
I think my headliner is Platinum Grey
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Were you able to remove the centre section without damaging the fabric or is that a non-starter?View attachment 118049
Started this project May 2023 and got ad far as doing the middle section.
Tried twice on the outer part but it has many complexities. Theoretically the greater the material can stretch the easier to mould into shape. Be prepaired to try, try again.
Removing the central part was slow. I tried a rotary tool cutting disc but that was taking a long time.Were you able to remove the centre section without damaging the fabric or is that a non-starter?
I did A and D-pillars- A-pillars were tough to remove, and D-pillars are screwed to the headliner and need to be slid out in 'Y' across the car carefully as they are attached to the boot side trim which also has to be loosened. The clips behind are either brittle or the metal spring clips stay in the bodyshell not in the trim and need to be retrieved. That said, they are easy to trim.Whist it’s a good match I highly recommend recovering the A and D pillars along with sun visors for a perfectly refreshed appearance. You’ll need to dismantle the sun visors but there is a helpful post here to assist: