Polo Headliner: Black Suede. (FINISHED!)

[herco]

Hey guys!

I got my first VW yesterday, a 2007 polo. Very impressed with the little car.

The headliner is hanging like a curtain, so I am planning to redo it myself this weekend in black suede, along with the pillars.

I will do a proper thread on the removal, glueing ect, ect.

Anyone know where I can get hold of black suede in Pretoria? I called a few fabric places, but no one seems to have stock.

EDIT: Ended up using OEM style lining. Scroll down for pics of the finished product.

[Rsi huntered]

Hi Herco,

No sure on the material however do you really want to put Suede as a roof lining?

i would think put something more durable to avoid issues in the future.

just a taught..... me personally i wont put that cause i know it will be harder to clean and more of a chance of getting damaged if not properly maintained.

[Kyle]

I'd also go for a more OEM material...

[herco]

Hmmm, I have also been thinking the same.

I once drove around for awhile in a big merc gl amg which had a suede headliner and it looked insane. But I think for maintenance and effectivity a more OEM material would work better and probably suit the car better as well. It is also much easier to find than the suede it seems.

[Whipme]

Are you not thinking of alcantara? It's like suede but it's a woven fabric. There should be a few synthetic alternatives. Try going to a fabric shop to actually see some options. Looking forward to seeing your results

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk

[herco]

6 hours later and all done! Will post photos tomorrow... yes, alcantara is the right word for what I wanted.

Ended up doing it in a OEM style headliner, just black. Will show off my work tomorrow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jasondj]

Yes please show off you work. Im planning on doing the same thing using Dupli Colour Vinyl and Fabric spray on the plastic parts and then re cover my headliner. Its quite a mission to get the headliner out in a sedan.

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk

[herco]

The results!

This is not a simple job. Atleast not as simple as the tutorials make it out to be. I made a few mistakes, I will redo it in a couple of months to fix them.

My tips:

- Disconnect the battery. Your car is going to be standing with all of its doors open for quite awhile.

- Do not use foam backed material, like the oem stuff. It does not stretch at all, so contouring is a ****. Also, whenever you pull back a little bit, the foam part makes a small tear, which casuses a dent in the final product.

- Keep a hair dryer handy. When you do the contouring, het up the area and the material until it is nice and hot. Much easier to manipulate onto all the edges that way.

- Use proper spray adhesive. I used contact cement in a tin. It worked really well, but takes a little longer to apply.

- Do not do this in one evening. Try do it over a day or two, its heavy on your back.

- Use a very sharp knife or scissors to trim the edges. Mine wasn't as sharp and it was a pita.

- After you are done, leave the doors open with a fan over night. Unless you want to drive around high on glue fumes.

Here are some pictures:

The problem:


All trim pieces removed:


Headliner out!




Prep almost done.


Prepped and clean headliner ready to go!


Lining up the material and getting ready to glue.


Looking good!


Finished product. Still need to vacuum the top, will do so over the weekend.




Let me know what you think. Its a major improvement and I love how the car feels inside with the black. Like I mentioned, I will redo it in a couple of months to make it perfect. I enjoy the contrast of the black and beige trim, so I wont be making the trim black. Thanks for reading.

[Kyle]

nice diy bud!

[Whipme]

Looks fantastic! Where did you eventually get the fabric and how much was it?

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk

[herco]

Got the fabric from Metro at Menlyn Retail Park. But like I mentioned, next time I am going to use fabric that has a little bit of stretch to it.

The fabric was R400 (R100 per meter) But there is a lot left. It can definitely be done with 3m.
The glue was ~R180 for the tin and used everything.

[Chris_FZ]

Cheap mod. Well done.

I did my 9n3 a few year ago cost me R750. Send it to a guy.

But had to go back for a redo due to glue wasn't set.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[herco]

I got a quote for around R1400.

Decided to give it a go myself instead, as I don't trust people working on the interior of my car.

[Deranged_9n3]

Looks good dude

Keen to do another Polo ?? I need this badly.

[Chris_FZ]

I got a quote for around R1400.

Decided to give it a go myself instead, as I don't trust people working on the interior of my car.

Looks amazing...

Ya my 9n3 was just another car. Stepping stone to my dream .

But i know the feeling my car only get worked on if i trust you literally with my life.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[Howie-WP]

Looks great for a DIY. I need to do this on my Mk3. Also gonna go with a darker shade.

If you don't mind me asking what is it that you'll have to redo (as you mentioned) Also the fabric, is it proper headliner material (with the foam)? I know in Cpt you can get it from Kehls in Maitland.

[herco]

Hi Howie!

I got the proper headliner fabric with the foam lining. I would not recommend it though, or you must be careful with your glue up. The foam absorbs your glue, then when you stick it and the glue reached the actual fabric, you end up compressing the foam when you apply pressure to stick the fabric to the roof. The glue then keeps it compressed so you end up with little random indents here and there.

Just get a nice 'thickish' black material that has a little stretch to it, and use spray adhesive.

As far as what needs to be redone, nothing really;

- Remove all the trim in the car.
- Pull out headliner board (Think its carboard in the mk3)
- Tear of old fabric.
- Prepare surface of cardboard. Remove old paint ect...
- Glue on new fabric.
- Put headliner back and fasten trim pieces and rubbers.

[sonic-mike]

Just found out today about sunroof needing service to grease and unblock the pipes from sunroof to boot... never knew this had alot of rain this last week and one of those were blocked caused a puddle afrect to the headliner ... and eranged love the l9ok of your car

[tshegomotsumi]

Good Evening Herco
Thanks for a great post.I have the same issue with my polo and would love to do it myself(I tried but could not take out the roof lining out because I ddnt know how to unscrew those things that hold the sun shields)
Please mention the material used to fix ur polo and were I can buy it.
Thank You

[herco]

Good Evening Herco
Thanks for a great post.I have the same issue with my polo and would love to do it myself(I tried but could not take out the roof lining out because I ddnt know how to unscrew those things that hold the sun shields)
Please mention the material used to fix ur polo and were I can buy it.
Thank You

Hey man! Those sunshields are really easy to get off. You just need a small screwdriver top pop off the cap covering the screw that holds it onto the roof.

As for the material, I went to my local Metro and asked for roof lining material... I have no clue what the real name is. They had grey and black. Its a textured fabric on the one side with a thin sponge on the other side.