Headliner and Dash :]

[smartchick2009]

Robyn... YOU NEED TO SHOW ME SOME PICS <3333

seriously post them here, lol i give you permission to threadjack and how did you manage to find color concept seats??

[robyn]

i found the seats at a junkyard in new jersey completely by accident. they had some parts listed for sale on ebay and when he sent me pics i couldnt believe my eyes! the driver seat needs some work, he tried cleaning it and really messed it up so to compensate he gave me an armrest, center console, green leather grab bar (all for free!) and a great deal on a set of take 5's. it was a happy day for me, my poor hubby was doing all the driving in the pouring rain but he was really excited about the parts too. they're out of a 2003 so im looking forward to getting those rotating cup holders.

the fabric i used is by michael miller, its called retro daisy. i love the 60's music and style and i think the bug was a huge part of that era so when i decided to re-do my beetle i wanted to keep with that 60's theme, it's loud and not for everyone but it brightens my day every day, i just love it!

[swift801]

did you use adhesive spray for the pillars and just wrap it over? i was thinking of black suede headliner and pillars. but not sure how it fit back together being a thicker fabric than before. also. how did you do the doors? i have not tryed to take off door panel yet. does that piece come of seperate to wrap then install again?

[robyn]

i just went out to the garage to see what kind of glue i used, it's been a while i used 3m 77 for the pillars, i sprayed them, waited for the glue to get tacky and put the fabric on them. my fabric is thin cotton so it held really well, suede is so heavy i dont know if it will hold and the glue could seep through and look hazy and discolored if you use the wrong kind when it dries. that happened to me, i used a glue that was too strong and it seeped through and turned the fabric yellow. my son wanted to do his interior in suede too but its so expensive and i wouldnt know what kind of adhesive to use but it would be beautiful.

i think if you use suede there would be room to wrap the pillars, the only place the fit was a little tight was the rear cards because i put headliner material under the fabric so its a little padded like the front door cards. when you take the door panel off the door cards are held in place by melted plastic pieces, i cant think of what they're called but we used a dremel to file them down then used a strong epoxy glue to reattach the cards to the doors and so far its holding up great! there's some very good threads on here that have pics explaining the entire procedure. i was a little worried during the hot humid weather but i didnt have any problems, now i'll see how everything holds up with the cold.

if i were you and wanted to use suede i would get a little piece and try different adhesives to see which one works, or maybe find someone that does car interiors professionally for their opinion, actually, im going to go to a guy for my seat so i can ask him about it and let you know what he says, i'll be going there hopefully next week.

[smartchick2009]

WOW. that looks amazing ive looked for directions to do the door cards but i didnt see any to wrap them with fabric... lol help??

[swift801]

ok. doesn't sound too hard. atleast i know what to look for now when i take them apart. i just noticed you're in pa. how far is reading from pittsburgh? i can't wait to go to my first gtg. alot of people don't understand the love for the bug. and i wanna see these cars in person. i try to wave at all the ones i see.lol

[robyn]

sure, its easy peasy:


this is the inside of the door card.


these are the little plastic pieces that hold the door card to the door, these have to be removed.


we used a dremel to file them down.


dont forget to remove this piece too.



this is after the plastic holding it on is removed.


piece removed.


this is the door card removed from the door, you will have to remove the foam just like you did on the headliner.

once it's cleaned off, just spray your adhesive and put your fabric on it, it might start out wrinkled at first but i just kept stretching and playing with it until i got all the creases out. i put a headliner fabric under my daisy fabric so its a little padded, i did the same with the rear cards.

and a before and after:



have fun, i loved doing this project as you can tell, i think i covered just about everything!

[swift801]

wow. thank you. now i definitely know what to look for. i've done the same on other cars. but like to know how before i find out the hard way. was it tight to slide back in with the fabric on them? you could post a diy thread for those. i'm sure alot of people are interested. maybe we can compile pics of what we did and tips.

[swift801]

ahhh forgot to ask you. how did you do the visors? i'm concerned with where the fabric meets. would i have to sew it? glue under? i planned on molding the visors since i don't use them. but they practicly hold the front up.

[smartchick2009]

awesomeeeee :] thanks for the step by step <3333 deff gonna jump on this when i find some door panels mine are cracked at the top by the locks :[ but heck yes i can't waittttttt

[robyn]

the visors were actually the hardest parts to do. i didnt sew anything on them i used the spray adhesive. they have so many curves and it took forever, and i popped out the mirror so the fabric could go underneath it so it looks clean and neat. the one i even covered the strap, the second one i didn't, too hard. the only thing i used my sewing machine for was to make trim for the rear view mirror, yep, i covered that too, because you just can't have too many daisies and i think it looks cute when you see the car from the front. i'll post a pic of that in a few hours, im off to my nephews last football game.

[robyn]

when you do your door cards you wont be able to wrap the fabric around the edges because you have to re-glue those little pegs and you can't have fabric over them. if you have your fabric out to the edges a little too far it can push the card away from the door but if you apply pressure to the cards while the glue hardens you shouldn't have a problem because once the door is back in place everything should stay put. i hope that makes sense!

here's pics of the rearview mirror:





i should have taken pics of the visors, i'll do that tomorrow when its light out, its only 6:44 and its already dark, it feels like midnight.

[robyn]

pittsburgh is like 6 hours from reading, my cousin lives there, she's married to a retired steeler, i cant think of his name though, her first name is dawn and she's a model, she's been on tv and magazine covers, i know the second i sign off i'll think of his name. we go to the shows at the beaches, h20 and dubs on the boards, so if you go to any of those next year we'll probably be there. i don't show my car, my paint is not so good but its fun just to see the cars. but i did show at dubs on the boards just because i wanted to drive on the boardwalk and my son's friend drove down with us and her beetle has daisy wheels on it too and we parked next to each other so it was cute and the big surprise was i actually got a trophy, too funny! made my day! it's setting on the piano in my kitchen next to a model of my car for everyone to see, it's fabulous!

[swift801]

how did you remove the plastic piece from around the mirror? i noticed you scratched it putting it back in lol. i'm prolly just going to tape off the post and paint mirror. headliner came out good. i'll post pics tomorrow.

[robyn]

i didnt take it apart, i just taped it and when i painted the part with the clock in it i put a plastic bag around the mirror. that piece was sooo hard to put back in my car, when we re-did the paint we looked at the mirror and just said nah, its fine. it could use a touching up though.

[iluvmyVersa08]

robyn: I LOVE LOVE LOVE what you did!
It is gorgeous. Did you use regular cotton fabric? I want to do this to the shelf I have for my rear hatchback. I figured I would start out with that. If I do that, do I just glue the fabric on? Do I need to smooth it down or anything?

[swift801]

just spray the piece you want to put it on and the fabric and rub it down pulling and pushing out wrinkles.i'm not sure how nice you watn to make it. if you're doing the rear card you might want to the underside also so if you open the trunk it looks matching. not sure how robyn did the underside. but one of us will help

[swift801]

i'm down to the visors and mirror.

robyn: how did you get the mirror out of the visor? i've tryed prying with a screwdriver but can't seem to get them out.

i decided to paint all upper trim. wanted to do in same as headliner, maybe i'll do it later. but the black looks great. no more grey upper area!

[iluvmyVersa08]

Originally Posted by swift801

just spray the piece you want to put it on and the fabric and rub it down pulling and pushing out wrinkles.i'm not sure how nice you watn to make it. if you're doing the rear card you might want to the underside also so if you open the trunk it looks matching. not sure how robyn did the underside. but one of us will help

Thanks for the help. I never thought of doing the underside.
Where can I purchase the glue? I live in Canada and am not too sure what glue I need to buy or use.
One more question, how long do I need to leave it to dry.

Again, thanks for all the help.
When I get around to trying this out, I will for sure be posting up pictures

[robyn]

hi!

as far as the visors, i just used a flat head screwdriver and popped them out. they came out really easily. if they don't want to come out just use a flathead screwdriver to tuck the fabric under the edge of the plastic frame around the mirror, or if you're painting then just tape it, you dont want to break that mirror!! what color are you painting your trim? i was thinking of painting mine pink, its my favorite color but then i decided to stay with the green and now im very happy i did. i was so nervous when i had to cut holes in my new headliner to put everything back, i was so afraid of cutting the wrong spot! post some pics!

i didn't cover my shelf yet. this has me thinking, i dont really want to spray the adhesive directly onto the shelf because if i ever decide to change my interior or go back to a black shelf i don't know if the glue residue would come off, so im thinking im going to try to make a cover for it and then cover that with my daisy fabric, i just ordered more today, and it is just plain cotton, pretty thin, very easy to work with. if you decide to glue it directly to the shelf just spray it with your adhesive and start smoothing it out, start in the center and work your way out, thats what i did with everything and it worked the best, make sure to cut your pieces large enough and when i would get creases, especially on the door cards, i sprayed the fabric with the adhesive and the moisture made the cotton "give" so i could stretch it out some and make everythng really smooth and i would definetly cover the underside of the shelf too, you want it to look pretty when you flip it up! i didnt even try anything with the shelf yet but now it's bugging me , (sorry i had to laugh when i typed that), i think im gonna go get my shelf and see how to cover it. we bought our adhesive at home depot, do you have them there, im sure lowes and maybe walmart sells it too, i used the 3m super 77 and it worked perfectly. when you spray the glue you need to wait a few seconds for it to get tacky, then apply your fabric, it stays sticky for a little bit so if you have to re-do you can, then when your happy with it just let it dry, it doesnt take too long but i would keep your windows open for a few days to get rid of the fumes. we painted my interior pieces and glued at the same time and wow, lots of fumes! did you pick out your fabric yet? i found mine on ebay, i found my car on ebay too, i love ebay! when i was looking for fabric if i found one i liked i printed it out on paper and taped it to the roof of my car to try to get an idea what it would look like and that really made it much easier to pick one. have fun and post some pics!