2work
Well Known Member
Morning all,
Here’s my thoughts on a sagging headlining fabric, this is from reupholstering many a Jag XJS and Classic Saab 900 (2 models I used to spend a lot of time on as a hobby a many years ago).
The culprit for this (in our Audi’s) has been covered above and I can confirm that the adhesive used to adhere the headlining fabric to the biscuit (moulded board) has probably not failed. I can speak from experience as it took me some time to correctly remove all the factory adhesive from the headlining biscuit last week. This is something that has always been an easier task in the 2 non Audi models I mention above as the adhesive has broken down at the same time as the fabric starts to sag. The contact adhesive that Audi used in our aluminium friends is still sticky on the 2 biscuits I’ve recently cleaned down. A very messy job!
So we know why it is sagging but what has actually happened? You need to understand the components involved if you’re ever going to make it look beautiful again.
The headlining fabric is made up of 2 parts, the textured fabric (mainly Paltinum but other colours do exist) which you can see and feel along with a 3mm foam backing. The fabric arrives at the reupholstering location, factory adhered together, this is the adhesive which breaks down over time and this process is sped up by moisture.
To achieve a perfectly looking headlining, there is no simple repair, although trying to reattach the sagging fabric to the biscuit can be done, it will look awful as there is no foam and if it does last a few years, I can guarantee that the rest of the material will start to sag and you’ll be back to square on.
Prevention of the cause is what needs to happen first. Either seal the air vents behind the rear bumper or clear the OSS drainage channels.
Once the water/moisture ingress has be solved it is time to get your headlining biscuit reupholstered. There are quite a few trimmers that will do this for you, the costs can be in excess of £200, even higher but shop around. I don’t have any recommendations as I do this task myself.
An option is to use one of the many online guides which is pretty much how I started doing this some 15 years ago (PDF document with pictures).
I’ve recently reupholstered @simufly headlining which will be collected this weekend. I didn’t take any pictures of the process as I wanted to get it done without interruptions. When I start my Twist headlining, once home this weekend, I will take pictures to try to create a ‘how to’ so you can all have a go.
Once you’ve looked through the how to and if you feel it’s just not for you then I can help out.
What I’m planning on offering in the near future is a replacement service, so all you would need to do is turn up on my drive and I will remove your horrible looking saggy headlining and fit and reupholstered one for you. It’ll be a few hours on my drive. Beverages and general A2 chat supplied FOC.
The cost of this service will be cheap as I’m not here to make a profit but I do need to take my time into consideration. To correctly clean the biscuit takes 2 hours. Adhering the new fabric takes 1-2 hours, depending on what I’m actually doing for you (A&C Pillars and sun visors). So before you turn up I’m already upto 4 hours into the job. Headlining removal is about an hour followed by the following hour to fit the reupholstered headlining. 6 hours away from quality family time and home improvements is something difficult to put a price to as I generally only work on my own car as a hobby. I’ll probably only charge £150 which will include the cost of the fabric and contact adhesive (£40-50 for Platinum, more for different colours) along with my 6 hours labour.
Before I can offer this service to make your cabin space look stunning, I need to obtain a few OSS and Non OSS biscuits so I can do most of the work before you arrive. Trying to find a block of 6 hours to do this when you arrive is very difficult with 2 young boys, family commitments and continuous home renovations, I’m sure many of you can appreciate this.
If anyone has any breakers in who are reasonably local, please do let me know as I’d like the headlining so it can be given a new life inside another A2.
Hope this was helpful and you have a go at it yourself (get in YouTube). Those of you who aren’t up for taking this job on, I’ll see you on my driveway once things calm down and I can clamber over your A2s interior.
Kind regards,
Tom
Here’s my thoughts on a sagging headlining fabric, this is from reupholstering many a Jag XJS and Classic Saab 900 (2 models I used to spend a lot of time on as a hobby a many years ago).
The culprit for this (in our Audi’s) has been covered above and I can confirm that the adhesive used to adhere the headlining fabric to the biscuit (moulded board) has probably not failed. I can speak from experience as it took me some time to correctly remove all the factory adhesive from the headlining biscuit last week. This is something that has always been an easier task in the 2 non Audi models I mention above as the adhesive has broken down at the same time as the fabric starts to sag. The contact adhesive that Audi used in our aluminium friends is still sticky on the 2 biscuits I’ve recently cleaned down. A very messy job!
So we know why it is sagging but what has actually happened? You need to understand the components involved if you’re ever going to make it look beautiful again.
The headlining fabric is made up of 2 parts, the textured fabric (mainly Paltinum but other colours do exist) which you can see and feel along with a 3mm foam backing. The fabric arrives at the reupholstering location, factory adhered together, this is the adhesive which breaks down over time and this process is sped up by moisture.
To achieve a perfectly looking headlining, there is no simple repair, although trying to reattach the sagging fabric to the biscuit can be done, it will look awful as there is no foam and if it does last a few years, I can guarantee that the rest of the material will start to sag and you’ll be back to square on.
Prevention of the cause is what needs to happen first. Either seal the air vents behind the rear bumper or clear the OSS drainage channels.
Once the water/moisture ingress has be solved it is time to get your headlining biscuit reupholstered. There are quite a few trimmers that will do this for you, the costs can be in excess of £200, even higher but shop around. I don’t have any recommendations as I do this task myself.
An option is to use one of the many online guides which is pretty much how I started doing this some 15 years ago (PDF document with pictures).
I’ve recently reupholstered @simufly headlining which will be collected this weekend. I didn’t take any pictures of the process as I wanted to get it done without interruptions. When I start my Twist headlining, once home this weekend, I will take pictures to try to create a ‘how to’ so you can all have a go.
Once you’ve looked through the how to and if you feel it’s just not for you then I can help out.
What I’m planning on offering in the near future is a replacement service, so all you would need to do is turn up on my drive and I will remove your horrible looking saggy headlining and fit and reupholstered one for you. It’ll be a few hours on my drive. Beverages and general A2 chat supplied FOC.
The cost of this service will be cheap as I’m not here to make a profit but I do need to take my time into consideration. To correctly clean the biscuit takes 2 hours. Adhering the new fabric takes 1-2 hours, depending on what I’m actually doing for you (A&C Pillars and sun visors). So before you turn up I’m already upto 4 hours into the job. Headlining removal is about an hour followed by the following hour to fit the reupholstered headlining. 6 hours away from quality family time and home improvements is something difficult to put a price to as I generally only work on my own car as a hobby. I’ll probably only charge £150 which will include the cost of the fabric and contact adhesive (£40-50 for Platinum, more for different colours) along with my 6 hours labour.
Before I can offer this service to make your cabin space look stunning, I need to obtain a few OSS and Non OSS biscuits so I can do most of the work before you arrive. Trying to find a block of 6 hours to do this when you arrive is very difficult with 2 young boys, family commitments and continuous home renovations, I’m sure many of you can appreciate this.
If anyone has any breakers in who are reasonably local, please do let me know as I’d like the headlining so it can be given a new life inside another A2.
Hope this was helpful and you have a go at it yourself (get in YouTube). Those of you who aren’t up for taking this job on, I’ll see you on my driveway once things calm down and I can clamber over your A2s interior.
Kind regards,
Tom