My VW Golf M4's ceiling fabric has ALL come away from backing!

Started by LilyWai, May 12, 2021, 12:26:50 PM

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LilyWai

Ummm...this is a strange one but my entire indoor ceiling fabric has separated from the glue/foam covering the ceiling inside the cab of the vehicle. Now it billows down like an inflated balloon - due to gravity and wind if the windows are down which they are a lot as my two dogs are often in the car.

It is still attached by the plastic frame around all the edges but in a small section by the drivers side overhead ceiling light I can see into the ceiling and it appears the foam/glue that would normally hold it in place has started to erode and crumble away so while it is still a bit sticky it is not enough to securely hold the fabric in place.

I have been trying to think of DIY options to re-stick it back in place - wondered if some sort of spray adhesive would do the trick..? - but before I started down the road of trial & potential error I thought I'd see if someone else had come across this issue before & possibly had a permanent solution.

Gotta do something soon as it wafts around touching the top of my head while driving which is kind of becoming more than just an annoyance.

80 Vert

Not strange at all, foam layer has degraded over time releasing the material to sag like that. Have an upholstery shop replace it.
2019 Jetta GLI (USA)
2003 Jetta Coupe soon to be R36TT
1991 Golf GTI 2.0 TSI swapped
1963 Type 34 Karmann Ghia, turbo 2.0
1990 Porsche 964 911 Carrera 4
1980 1303 Beetle vert, under restoration

LilyWai

Good to know it's not just my car or something I've done to cause it.

I probably should have added that I live on an Island so I don't have access to a car upholsterer - hence the DIY option. I have rung a furniture upholsterer for product advice but they weren't keen to suggest some5ing for the job as it's not their area of expertise.

I figured doing the job myself shouldn't be that tricky as all it requires is smoothing it back into place and tuck down into plastic edging but the major 'sticking' point ;) is the adhesive. Just wanted to ensure I had the right product for the job as it's very thin fabric so an adhesive that was too thick, heavy, runny or not strong enough could give a very ugly end result indeed.




Worms

You NEED new fabric. Just glueing it will make it a horrendous mess and it will soak through without the foam on the back ;-)

RS

I have done a couple over the years. Ideally, you need to remove the roof lining to do the work.

A large table to work on is useful.

I used ADOS spray adhesive.

For a proper guide, I can imagine there are many on a website called YouTube.

best of luck

PS, if it's just a daily hack car, a staple gun does a great job, just fire a few strategic staples up until it sticks, did this on a Ford Falcon and it worked a treat.


Pristle

I found something like these on the Mk3 I had a few years ago. They'd been evenly spaced across, left to right, above the sun visors and then above the line of the headrests.

I duplicated the technique in the back section when my attempt to use a spray adhesive failed. The foam coating on the shell breaks down and granulates, preventing any effective adhesion. To fix it properly, the whole shell needs to come out and stripped of foam first. A client of my son-in-law went through the process on his Mk4 GTI last month. A messy task he said.