Suede Headliner Teaser Pics

[phantom b6]

So I'm in the middle of re-upholstering my headliner with black suede.... expensive stuff @ $22 a yard. It's well worth the cost but it's very time consuming. I'm taking my time and doing a little bit at a time so that way it doesn't get rushed and develop wrinkles.

I ran out of fabric with only one pillar left so I'll be finishing this up tomorrow morning.

In the mean time.. here are some pics

[quat]

Nice work, how are you doing it?

[phantom b6]

Cutting a large piece of suede, then spraying 3M adhesive (it's in a spray paint can) onto the stock headliner and working the suede onto the piece. After that it's trimming the excess but still leaving a little bit extra, folding and gluing the edges, giving it the final trim and then using a razorblade to cut out any holes or openings.

[absolutegtr]

I have reupholstered quite a few headliners before, fairly simple

Did you take off the old headliner material or just glue it on top?

[phantom b6]

glued on top

[Maverick]

dang, nice work!

[phantom b6]

thanks!

[Capt. Obvious]

This is on my to-do list at the moment. How much of a pain was it to get the headliner out? That's been my biggest roadblock to not getting around to it.

[manhertm]

^^^^^x2

[RAVI]

x3333333333333333

looks good man, you should post a DIY on how to remove the pieces without damaging them (something i would end up doing) ahaha

[phantom b6]

It actually isn't that hard to remove. I'll try to write a formal DIY but I didn't take pics since this (as with every other one of my mods) was a somewhat spur of the moment idea and I kinda was just figuring out how to take it down as I went.

Basically...
Open Sunroof
2 Torx Screws in each Oh Shit Bar
Remove O.S.B's
Torx in sun visor, remove sun visor
Pop out the front and rear lights/controls and unclip harnesses
Start pulling the pillars... they're clipped in with a few torx connecting some
Once all pillars are out, start from the back and pull down the main headliner... when you get to the sunroof you have to go from the outside and use a screwdriver to pop the clips around the sunroof and it comes down
Pull the headliner out of the trunk

I'll try to write something up when I put it back together tomorrow with specific locations

[sandspeed]

Where did you get the fabric? Does it stretch, and are you having any problems with wrinkles? I'd like to use real Alcantara, and when I did my last headliner, the wrinkles pissed me off, so I might go with a shop to do this.

[phantom b6]

I got the fabric from Jo-Ann Fabric.. I dunno if it's just around here or nationwide. I've got a few wrinkles but only in places where the suede tucks and is hidden anyway.

The suede definitely doesn't stretch though

[03CrysBlueB6]

yeah i have sueded a few door panel ppeices on previous cars.. make sure you take your time and leave extra space around edge.. also make sure its dry... that turned out really well though phantem... take pictures when your done

[3ohAvant]

i've done door panels and dash pieces in other cars.

i did a headliner in a MKIV GTi. its pretty easy.

but if i were to do it again, I'd get something that stretches.

a non stretchy fabric just SUCKS to work with, and in bends it will not look 100%.

and the "suede" that i used faded after a year. (the parts that are in direct sunlight)

not sure if there is an anti UV spray or anything.

did you use real suede? ultrasuede? microsuede? or something that FEELS like suede? my material was on closeout for under $2/yard. obviously NOT real suede.

i hear that ultrasuede is pretty good, but pretty pricey.

[phantom b6]

I'm not sure what suede it is... but it's suede.... $22 a yard

[italian a4 1032]

how many yards did you use?

[AudiA4Turbo22]

nice!

[yoogene83]

i used ultrasuede to wrap my interior trim and that was pretty costly at ~$40 for a square yard. But then again, it was PITA to even find a place that had ultrasuede in the color i wanted and a place in town that would even sell it to me.

you shoulda seen the look they gave me when i asked them if they had Alcantara. Then the look when i told them what i was gonna use it for. haha

[Charlie]

Together me and mike used 7 Yards, we got my headliner done and He did 3/4 of his then he needed more fabric.

[italian a4 1032]

Together me and mike used 7 Yards, we got my headliner done and He did 3/4 of his then he needed more fabric.

do you think that suede would be good for seats?

[Capt. Obvious]

do you think that suede would be good for seats?

Micro/ultrasuede would not be a good choice for seating surfaces. It's too thin.

[HeHateMe]

looks good !

[Charlie]

Yeah no go on the seats, Its way to thin, Something like alcantara would be good tho

[italian a4 1032]

Yeah no go on the seats, Its way to thin, Something like alcantara would be good tho

yea i just went to Jo anna's fabrics it looked to thin

[absolutegtr]

Are you repainting the visors and oh shit handles?

[diztek]

that's gonna look sweet. are you going to suede out anything else in the interior?

[phantom b6]

I painted the oh shit handles, and the plastic from the front dome light/controls flat black along with the rear light. I gotta find black visors... do B6 S4's have them?

The headliner is like 80% back in... I just need to finish 1 pillar, but together all the oh shit bars and random screws and put the visors back in. It looks amazing though

[absolutegtr]

It looks amazing though

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............. ...

where are the pics?

[phantom b6]

LOL they're coming ... I have to fix the clamp I just broke on the intercooler inlet then I'm going to finish the headliner.

[jrau13]

If you get a chance a real DIY write up would help a lot of people out. If you have pics to go along even better. Great job!!!

[fumihiko]

^ +1 a diy would be waay helpful

[vdubstreets]

bring it to a SoCo gtg i wanna see how it looks.

[BLACKa4QUAT]

I painted the oh shit handles, and the plastic from the front dome light/controls flat black along with the rear light. I gotta find black visors... do B6 S4's have them?

i think the b6 s4's have them but i dont know forsure if they're the same size, i think somebody had issues with s4 ones in an a4. maybe the b7 a4 s-line ti package ones. i know those have an all black headliner?

[phantom b6]

getting it all back together truly is the most difficult part.... I'm just doing little bits at a time attempting not to lose my sanity. The fabric really gets in the way of getting the screws back in..... and getting the visors back in.... F those.

It's looking pretty good.. there's a few wrinkles/imperfections around the sharp curves in the pillars but overall I'm happy. I really never EVER want to do this again... as I think this comes 2nd only to taking the dash out as far as difficulty goes.

[7speed]

I just picked up some Black Suede remnant from JoAnn's 6'x5' for only 13.00