Source for inexpensive shocks and headliner

[SAJanesick - Bellsouth]

Brian and others -

I wondered when the question of headliners would arise.

Mine finally and totally gave way early this summer.  I blame the heat of 
N.C. as a friend of mine also lost adhesion of a headliner on his '87 5000 
Quattro five years ago.

There is currently only one shop in Greensboro that will replace headliners 
and it's run by an ailing, almost disabled guy (with multiple titanium bolts 
in his lower back) who took on the project of my car.  He hadn't done one in 
years (if ever) and said "yeah, we can do it for $375".

Seemed high to me, but when the liner gave way, the interior of the car was 
peppered with thousands of unbelievably sticky foam pellets about the size 
of pin heads.  It seemed like an incredible mess to work with.  Apparently 
that was an indication of what they were getting into.

The story goes that Audi used an unusual adhesive for a couple of years and 
once the foam goes because of heat and age, the previously stable stickum 
distributes itself randomly over the interior of the car if one should drive 
around with the windows down.

I dropped it off on Monday morning with an expected return time of Thursday 
evening or Friday.  Of course they didn't even touch the car until Thursday 
morning, then the process began to take shape.

First they took off the original headliner and attempted some type of peel 
of the remaining foam from the liner board.  By the next Wednesday, they 
thought they had it licked and applied a new adhesive and headliner.  Oops! 
I was informed that the original adhesive would not let the new adhesive 
bond correctly to the new headliner.  The remedy was hand sanding the entire 
headliner board until they reached the base material, then again apply new 
adhesive and then the new headliner material.

All told, it took almost three weeks.  The outcome is that it looks pretty 
good - not as good as new, but darn close - and he stuck to his original 
quote of $375.  however, as I paid for and picked up the car, he said "Never 
again...".  Apparently he had recalled why he hadn't done one of these in a 
while and I think although he may not have lost money on the job, I also 
don' think there was much profit in it.

I probably could have done the work myself, but frankly, as I begin to push 
60, I find that I have less and less time for one-off jobs that I will never 
repeat in my lifetime.  So I blew $375, got a nice headliner in the process 
and saved my self an aggravation that often helps nudge one towards an early 
grave.  I'll save my efforts for working with the mechanicals versus the 
cosmetics.

Perhaps this doesn't help much in the pursuit of a new headliner.  Then 
again sometimes it's better to learn from someone else's efforts.

Later...

            - Steve Janesick
               '91 200 TQ20V 217k (and a fairly nice headliner)
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brian K. Ullrich" <bullrich at ullrichsys.com>
To: "'Tony Hoffman'" <auditony at gmail.com>
Cc: <200q20v at audifans.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 5:47 PM
Subject: RE: Source for inexpensive shocks and headliner


> Funny you mention Oklahoma City. My car was originally purchased there. 
> :-)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tony Hoffman [mailto:auditony at gmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 4:00 PM
> To: Brian K. Ullrich
> Cc: 200q20v at audifans.com
> Subject: Re: Source for inexpensive shocks and headliner
>
> Funny, I picked one up in Dallas about two months ago. Drove it to
> Oklahoma City. Pearl with black sport interior. but has a LOT of
> issues.
>
> Anyhow, onto your question, the cheapest place I know of for struts is
> autohausaz.com. Perhaps someone else knows a better place, though.
>
> The headliner can either be pulled and replaced or you can recover it.
> Basically, it's a foam and material covering on a piece of cardboard.
> You have to pull the pillar trim from the A, B, C, and D pillars,
> along with the sunroof trim and the grab handles/lights. Then, it
> should come out. check out the archives on the V8 list in the last
> four months or so, and you should find a pretty comprehensive writeup
> on it.
>
> Tony
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 12:36 PM, Brian K. Ullrich
> <bullrich at ullrichsys.com> wrote:
>> Hi guys.new to this list. I have rescued a '90 5 spd 200tq10v from a 
>> field
>> in N. Texas. Overall the condition is about a C-. 215K miles of (mostly)
>> documented ownership, body is straight and Pearl paint is good, interior
>> smells bad but is intact minus headliner, Pearl BBS's are in great shape,
>> tires and shocks are shot, brakes are ~OK.
>>
>> So far I've replaced the battery, entire clutch assembly, clutch actuator
>> lever and bearing in the tranny, and slave cylinder. She runs quite well
> for
>> having spent so long sitting, and despite being wrenched on by a guy who
>> thought there was no was an i-5 could be any more complex than a
> small-block
>> Chevy.
>>
>> I need to get her roadworthy and inspected or she risks being towed by my
>> HOA. Any ideas where I can get a cheap set of shocks just to get her past
>> the inspector?
>>
>>
>> Also, any ideas where I can get a headliner?
>
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