sunroof falling to bits

[George Selby]

Having done many headliners myself (including my 90 Jetta last week!) the 
problem is more than likely the foam is falling to pieces, and the fabric 
won't glue to constantly disintegrating foam. Only solution:  replace 
entire piece of fabric with new foam backed fabric.

I haven't heard of the 3M 77 stuff, but I use 3M General Trim Adhesive 
(part number 08088.)  No need to spend the extra money on Super Trim 
Adhesive unless you are trying to bond a heavy under-hood cover to the 
underside of a hood. The 3M is available at your FLAPS, Wal-Mart or Fabric 
supply store.  runs just under $15/can and will do about 1.5 entire 
headliners.  DO NOT TRY TO USE A CHEAPER GENERIC SUBSTITUTE.  I have, they 
never even last a day; 3M stuff:  lifetime repair.  Don't try to do it with 
the headliner/sunroof panel in the car, either, you have to remove the 
offending panel, let the foam-backed fabric lay on top of the backer board, 
and let it sit overnight.  The next day, the two will be permanently 
bonded, if you try to remove the fabric, the foam will tear.

Headliner material (foam backed fabric) in generic colors is available at 
your local fabric supply store (they usually have several shades of grey, 
black, doeskin, dark and light blue.)  You probably won't get an exact 
match to your present headliner, but if you do the entire headliner, it 
generally looks good, even if it doesn't exactly match the side panels (or 
do the side panels, then no one will ever know.


George Selby