Gearstick gaiter
Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2018 5:02 pm
Hi
The most obvious fault with the interior of my Mk2 when I got it, was a very frayed, split gearstick gaiter and the stitching had all come loose.
Now I’m not that handy with car maintenance and I’ve never attacked trim repairs etc. But this time I thought “why not, let’s have a go”.
I just wanted to encourage anyone who has a similar problem, don’t be afraid to try.
I bought a new suede green gaiter from Aldridge Trimming. Just £13 and it arrived in Just a couple of days. Removing the centre console was straightforward. Undo the chrome button at the back, move both seats to fully back, then jiggle the console backwards to release the front. Undo the ball on the gearstick then lift the console out.
The carpet section at the rear of the console was loose, so I re-glued it with contact adhesive while I was able to.
Turning the console over, I saw the gaiter was fixed in place (58 years ago!) with about 20 short metal tacks. 20 minutes with a small flat head screwdriver and I levered them all out. The old gaiter came loose. Before throwing it away, I used it as a template to cut a few slots in the base of the new gaiter. You need to do this to make it sit nicely in the aperture of the console.
I positioned the new gaiter in the console, with the stitching lined up with the centre of the hole, and put in just one tack. I then turned it over to check alignment. Happy with this, I tacked the front of the gaiter with another tack and checked again. All good. It was then just another 15 minutes carefully positioning the rest of the tacks, and the final result was VERY satisfying.
So..... may I suggest that this was a straightforward job and really improved the appearance of the interior. Highly recommended!!
The most obvious fault with the interior of my Mk2 when I got it, was a very frayed, split gearstick gaiter and the stitching had all come loose.
Now I’m not that handy with car maintenance and I’ve never attacked trim repairs etc. But this time I thought “why not, let’s have a go”.
I just wanted to encourage anyone who has a similar problem, don’t be afraid to try.
I bought a new suede green gaiter from Aldridge Trimming. Just £13 and it arrived in Just a couple of days. Removing the centre console was straightforward. Undo the chrome button at the back, move both seats to fully back, then jiggle the console backwards to release the front. Undo the ball on the gearstick then lift the console out.
The carpet section at the rear of the console was loose, so I re-glued it with contact adhesive while I was able to.
Turning the console over, I saw the gaiter was fixed in place (58 years ago!) with about 20 short metal tacks. 20 minutes with a small flat head screwdriver and I levered them all out. The old gaiter came loose. Before throwing it away, I used it as a template to cut a few slots in the base of the new gaiter. You need to do this to make it sit nicely in the aperture of the console.
I positioned the new gaiter in the console, with the stitching lined up with the centre of the hole, and put in just one tack. I then turned it over to check alignment. Happy with this, I tacked the front of the gaiter with another tack and checked again. All good. It was then just another 15 minutes carefully positioning the rest of the tacks, and the final result was VERY satisfying.
So..... may I suggest that this was a straightforward job and really improved the appearance of the interior. Highly recommended!!