I'm back in the Volvo fold - sold my 2001 V70 T5 a few years ago, and stopped visiting this forum. Just bought a 2005 V50 2.4i (economy, not speed!) and - of course - it has a few issues. That's why I was able to buy it for chump change! ;-)

The interior is in pretty good shape, other than the fabric on the door panels. The cloth fabric is hanging loosely, and the (orange!!!) glue has pretty much given up the ghost. Probably has something to do with Arizona heat.

Anyway, has anyone ever re-upholstered these panels? Looks like it would be a relatively easy task, and I'm thinking of upgrading the fabric from the cheesy white cloth to something cool like perforated leather (or pleather, depending on what I can find). Or maybe some racy-looking upholstery fabric...

Let me know if you've done this (or if you are thinking of doing the same to your V50).

 

The fabric panels in my V50 really (!) let down the interior... I don't know what Volvo was thinking when they chose that nasty, goopy red (!!!) glue to hold the fabric in place on the door panel inserts. After 13 years in Arizona, it was rendered anything but "glue-like", letting the cloth sag and pull out...


Also, the plastic door handles were in serious need of love. The rest of the interior (with the exception of a couple other bits I've written about) was in great shape, so it really was time to do something about this...

I also pulled the waterfall console out - it wasn't all that bad, but I wanted it to match the new paint on the other plastic bits...



A little pre-job tug at the fabric verified that the glue was doing nothing at all to hold the fabric in. In fact, with the panels out, the weight of the light plastic panel alone was enough to separate the fabric from the panel.


If anything, it was worse on the rear doors...


To the point the previous owner apparently just pulled all the fabric off the right rear door (and cleaned off that nasty, sticky, goopy glue).


After spending some time with a heat gun trying to keep the posts that are part of the panel, I gave up and drilled out the "mushroom caps" that are caused when the panel is melted into place at the factory. Quick and cheap, but not a good thing for the DIYer.


This is what one of those panels looks like after half an hour of scrubbing with a big pile of shop towels and liberal amounts of acetone. That glue is NASTY.


After applying a couple thick coats of spray adhesive to both the fabric and the panel, I stood the long end of the panel on the fabric about an inch from the edge, then reached under the fabric (with the panel's glue side up), slowly working the fabric onto the panel with my (cleaned!) fingertips, using a back and forth motion as I worked the fabric onto the panel and around the curves.


The new fabric was thicker and heavier than the old stuff, so it put up a pretty good fight getting it around all the corners at the front and back edge. But that's all hidden with the doors shut anyway so any minor wrinkles are pretty much invisible. Pay attention to how the original fabric is trimmed so you'll replicate that with the new stuff.


I used an industrial-strength quick-set adhesive to replace the rivets. It worked pretty well, though if I had to do it again, I'd also lay a bead around the circumference of the panel and hold it all in place with sandbags while the adhesive set up.


The end result is a huge improvement. It's funny, but it looks a lot better in person than in the photos. The fabric is shiny enough that it appears to have wrinkles that aren't really there.









And while I had the console out, I replaced the missing shift gate blind, which also has a little magnet that allows operation of the manual shift gate (it was all broken to bits, laying under the shifter). Note the new tuning ****, and radio display (which looks exactly like the old one, but the top half of this one actually works!).


The painted door handles (and console) look like new - really an easy job (unlike the door panels).