Antenna base mount installation help

[sdhelzer]

Yesterday while in the parking lot of a store in a mall some G.. D.... F...... idiot placed a box on the roof of my Jetta and slid it backwards over the roof scratching the hell out of the roof and trunk and breaking off my stubby antenna.

The scratches I can compound out ok and I believe that I can replace the antenna mount but...

For the life of me I can't figure out how to bring down the headliner from the rear of the car.

Can anyone give me advice. My repair manual has absolutely no information regarding this procedure.

[sdhelzer]

I am disappointed, apparently no one has any info on how to properly lower the headliner in a Jetta.

Never mind; I will figure it out tomorrow, even if I have to take the whole damn thing down from the front to the rear.

[lazlow]

The back of the headliner is sort of wedged against a piece of steel. Its kind of hard to describe but you can pull it down just enough to get your hand up in there and take undo the bolt for the antenna base. It'll probably put you in an awkward position against your rear windshield but you can do it. I know because i did this to replace my antenna with a sharkfin one. Be careful not to bend your headliner too much or else you'll leave a line in it. I'll see if I can find a picture to help and perhaps figure out a better way to describe how its attached.

EDIT: Excuse my finger but this is from my interior conversion thread, you can see the lip on the back of the headliner there.

[sdhelzer]

Thanks for the info.

I earlier found a post on another forum that echoes your technique.

Using it as a quideline I was able to drop the headliner from the rear after removing the courtesy grab handes and lights and replace the anntenna base mount.

It was by no means easy but it went sucessfully and I don't have any creases in the headliner.

If and when you get some time you might want to go ahead and post a complete write-up of your technique with pictures. I am sure that sometime in the future othes will need to replace their roof mounts.

Thanks.