Headliner recovering

The headliner in the challenge car was a mess, so I recovered it. It was surprisingly easy. Yes, having an interior will put me at a dis-ad, but I have my reasons

Step 1:

Carefully remove old material, (it practicality fell off) and brush away the loose adhesive and foam with a soft broom. Strategic use of duct tape will brace any weak points or tears in the backing.

Step 2:

Spray adhesive down the center (left to right) to secure your new material. Then spray about 12" at a time, working the material down into the low spots.

Step 3:

Cut around the perimeter, leaving about 4" to fold over and glue to the hidden side of the panel. making a cut every 6" or so helps, especially where there is a curve. Now trim your holes for the dome light etc.

Done! Drink a beer and enjoy the savings. Cost me $18 in fabric, local interior shop wanted $75.

Nicely done - what did you use for adhesive? Super 77?

I've recovered many, many headliners after a sunroof installation (used to be a trainer) and it's quite easy. Most people are terrified by the prospect.
The biggest mistake is using cheap glue. What did you use?

You clearly wasted $18 of your Challenge budget.

The real GRM way to do it would be to slaughter a horse, make your own glue and used the hide as your new headliner.

(Sorry, Leslie...)

Is the fabric the usual stuff from the local fabric shop like Jo-Anne's ?

Good job! Looks great...

How do you make a headliner, if you only have bare metal for a roof?

fritzsch wrote: How do you make a headliner, if you only have bare metal for a roof?

I have read on-line or in a magazine where someone had cut off a junkyard roof for their car and used it to make a fiberglass mold. Which they then trimmed to size, covered and installed in the car...

In reply to DeadSkunk:

Yep. the Auburn Hills store has gray, Waterford has black. It's actually labeled as headliner material. Thicker than the OE stuff, but seems to work.

oldtin wrote: Nicely done - what did you use for adhesive? Super 77?

3M general trim adhesive, medium strength. It's what I had lying around.

Maybe I will do this sometime soon. The Saturn has needed it for a while, but I am lazy. To me, $100 is totally worth it to have a shop do it, but the hassle of taking my car to a shop and getting a ride back combined with the return trip is making this rather enticing.

Joannes fabric carries "headliner material" and it is fantastic for this job. It is a loose knit with a foam backing that is very forgiving to work with. It stretches and compresses without bunching up or getting thin looking. Clean the backer board well enough and a good can of glue can make you look like a hero.

If imagecave hadn't gone down last year I could post a bunch of pics.

ProDarwin wrote: Maybe I will do this sometime soon. The Saturn has needed it for a while, but I am lazy. To me, $100 is totally worth it to have a shop do it, but the hassle of taking my car to a shop and getting a ride back combined with the return trip is making this rather enticing.

my $75 quote was if I pulled out the liner and dropped it off... I had my Saturn done a few years ago, the headliner was called "oyster" IIRC. I have a black interior.

Woody wrote: You clearly wasted $18 of your Challenge budget. The *real* GRM way to do it would be to slaughter a horse, make your own glue and used the hide as your new headliner. (Sorry, Leslie...)

Clearly you have not priced horses lately.

I meant to say "Rescue Horse".

(Now I'm really sorry, Leslie...)

Just covered a Ranger pickup headliner with an "on sale" Batman logo blanket from Hancock fabric. $12.00.

If you have any sewing skills, upholstery is fun!

Bruce

I tried to get my friend to redo the headliner in his 740 volvo with the John Deere fleece fabric from Joann

fritzsch wrote: How do you make a headliner, if you only have bare metal for a roof?

Most older cars had metal staves that supported fabric headliners with pockets sewn into them for the staves.

You gotta be kinda good at sewing. I did one for my '60 Elky. But then again, I look pretty good in a apron and heels.

Are you saying you have an older car of similar construcion, or a molded panel one that is just missing? If you are missing a molded one, you can probably get one for nearly free from a junkyard.

SVreX wrote: But then again, I look pretty good in a apron and heels.

I demand pictures. Now.

Over my dead and severely beaten and broken little body.

Taiden wrote:

SVreX wrote: But then again, I look pretty good in a apron and heels.

I demand pictures. Now.

I don't want them...

As for the headliner. years ago when I redid the one in my bmw.. I did the same as you, but only used the headliner material for it's foam backing. It was the thinnest stuff I could find.

Going on 5 years now just using Super 77 as the adhesive.. and not a single sign of it coming loose

I am so re-doing mine in paisley.

Too Busy?

it's giving me a headache from my monitor... so I would say "just right"

I think I paid $200. for the replacement headliner in my truck (standard cab, BTW). It looked great for maybe a year, then mysteriously sagged in the middle. Whatever crappy glue they used to secure the fabric to the plastic backing gave up.

I am so doing it this way next time. At least I've got a solid place to start. The original fiber one was crumbling apart in places.