Headliner

JD1964

there is enough sticking out to grab on to
15 Year Member
Jun 28, 2013
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Maryland
My headliner is falling down in the back. I loosened the trim and tucked it back up but I know it wont stay long, especially if driving with windows down.

What kind of adhesive is best for sticking it back up? Is there a trick to making the job easy? The liner is in good condition and I'd like to salvage it.

Thanks
 
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I had bad luck redoing mine with Loctite and 3M spray adhesive. Both over time let go.

This last time I did it was with a roll on contact cement. I had it bleed through in a few small spots (not noticeable) but so far so good.

Mine was not the original material though, mine was a material I bought at a fabric store when I went from red to black, so that may affect results.
 
A headliner is one of the easiest things to replace for just about anybody with the use of two hands.

You remove the trim that holds it in place, and will probably have to remove one of the front seats. after getting the headliner out you tear off the old junk, and use a wire brush to remove the remaining crusty funk that is left behind. Once the surface of the backer is all clean, and free of the remaining dust from the old headliner, you go to either a fabric supply store (to include Walmarts' fabric department) or an automotive upholstery supply store and buy enough replacement, foam backed, headliner material to cover it.

Then laying that backerboard on a clean surface (like a garage floor, but not like MY garage floor) you rough cut the material to leave a 3" or so overlap.
Fold it in half, on top of itself leaving it in place over the backer board you intend to recover. .
When you went to Walmart, you should have also bought a can of 3M Super 77 spray adhesive.
The nozzle has an adjustable spray pattern, (L.M.H.) I choose H.
Spray the adhesive on the backerboard, and the half of the back of the material and give it 5 minutes to tack up.
Then.....
Starting at the middle, with your fingers, start pushing the fabric from the folded center onto the backerboard, I move my hand back and forth across the crease as I push the fabric onto the backer board being careful not to let the rest of that thing flip over onto the backer until it gets to the end.

Then, once that side is done, repeat the same for the other.

Whip out a brand new single edge razor blade, and (using the sharp end) cut the remaining overlap even w/ the edge of the backer board.

So easy even a simpleton w/ less than a sixth grade education, a can of spray glue, and a razorblade can do his own headliner.
 
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3M super 90 spray adhesive and a roll of black fabric from local crafts store. Think I spent $15 tops.

Took the board out, peeled the old headliner off and them cut a sheet roughly larger than the original and glued it on. Took an hour to set.

Then I I stalled and trimmed it in the car. I had a sunroof as well, but not difficult to do at all.

Been 5 years since...holding fine.
 
Good deal! So it looks like I need to get new material anyway. So, I'll just rip my existing one all the way down until project day.

Anybody out there driving around without any headliner at all?
 
Good deal! So it looks like I need to get new material anyway. So, I'll just rip my existing one all the way down until project day.

Anybody out there driving around without any headliner at all?

Guess not. Evidently, while a sixth grader can install a headliner, You gotta be a 10th grader before you can drive.
So by that time, all the sixth graders have already replaced their saggy assed headliner on their project car, waiting till the day their old enough to drive it.
 
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If my existing fabric is is good condition, can I just reuse it? I'll pull the board, clean all the crust off and retack my existing fabric down with the 3M spray adhesive. Will that work?