Headliner

[Dave8N in Pa]

Anybody ever try to recover a headliner? Was it hard to do? Did it stay on? Would you advise a novice to try it?

 

[dr sportster]

Yeah in a 59 T-Bird that fastens to wood strips in the ceiling. I don't think they do it like that anymore.

 

[Oregon Tractor Jack]

I have done a couple of standard cab pickups in the past. You reuse the pressed board, scrape off all the old foam and use contact cement to glue the new liner in place. You need to make sure you get the correct grade of contact cement though. Auto upholstery shops usually use a 3M contact adhesive that is made for this purpose. It gets a lot harder for a car. The headliners are usually way more complicated a shape and you have to know how to get the liner to blend to it as you install it. For a car or a extended cab truck I would take the liner out, prep it and then take it to an upholstery shop. There are some headaches that best to avoid and this is one of them...

OTJ

 

[leroy in ne]

You might want to look up 3M headliner spray adhesive and see if it will do what you want. I used it to repair the headliner covering in wife,s Explorer. I got it at Walmart and would guess most auto supply stores would have it available.

 

[Fleeter]

Some auto glass franchises will recover a headliner.
They pull the headliner out, strip it and then roll out and glue the new one on and then replace.
Had one done on my '05 Taurus as I watched. - not cheap - $250

 

[ss55]

It might help to say what the headliner is in. On my brother's 15 year old S-10 pickup we pulled out the sagging headliner he liked the looks of the painted metal, he never replaced the headliner.

 

[Dave8N in Pa]

It's a 2000 dodge van ram 2500

 

[gab]

The problem is the foam deteriorates and crumbles, the 3M adhesive works good but won't stick to the rotten foam. On my 90 GMC I took the whole thing out, tried to scrap/blow all the loose stuff off then saturated the board with spray paint and after dried hit it with the glue and stuck the fabric cover. It stayed but was a long ways from perfect. At work the only way we'd do it is replace the whole thing.

 

[johnlobb]

I did my '99 Saturn "S" 4 door sedan. Joanne fabrics has some headliner material, I think light gray and beige. 3M has headliner spray glue. You can watch some YouTube videos that show you how to do it. I used a hand wire brush to remove all the old adhesive I could after removing (scraping with a putty knife) the old headliner. You cut a piece to fit allowing overlap on all sides, and start in the middle, working side to side and from the middle to the rear, and to the front from the middle. You only do a portion at a time, and smooth it down with a piece of cardboard or a soft rubber wiper of some kind. Takes a little while, but the result is worth it.

 

[jeffcat]

As has been said about crumbles of old foam, 3M glue, and removing 5he cardboard. I would tell you to just suck it up and cough up a couple humdred to get a perfect job done. Now there is one thing you can do if you don't mind an arts and crafts look to your truck. Go to Joanns fabrics or some arts and crafts stores. Buy yourself a couple of packs of "upholstery twist pins". They work quite well and you can put them in a fancy pattern or straight lines.

 

[Mark-Ia]

i used a staple gun.

 

[Steve@Advance]

I did one several years ago on a Ram.

Like others said, replace the fabric, clean the cardboard of all residual foam and glue.

I made the mistake of using too much glue on the fabric and some soaked through. Be very sparing.

 

[dhermesc]

I bought my son a bunch of them to fix the headliner in his pickup. He wouldn't do it - said it would looks stupid.... His girlfriend took them and made a couple of designs with them. Then she put her name and above the passenger seat and his above the drivers. I guess he's stuck with her now.

 

[Moonlite37]

This is completely tractor related. I had one replaced on my 986. A little married lady replaced ii. She told me to remove all of the cloth and crumbled foam and to bring the tractor early in the morning while cool WHAT A MESS, The crumbled mess stuck to me and was hard to remove from my body in shower and then the shower was hard to clean, I rook the tractor the next morning while it was cool. She worked in a swim suit, I went home and returned during the heat of the day and the job was finished and she had cleaned up.
I understand the foam for a tractor cab is thicker than for a car or truck. I think it cost about $150 or $200

 

[jeffcat]

I had to laugb at this one! Serves him right and letting a girl friend loose in his truck. Glad it worked. Now he has a gypsy headliner.

 

[Barts Dad]

Daughter had a 92 Sundance while in high school. Headliner started coming loose in the center, the edges were all folded over and covered by moldings. Tried the upholstery pins but didn?t have much success. Picked up some 1/4 stainless pan head screws with some stainless 3/4 fender washers and went at it. She had a pattern for me to follow and was pleased with the results. Later we sold the car to the neighbor kids who called it the Milky Way car, star gazing without a moon roof! Whatever works. 😉

 

[Bob - MI]

Did a 1976 Camaro once. Foam backer got rotten and started to release the covering.

Took the dome light off and all the perimeter trim. Soft wire brushed the rotten foam off the back of the covering and the board behind it. Sprayed both sides with contact cement and we were back in business.

Downside was that the foam serves to soften the look up a bit and damps noise so it was never as good as new.

You may want to search out an upholstery shop to see if they can help re-skin the backer board and then you just re-mount it.

 

[circus]

I replaced my brothers civic headliner for Christmas. Remove the assembly from the vehicle. Remove the remaining foam. I used a really coarse hand scuff pad mounted on a 4" grinder. Messy but worked great. Use commercial grade contact cement on both the new headliner and substrate. The consumer grade will let go after a year or so. Remember, once the two glued surfaces touch that's where they stay. The new headliner is stretchy so it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

 

[Bob Harvey]

Yes, No and NO.

 

[Welding man]

Did one in my 1998 Dodge 3500 and in my International S 1700 . Both turned out very well. My wife even bragged on me.

 

[farmer boy]

I haven't tried saving one myself, but that's because at work, they no longer bother. Never had any luck. Service manager tried it in his tractor. Co-worker tried it in his truck multiple times. Ugly, becomes rock hard, and not overly effective. Forget the glue. Try to mechanically hold it in place, it that doesn't work, replace it.

 

[ASEguy]

I've done two. The hardest part was figuring out how to get it out of my 4 door truck. I bought my headliner online and the headliner adhesive locally. It just takes patience and a partner.