DIT Headliners?

That foam looks just like the BMW stuff. I scraped it off with a wire brush, for a couple of floppy parts of the cardboard I mixed up a little fiberglass resin and let it soak in. Covered in light felt from a fabric store. For glue I used 3m 80 (it says rubber and vinyl on the label, but in the small print includes headliners. In the words of Elwood Blues "this is glue - strong stuff"). Came out decent - there's a small wrinkle or two around some complex shapes, but for $20 instead of $200 I'm ok with it. The saab headliner looks like it has a less complicated shape.

I second the Plastidip or roll on bedliner.

when I redid the headliner in my ti.. I went to Joanns fabric store and got 3 yards of their headliner fabric. The fabric itself is nasty, but the foam is super thin and is easily the cheapest place to get foam that thin. I peeled the fabric off and used both spray glue and rubber cement to bond it to the headliner backer. 6 years on, it is still stuck well.

Once the foam was secured, I used the same method with spray glue and rubber cement to secure the fabric I picked (a form of synthetic suede that turned out not to be sun safe) the only difference was, I would wait till the glue was tacky before applying the fabric.

Again, except for the fact that the fabric has faded, it has held up VERY well and only cost about 50 bucks (at the most) to redo the headliner from start to finish

This is a job I keep putting off doing in the hope that one day someone will come to market with a quick and easy solution.

So I headed outside last night to see what I could do. Gloves, facemask and outside on the driveway to keep down the allergic reaction. This is what I started with Sorry about the crappy tablet photo, the 11 year old had the camera for taking dinosaur pictures! I started scrapping with various objects and found the remaining foam came off easily. Then I progressed to using the shop vac and using the smaller attachments as a combination of scrapper and instant removal. This worked great except on the curved areas, of which there are a lot. In the end I found a scrubbing pad was the perfect tool chasing it with the vacuum in the other hand. Only about 15-20 mins work cleaned all the old foam and crap off. Gentle cleaning and vacuuming of the back removed a lot of other dust and crap. Good news is I no longer seem allergic to it! After cleaning up – Old back seat base in background was my kneeling pad; I feel a leather garage sofa being made from the back seat soon I’m not sure if you can tell from these pics, especially as it was getting dark by now, but it’s a lot better surface to work with. 80% of the area is nice and smooth with a good sealed surface, the rest either the surface has abraded away, some prior and some by me cleaning, and the edges are all pretty bad as can be seen below. The corner showing how it’s delaminating and coming apart. In addition to the side parts having broken, you can see the area around the mirror attachment hole is also broke, should be an easy fix though. Excuse the blur, no flash and failing light.

So what now? Well I think it’s more savable than I did yesterday. I think I can line things up, add resin to soak in, and then lay some strips of fiberglass across the parts to join them. I don’t know if I can line the edges up well enough out of the car to get the shape correct, or if I need to try and put the parts inside the car and do it upside down. One more thing, there are large cut outs above each door for the mouse trap seat belts, I wonder if I could class in some additional material and get the shape close, again, not sure If I’d need to do that in the car. The thought of fiberglassing upside down isn’t appealing.

So right now I’m leaning away from the spray on, stick on solutions and going back towards fixing this.

oldtin wrote: That foam looks just like the BMW stuff. I scraped it off with a wire brush, for a couple of floppy parts of the cardboard I mixed up a little fiberglass resin and let it soak in. Covered in light felt from a fabric store. For glue I used 3m 80 (it says rubber and vinyl on the label, but in the small print includes headliners. In the words of Elwood Blues "this is glue - strong stuff"). Came out decent - there's a small wrinkle or two around some complex shapes, but for $20 instead of $200 I'm ok with it. The saab headliner looks like it has a less complicated shape.

Porno red, pimpy!!

Did you put the fabric straight on the backing, or did you have some thin padding first?

Bordello red baby - I couldn't find a good paisley at the time. No padding, the felt is a little heavier than the original stuff so I didn't sweat it. Toughest part was doing the sunroof panel since the whole cassette had to come out of the car. For gluing I laid everything in place, then folded half of it back on itself - sprayed the backer, sprayed the back side of the fabric - let it set for about a minute and sort of rolled the fabric in place from the center to the end - sticky stuff so once it touches, it doesn't like to move if you use the 3m 80.

oldtin wrote: Bordello red baby - I couldn't find a good paisley at the time. No padding, the felt is a little heavier than the original stuff so I didn't sweat it. Toughest part was doing the sunroof panel since the whole cassette had to come out of the car. For gluing I laid everything in place, then folded half of it back on itself - sprayed the backer, sprayed the back side of the fabric - let it set for about a minute and sort of rolled the fabric in place from the center to the end - sticky stuff so once it touches, it doesn't like to move if you use the 3m 80.

Cool.

Pics of it in the car?

I was thinking of something like this

Ooh, I like it! I'll see if I can get a decent in car pic later today instead of my usual fuzzy cell phone shots.

if you are going to glue fabric down.. I would not spray the whole thing and just place it. I found working from one end to the other in small 6 inch strips worked best. Spray the adhesive at the end, wait for it to get tacky, and then smooth the fabric onto it.

Once that part is dry enough where you do not need to worry about it peeling up or bubbling.. spray another 6 inch strip and roll and press the fabric onto it. Later, rinse, repeat

Oldtin - how big of a pain was it to remove the headliner tray? I know guys who have ruined their a/b/c pillar covers when taking them off so they could free the top tray. That's the other reason I've put off doing this in my M3.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Sorry about the crappy tablet photo, the 11 year old had the camera for taking dinosaur pictures!

In for Dinosaur Pics.

In reply to nderwater:

Having the ti made things a little easier - the tray came out through the hatch. None of it is particularly difficult - just a little time consuming. The A/B/C pillar covers are kinda fragile - plastic clips on the A pillars tend to snap off - the rubber molding or a little velcro will hold them if the clips snap. The B pillars are held by the seat belt bolts and a they slide over a plastic post/clip in the metal pillar - if you pull them out, the clips/tabs will break - usually the pillar cover not the plastic clip/post (epoxy putty can fix them if you go caveman on it) - lIRC lift them off the post once you have the seat belts/adjusters out of the way. C pillar covers - mostly held in place with the seat belt bolts and flip out window bolts - not a big deal. Main thing is just take your time and try to know how the piece is held in place. Sunroof cassette is held in by about 13 torx screws. Best to read the pelican parts guide on taking it apart if you redo the sunroof panel - there's some fragile bits.

Thanks!

I redid the headliner in my GTI last summer. After cleaning off the old glue/foam I just glued down some foam backed material that I bought at Joanne's Fabrics. It was all pretty straight forward as long as I let the glue get dry enough before pressing down the fabric.Put the glue on the substrate and your fabric for best bonding.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: So what now? Well I think it’s more savable than I did yesterday. I think I can line things up, add resin to soak in, and then lay some strips of fiberglass across the parts to join them. I don’t know if I can line the edges up well enough out of the car to get the shape correct, or if I need to try and put the parts inside the car and do it upside down. One more thing, there are large cut outs above each door for the mouse trap seat belts, I wonder if I could class in some additional material and get the shape close, again, not sure If I’d need to do that in the car. The thought of fiberglassing upside down isn’t appealing. So right now I’m leaning away from the spray on, stick on solutions and going back towards fixing this.

Adrian,

I've been working on making a headliner for my shop van. Been collecting the backer boards from several junkyard vans to get enough good sections to work with. Most of the newer vans have a foam core board. Probably similar to what you are working with.

On your backer, I'd be concerned that fiberglass resin might melt it. Try a drop on a small spot before slathering it on there.

One one of the foam core boards I'm using int he van, there was a hole for a dome light. I cut a section out of one of the junk boards to make a filler piece. I used the Elwood-style spray glue intended for the cloth with a thin piece of cardboard spanning the old dome light opening plus a couple inches around. I glued the cardboard to the back side of the headliner board (the part against the metal roof), and sprayed all the edges around the opening so the fill patch would hold. If you look carefully in the van you can see where it's patched under the cloth, but it's a work van. I just wanted to keep the heat down in the summer.

On your broken sections you might be able to fix them by gluing some thin cardboard on the back side. Might need to put some on the cloth side too.

When gluing it down, start from the middle and work your way out to the edges. Do no more than a 1/2 at a time. Take your time. Lay it out on the board with plenty of overlap hanging off the edges. Once you have it positioned, fold the cloth over on top pf the other side exposing 1/2 the board and the back half of that exposed side's cloth. Spray the glue on the board and the back half of the cloth that will cover it.

Slowly but firmly start spreading the cloth back over the board starting in the middle and working out to the edges. Once the whole side is covered, roll back the other side and repeat. Do the gluing with plenty of ventilation.

One other thing I did, and my upholstery buddy said it's the same thing he does. Wrap the cloth over the edges and up the back side of the board a little. Most of the factory installations are cut at the edge, and when the foam starts to fail that's where they start peeling off. You might need some clamps to hold it in place over the edges I used some large binder clips that were lying around I can't remember if I used some long paint stirrers bridging the clamps or not.

Ojala wrote: I have used sheets of plastic and molded it with a heat gun. If the shape is simple I like to use the thinner coroplast like is used for the small political signs. Use the old pressboard as a template, lay out the fabric then fold up 1/3, roll on a 1/3 of the glue, put down your fabric and press. Then continue on doing the next 1/3 and so on. Some guys like to put down a half at a time, but I'm not that good so I do a little at a time.

Second the coroplast idea. You can use spray adhesive on the interior side and cut a nice felt from the fabric store, then tuck and hot glue the edges on the roof side to clean it up, i fneeded. The interior trim may cover the outer edges. Easy enough to use more than one piece if you need to. Maybe glue dynamat or similar generic to the back. the coroplast should have some insulative value on its own, noise would need controlled.

EDIT: whoops, you've made progress, my advice is moot. Nice work.

In reply to foxtrapper:

Yes, Durabak:

http://durabakcompany.com/

I recently did the floor and where the headliner was on the inner roof. Choose your color, textured or smooth.

The off road guys have been using this on the outside and inside for a long time:

http://durabakcompany.com/scratchguard.htm

Also - I added this high heat resistant additive to the colored roll in liner: http://www.hytechadditive.com/ceramic-paint-additive.html

I'll find out this summer how well it works, after I get new seats installed and start driving the Camaro again

I gotta do the Ecflipse

Ive fixed the headliners in a few cars and its always the same recipe, let me lay it down for you.

Cars have all been your 80s to 90s crapbuckets, VW Rabbits, GTIs, Fox Mustangs, Eclipses, a Beretta, and a 96 Dodge Ram.

1. Remove the old headliner and backing. You already did this and broke yours. Major party foul on that one. Try to keep the original headliner backing (foam, cardboard, what have you) in good shape during removal. Easy way is to remove all the trim and then pull it out. You may have to remove the front seats or pop the door limiting straps free on a coupe.
2. Remove ALL the old foam from the headliner backing. Some cars, you can scrape with a putty knife. Other cars I have had great luck with a belt sander and a 36 grit sanding belt and careful application. Do this outside because it makes a huge mess. Foam and stuff everywhere. Wear a dust mask if you are sensitive to this stuff or want to live past 40. The belt sander will rip all the old foam off the backing very well. The surface of the headliner does not have to be 100% smooth, just remove all the old loose foam. The old adhesive can stay.
3. Source your fabric. As previously mentioned, JoAnn Fabrics stocks real headliner material but its only 60" wide, wide enough for your standard car, but not big enough for an extended cab full size truck. You can measure your stock headliner and get an idea. Lay a tape over the width of your car, press it up to the curves in the headliner, and add a foot. You want some to be able to wrap around the piece when its done.
4. Lay the material out on your headliner. You want at least 4-6" extra on all sides to account for the curves of the headliner.
5. Fold the material in half, leaving half your headliner backing exposed and half the back of the new covering exposed. Use 3M Super 77 or 80 spray adhesive and NOTHING ELSE. Spray a liberal amount on the backing and on the exposed back of your material. Follow the directions for a permanent bond and let the adhesive flash off.
6. Lay one half of the material down, work it with the palm of your clean, dry hand into position. It should stick down nice and even. You can stretch it around contours, be careful because you can get wrinkles doing this as well. Press it into shape around all contours. The material will stretch enough that you can put it on all the high surfaces and press it into the contours.
7. Repeat procedure for the other half of the headliner.
8. Trim openings with a razor knife. Leave at least 2-3" around all sunroof openings or major openings.
9. Flip the backing upside down. Spray adhesive on all overlapping material and all trimmed areas trimmed in step 8. Pull material around openings and stick down. Do not worry about small items like screw holes at this point.
10. Go back and punch holes with an awl at all screw holes and push pin locations.
11. Allow to dry 12 hours. Check to see no areas lifted and push back down any lifted areas. They should stay in location for 12 hours. If you skimped on adhesive, you will need to lift some areas carefully and re-glue.
12. Install.

I prefer to use light gray polar fleece instead of standard headliner material. Its stretchier, looks the same, and is available in 72" widths for larger vehicles. It does not have a foam backer, but because fleece is somewhat thick, it lays down very well.

You can use a similar technique to recover sun visors so they match the headliner. Most sunvisors are just cardboard that has been folded back on itself and glued together. A careful autopsy with a razor knife will split them open, then lay the headliner material on them when they are folded open and reseal them with hot glue.

4g63t wrote: I gotta do the Ecflipse

Me too (if I keep it). I need to find a backboard first because right now it doesn't even have one.

I was also considering doing this to my old Mazdaspeed3 which had stains already on the roofliner despite being only 2 years old when I bought it. That plus I don't like the typical mouse fur headliners most cars come with.

93gsxturbo wrote: Ive fixed the headliners in a few cars and its always the same recipe, let me lay it down for you. Cars have all been your 80s to 90s crapbuckets, VW Rabbits, GTIs, Fox Mustangs, Eclipses, a Beretta, and a 96 Dodge Ram. 1. Remove the old headliner and backing. You already did this and broke yours. Major party foul on that one. Try to keep the original headliner backing (foam, cardboard, what have you) in good shape during removal. Easy way is to remove all the trim and then pull it out. You may have to remove the front seats or pop the door limiting straps free on a coupe. The rest of the interior and seats were out. This was not carelesness, the old headliner was is such poor shape it just colapsed as I removed it. 2. Remove ALL the old foam from the headliner backing. Some cars, you can scrape with a putty knife. Other cars I have had great luck with a belt sander and a 36 grit sanding belt and careful application. Do this outside because it makes a huge mess. Foam and stuff everywhere. Wear a dust mask if you are sensitive to this stuff or want to live past 40. The belt sander will rip all the old foam off the backing very well. The surface of the headliner does not have to be 100% smooth, just remove all the old loose foam. The old adhesive can stay. Done, I've got a nice surface to work with. I've started joining it back together. I clamped it back in the correct shape and have added the first layers on F galss along the line of the roof to start with. Next will be to add some stregth to the back, then finaly the front side again and anpother layer completly covering the gar. 3. Source your fabric. As previously mentioned, JoAnn Fabrics stocks real headliner material but its only 60" wide, wide enough for your standard car, but not big enough for an extended cab full size truck. You can measure your stock headliner and get an idea. Lay a tape over the width of your car, press it up to the curves in the headliner, and add a foot. You want some to be able to wrap around the piece when its done. The surface will have enough imperfections that I'm considering a thin foam backing to help cover those up before the final covering goes on. 4. Lay the material out on your headliner. You want at least 4-6" extra on all sides to account for the curves of the headliner. 5. Fold the material in half, leaving half your headliner backing exposed and half the back of the new covering exposed. Use 3M Super 77 or 80 spray adhesive and NOTHING ELSE. Spray a liberal amount on the backing and on the exposed back of your material. Follow the directions for a permanent bond and let the adhesive flash off. 6. Lay one half of the material down, work it with the palm of your clean, dry hand into position. It should stick down nice and even. You can stretch it around contours, be careful because you can get wrinkles doing this as well. Press it into shape around all contours. The material will stretch enough that you can put it on all the high surfaces and press it into the contours. 7. Repeat procedure for the other half of the headliner. 8. Trim openings with a razor knife. Leave at least 2-3" around all sunroof openings or major openings. 9. Flip the backing upside down. Spray adhesive on all overlapping material and all trimmed areas trimmed in step 8. Pull material around openings and stick down. Do not worry about small items like screw holes at this point. 10. Go back and punch holes with an awl at all screw holes and push pin locations. 11. Allow to dry 12 hours. Check to see no areas lifted and push back down any lifted areas. They should stay in location for 12 hours. If you skimped on adhesive, you will need to lift some areas carefully and re-glue. 12. Install. I prefer to use light gray polar fleece instead of standard headliner material. Its stretchier, looks the same, and is available in 72" widths for larger vehicles. It does not have a foam backer, but because fleece is somewhat thick, it lays down very well. I like this idea, it may negate the need for the foam backing I mentioned. You can use a similar technique to recover sun visors so they match the headliner. Most sunvisors are just cardboard that has been folded back on itself and glued together. A careful autopsy with a razor knife will split them open, then lay the headliner material on them when they are folded open and reseal them with hot glue.