headliner ?

[mellowyellow]

the headliner in my deville has begun to come<br />loose in 1 spot. it's in perfect shape, but looks<br />like the glue is letting go. has anyone tried to<br />remove it and re-glue it? suggestions?<br />also, what would a bodyshop charge to install a<br />new one?<br />thanks in advance,<br />M.Y.

 

[jtexas]

Re: headliner ?

I don't even remember all the things I tried to fix my mother-in-law's headliner (Town Car) about 10 yrs ago. I didn't think I could disassemble all the trim and get it back together again so I was trying to glue it back in place. Problem was all the bits of disintegrating foam on the roof kept the glue from sticking. Somebody with more confidence than me working with the interior trim would have better luck. They have this self-adhesive foam-backed poster-board at craft stores that I thought might work but instead I found a little auto upholstery place here in town that did it for about $125.<br /><br />jtw

 

[ndemge]

Re: headliner ?

don't know if this helps or not...<br /><br />in my minivan the headliner was sagging everywhere.... it wasn't a problem of the glue letting go from the fabric, the actual foam of the head liner that it glued to was disinigrating.<br /><br />don't know if you could poke a hole and spray a lot of adhesive in there, and maybe get some more time out of it.<br /><br />In a friends old station wagon when I was a kid, his dad took strips of off and put up on top from side to side the entire length of the wagon, they were flexible and would go in the trim of each side and it worked good, and actually looked liked it belonged there being stained the same as the other wood trim.<br /><br />getting a head liner put in may be expensive.<br /><br />...on my minivan, I just removed the entire thing, and I have a metal top now.... amazing how much a difference that insulation makes!

 

[mattttt25]

Re: headliner ?

in his old toyota, my dad cut a perfect square out of the headliner, outlining his head. he looked ridiculous driving down the road (could barely see his eyes), but it kept it from laying on his head.

 

[mellowyellow]

Re: headliner ?

so...it's the foam breaking down, makes sense.<br />u guys know everything! LOL<br />jtw has the answer here <br />M.Y.

 

[salty87]

Re: headliner ?

this might not be too pretty but how much time do you really spend looking at a headliner anyway?...usually only if its hanging on your head.<br /><br />on an old t-bird i had, i used wire mesh (not chicken wire but the mesh made out of little squares). if you trim a piece that's just slightly larger than what you need, the bow created in the mesh (by being just barely too big)will keep it flexed in an arch and hold the old headliner up. the edges of the mesh should fit right into the crack where the trim around the egde is, i used wire cutters to trim. you can even remove the light and replace it when the mesh is in place.<br /><br />cost- about 10 bucks....i called it my heavy metal mesh pit (old metallica fan).<br /><br />being a de ville, you might want better though

 

[mellowyellow]

Re: headliner ?

redneck repairs is always the most fun! <br />maybe a piece of paneling?

 

[BrianFD]

Re: headliner ?

I like Salty's reply, but don't you get worried when you're driving in a thunderstorm?? hehehe<br />Seriously, MY, you might want to check with a junk yard.<br />I had an old Mustang that the headliner was disintregrating and no amount of glue (spray or otherwise) would help. Like ndemge, I ended up tearing it out and went without. Like he said, in a rain, sounded like it was coming through the roof!<br />Good luck

 

[aspeck]

Re: headliner ?

It is next to impossible to get a headliner glued back in place. Basically your options are to order a new one from the factory and install it, get an upholstery shop to make you a new one, get a used one from the junk yard, or take the stapler off your desk and use it to re-attach the headliner to the foam and cardboard backing. Hey, its not a factory job, but 100 staples spaced fairly evenly across the roof don't look too bad and it does do the job!

 

[Skiuseme]

Re: headliner ?

I Have Replaced my head liner my self it is really easy. Pull all the fabric off and clean up the foam. go to the fabric store and buy some fabric and a 3M product called foam fast 78. it has an orange hint to the glue so you can see where you sprayed it. let the glue sit for about 5 minutes and then apply the fabric making sure that you go over the edges and glue on back also. My headliner in my dakota went about 5 years ago and it is still up. Just my .02 cents

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: headliner ?

The local OReileys/ Autozone has these little thumbtack type things. They push through and it has barbs to hold in the foam. They are colored to kinda match your interior. I think there like 3 bucks for 25 or so.

 

[11 footer]

Re: headliner ?

Use a staple gun, about five years ago we had a 1985 Town car with a sagging headliner. It was sagging torward the back, we let it go for a long time, because it was just a beater car and no one really sat back their anyway.<br /><br />After a while it go to be anoying, because the car has a carage roof and the back window was on the small side to start with, but the headliner was blocking the top half of it. My dad got so pissed with it one sunday morning the grabed a staple gun from this truck and just went nuts on it, about 5 mins and 50 staples later it was back up.<br /><br />I think moisture causes it, for some reason the headliner in our 1988 Crown Vic is still high and dry.......she'll be next though