DIY:Removing the headliner

[martialartsblac]

30 seconds? I waited 30 minutes. The head liner was in good shape so I just covered it with my new material {wal-mart suede looking and feeling material $4.99} I used a can of contact cement and painted it on with a foam brush. Then sprayed the material with the 3m-spray stuff. I let it completely dry, which is what you should do. Ive used contact cement for the last 15 years in carpet and upholstery. Let it dry. You can use your hands which is what I did to smooth it out and attach it then used a wallpaper seam roller to finish it

[XmEnNiNjA]

30 seconds before you apply the material to the headliner. not 30 seconds to dry.

[Doug001]

30 seconds before you apply the material to the headliner. not 30 seconds to dry.

I think he means that you should wait 30 minutes after applying the adhesive before you put the new fabric on the panel... which is what I've heard about contact cement. I've waited 10-15 minutes when using 3M Super 77 before sticking the pieces together, but then I was applying case foam to plywood so YMMV.

[Blake2043]

My uncle is going to get me some 3M Headliner spray. Has anyone used that before? He gets it free from his workplace.

[Makster]

Thanks for the info, i wonder is the 4 drs is a same progress???

[Kaiv]

Old skool > thanks a bunch for the very detailed DIY I love it when people take the time to post stuff like that

headsup for those looking to redo their headliner, there's a sale right now at Joann fabric, a yard of micro-suede material is 5.99 instead of the regular 12.99

[enda320]

refitting is often the worst bit. you might need a helping hand to hook the rear edge into the metal lip and hold it there while you attatch the rest up.

mine was done in a hurry, and the back edge is quite frayed, and cracked (well, has the odd fold that gives a line a weakness)
maybe painting on a small amount of fiberglass resin, or folding a strip of tape over the edge could help.
if you have trouble, you know what i'm on about. might try it on my next refitting

[m3j0n]

thanks for this DIY!

[graywolf316]

saw some one do this with suede looked good, Great DIY!

[old skool]

No problem.

[NY N8TVE]

What kind of paint do you recommend to use on the rear deck? I need to restore mine - it was black and now it is a faded blueish color.

[old skool]

duplicolor fabric dye.

[runetang[1337]]

heh, see mine is sagging down, the cloth part is, on the headliner.

my car is painted black from the factory, so underneath my pillars and my roof headliner will be black painted metal? awesome!

i may just roll with the headliner off. sure the wires would be a bit ghetto, but can be tucked away nicely. then when i get sick of it, id buy a new headliner, a black one, or paint one.

would you say all of the headliner and foam stuff you removed weighs a total of ... 5 pounds? hehe.

[old skool]

You can always just recover your headliner with new fabric. Or buy a used one. (~$100)

[m3j0n]

awesome DIY, thanks!

[LazyBoy]

great write up, keep em coming

[old skool]

[m3j0n]

ive been looking forever. I cant find the high temp 3m spray adhesive for the life of me. Anyone know where to buy it (the high temp version is necessary, i hear)?

[2bms]

Old Skool: I did this today, was quite apprehensive before I started, but I followed your instructions to the letter and it worked like a dream. Thank you so much. Members like you make this forum very worthwhile for DIY dummies like myself. Gratitude and respect.

[old skool]

You're welcome. I too was aprehensive before I did it. But it isn't so bad. I am glad it helped.

[The Ripe Punani]

Yeah, the cloth on my headliner is starting to come off too. Is this guide to just remove the headliner? Can you still reattach the A and C pillar stuff back on or whatnot?

[estorile36m3]

Great thread, nicely done-

I just have one question to throw out there before I get to work-- is it really necessary to remove all four pillars? I have heard and it seems likely that you could remove just the front ones, and then pull the old headliner out of the pillars in the back...
what do you guys think?
thanks,
james

[old skool]

Yeah, the cloth on my headliner is starting to come off too. Is this guide to just remove the headliner? Can you still reattach the A and C pillar stuff back on or whatnot?

You can re-attach in the reverse of the removal. So, just put it back on the way that you took it off.

Great thread, nicely done-

I just have one question to throw out there before I get to work-- is it really necessary to remove all four pillars? I have heard and it seems likely that you could remove just the front ones, and then pull the old headliner out of the pillars in the back...
what do you guys think?
thanks,
james

You might be able to get away without removing the c-pillars. Just be careful. The headliner is fragile, also it hooks around the sheet metal at the back at the top of the glass.

[Shaetoon]

what if i just want to do my sunroof?
do i still need to take all the pillers off, or can i just "Pull off the rubber/felt [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]gasket[/COLOR][/COLOR] seal for the sunroof. It is easier to do this if the sunroof is slid open." from post#29 and then apply my material over the old fabric on the sunroof from there?..

Also would just going over the existing fabric run into tight clearance issue for the sunroof? im planing to do a black suede and not to thick of one when i find it.

Please let me know.
Thanks-

[old skool]

I'm not sure what you want to do. If you are talking about only removing the fabric shuttle from the sunroof itself, you can do this without removing the entire sunroof.

You can peel off the inner rubber seal around the sunroof as long as the sunroof is open.