Hello...Just wondering if anyone else has thought of tearing out the cloth headliner and painting the board that's left underneath..

Am I dreaming? or mistaken?

It beats the hell outta trying to put a new one in...:>...


what's the opinion out there?

Thanks, Josh

Hey, I staple gunned mine over a year ago and it hasn't sagged yet. it works great. The staples dont show like pins on a bulletin board.

Hey, I staple gunned mine over a year ago and it hasn't sagged yet. it works great. The staples dont show like pins on a bulletin board.

Hey, I staple gunned mine over a year ago and it hasn't sagged yet. it works great.

You can replace the headliner for around $100 and the job isn't that difficult. You will not only improve the appearance, but you will increase the value of the car as well. For me, it was time and money well spent.

If the fabric is still pretty intact, you can buy clear "push-pins" at the auto parts store, only that instead of a straight pin, it's bent into a screw thread so it stays and won't pull out.

Staple guns have been suggested too, but the force could crack the board.

While you can leave it bare, I would not suggest pulling the cloth off in the car, lest you be dealing with foam crumblets for the next few weeks ... or months ... or years. Depending on how often you'll be vacuuming.

And of course once it's out, then you may as well redo the headliner.

-- Kane
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Blossom II - '91 745Ti/M46 ... Bubbles - '74 144GL/BW35 ... Buttercup - '86 245GL/AW70 ... The Wayback Machine - '64 P220/M40

Actually, it's "twistpins".
--
Jim McDonald

Any suggestions on how to get the fabric to adhere to the cardboard in a more lasting manner?

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alex

'89 765T, 173,9xx mi

3M Blue 72 spray adhesive, works great but is kinda pricey. About 10-12 bucks a can. Auto parts stores, or some fabric stores.

Hey, Alex, this little help of mine is based on replacing a total of ONE headliner. :-) But it's bulletproof. Knock on wood.

Maybe it's like when I asked your advice on HTML coding: it's simpler, conceptually, than you might think; e.g.

- a stiff (fiberglass-strengthened) liner (backing board?) covers MOST of the overhead

- it intentionally leaves gaps at its edges and also at points in the middle, as around sunroof, etc. so that it can be shifted to fit... has a fudge-factor

- FABRICcovers the headliner (1) to give it a $$$ look, and (2) to cover (bridge) the gaps just mentioned. You have many choices.

- FOAM-backed fabric is commonly used to (1) give it that pimpmobile look? (2) help hide irregularities, whether bumps, or the bridged gaps at the edges, etc. You now have fewer choices, if you want foam.

- the fabric should be able to DISTORT along the warp and woof so that it can readily conform to hollows. (I fought this, and lost, when I used bulletproof Sunbrella [canvas] to do my headliner.) This also restricts your choices.

- Ha! To your question. You want it to stick? Use a 3M glue, as sold for the job. That's the good answer. A more radical answer is to leave out the weak foam layer! Then use any high quality glue you like, on some conformable fabric. (Which will, however, reveal more of the irregularities of the overhead to people who lie around staring at overheads.)

In a nutshell: the glue is not the problem. It's the foam. Especially as it ages, and weakens, with ozone, UV, wear and tear...

Hope this makes sense.

Gregg, Mpls

Yeah, I'm going for that $$$ look. So far the headliner isn't sagging much (maybe a few mm)... but it's that ugly tan color I can't get over. My thought is to replace the headliner fabric (and all the other fabric on the trim pieces in the car) with some microfiber stuff (think UltraSuede or Alcantara here) in a more pleasing color (probably black).

What about just buying some foam and fabric separately? Would I then need to find foam thinner than 1/8"? Any ideas where to find such foam?

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alex

'89 765T, 173,9xx mi

Hey, Alex, that's the attitude! "What about just buying some foam and fabric separately? Would I then need to find foam thinner than 1/8"? Any ideas where to find such foam?"

Do a TEST run. I kid you not. Couple square feet out in the open air, on some panel with some contours.

Foam and fabric separately? Why not, for that custom job. Just increase the adhesive budget, and learn how to lay the foam and fabric out together with few to no wrinkles!

Where would you find it?
Ask the most experienced-looking staff member at your big sewing-goods store.
Ask the people at your biggest local foam shop. These places are exciting, when you find one with a real variety of stock. ("Some enchanted evening, you will find a foam shop... once you have found it never let it go...")
McMasterCarr.com?
google?

:-)
Gregg

Do a TEST run. I kid you not. Couple square feet out in the open air, on some panel with some contours.

Indeed. I'm not yet concerned how the thin foam will look, I'm just curious how the original fabric is measured (so it will fit properly once installed). There seems to be some agreement that Volvo headliner fabric should be pretty thin. Is 1/8" the height of the fabric? The foam? The combined height?

Where would you find it?

Well I've tried Google. That turned up a bunch of Canadian firms, a bunch of people selling stuff at least 1/2" thick, and really not many useful results.

I've got pretty low expectations for the local shops for sure. I will probably end up starting with the rest of the interior panels (doors, pillars, sunroof, etc).

Unfortunately I've just blown a nice wad of money on something a bit more important: motor mounts. Man.. even at a discount the aftermarket units are spendy.

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alex

'89 765T, 173,9xx mi

You can get the foam backed material from an Auto Upholstery Supply or Shop.

I've also seen some "Tijuana" style foam backed patterns that would hide every little bump or glue spot at my Local Flea Market on rolls...probably could get some matching seat covers too...saw a pattern with the right tan background color for my 765...but it also had Big Tigers lurking behind Bamboo on it too...!

Good Luck!

I used the smallest staples I could find - one of the tiny, desktop staplers that measure about 3". You have to look very closely to see them, they are that thin.....

Jay
84 245 GLTi 227k
88 740 GLE 182k

I've tried using both the 3M and Napa Brand Spray Adhesives, both with little luck to fix several sagging spots. I am sure both would work fine with new material and the liner board out and cleaned, but for a repair to a specfic area trying to get the old stuff back up, they both made a bigger mess than I had before.

The problem is the left over rotting foam backing on the old material, and the bits of foam on the board...makes for a really poor bond...no matter how much you adhesive you blast in ! I dumped almost half a can in one 10" x 10" area, and held it with pressure for about 20 minutes...looked great...for a day...until the next layer of foam let go!

Good Luck!

Try Ailene's Tacky Glue. Use a syringe to inject 1 inch diameter spots between the fabric and backing. The glue has enough substance that it penetrates the rotting foam. You'll need to use a 2 x 4 and a cardboard pad to hold the headliner in places as glue dries. It's held up for a year in our '90 745. The headliner looks like a dalmatian, but it doesn't sag. We used upholstery buttons in my mother in law's '88 744 at the rear of the headliner. That car has a much thicker headliner than the '90, but the buttons have held up just as well.


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D '90 745T 216k, '88 744GLE 128k, '96 328i, '73 911T 100k+