Getting saggy with age

[ScottyB]

my headliner that is. :vomit:

we had a brutal late summer here and the adhesive pretty much let go in our Xterra's headliner. i guess that's what happens in an 8 year old black car. i've got it pinned up in places but my ghetto fixes can only do so much and its basically just a PITA at this point.

anyone fix a headliner on their own? are there decent "kits" to fix this sort of thing? we drive the thing so infrequently i can't justify buying a new headliner from the stealership.

[Jake]

I've done it a few times. It's easier on SUVs because you can pull the whole thing out through the back hatch.

Generally, you just pull all the trim off of the roof and surrounding areas, then the 'liner drops down. It's thin fabric glued to a cardboard-type of material. When you drop the board down and pull it out, be careful not to bend it TOO much and crack it. I did that on my E34 because it goes out the rear door. You should be able to take it out of the hatch.

Peel all the fabric off. You can get new headliner material from any good fabric store. They sell 'headliner glue' at fabric shops and places like Advance Auto. When you take the old fabric off, there will be some foamy looking residue left on the cardboard. Get a stiff brush and scrub it off. You can also use your vacuum cleaner with the hose attachment to really clean the board up.

Spray the glue on the board and the back of the fabric. Let it get tacky. Call your wife out now, two people helps significantly here. Take the fabric and start pressing it on to the board. LEAVE EXTRA fabric as you do this because it needs to fit in the recessed parts for the oh-shit handles, visors, etc.

Let it sit while you have lunch and/or a beer, and then put it back in the truck the same way it came out!

It's really not that difficult... just time consuming.

[ScottyB]

awesome, thanks Jake. i was curious about the headliner specific glues. good call on leaving overhanging fabric as well so we can push it in all the nooks. now to find a matching fabric.

did you notice any bad glue smell for a while after putting it in? i'm imagining you'd have to vent the car for a few days afterward?

[Jake]

I don't remember much of a smell, if any. The first one I did was on a friend's XJ Cherokee so I'm not sure if it smelled after. I did the E34's back in April or so (and did a bad job of it, too) but I don't remember a smell.

I think I just left the windows down for the remainder of that day. I did the removal/re-glue before lunch, let it dry in my kitchen over lunch and then put it back in early afternoon.

[DavidM]

Agreed, I don't remember a smell at all, though doing it on a day that you can leave the windows down might be smart. What I would recommend is getting some sort of tool to help you get the fabric down smooth (similar to how you might use a credit card to lay down a window sticker) and moving from one end to the other to eliminate bubbles.

[SlimKlim]

If you're using a OEM-style headliner fabric its probably going to be super porous. There is a sweet spot of how much adhesive to spray and how long to let it tack up. If you skimp on it you'll end up with sagging spots, if you over do it you'll push the glue through the fabric and it will look like shit. I'd take some extra fabric and practice applying it to a piece of cardboard to see how long the particular glue you're using needs to tack up. I always use Super 77 Spray Adhesive but I'm typically using a thicker fabric, so YMMV.

Getting the corners and dips and curves right takes a while. Start it on a Saturday morning so you have plenty of time, I made the mistake of starting mine on a Sunday afternoon and I was still in the garage at midnight. Just be patient and have plenty of extra material. A fresh box of rubber gloves that you can burn through is a good idea, that way you can quickly switch from sticky hands from the glue to clean hands for laying down the fabric.