In the previous post (Headliner Repair Part 1) I had repairs the headliner board with 2 part epoxy and used fiberglass to sure up the weak parts and to fabricate missing pieces. In this post we will finish covering the headliner board and install it.
One of the articles that I read on headliner repair mentioned wiping the headliner board down with acetone prior to applying the glue. I think this is a good idea but be very careful because acetone will eat into the board especially if there are scratches. I ran into this and mixed some very hot 2 part epoxy to fill in the gouge that resulted.
The glue that you need is something equivilant to the 3M #74 spray glue. 3M makes several models of spray glue but I was told to stick with #74 because it does not eat away the foam on the headliner material line the other versions do. I picked this up at Hancock Fabrics for around $16. I probably only needed one can for the headliner but I did some other things with it that caused me to need two cans. I'll explain later.
The headliner material is a piece of fabric glued to a piece of foam, like pictured below. I also bought this at Hancock fabrics because I was on a time crunch and didn't have time to wait. If I had more time I probably would have ordered from Your Auto Trim Store (http://www.yourautotrim.com/). They have more selection including suede material. What I chose was medium dark grey and I really couldn't have done better. It did a good job of matching the existing interior.
A pretty good video but the board that they are covering is fairly simple and made of some sort of cardboard instead of stryrofoam.
Sorry, i got distracted by an Alison Brie video on youtube and couldn't find the other video. Check back later, I will find it.
This next part is probably the hardest part to do alone. You need to lay the fabric out over the headliner board and trim to it to be easier to work with once you get glue on. I kept running into trouble here because the board was so weak that new cracks started forming every time I moved the fabric. Again, a second set of hands would be useful.
I used the method described in the first video of folding the fabric half way back and apply the spray glue to the board and the back of the fabric. Once they are dry to the touch, carefully attach the fabric to the board. Be sure to smooth the fabric with the back of your hand to avoid leaving finger prints in the material. Fingers apply a lot of force in a small area and can cause the foam to compress into the glue and stay instead of returning to shape. I wish I had more pictures of this but I was too busy keeping the fabric front clear of glue that i didn't want to risk getting glue on my iPhone.
Once done you will have something similar to the picture below, but not all trimmed up. I learned three big things during this process.
Covering a headliner that you have never seen in the car is confusing. This headliner board was in multiple pieces when I bought the car so I was not sure how it when together.
Wrap the fabric in the front over and glue on top of the board but the rest should be trimmed up and not wrapped. I mean, you can wrap it all if you want but it will make installation harder since you will need to install the rubber door gaskets over a thicker headliner.
Do not cut out the sunroof area until the headliner is installed. The fabric in that sections gets glued to the body and trimmed. Please see pictures below for why.
After you have wrapped and trimmed your edges, make sure to cut out the hole in the headliner needed for installation. You can cut them out with ta straight razor or you can simply cut an X in them if you please.
Reeling from the high of wrapping my first headliner, I decided to take on wrapping the A, B and C pillars in headliner material too. I dislike the black hard plastic look that was standard in this car and covering them to match the headliner seemed to be a good way to soften them up. Unlike the headliner, you need to wrap the material around the item and glue it on the backside. If you didn't I think the plastics would show through.
As I mentioned above, I should not have cut the sunroof opening before I got the headliner in the car. As you can see in the picture below, I should have glued the headliner to the lip at the edge of the sunroof as shown below.
i had also covered the back trim piece that holds the headliner in over the hatch. I messed up and completely wrapped it so i could not get it in place properly until I removed too much material from the backside of the item. I plan to go back and fix this in when it is warm outside again.
If you have questions or need further explanation, please let me know.
