InteriorDiscussion about interior modifications like dashboard swaps, seat replacements, or general interior repair.
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I wanted to write a tutorial on how to repair your headliner. I’ve seen a lot of posts describing methods but they didn’t detail the entire process and include photos. My goals with this are to show that somebody with little skills can do it and avoid some mistakes I made.
I am very satisfied with the finished results. I was able to fix my sagging headliner, ripped sail panels and sunvisors that would not stay up. Although I can see some imperfections, it makes me feel good knowing that I repaired them.
I initially thought that recovering headliner myself would cost around $100. My final costs were a lot higher since I messed up headliner fabric and had to order more fabric. Also I had to order new sunvisor supports and sunvisors. In the end I spent $320 on materials and supplies. A majority of the costs were for sunvisor supports ($40), sunvisors ($80), fabric ($64), and plastic trim retainers ($34). Money could be saved if your supports are good, reuse existing retainers and buy fabric from Joanne Fabrics.
I spent around 10 hours overall time spread out over several months. Hopefully information below will help save you time and money.
Getting materials
Attached is a picture of my oh so common sagging headliner. There are three options for repairing headliner.
1) Fix it yourself with scrape and recover method.
2) Buy ABS plastic headliner that is precovered.
3) Pay upholstery shop.
I could have paid a shop but wasn’t sure if they could fix my deteriorated headliner board and would have factory correct fabric color. I’ve heard that ABS backing board does not fit 100% plus it has a ridge down the middle so it wouldn’t look factory correct once installed. Additionally a covered ABS board is expensive at $200. I finally decided on tackling it myself to save some money, have correct looking piece and learn something.
It’s recommended to recover sail panels and sunvisors with new fabric so interior looks consistent when installed. I initially thought I could order enough fabric to recover my headliner, sail panels and sunvisors. Joanne Fabrics has headliner fabric with foam backing but only offers it in a few standard colors.
I first ordered fabric from Stock Interiors to cover headliner, sunvisors and sail panels. I went through several shipments since they sent me wrong color and placed fabric in plastic bag. The fabric kept arriving with many creases since it was getting squished during shipping. Stock Interiors has great customer service but they would not fix the obvious shipping issue. Plus they did not have an exact fabric color match for my medium dark gray interior.
I then went with Classic Industries. I ordered a medium dark gray color sample and it matched my existing fabric color! Classic sells a kit that includes fabric to recover headliner, new covered sail panels and new covered sun visors for $150. I called Classic and found out that their sail panels attached to car with velcro. I’ve read on here that velcro attachments do not hold up too well. I decided to order kit that included fabric to recover headliner and sail panels for $65. I ordered sunvisors separately at $80 a pair. This allowed me to reuse existing sail panel backing boards and keep car with as many original parts possible. I think it is worth $80 for new sunvisors as the finish quality is great. You could probably save some money if you wanted to sow together new fabric “sleeves” for existing sunvisor backing material. Classic shipped fabric in a box so it was not damaged during delivery.
I had to buy new sunvisor supports since my visors would not stay in upright fixed position. Since metal post on visor support turned easily, I needed a new unit and could not fix it with a new plastic sleeve insert.
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Removing headliner board is pretty straight forward. Unscrew upper rear hatch trim, remove sail panels, remove sunvisors & supports, overhead light and top door trim pieces. Overhead light has metal retainer clips over two metal posts.
I used needle nosed pliers to pull washer like retainers down off posts. I had to use a surprising amount of force to pull retainers off. Take your time to work different sides of retainer while pulling down.
Top door trim pieces were difficult for me. Supposively you can slide it to the rear or front of car to release some of the plastic trim retainers. I got a few retainers loose this way but not all. I basically pulled down on the trim piece and broke the plastic retainer clips. It looks like GM made this piece so you have to put in new plastic retainer clips and then press trim piece into body for installation. I don’t think they made it so you can remove and install trim piece easily without breaking clips. See installation below.
Last thing holding headliner to roof are three plastic clips near front of car. Just slide headliner board to the passenger side and headliner will drop down. Remove headliner board through rear hatch.
The headliner fabric pulled easily of board backing. A decent amount of deteriorated foam will be left on board. I found best way for removing foam was to rub my fingers in a fast motion across the board. Using a brush is too harsh and ends up removing some of the backing surface material. Be sure to vacuum and brush off any particles with a whisk brush.
My headliner board was in decent shape but seat belt area was pretty flimsy. Also headliner board was starting to separate around the edges.
I decided to strengthen board with fiberglass resin and fiberglass cloth. I placed board on a table with interior side facing down. I supported board with some old towels and newspapers to keep shape of board while it sat on table. This worked good since it allowed broken seatbelt area of the board to rest in a good position for repair.
I needed a half gallon of resin total but would have like more. Lowes sells a gallon of resin for $30, which would be plenty. Lowes also has fiberglass cloth and cheap 2” wide paint brushes. I recommend four cheap brushes and some gloves.
First I wanted to add some structural integrity to the board and repair seat belt area. I cut some strips of fiberglass cloth about four inches wide to make a big H and more strips to cover broken seat belt area. It is important to cut cloth before you start using resin as resin dries fast. Also is helpful to have a friend place cloth while you apply resin. I mixed resin and hardener in a used cottage cheese container. Don’t mix too much as resin dries fast. Mix about cup and a half. I generously applied resin to area underneath where I wanted cloth to go. Soon after I applied resin, my helper laid cloth on top of wetted area. I quickly went over dry cloth with lots of resin. Resin turns the cloth into almost a malleable plastic that you can mat down to board with brush. Cloth and resin will dry to a very hard material so helpful if you ensure that no big pieces are sticking up. I let board dry for a day.
The next day I covered entire board with resin. You will need to apply a liberal amount, as board will soak up some resin. I wanted to make this side of headliner board stiff and strong as I could since the other side needed to be prepped better/smoother for fabric installation. Also this side of board would be facing car roof and would never be seen once installed. Again I let board dry for a day before proceeding.
Now that the board was strong and the seat belt areas fixed, I turned board over to work on interior side. I put resin down heavily along outer border, overhead lamp, seatbelt and sunvisor areas. Board material around sunvisor supports was pretty deteriorated. I applied lots of resin to this area on both sides to make it strong. Later I used a drill to clean out screw holes for sunvisor supports. I also placed resin on any other tears I saw. I would have liked to apply a light coat of resin to entire surface but I ran out. You can see in pictures where I applied resin.
I used super glue to bond both edges of headliner together since mine was separating pretty badly. I used a lot of super glue, about ten of the 1 ounce tubes. Do small areas at a time (only what you can hold together with two hands) since glue melts and heats inner headliner material very quickly. Super glue worked great at holding both edges together.
I had a few spots on the headliner side facing car interior that were either depressions or raised areas. I used some bondo and sanding to level these areas out.
I bought Permatex headliner spray can adhesive from Autozone (orange can with blue cap). The spray is very sticky and shoots out like Spiderman’s webbing. Be very CAREFUL and put newspaper or something else over any part of finished side material that is exposed. I ruined one batch of material by shooting some spray onto good side of fabric. I learned that it is easiest to adhere fabric in three large sections.
I sprayed adhesive on both materials and waited five minutes. I did up to three coats in order to get the glue tacky on the headliner board. I wasn’t concerned about backside of fabric being tacky, just wanted some glue to fill in gaps on foam. I sprayed center section of board first and once glue was tacky, placed fabric on board. I gently padded fabric onto board. After waiting the recommended half hour for initial drying, I sprayed another third of the board near rear of headliner. After glue was tacky, I rolled on fabric and patted it down. Once half hour passed, I did the final remaining third and let board sit overnight for full curing. Adhesive doesn’t dry strong initially like superglue but holds tight after a day. PLEASE do not use any superglue to attach fabric. Superglue will melt foam backing and result in depressed/rippled areas that are highly visible once complete. You could probably speed up process by gluing sections sooner but I found it best to take your time for avoiding mistakes. I used scissors to trim fabric from edges and exacto/craft knife to cut material from dome light and seat belt holes.
As stated above, I choose to use my existing sail panel backs with new fabric. The Classic Industries kit for headliner and sail panel recovery came with a 5 FT x 5 FT roll of fabric. I trimmed off enough material to safely cover sail panels.
Existing sail panels are covered in thin fabric that is held on by glue and some staples. After removing staples and pulling away fabric from glue, I washed plastic backs with simple green and let dry.
I initially though that I could stretch fabric across front of sail panel and glue to board back just like original. I tried this without glue and it became apparent that fabric would not sufficiently sag and hold contours of sail panel. I decided to spray headliner adhesive on front face of sail panel. I sprayed enough adhesive to hold fabric but did not go overboard especially around speaker cutout areas. Similar to headliner, once glue was tacky I gently laid fabric on top of sail panel and let dry for one day.
I used superglue to attach fabric to back side of sail panel as it dries very fast and holds strong. I glued opposing sides of fabric best I could and then trimmed corners as necessary to make nice rounded corners.
I bought extra plastic retainer clips from a local GM dealer to reattach door trim pieces. Attached is a picture of retainers. Each trim piece uses one Christmas tree style and four “A” style piece. Autozone only has Christmas tree styles available. You may be able to find them cheaper online. Door trims looks like it should only be installed with plastic retainers attached to trim. To me it seems more difficult installing trim pieces with retainers attached to car.
I sat inside car while a friend passed headliner board through rear hatch. After feeding seatbelts into their sockets, headliner was fitted into rear hatch trim piece. Next, three retainer clips on headboard were pressed into roof slots near front windshield. I then snapped into place door trim pieces with plastic retainers already installed in trim. Sunvisor supports screwed in easily and once in place, I inserted sunvisor boards onto brackets and secured them. Fabric on sunvisors is thick so I turned visors in towards middle of car somewhat so headliner fabric wouldn’t get squished. My passenger side visor came with a mirror but I can’t put it back on due to fabric thickness of headliner and visor. Then I reinstalled sail panels, overhead light cover and plastic seatbelt covers. I scrubbed overhead light cover with simple green and it came out very clean. My light cover was yellow before and came out white after cleaning. Plastic seat belt covers were a pain to snap back into place. It took me a while of pushing on them so they would fit.
I am very happy how my interior now looks. It makes the car feel new inside. There a few small blemishes that I can notice but somebody else may not unless I point them out.
The sail panels stick out slightly from new fabric being thicker than existing. Maybe overtime foam backing will compress and fitment will be better. Also I can see some depressions in headliner. I don’t know if this is from small imperfections in headliner board itself or too much adhesive. It might be a combination of both. My sister’s cat also walked on headliner board while it was drying in basement. Good idea to keep these things away from your pets when working on them. I’m curious to see if over time, the foam backing evens out and depressed areas go away. Here are some pictures of finished interior.
Wow, this is gonna really be helpful when i fix my saging headliner. One question though, it may sound weird, but after you fiberglassed the headliner did it add a lot of weight or make it hard to manage. And is there any thing you would have done differently. Anyway, yours turned out great, this is gonna be really useful thread for a lot of people.
Thanks Iroc. Just took forever with fabric issues I had. That's not a weird question. I had a similar thought and that board might be too stiff for fitting back in. Board did get heavier but not significantly, maybe a few pounds. I had to push board up forcefully with one hand while securing overhead light retainers with other hand. Other than that board fit back into car great. You can pretty much go nuts fiberglassing back side of board. Check out following t-top repair links. These guys did some major repair
I would have liked to add coat of resin over entire interior side of board. This might help reduce or get rid of depressions I see in finish product. I messed up my first fabric attempt and had to pull off fabric. In pulling it off, some of the original board cover material came off with fabric. I think this is why I see some slight depressions. Having resin on the entire side would have prevented this.
I would have liked to add coat of resin over entire interior side of board. This might help reduce or get rid of depressions I see in finish product. I messed up my first fabric attempt and had to pull off fabric. In pulling it off, some of the original board cover material came off with fabric. I think this is why I see some slight depressions. Having resin on the entire side would have prevented this.
I wish I had done this as well. Not shown on my page above are the results of my first attempt to glue the headliner material down. I really screwed up by not working the fabric into the inside corners of the t-top openings before sticking down the rest of it. Had I put a light coat of resin on the bottom side, I could have just peeled the headliner off and started over. Instead, I ended up pulling most of the paper down with it. The end result was ok, but I can see some high spots in the areas where the paper didn't peel off. If I ever do another one of these, I will put resin on the entire board.
I know the good feling of doing it yourself, but, my upohlstery shop charged me only $125 to re-do mine (if I remember correctly). I had to remove and re-install it myself. My backer board was in good shape so no repairs were needed there. Overall time start to finish, 3 days! That was at least 5 years ago and still looks great.
I know the good feling of doing it yourself, but, my upohlstery shop charged me only $125 to re-do mine (if I remember correctly). I had to remove and re-install it myself. My backer board was in good shape so no repairs were needed there. Overall time start to finish, 3 days! That was at least 5 years ago and still looks great.
I let the shop do the complete job. Only 2 hours waiting time and $169 and still looks factory after eight years. It seems like they know what they are doing and not guessing how it is done.
My advice check prices at local Auto Upholstery Shops before trying to buy ABS headliner and doing the job yourself. Saves a lot of problems and a lot quicker.
I found a guy north of Orlando that does high end interior work for expensive restorations. He told me that the cost would be $180 for the headliner, sail panels and original visors recovered. That doesn't sound bad to me. I only need to find some matching fabric because absolutely nobody has sent me any samples that match the orginal. A company called SMS Auto Fabrics said that if I sent them a sample of my originals, they will duplicate it exactly. I will have to get a sample from Classic Industries to see how close their fabric is.
I found a guy north of Orlando that does high end interior work for expensive restorations. He told me that the cost would be $180 for the headliner, sail panels and original visors recovered. That doesn't sound bad to me. I only need to find some matching fabric because absolutely nobody has sent me any samples that match the orginal. A company called SMS Auto Fabrics said that if I sent them a sample of my originals, they will duplicate it exactly. I will have to get a sample from Classic Industries to see how close their fabric is.
You will NOT find a perfect match for the factory color. You just have to settle for the closest and since you are recovering everything who cares if the color is all the same.
It wasn't the color so much as the texture. I found a lighter grey that had the same texture as the original, but all the greys that are close to factory didn't seem to be smooth. They looked almost like a light corduroy. I'll find it someday, I hope!
I initially requested 5 different color samples from Stock Interiors. Weave on fabric seemed to be two different types but very close to each other. Fabric from Classic Industry was exact color and pattern match. I compared original fabric to new and it looks the same. Fabric has long vertical lines with a V pattern in between them. I believe one company pretty much makes all of the headliner material. Good luck finding your fabric!
I just ordered some headliner material online and am waiting for it. I agree with DJP87Z28, the odds of finding an exact match are not good, especially when doing it yourself, or paying someone 200 bucks to restore a classic. You'd either have to pay someone a lot more, or settle for the closest color.
I'm getting light gray, and that's good enough for me, as long as they send me that color.
__________________ 1986 Camaro Sport Coupe. 305 and a Carter AFB Competition Carb.
Again, the color isn't an issue as much as texture is. I want the car to be correct. If one company says that they can match the texture, but the color may be a slight shade off, then I will go with them. No color samples will be an exact match in color because of die lots and variances in the manufacturing. The fabric can be correct though.
