Hey All!

My daughter bought an older Firebird; a 1987 model with the 2.8 Liter V-6.

The headliner material, the cloth covering is starting to sag, and I think the only thing keeping it up is the dome light in the overhead.

The foam backing seems fine as it is only the cloth that is drooping down.

My '87 Fiero had the same problem and some custom work with pins put the liner back up and the pins are barely visible. I may take this route with the Firebird, but i was wondering if you could use a spray adhesive between the cloth and the backing of the headliner material. Maybe take the dome light down to gain acces to the back of the cloth to glue it up.

Any comments? Anyone else ever do this? Will the glue stain the headliner material cloth? Will it work?

Thanks for listening and sharing your experience if you should choose to do so.

shipfitter

 

If the headliner material is dropping down you might as well replace the whole thing. I would not recomend trying to spray adhesive and reuse the headliner...it will fall in one day and look worse than it does now. I tried a quick fix like that on my '86 Grand Prix and it was a waste of time, looked really bad too. If you want it to look right you will have to remove the material and make sure any glue residue and foam is completely removed from the headliner surface. Then just get some headliner material and recover it. The spray adhesive will work fine, but when you try to use it on a deteriorated headliner, there isn't anything to stick too except old foam and it wont stick for long if at all. Or you could just use thumbtacks to hold it up, but that looks tacky in my opinion...I have done it to my GP though

 

You have to be really good to restore a headliner.

I tried it myself, it just started coming unglued, so I tried gluing it back, it just turned out worse and I ended up breaking a few interior panel pieces in the process so I decided not to bother with it until I buy a new one.

Save yourself the hassle and just get a new one.

 

I had mine done by a local guy for $100 and he re-used the original backing. I went that route because shipping for a new one to Hawaii is pretty expensive. He removed the headliner, proped it upside down on a stand, removed the old fabric and glue (this is the long part), then used a paint gun and a compressor to spray the glue. He used strips of newspaper to smooth out certain areas, connect broken areas, etc. Then he sprayed it again and applied the headliner, and then trimmed the sides. It came out perfect and he also did the sail panels and the sun visors. All perfect. He was also mobile (came to my house) and did all the removal and install no questions asked.

 

that doesnt really have to be true...i did the headliner myself and on the first try it looked pretty damn good...i used a general spray glue and started from the dome light area and worked my way out slowly in each direction..it came out fine and it has stayed that way...if you are going to do it yourself just take the time to do it right.

 

Well i'm not saying re-doing it yourself isn't an option, i'm just saying generally, most people mess it up.

I was one of them.

If you think you can do it yourself, then by all means go for it, more power to you. I'm just saying I sucked at it. I really like CrazyHawaiian's idea though, I wish I would have done that before I messed mine up.

 

I see where you are coming from with that and i in no way meant to come off like you didnt know what you were doing or anything ...i was just saying that doing it yourself is an option for getting it done without dishing out a **** load of cash