So I've been reading all the posts and stuff on here about how to re-do your headliner yourself. I went out and got all the stuff I needed, and i got the headliner out wiht out any problems. In the tech. article i was reading that he used fiberglass cloth to "repair" the headliner. Mine really doesnt need much repair, its brittle yes, but there were no large cracks or such in it. I was wondering if it would harm it in anyway to just go ahead and lay the fiberglass cloth over the back side (not shown) just to stiffen it up a bit. Would this cause a major PITA putting it back in? Any experiences?

 

If you cover the whole thing with glass you're not going to be able to get it in/out of the car. I know that with my hardtop and my ABS headliner (aka plastic so it is flexable) it was still a pain to get it back in. I ended up going through the hatch and had to bend the far left/right sides down to get it in.

 

thats what I was scared of. The edges seem offly brittle, is there anyway I can just do them? Or is is that going to get in the way trying to bend it back in?

 

I took a somewhat unorthodox approach when I redid one of my hardtop headliners. The rear seatbelt loop section had broken off during removal, so I bought some burlap, cut it into strips, and sprayed the hell out of it with spray adhesive until it was pretty well soaked. I let it get tacky, then laid it over the seams between the main headliner and the broken parts. I did this with multiple strips on both sides. Once the glue dried, the burlap was semi-rigid just like the rest of the original headliner. I covered the headliner with the proper material and reinstalled. The repaired sections had enough flex to be able to properly insert the piece into the car.

It sounds kind of silly to use burlap, but it worked out beautifully and if I've got to repair any more headliners, I'll do it again.

 

That happened to me too, with the back tabs breaking off. I've been trying to figure out if I should use the fiberglass cloth to try and re-attach them, but the burlap is a great idea. I'm going to try and pick some up tomarrow, I'm going to a Philadelphia Flyers hockey game this afternoon, so no work is getting done. Thanks for the advice guys, keep it coming!

 

just a thought.. but maybe you could do the headliner in sections, then stick them in piece by piece?

 

elaborate on that? ive already got it out and all but the 2 small tabs breaking its in decent shape, just the edges are a little brittle. why would you want to cut it up and do it in pieces? just wondering where your coming from.