Everybody and their brother carries the replacement ABS headliners, but nobody seems to say who the manufacturer is. Does anybody know who it is?

 

http://aabestco.com

I'm pretty sure they do all the work.

 

You sure about that? They look like just another reseller to me.

 

Is it really difficult to throw some cloth back on the factory foam backer? I'd like to buy one of those nice ones but rather not spend 180 bucks on it. Previous owner ripped out the cloth so the foam is just falling apart and getting all over dash and interior. Annoyin as all get out.

 

Recovering a hardtop headliner is ridiculously easy. T-top cars are a lot harder because the headliner material doesn't have any stretch. I goofed up the inner corners on mine pretty badly.

 

Reason I used felt, stretches like crazy and looks great

 

That's a good solution for those who don't desire the OEM fabric.

 

Hmm well I've got a hardtop so maybe it'd be a basic job for me? Just need to find what stuff to use and get it done. One more thing to scratch off the list.

 

What you really want is some faux fur.

 

There are a few tech articles floating around. It's a piece of cake. You can get headliner material from your local Jo-Ann Fabric, or a million places online. Pull down the old headliner, brush the old crap off with a bristle brush, cover it in spray adhesive, then put the new stuff down, fold it over on the corners. Voila. New headliner. THe problem is with trying to fold the material over the inner corners of the t-top headliner... since the fabric doesn't stretch, it's real easy to screw it up.

 

The felt is a nice idea Pocket.At least the F-Body makes it easier to get the headliner in and out of the car thru the hatch.Well less likely to damage it.With other carlines this is the hardest part most of the time

 

Thanks for the advice Jim

 

When I went to remove the old adhesive and headliner backing from my headliner board, it started to pull apart. It reminded me of attic insulation sort of layers.

Anyone run into this? If so, what's the solution?

 

I used a semi-stiff brush (the same one I clean my tires with) to brush away the foam material and leave everything else. The foam material wiped away cleanly, and the remaining surface was flat and seemed to allow the glue to adhere well.

 

Hey I was thinking about buying the ABS T-Top Headliner and covering it in some black suede, any opinions?

 

Its usually better to coat the cleaned headliner with a layer of glue prior to the final glue for the fabric

Ensures you get a solid base to adhere to

I found the headliner was pretty easy to take out of the doors. Just til the seats all the way back and tilt it sideways

 

I hope your ttops dont leak.

 

I just got my headliner in the mail yesterday and went to Jo-Annes and paid $13 for 2 yards of black material, bought a can of Loc-Tite spray on adhesive for $8 from auto zone and am ready to recover. What kind of glue did you use and DHL cracked the front so will this glue also fix the crack, it is a t-top headliner.

 

The tech articles tell you how to fix a cracked headliner board.Use fiberglass cloth and resin on the back side of the headliner board.It will never crack again in that spot.

 

The problem with that is that the headliner will still be fiberglass, and eventually crack. It's fine to fix the headliner if you don't plan on keeping the car forever, otherwise the ABS headliner is the way to go.

 

Yes,I agree that fixing one spot won't stop it from cracking somewhere else but I have heard some people complain of quality issues with the ABS boards and if you want to resurrect your original board and recover it,this is how to fix cracks.I did it on mine quite a few years ago and recovered it and it's still perfect.But a new ABS one will be tougher in the long haul with the elements.

 

There's no reason a properly installed factory headliner won't last forever. The only time they can crack or break is when you're too rough installing or removing it.

If you properly recover a factory headliner, it'll last until the foam rots, just like the original, and just like the ABS one.

 

I repaired factory headliners with hotglue and coat hangers, ya gonna cover the crack with material so no reason to do any major repairs

I used elmers spray on for the visual side, and hot glue where I folded it over the backside

 

the last time I did a big headliner order, I ordered a red vinyl one for Kewlblades, and I was VERY impressed with the way vinyl looked. AND EASY AS HELL TO CLEAN