I have seen some bad headliner installs on here... who makes the best headliner in the most accurate colors with the best fit??
I have a T-top 88 GTA with the beachwood int.

 

I believe only one company makes them, and a bunch of vendors distribute them. You might want to wait for some other guys to chime in though.

Anyways, i bought a full Headliner/sun visors/sail panels kit from Hawks not to long ago, and it matched my gray interior almost perfectly.

Also, Do you mind me asking what you need it for? Is the headliner sagging in that 20,000mi creampuff?

 

Classic Industries sells them.

I'd go with them.

IMO, it's the way to go.

It's part number AFH12, and it's backed by plastic.

 

i have mine redone locally and it matches good

 

No. If you touch it, it dents! My daughter put her bookbag in the backseat and pulled it into the front.. Scraping it... Left a dent that is bothering me..

anyone do them with ttops?

 

Yeah.

Classic Industries.

 

Got mine from 1A Auto, and it fit fine and looks better than the original. I've heard they're all made by one manufacturer...but not sure if Classic makes thier own or not. I bet it would be even more pricey from there though...

 

I mean does anyone here have them installed on ttop car and has original look

 

they are all made by one company and distributed to all the vendors that sell them.

i got mine from 1a auto for a t-top car...they have a good price and EXCELLENT service.

if you contact them they will send you color samples of the fabric they offer for free to match up with your interior.

the plastic abs headliners are not 100% factory looking but they do look good. if your picky there is a good chance you wont like them.

 

link to pics of my install(havent covered it with fabric yet)

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/auto...headliner.html

 

Don't use classic industries. They are thieving bastards when it comes to shipping.

Anyway, if you want pics of the Hawks headliner i installed, i'll take some tomorrow.

 

LOL!!
Beat me to it!! Cell phone is slow!!!

That is a great thread to read, great tips too!!

 

its easy to find when i started that thread lol

 

I am a bit picky. I think getting my current ones redone is an option... Thanks for all the info and I will read that thread!!

 

if its saveable i would go that route. have to be careful though as they tend to fall apart when you start messing with them.

 

Also read the link he has attached!!...

Yes, be Very Careful when you remove the factory piece!! I would suggest an extra set of hands & eyes taking it out, not wanting it to fold or get hung up somewhere!!!
And as stated, Very Careful taking off the fabric & foam!!

 

That's exactly the same headliner that the rest of us sell. The only difference between Classic Industries and the rest of us is the price. As mentioned above, there's only one company that manufactures the headliners. They're a nice headliner overall, but do require some attention when installing them. If you're looking for a 100% perfect concours headliner, you should be talking to an upholstery shop about recovering your factory piece. Keep in mind that the factory had a very specific method for how they addressed the inside corners of the t-top opening, and if you want it 100% perfect, you need to make sure you point this out to the upholstery shop. If you want a DIY alternative, and you don't mind a slightly different fit and a little bit of creativity to keep it from sagging in the middle, then the aftermarket headliners are a great option. I put one into my IROC a few years back, and it fits pretty well, and has not sagged, but in my IROC I have the overhead console to help hold it up.

Here's a tech article I wrote for installing it:
http://www.iroczone.com/2009/10/inst...irdgen-f-body/

 

The abs headliners need more support in the middle.

If you get one, you need to do something to use the front tabs like the factory did, make something to hold it up there or you will see the headliner sagging down there through the front window.

If you have T-Tops avoid the aftermarket abs headliner at all costs unless you can live with a ~1" gap all the way around the T-Top opening when the ttops are off. It looks absolutely horrid on my car when the ttops are off. According to Hawks when I spoke with them about it, it is purposefully done this way so that if water drips in it will drip onto the abs plastic and run off to the edges.

I think that is a crappy excuse, but it might be true. I don't really care if it is true, new weatherstripping is what is meant to stop leaks not the headliner, I want a good looking headliner. I'm going to be attempting to fab my own or either find an original that is in good enough condition to use when I get the time.

 

Mine fits just as good as the original, no gap; I bought mine from Hawks. I guess it's hit or miss.

 

Well, I just got a replacement headliner in yesterday because after only 8 months the adhesive was wearing off on the one I got through Hawks and starting to sag away from the abs plastic.

When I get it installed we'll see if it fits any better or has the same 1 inch gap all the way around.

 

Here are some pics of my abs plastic one that cost me $75.

 

Classic Industries was the one place I found that had my exact interior cloth match. I did not have any issues with them and shipping. Stock interiors kept sending me the wrong color. If you recover your headliner, advisable to coat both sides with fiberglass resin.

 

any hard tops success stories?

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...rial-many.html

 

Finally got my replacement headliner installed today. It looks much better than the first one I had. I don't know if the first one I had was made badly, or if hawks just left it laying around in a bad position for to long and it lost it's form or what. But this one is a lot better, still not perfect, but not horrible either.

 

What about the fitment for an overhead console? youd need to do a little cutting into that 1A auto ttop headliner (and non ttop for that matter) if you have the overhead console...
does it seem sturdy enough to be able to cut and make holes/areas for the additional mounting required for it?..

 

Yeah I don't think that would be a problem. You'd need to be careful not to mess the fabric covering up to much while doing it, but I think you could easily cut additional holes for an overhead console into the abs plastic with a dremel or something. Any small loss of structural integrity by putting additional holes in it should be made up for and then some by the console holding it up. But I really doubt it would effect the integrity of it at all. The stuff is fairly sturdy.

 

Can you elaborate a little on this? I didn't like the overhead console, so I bought just a dome light and will be installing that instead (plan on doing my headliner today & tomorrow). Any advice on what to do to keep the middle from sagging?

 

My new one isn't sagging (yet), if it does start to sag I plan to make some spacers to go between the headliner and the roof of the car and use some of those super velcro strips on both sides of the spacer. If it does sag that should be enough strength to give it the little bit of extra support needed to hold it up.

 

That looks really good!!! Maybe the abs headliners with the fabric helps with the gaps that I seem to have with mine?? I also noticed you have two different colored front seats in your car?? Or is that my eyes playing tricks on me...lol. My rear seats are the color of your passenger seat and my two front seats are the same color of your driver seat that was taken out of a 2001 trans-am (driver seat is power). Looking for charcoal grey rear seats.



[/quote]

 

my dome light holds it up fine

 

It's just your eyes playing tricks on you with the shadows. These pics where taken with a camera phone so the flash isn't very strong. One seat is well illuminated the other is in a shadow. The interior seats are all the same color.

 

You know your supposed to cover the abs in cloth dont you? Looks like youve got a nice firebird. I cant imagine the bare plastic looks very good.

 

No thank you.....looks very clean and I'll never have to worry about sagging material!!!

 

Abs plastic headliner (Ttop) i probably wouldnt cover in cloth either seeing as how itd match the car a bit better with the plastic parts it has. (as long as the design on the plastic is similar) that and you wont have to worry about the cloth ripping/coming off the headliner in high speeds w/ ttops off.
However, with a hardtop headliner itd look flat out retarded not to be covered in cloth. thats too much bare/boring plastic to be exposed.
Just my opinion.
if I wanted it fully stock then of course itd be covered with cloth!

 

Well, I got my headliner from Rick's Camaros installed - could not be more disappointed. I understand it is an aftermarket part and wasn't expecting a perfect fit, but the gaps/sags that I'm getting are unacceptable. Not to mention, all 4 corners around the t-top cutouts were poorly covered and looks like they are already rubbed through. See pictures.

 

More pics

 

no idea why those corners would be worn down, the ttops dont even touch it. unless youre letting the ttops hit those corners when u put em back on..?

 

Nope - shipped that way. Installed headliner yesterday and haven't even had the t-tops on it yet.

 

1. why the hell would you install it with it worn like that? return it
2. are your sun visors installed?
3. is your dome light installed?

 

1. Well...two reasons: (1) Not that this is a good reason, but I ordered the headliner back at the end of July and didn't bother inspecting it closely when I received it - it's been sitting in the bag in my garage since early August and I kind of felt like I probably should have returned it before 3.5 months and (2) I thought that the fit would be better and that the corners wouldn't be nearly as noticeable.

2. Sun visors are not installed yet, I sent the pictures I took to the vendor in hopes of getting a new headliner sent out, so I didn't want to spend even more time on this if it's coming back off.

3. Yes, the dome light is installed - that only took a few seconds and while the center is a little better, nothing looks good and everything else (other than the visors) is installed.

 

well the sunvisors have to be installed for it to fit better, and i dont know if it had instructions and it may not help in your case but you have to start at the front with the visors when you install it. thats part of the reason you have so much sag.

you can also get some velcro and put it an any spots that you feel are sagging.

it probably is to late but i would call them anyways and show them the pics

 

I agree, just make sure you explain everything
in great detail.

 

So, I emailed pictures of the headliner - the same ones I posted - to the vendor. I got an immediate response, asking for more information. About an hour after responding to that, I got an email saying that the manufacturer that made the headliner was very unhappy with it and would be sending out a replacement (free of charge) first thing tomorrow morning.

It's never good to run into problems like this, but it's good to know some vendors and manufacturers stand behind their products - not to mention the excellent customer service.

 

thats good to see for a change.