recover headliner

Any of you recover your headliner? How did you do it?

I have my wagon's interior gutted for deep cleaning - it's GROSS. The headliner's out, too. It has some holes and scrapes in the cargo area and I'd like to get it covered or do it myself.

Any tips? What did you cover it with? Did you try taking the original vinyl like stuff off?

Thanks!
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Comments

  • bam-bambam-bam Council Member
    I'm thinking of doing this as well. I had my wife's xterra done for $35 (that's me taking it out and reinstalling) Don't think I'll tackle it myself for that price- materials would cost more.

    anyway, call around. there are lots of guys who do this mobile, just like windshields. I took the board out, took it to work with me and this chick came to the shop and knocked it out in about 1/2hour.
  • Can they match the grain and color of the existing headliner? I was thinking I'll need a new one because of one or two small holes in it.
  • bam-bambam-bam Council Member
    matching it exactly might be a problem, I don't know. All the fabric this installer had was that velour-y shit that falls off after the foam backing deteriorates.
  • Well that just won't do for me. 8) I don't want to be able to tell the difference.
  • BillBoardBillBoard council member
    what i used...

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    results
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  • jb2wheelsjb2wheels Wagonist
    You're my hero!

    Is that cloth or vinyl? What'd you do, drop by Wal-Mart fabric shop and pick out something? Maybe a curtain fabric?

    I love it! I'm inspired?
  • BillBoardBillBoard council member
    jb2wheels wrote:
    You're my hero!

    Is that cloth or vinyl? What'd you do, drop by Wal-Mart fabric shop and pick out something? Maybe a curtain fabric?

    I love it! I'm inspired?

    its cotton; i dropped by joanns fabric store, found some fabric i liked in the kids section... purchased it...

    then went to HomeDepo and bought extra strength shit and followed
    instructions; spray both sides of surfaces, let sit for couple minutes until
    glue gets tacky.... spray the back of cloth- spray headliner... attach from
    middle out- making sure not to get any air bubbles and wrinkles...

    i had 3 people helping me...
  • jb2wheelsjb2wheels Wagonist
    Well - I did it. It's a Strawberry Shortcake print my daughter loves...

    wagonnewheadliner3xv0.jpg
  • OMG, I sprayed my drink. You owe me a new keyboard.

    I predict a lot of ribbing from this. :lol:

    Those of us with kids will immediately understand, though. My daughter would freak. I'd be the best dad in the world every time she sat in the car.

    And you did an amazing job around the chicken bars and the dome light. The picture isn't all that detailed, but the pattern looks straight and tight.

    Great job!
  • RevmaynardRevmaynard Council Member
    A few local friends have these, two are Del Sols so they just removed their top. lol
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    Billboard, where did you find the steps for this?
  • jb2wheelsjb2wheels Wagonist
    judebert wrote:
    OMG, I sprayed my drink. You owe me a new keyboard.

    I predict a lot of ribbing from this. :lol:

    Those of us with kids will immediately understand, though. My daughter would freak. I'd be the best dad in the world every time she sat in the car.

    And you did an amazing job around the chicken bars and the dome light. The picture isn't all that detailed, but the pattern looks straight and tight.

    Great job!

    Thanks - the picture hides some of the wrinkles. My girly girl loves it and brags to her friends but my teenage son hates it.
  • i'm on the bandwagon now. gonna do snow camo. i'll post pics when it's done
  • OMND - that's short for "Oh My Non-existing Deity", my non-believer's answer to OMG. :twisted:

    You are one courageous hombre!!!

    However, I bet you are secretly thinking it's a good thing the headliner is not usually visible by other drivers and certainly not by pedestrians. LOL
    jb2wheels wrote:
    Well - I did it. It's a Strawberry Shortcake print my daughter loves...

    www.civicwagon.com
  • just did this last night, came out all right

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    note: only took us an hour, 2 people

    we also did the seat fold down things from the sticky, just wanted to point out that if you don't like that particular style, any of the cabinet knobs with the similar narrow end would work
  • Like the roses. Classy tacky.

    Are you guys attaching the cloth to the existing headliner foam, or are you removing the foam altogether and attaching the cloth to the bare metal?
  • wagodizzlewagodizzle Council Member and EDM expert
    you mean bare plastic? :P
  • WOW, HEAD RUSH !!!
    genedaddy wrote:
    483.jpg
  • wagodizzle wrote:
    you mean bare plastic? :P

    True - no foam to remove - just glue it to the textured plastic that is our headliners.
  • Aha I have a weekend project :idea: Now to just find a fabric....
  • I've seen this a few times now. Seems to be a popular "mod" with lots of the ol school honda guys. I'm assuming its been done before (usually Honda guys take our stuff from old VW or old muscle car guys), but I havent ever seen it. Looks cool IMO.

    Ive been thiking about it myself. We will see. I want to drill my roof holes for my roof rack first, and figure out my leaking problem. For those of you who did it, looks bad ass!
  • 3d airbrush job
  • glue it to the textured plastic as mentioned many times above, if you have foamy stuff someone may have already replaced the headliner in the cars past. i used the same locktite (sp) heavy duty shown above, to find fabric i would also recommend joanns, they had a pretty good selection for whatever you are looking for. ebay is another option. i have to warn though that the fabric i got was really thin, the adhesive started to soak through in places...as a result we started to spray less and there are some spots where the fabric isn't necessarily glued down, but it hold well and still looks good.

    when i picked up the fabric the lady at the cutting counter said she had see this done back in the day on the old hot rods, guess that's where it originated.

    if you are interested in changing the feel of your interior, this will definately do the trick, and it only cost me about $30 :twisted:
  • Did you have to pull off the interior trim that is above the doors or just unscrew "oh shite" handles, visors, mirror and the little plugs that hold it up on the back??
  • i didn't have to take it all the way off, it was still attached at the bottom, we did have to work it a little to get it out and then back in, but the trim peices where pulled back/down away from the headliner. the rest of what you mentioned also has to be removed, to include the rear light cover (i think we took it down) and the center dome light. if you pull the cap off that light there is a screw, take it off and unhook the harness. once all this is off the headliner may still be attached to the roof by what looks like a foamy two sided tape, you'll just have to reach your hand in to get it free. there where also two plastic plugs above the rear seat in line with the lights, these will have to be popped of too...can do this at the same time breaking the tape free. we were extra carefull trying not to bend the headliner.
  • OGWAGN1OGWAGN1 Wagonist
    wow this looks great you guys :shock: . Ive got some smiley lighter burns on mine so once i get some extra cash i'll have to atempt this for sure.
  • Yes, I suppose it's plastic. It gives easily, and mine's got a few deep digs in it, so I've always assumed it was a high-density foam.

    I wonder if I could remove that altogether, and just glue straight to the roof. Hmmm...
  • don't think you would get what you where looking for, there is a lot of framing up there, if you take the headliner down take a look
  • stephenstephen Senior Wagonist
    how much fabric are you guys buying to make sure you have enough? i want to get some extra and do a couple things in the cabin too....
  • stephen wrote:
    how much fabric are you guys buying to make sure you have enough? i want to get some extra and do a couple things in the cabin too....

    My wife sews so she kinda measured and let me know what I needed. At most fabric stores the sell it by the yard at either 60 inches wide or 45 inches wide. You should only need 3 yards at 45 inches wide to do the headliner, get an extra yard and that should cover anything else. Most fabrics hover around $8 a yard.
  • RevmaynardRevmaynard Council Member
    I bought five yards to do my headliner and sun visors. I just bought extra in case I ruined what I was working with and what not. My 5 yds was $20.
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