98 V70 Headliner Removal

[98v70dad]

While I wait for my front and rear suspension parts to arrive I'm considering starting into removing the headliner so I can replace the fabric. JoAnns fabric has a headliner material that is a pretty close match to the original.

My question/concern is how to remove the plastic trim pieces around the edges without breaking them. I found a thread about doing the headliner job but the one I found didn't have much detail on how to get the parts off. This is a hard thing to explain, I guess, but I'm wondering if there's any sort of trick to it or any special tool(s) that make it easier.

Plastic parts on cars in the South have been baked by extreme interior heat in the Summer so they tend to break easily.

[IG-88A]

There isn't much to it. You're unlikely to break the actual trim piece before you break the little pieces that clip in on the back of the trim pieces. They are a little cylindrical piece of plastic that snap into plastic clips clipped into the body itself (at least that's how they are on an 850). I just gently pried my fingers slightly under the upper edge, walking along left and right until i felt it getting tighter. This let me know that i was near a clip. Some gentle coaxing straight back at you should pop it out, at that point. Once you realize how they're fastened, it won't be as daunting. the first step is always the scariest. The worst part of the headliner job will be getting that huge piece of wagon fabric to lay flat and clean once the adhesive is in place.

[98v70dad]

That gives me some perspective and its very helpful. If you break the cylindrical piece off you've broken the trim piece since it can't be repaired easily and its not likely to stay fastened properly, especially if you break one near an end. I wasn't talking about breaking a trim piece in two but I wasn't that clear in my question.

My plan to get the fabric to lay flat is to lay the stripped hardboard headliner on a long table made from two hollow core doors and some saw horses I use for workbenches. I will make a frame that rides on the two edges of the long table with a roll holding the headliner fabric. I'll spray the adhesive on a few feet at a time and move the frame down the table. I'm pretty confident that it will work. If I do it and it works well I'll post details. Its more simple than it sounds. I've already got the doors and sawhorses so I can do this for the cost of a few two by fours and two round poles plus the fabric and adhesive.

[E Showell]

Been there, done that. It is a huge pain in the ass, but some would say worth it. I did not have to work with a sunroof in the wagon I did, so that was a huge plus. On the plastic trim issue -- I busted a bunch of stuff (and I generally work very carefully). Didn't help that I did the job in the middle of the winter when the already fragile, old plastic was brittle due to low temperatures.

I used the JoAnn fabrics headliner material and while it worked well enough, it is thicker than stock and the color is slightly off. The thickness is an issue since it made it difficult to get some of the (unbroken) plastic trim clips to want to hold the trim back in place after the job was done and I still have sagging plastic trim in spots.

Scraping off the dead headliner material is a colossal pain in the ass. Have your vacuum handy. You need a super sharp paint scraper. I used a marine scraper that has replaceable blades that are razor sharp and mount to the handle at 90 degrees using a couple screws. I found this vastly superior to a putty knife style scraper.

Also, laying out the material without wrinkles was not particular difficult. I sprayed my adhesive in two shots, covering the front and back halves of the headliner board. Starting at the back, I first folded the headliner back on itself approximately in half (without a crease), sprayed the glue then rolled the headliner out onto the wet glue. For the front I did the same, rolled the headliner back on itself, sprayed the glue and then rolled it back out. Work slowly and carefully. Do a dry run without the glue so you see how the fabric behaves.

If I were doing it again, I'd skip the JoAnn Fabrics generic headliner and go with a legitimate auto supply place that has headliner of the right thickness, texture and color. You'll pay a bit more, but will be happier with the end result and the bulk of this job is the labor, not the materials.

I'd also find a wagon in a junkyard and practice removing the plastic trim -- and lay in a couple extra trim pieces in inventory in case you break something doing the repair. The hardest stuff I found to remove as far as the plastic trim goes was the stuff in the door pillar where the seat belt inserts. There's a trick to getting those out whole, but I honestly don't remember what the trick was it was so long ago that I did it.

Search the posts on the forum regarding headliner replacement. Someone posted within the last 18 mos. or so about getting better headliner fabric than the generic JoAnn's headliner material. Wish I'd known about that before I did mine. Also, be very careful with the headliner board. It is basically glorified egg carton material -- a little beefier, but just a little.

[shaker_chi]

I just did a headliner this summer on my 1994 sedan and it took me every bit of 8 hours. I went to hancock fabric and picked up the headliner and spray glue. I was a bit apprehensive about breaking the plastic fasteners, but its not as bad as you think. The clips that hold the sun visors in place need to be twisted off along with the 2 by the rear window. Otherwise, I think the rest are screwed in. Anyway, set aside at least a full day for the job and do a search on you tube. I think there is a video posted on there. good luck

[FLXC90]

Somewhere in the library, Robert has a video (of course-thanks as always) that shows how to remove the front door trims. The clip and joint at the B-pillar is key. From my experience, all the tan ones in the yards I've seen are broken, charcoal stuff seems to hold up better.

[rspi]

[rspi]

[E Showell]

As noted, it is easily an 8 hr. job. A lot of that time is scraping off the old headliner. I did it over two days on a weekend so I wasn't doing just that and did not track the time precisely, but 8 hours does not overestimate the required time.

[obayha]

The only problem was the trim piece around the sunroof. Old and it usually breaks. Was $60.00 to replace, from the dealer. I did all the removal and scraping and had a trim shop order and put on the fabric. To me, it was worth the dollars. I just drove to Charlotte (50) miles with it sort of laying on my head and dropped it off.
Shane