Creative headliner ideas??

Post by **SonicAdventure** » 06 Mar 2016, 19:28

Ok, so I know this is a common issue, but I wanted to see if the conventional wisdom has evolved at all.

I removed my headliner material and all the old foam and now I am just riding around with that particleboard looking substrate exposed. It's time to pull it out and get it squared away.

My car doesn't have a sunroof, which it seems most of these had and therefore it's been hard finding a replacement at the junk yard. Honestly, I don't see the point of using a junk yard one even if I did find one, because we're talking about something that will likely be about ready to fail, and it's too much work for that.

I'd like to find a way to either finish the existing substrate without gluing on fabric or finding a different material altogether for this job, ideally some kind of thin, pliable plastic, which could be cut to fit using the existing substrate as a template, and then have 1/4" foam glued to the top part (part that faces the steel roof), leaving a wipe-able, non fabric surface for the interior.

Anyone have any ideas? I hate fabric headliners! In a perfect world, I would have my headliner made out of rhino lining or some other permanent sprayed on rubber.

Post by **tryingbe** » 07 Mar 2016, 05:29

https://www.google.com/search?q=Creativ ... BbYQsAQIHQ

Post by **FLXC90** » 07 Mar 2016, 08:31

What interior trim do you have? Woodgrain? If so, how about a veneer to match that? If you have plain black plastic like my base S70 then I dunno. I saw an 850 wagon where the guy had pulled the cloth, and his wife painted a mural on the board. Have someone airbrush something on there maybe.

PS78 · Post by **PS78** » 07 Mar 2016, 19:22

The wood veneer idea sounds really good. I might try that out myself. @sonicadventure if you want something you can wipe off easy, maybe measure up what you need and hit a fabric place that carries different colors of vinyl, use your template and cut it to fit and use some spray adhesive to install it?

skloon · Post by **skloon** » 07 Mar 2016, 21:20

use white vinyl and use it as a whiteboard

Post by **j-dawg** » 07 Mar 2016, 22:31

I wanted to do mine in gray cloth with an embossed floral print, but I could only find material in cotton. I ran test pieces on several swatches of different material and the headliner adhesive kept seeping through or showing the spray pattern from the can. I'd given it plenty of drying time before bringing the headliner and backing material together. It just came out ugly every time.

I don't doubt that it can be done, but I ended up buying foam-backed gray material yesterday.

Post by **Clemens** » 08 Mar 2016, 03:18

I did an awful ghetto fix on my beater 854 last summer when the headliner starting to come off and gluing it back on didn´t work: a staple gun. Still feel bad about that. but it works.

Post by **SonicAdventure** » 08 Mar 2016, 13:06

PS78 wrote:The wood veneer idea sounds really good. I might try that out myself. @sonicadventure if you want something you can wipe off easy, maybe measure up what you need and hit a fabric place that carries different colors of vinyl, use your template and cut it to fit and use some spray adhesive to install it?

I would love a vinyl headliner but I've talked to shops and everyone says that it's too heavy for spray adhesive, it would just fall down.

I don't know what it is, but I just don't like fabric. I might have to go with fabric, but I would prefer to use a t-shirt like material. What is the best spray adhesive out on the market for headliner jobs?

Post by **SonicAdventure** » 08 Mar 2016, 13:12

Lol my dream Volvo wagon would have a truck-style flat black rubber carpet, and all the plastic interior trim, door panels included would be removed! I would build little wooden pods for the window switches.

Did that once on an older Jeep Cherokee, it looked cool. Kind of like a Wrangler no carpet or door panels. But the interior side of the doors were very flat and the armrests / door pulls could be reattached to the steel frame separate from the vinyl and cardboard door panels. Plus the windows were crank and no power door locks, so the only thing electric in the door was the speaker.

Maybe if I get another V70 and run this one as a parts car I will strip it out just to see what it would look like. I'm think the stripped out look on a base model wagon would look good, especially if it's more of a canoe hauler and errand vehicle, which mine is.

PS78 · Post by **PS78** » 08 Mar 2016, 18:53

I'm not a fan of fabric either. Plastic, vinyl, leather, etc. Are so much easier to clean. I've seen some really crazy stuff on headliners everything from lipstick, marker, coffee, you name it, and all a real treat to get out. Thinking back to some of my former cars from way back I remember some of them having plastic/vinyl headliners they were all Japanese cars though (mazda,honda)and I wiped them down with a damp towel like you'd wipe a table off. Not sure how they installed and affixed them, but it made cleaning a breeze. 3M makes a good spray adhesive. I used it quite frequently when I worked at a newspaper on aluminum sheet plates for a press and I see it used in all types of diy work. Think its about $9 a can. There's also loctite spray adhesive which might be more agreeable with plastic and foam.