headliner fabric recommendation?

[850oldschool]

Erik, what did you use for fabric?

[Chuck W]

From the reading I did, the 3M Super 77 seems to hold out better in the heat than the 3M headliner adhesive. So that's what I used. Only been six months though, so no longevity report yet.

Chuck, that's a very impressive job you did of lining up the pattern! How long since you did it? Is it holding up? Did you figure out some clever way to lift up the fabric to fine tune the positioning?

Good point about using 3M headliner adhesive. Temperatures are really high up near the roof, especially for a dark colored car.

I redid the headliner in my old '96GLT about 4 years ago and I used the 3M headliner adhesive,


I transferred that headliner to my '97 T5, and even with maneuvering it in and out of 2 sedans, it's still sticking fine.

The new headliner in the wife's car is only about two months old. There really was no "repositioning" once we put the two together. I was hoping for a bit straighter, but we got what we got. It took both of us to install it, as it was just a flannel/fleece type of fabric that wasn't as thick as the typical foam-backed stuff. It folded over onto itself pretty easily, whereas the foam material was kind of stiff and usually goes down smoother if you're doing it solo.

The sunroof shade is also covered in the same material, but it wound up a little off, but not a big deal, since it's pushed back all of the time.

[850oldschool]

Chuck, nice looking job on the sedan! That looks like standard foam backed headliner. Where did you source that?

[Chuck W]

Chuck, nice looking job on the sedan! That looks like standard foam backed headliner. Where did you source that?

Thanks. It is. I've usually bought material from https://www.yourautotrim.com/, but there are several sources.

[erikv11]

Erik, what did you use for fabric?

It's my beater car - I just rubbed off as much of the decayed foam as could, and re-attached the old fabric. And I didn't worry about where the fabric did not line up perfectly with grab handle cut-outs etc. All done with the headliner still installed in the car.

So there are good reports for both products. I wonder if a big part of the adhesive longevity (for these two products, anyway) comes down to workmanship, getting a good coat on both surfaces.

[ZionXIX]

Chuck, nice looking job on the sedan! That looks like standard foam backed headliner. Where did you source that?

Thanks. It is. I've usually bought material from https://www.yourautotrim.com/, but there are several sources.

Does the beige color match up pretty well?

[Chuck W]

Does the beige color match up pretty well?

I couldn't tell you, as I absolutely HATE that light color of the upper interior on these things, so I ditched it for a dark grey/charcoal color and also dyed the upper plastics that needed to match.

They do have a wide offering though, and will send you samples.

[850oldschool]

Chack, interesting you should mention that. I was just sitting in the car yesterday looking up at the dome light and handles thinking about how they just barely agree with the stock headliner color. They have a warmer tone than the grays in the rest of the interior. Maybe they work better with the 3960 colors. I'd never thought of dyeing the upper plastics until now.