96 Volvo 850 - Headliner repair

Brahms · Post by **Brahms** » 02 Nov 2015, 10:02

I wrestled my headliner out this weekend. I have not bought my fabric or glue yet, and I am wondering if I should bother trying to strip the remnants of the old foam backing off the headliner board. So recommendations on that, and any recommendations on the best tan fabric would be nice. I found some headliner material at Joann's Fabric that looks okay. Also, does anyone know what the wires are for that were buried above the headliner board? They dead-end with black connectors. Thanks

skloon · Post by **skloon** » 02 Nov 2015, 10:46

I did strip the foam off mine it was flaky I used some really stretchy vinyl that was for airplane interiors, I wish I still had some as it was great stuff and everything would wipe off

jcdillin · Post by **jcdillin** » 02 Nov 2015, 10:49

Yes, you need to go all the way down to the headliner board, if you leave foam bits on it will just fall down in a few months.

I used a wire brush and just gently swept everything off.

I used the grey from jo-anns and I was quite happy with the material, I used 3 cans of this glue on my wagon.

http://amzn.to/1McCOrs

This is how mine looks with the joanns grey.

Brahms · Post by **Brahms** » 02 Nov 2015, 11:58

Thanks you guys. Yes that gray headliner looks pretty good. You did an excellent job on that.

I am going to follow your recommendations, and see if I can get some tan material at Jo-anns and scrape the headliner off.

jcdillin · Post by **jcdillin** » 02 Nov 2015, 13:56

Good luck! Don't forget your coupon, I was able to get my fabric 50% off with coupon.

Brahms · Post by **Brahms** » 02 Nov 2015, 14:10

Will do, thanks JC

Post by **polskamafia mjl** » 02 Nov 2015, 15:26

I also used Joanns but went with the tan headliner material.

Post by **JimBee** » 02 Nov 2015, 17:56

My 850 sunshade fabric is falling. Does the complete panel assembly need to come out to get the sunshade out?

jcdillin · Post by **jcdillin** » 02 Nov 2015, 18:40

Nope, just have to remove the sunroof glass.

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... hp?p=30393

Post by **JimBee** » 02 Nov 2015, 19:39

Thanks, jcdillin. I recalled changing out my headliner and and the whole sunroof panel (linkage was broken when I bought the car) so I had it all apart. The mint 93 I harvested from also had a very clean headliner so I changed that, too. The only part to fail so far is the sunshade.

Forgot about this great tutorial by Ozark Lee!