Headliner Delete

mitherial

Well-known member

• May 9, 2018

• #1

The cloth headliner on my station wagon 90 is sagging in the back, especially near the alpine windows (very common). Is there any reason that I should not pull out the existing rear headliner and leave it blank until I get around to installing a new set? How does the bare-metal look (I have the flat-top roof).

The front headliner is in acceptable shape, and my inclination is to leave it in-place (I have what I believe to be the correct installation clips (AFU1900 Fir Tree Fastener)

 

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chuckc4

Well-known member

• May 9, 2018

• #2

It will look fine, but you will probably do damage to your hearing.

 

mitherial

Well-known member

• May 9, 2018

• #3

Hah! What is the best option for a replacement? I have run across Lasalle Trim, I am sure that there are others.

 

rocky

NAS-ROW Addict

• May 9, 2018

• #4

Take what you have and see if it’s in good enough condition to recover.
While you are waiting dynamat the roof. I has a bare aluminum interior for some time. It was noisy as all heck.

 

4RF RDS

Well-known member

• May 9, 2018

• #5

You can also stretch the cloth covering on the existing headliner board. Very easy and effective. Unstaple it at the edge, re-stretch, spray some glue and staple it. Sagging gone...

 

mitherial

Well-known member

• May 10, 2018

• #6

In his Defender Restoration Manual, Lindsey Porter speaks very highly of the noise and heat insulating properties of the LaSalle fiberglass/GPR headliner replacements (apparently Santana used a similar setup from the factory). I will make a go at re-tightening the trim, and but have LaSalle as a potential fallback if the uninsulated noise level is too high (not that the 19J diesel is exactly quiet under any conditions...)

 

AdamSanta85

Well-known member

• May 10, 2018

• #7

You should try to recover it yourself if budget is tight. It could probably be done pretty nice for not much money for the cost of fabric and spray glue.

 

luckyjoe

Well-known member

Callsign: KD2PXL

• May 10, 2018

• #8

The simplest method is to remove the existing covering and adhesive, then spray it with vinyl paint, sand and repeat. Comes out nice, clean and never sags.

 

mitherial

Well-known member

• May 10, 2018

• #9

^^ As in sand the insulating material underneath the fabric headliner?

Very interesting...what color vinyl spray paint would you use to (somewhat) match the factory "light grey"?

 

luckyjoe

Well-known member

Callsign: KD2PXL

• May 11, 2018

• #10

mitherial said:

^^ As in sand the insulating material underneath the fabric headliner?

Click to expand...

No, cause you run the chance of lifting the fibers. I rubbed the old adhesive of with a dry scrub brush, then sprayed with a light-tan vinyl paint that matched my D1 interior. You want to sand the dry paint every few layers until you are happy with the finish/feel, then one more top-coat. If you don't sand at all you get a textured appearance but it is very rough to the hands.

I did a darker grey in my Jetta, skipped the sanding and it's been fine.

 

SARTech

Well-known member

• May 11, 2018

• #11

luckyjoe said:

The simplest method is to remove the existing covering and adhesive, then spray it with vinyl paint, sand and repeat. Comes out nice, clean and never sags.

Click to expand...

Good idea.