Just wanted to document my headliner replacement, in case it helps someone else. My headliner started sagging last year and I tried to use spray glue to glue it back up, but I guess the foam just kept disintegrating and it fell down again.

The stock headliner is composed of a formed foam layer with a layer of fabric basically glued on the outside. The fabric wraps around to the back of the foam, and the thing is stuck to the roof with basically a huge piece of double sided tape.

I pulled off the fabric. It came off real easy because the outer layer of foam was disintegrating—just getting old. Here's the foam piece without the fabric:

Here's the huge double sided tape:

The adhesive loses power over time, especially where the foam starts to disintegrate.

I used my trusty HF heat gun and heated up the tape to help peel it off. The wadded up tape is at the bottom here:

I laid the foam piece over the fabric and used it as a template to draw with a Sharpie on the back of the headliner material, which I got from :


I cut it out with scissors:

I placed the cut out piece in place on the top, and folded it over, using some of the scraps to protect the non-headlinered part of the top from overspray.

I sprayed Gorilla Spray Adhesive on the top and on the back of the headliner, and folded it back over onto the top. I'd cut the edges just a few millimeters larger than the "hole" in the top, because the edge of the headliner gets kind of tucked under the molding of the top. I used a plastic scraper to tuck the headliner edge under:

Part of the top, near the back didn't really have much room to tuck, so I just used a utility knife to cut off any excess there.

Finished product:

In place:


I used a grey headliner instead of the OEM black, because I thought it might make the car feel less dark inside.

 

Looks great, thanks for sharing!

 

Nice job!

 

Nice job and thanks for taking the time to provide documentation on what you did.

 

Did you glue the fabric to the top, or did you get a new piece of foam?

 

I did the same on my C4 including using a lighter color cloth. I actually got my material from Hobby Lobby which actually sold a foam backed material.
I certainly liked the color change although you need to make sure your hands are clean....

 

I glued the foam-backed fabric directly to the top. I considered gluing it to the foam, but I think the foam+fabric would have been too thick to tuck under the edge molding. I also wanted to do this job on the cheap, and a new foam piece would've been $100+.

I assume you mean when you're lifting the roof off?

 

I have replaced many headliners (used to work in an upholstery shop). If reusing the foam backerboard (which I recommend) you have to remove the old glue residue. The easiest way to scrap the glue off is with a stiff brush. If the board breaks, don't worry, just use some duct tape on the back side to hold it together while gluing the cloth back to it and the cloth will hold it together. 3M headliner spray glue (available at auto parts stores) is fine to use. By cloth that is not a tri-layer (cloth - foam - skrim). You want only cloth and foam.

 

What is skrim?

 

Nice job and thanks for sharing.....

 

A cloth covering of the foam. You don't want that.

 

Huh? You'd rather have uncovered foam?

 

Indeed, as I think my foam is starting to sag...

 

Yes, you do not want covered foam. Look up headliner cloth and you will see that it does not have skrim.

 

Yeah OK, whatever you say.

 

Skrim is simply not cool. Used to be you could an ointment for that, but now it’s a social label.

 

In a standard car, the cost of a headliner is incrementally increased by the labor to get it in/out. In a targa, you should be able to drop it off at an upholstery shop and have it done professionally without much expense. A standard sedan in my area will cost $75-100 to recover the board if you take it out of the car yourself. A Targa would likely fall in the $50 range. After buying materials, you're not going to save much to do it yourself, and I love to do things myself when saving money. I've done a couple of headliners and did a decent job...but this is something a professional can do better with experience - and it won't cost you a lot of money as there's no labor expense to get it "out" of the car.

 

Well, too late.

 

PSA …. I installed one of these. Super easy & looks great.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/C5-Corvette...-127632-2357-0