rodsvet

My headliner is beginning to look a little dumpy. The fabric seems to be separating from the foam above. It's not bad yet, but I don't want to wait until it looks like @#$%. Anyone know about a replacement kit or have you had an upholstery shop repair or replace? Car is a 45,000 mile 2000 coupe. Thanks, Rod

zachaeous

I purchased the headliner material and installed mine myself. The material came from a local fabric store. I am from Illinois and a lot of the local body shops advertise headliners installed for around $120.00 and this is for full size vehicles. Good luck with your repair.

rodsvet

Thanks for the reply! Is the headliner glued in or on clips? I am afraid to pull it down and make it worse without knowing I can repair it myself. I've redone seat and carpeting in earlier Vettes but this car is absolutely like new and I don't want to make a mess. I would like to do it in a leather looking vinyl with some stitching to make it look trick. Rod

65GGvert

It's fabric glued to a plastic covered foam. When you pull it down, if the plastic separates from the foam and then you glue on a replacement fabric, you can see all the ridges and lumps from the foam. I bought a piece of headliner fabric from a local upholsterer and did mine myself for about 12 bucks plus 16 for the 3M adhesive. Any small ridge or indentation will show, but it looks better than loose and hanging fabric. If you can get the old liner peeled off without damaging the foam and plastic, it would look good. I think if you used a thicker material like vinyl or leather it might cover up some of the defects, but I didn't try it. The heavier material will separate and fall down easier in the hot sun than the porous headliner material, though.

rodsvet

I never thought about the heat. Your'e probably correct that the leather/vinyl would be heavier and have a tendency just from it's weight alone to follow gravity and separate. When I get the *****, I think I will pull it down and go for it! Thanks guys for the responses. Rod

lionelhutz

The reason it's falling down is because the foam layer behind it is deteriorating and breaking-up. So, I wouldn't try to glue anything back onto that old foam. If you want to use a heavier material then just use a good adhesive. I'd try contact cement since that seems to be the go-to adhesive upholsterers shops use.

rodsvet

Thanks Lionel, I'm going to wait for the weather to cool down here and work slows for the winter. Then I'll strip the headliner out and make the repair. I don't care if there is any foam above the fabric. If the top is smooth enough after cleaning our the old material, then maybe just glueing the material directly to the top would be an option. Just have to be careful about getting airborne and coming down hard and hitting the roof!!

65GGvert

The foam wasn't deteriorating on my 01, the glue just let loose of the cloth fabric. The foam is pretty tight packed and has a thin layer of plastic coating. Done correctly, the replacement material will work fine. 3M makes a spray on adhesive particularly for that application.

Vetteman Jack

Here is what other forum members have done to fix the headliner on a solid targa top. Maybe it will give you some ideas.

S.C. vette

I posted to another thread in the c5 area, with allot of pics on how to do this. Looks great a year+ later.