Anyone have expertise with headliner refurbishment?
 

Looking for some guidance on refurbishing my headliner on a 93 RRC.

I removed it yesterday very carefully and once I got it out and stripped off the fabric and scrubbed it down with a stiff bristle brush, I see that several areas are fractured and overall, the edges especially are in pretty dismal shape.

The rear corner on the drivers side is just shot and has lost all rigidity.

As the thing is very clearly made of some type of fiberglass - I am going to assume that it can be repaired in some fashion?

I have zero experience with fiberglass - but I'm guessing some of you folks have some tips and tricks for this?

I could just glue on some new foam-fabric and re-install it, but I really want this to look like factory new - and I intend to restore this RRC fully and to the very best of standards.

Let me know your thoughts on this - thanks.

SMD

So, no one had any feedback on this…..maybe it was too obvious that it was simply a basic, garden variety fiberglass repair job….which I personally had never done……until today. I obtained a very cost effective "Bondo" kit from my local DIY shop here in MS. I reinforced the areas of the headliner that were weak and messed up from removal/reinstallation…..here are some pix. The headliner areas that were "broken" or weakened by multiple removal/reinstall were repaired and strengthened by applying the fiberglass patch kit - my first attempt was **apparently** successful - and now the headliner is ready for recovering. Will post more info/pix as I move further into this job. Thanks.

(still working on posting the pix….on a MAC….God, how I hate trying to work pix for Mac versus Windows……Aaarrrrgggghhhhh.)

https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&i...3&disp=safe&zw
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here are the pix….I hope everyone can see them….
 

thanks.

Yes, there ARE people out here reading your posts
 

I can relate to having conversations with myself so thought I'd give you some words of encouragement :)

Looks good, I'm impressed - and great idea with the Bondo. I haven't been brave enough to take my headliner off yet but it's on the list. What are you going to reupholster it with? Are you repadding it? I was thinking of just painting mine but am thinking that the padding may act as a sound barrier? Realize that you're trying to restore to original appearance...

I look forward to following your thread.

I did a headliner in a car once years ago. I pulled it out, and re-glued the fabric back down. Lasted about a week as the glue I used stuck to the foam, but the foam backing was falling apart so it was a total waste of time. your fix looks much better. I used a staple gun on the headliner on my D1, I think it might be more of a cardboard or hardboard material(?) I need to repair the sunroof(won't open) so the plan is to pull the headliner once it gets warmer out. I am curious as to what you will be using for the covering material.

I also recovered the Disco 1 headliner in my last truck. '98 without sunroofs, which made it easier. I was thinking a simple fibreglass job would do it and yours looks fine.

I did learn that covering is a b*tch, if you don't have someone to help you. I'll take the headliner shell to a shop next time and have them do it so I don't get all the wrinkles etc.

The supplier I used for headliner material is this one: http://www.headlinerexpress.com/head...ive-p-750.html

On sites like this one where poorly fed code monkeys simply felt writing proper code wasn't worth the effort, I simply upload photos to Flickr and the load them here. It isn't as much a problem with Apple as it is with lazy code writers developing crappy websites. The way the entire process for loading photos on this site is, it's like stepping back ten years in time.

Oh, and nice job on the headliner. If you haven't already chosen a fabric, painting it is an alternative. I've seen a number of headliners that were spray painted come out looking quite nice.

When you recover it, be sure to check that your material for the sunroof panel isn't too thick otherwise it can bind or bunch up when you slide the shade back to expose the glass. Used to be that there were two thicknesses for the headliner material and the thicker wouldn't work on sun shades... I know from experience.