DIY Headliner Difficulty

[kevinspann]

Try using acetone or lacquer thinner to remove the adhesive on the louvered shade before you sand. You don't want sanding marks showing.

The solid shade also blocks sunroof noise.


The front screws for the moonroof glass can be hard to get out.

 

[SHOtime2511]

Honestly,I'd try to do the headliner if you are able to remove it.
The material lays on really easy and its simple to work the wrinkles out.
3M headliner glue works great.
Any good fabric shop will have the fabric for cheap.

 

[jelloslug]

The shop quoted me $150 today to do just the headliner (and I will remove the louvered shade, remove the glue/destroyed material, sand it, and paint it with the Ford titanium paint that I used on my dash cap). I'm going to let them do the headliner for that price. I can handle doing the sunroof shade. The guy told me it'd be best to remove the material down to the plastic and just paint it. They've tried covering those louvered shades on other cars with very thin material, and he said it's a PITA and often doesn't work well/look right.

Here is my louvered sun shade I recovered years ago. It still looks new today.

 

[luigisho]

Wow. Nice work.

 

[JRA2000TL]

Try using acetone or lacquer thinner to remove the adhesive on the louvered shade before you sand. You don't want sanding marks showing.

The solid shade also blocks sunroof noise.


The front screws for the moonroof glass can be hard to get out.

I have the shade out and my project this week is to strip it and paint it. Which would do the job better to strip it--acetone or the lacquer thinner? I figure I can use a paint scraper to get all the material off. I just don't want to weaken/ruin the plastic with any harsh chemicals.

I'm painting it the matching Ford titanium paint I bought from Josh (SHOnut).

 

[Bob Gervais]

IIRC, soaking it in water works well. I stripped one of mine this way many years ago.

Any kind of solvent on plastic is going to present problems.

 

[kevinspann]

I'd say lacquer thinner over acetone, just to get the glue off. You can sand it if you want, but I think the sanding marks will be visible...Then wipe it down with alcohol really well and paint it.

 

[kevinspann]

Or what Bob said. Go from least aggressive to most aggressive.

 

[Bob Gervais]

Or, since you have an air compressor, pick up a cheap 90 degree die grinder and use some of these:

http://www.3m.com/product/information/Roloc-Bristle-Disc.html

 

[jelloslug]

On a side note, I just did a headliner for a BMW; I would not wish that on anyone. The glue that they used turned the foam into orange sludge. I had to scrap it off and then clean the board with lacquer thinner.

 

[MichaelDecker95MtxSho]

Can someone show how to remove the headliner board the correct way? Or the most sucessful way.

 

[sperold]

Put the car in an area where you can open all 4 doors, and roll the windows down. You may as well unhook the battery as you will be there for awhile.
For the time it takes, remove both front seats.
Even with this, you will have to bend the sides of the roof panel to get it out one of the doors (usually passenger front, or driver rear, but you will see which one suits the situation.
You may get away with tipping the front seats forward, but it never worked well for me.

 

[SHOdded]

Or if you are replacing the windshield, that's supposed to be a good time to do the headliner also!

 

[MichaelDecker95MtxSho]

Im sure removing the windshield would be much easier in the aspect if replacing the headliner but i think i might just give the upholstery shop have that headache.

 

[Reags]

Trying to resurrect this tread as it didn't answer one fundamental question (actually I have 2) .....
1. Can you replace the headliner with the backer installed? I understand you will need multiple hands to get it correct and not wrinkled ...... (I'm sure the answer will be "to do it right ......" but really has anyone done it?
2. How do you remove the moonroof shade ?

Thanks in advance
Scott

 

[luigisho]

http://wikisho.com/wiki/Sunshade_replacement