Headliner out - yay - need advice on adhesive and vinyl

I am finally addressing some of the lingering issues with my E36 M3. Today was headliner removal day. It is now successfully out of the car. What adhesive should I use to re-attach fabric? And, any advice on what to use as a replacement fabric? I was thinking marine grade vinyl might work okay?

Thoughts?

I was going to use the orange can adhesive from Permatex. After that, just plain old foam backed headliner material from the fabric store.

I used a 3M product (can't remember exactly what) that I got at O"Reilly Auto Parts and a foam backed headliner cloth from Joanne's Fabrics.It looks pretty good, but if I were to do it again I would use gray instead of black.It comes in at least four colours,black,gray, dark blue and tan.

Houndstooth...

Oh man, I wish you were closer to Florida. I removed the mint headliner out of my M3 and dont know what to do with it. It will probably end up in the trash. I doubt it would make the trip intact, but you can have it if you want it.

plaid fleece in a color pattern that suites the rest of your interior.

Slippery wrote: Oh man, I wish you were closer to Florida. I removed the mint headliner out of my M3 and dont know what to do with it. It will probably end up in the trash. I doubt it would make the trip intact, but you can have it if you want it.

That is a kind offer -- if it rests your mind my E36 M3 is a four-door.

Take any photos? Have any tips? I need to do this with my E36 coupe and have been reluctant to try.

DeadSkunk wrote: I used a 3M product (can't remember exactly what) that I got at O"Reilly Auto Parts and a foam backed headliner cloth from Joanne's Fabrics.It looks pretty good, but if I were to do it again I would use gray instead of black.It comes in at least four colours,black,gray, dark blue and tan.

I've done this a couple times. Works well.

nderwater wrote: Take any photos? Have any tips? I need to do this with my E36 coupe and have been reluctant to try.

It was super easy -- it isn't really held in place by much more than the trim pieces and the visors and such. I removed the seats to give lots of room. I also found a bunch of money to offset the costs by doing so.

Have a gray marine grade vinyl to go on. Searching for the permatex adhesive but can't find it. May need to use the 3M.

ZOO wrote:

Slippery wrote: Oh man, I wish you were closer to Florida. I removed the mint headliner out of my M3 and dont know what to do with it. It will probably end up in the trash. I doubt it would make the trip intact, but you can have it if you want it.

That is a kind offer -- if it rests your mind my E36 M3 is a four-door.

Yep, this one is for a coupe ... It would look awkward lol. I keep holding on to it as i feel bad throwing it away. Someday someone will need one and I'll come to the rescue.

I have used the 3m stuff when I redid the headliner in my 318ti. Not a single part fell down in the 8 years I owned it.

The fabric store material has a lot of stretch to it. The marine grade vinyl may not conform to the substrate well so be prepared to use a heat gun to make it more flexible.

Epic fail.

For two reasons. First, I used the old fabric headliner to make a template with the new vinyl I bought. Clearly the fabric had more stretch than the vinyl, and it ended up being a bit small. No problem, I added a subtle seam, and decided I could live with it.

Second, I put the headliner in the car but was too tired to install it. Good thing. It got too hot, and the adhesive didn't end up holding the vinyl anyway (I used a 3M product -- the Permafix stuff wasn't anywhere around here).

Oh well. I am really only into it for the vinyl costs. Next, maybe I will look at other fabric. Or perhaps I should paint it with that granite look paint.

Rob

Rob,

This may be a silly question but could you just flock the substrate? I've seen people flock their dashes. Just curious if that might be a sufficient low-cost solution.

Protege2886 wrote: Rob, This may be a silly question but could you just flock the substrate? I've seen people flock their dashes. Just curious if that might be a sufficient low-cost solution.

That could work. Any idea of what they use?

http://www.flockit.com/index.php/products/suede-tex/mini-flocker-kits.html

irish44j's thread: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/flock-accomplished/44531/page1/

Links to the site mentioned by EvanB

Going the faux granite paint route. Looks ok so far. We shall see how it dries.

ZOO wrote: Going the faux granite paint route. Looks ok so far. We shall see how it dries.

Without pictures, it didn't happen...

Pics when done . . .I need more paint. Damned fibreglass headliner is absorbent

Any updates Rob?

Here's a shot:

I'd say that overall I am pretty impressed with it. It is a bit soft, so I accidentally rubbed off the paint in a few areas during the re-install. It's been baking in the car with the windows closed for over a week, with no ill-effects.

Here's a tip if you are in Canada -- Krylon granite spray paint is $7 at Canadian Tire, versus $16 at Michael's. Plus you don't have to smell incense, or look at scrap-booking supplies when you go to buy it.

ZOO wrote: Here's a shot: I'd say that overall I am pretty impressed with it. It is a bit soft, so I accidentally rubbed off the paint in a few areas during the re-install. It's been baking in the car with the windows closed for over a week, with no ill-effects. Here's a tip if you are in Canada -- Krylon granite spray paint is $7 at Canadian Tire, versus $16 at Michael's. Plus you don't have to smell incense, or look at scrap-booking supplies when you go to buy it.

That's paint? It looks great!

Nice work Rob!