checked FAQ's no help sooo 2000 headliner

I have a 2000 XJ and the headliner has started the dreaded sag. I checked with a local car upholster and he told me that later model XJ's like mine went to a fiberglass headliner board and that they can not effectively be re-done. I have trouble believing this, anyone tried with a 2000? If so where did you get the cloth and adhesive?

Just did my '98 last weekend. Total cost for materials was $56 for 2-1/2 yards headliner material and 2 cans adhesive.

Pull out all the plastic trim and overhead lights.

Pull headliner out the back. Be careful the fiberglass shell can be brittle.

Peel off old headliner.

With a hand held wire brush scrub off all the old foam.

Get a friend to help you lay down the new headliner.

Follow directions on spray adhesive. DON'T use too much. It soaks through the headliner if you do.

Do just about a foot or two at a time.

Pay attention to the front edge where headliner meets windshield. You want to make sure you get the adhesive all the way up to the top of the lip.

Use a razor blade to trim the edges and around all openings. Buy a box of them. Because the shell is fiberglass they get dull real quick. I think I used 5-6 of them.

I ended up with some wrinkles around the speaker humps in the rear but no one will ever see them.

Took about 4 hours total. Scrubbing off the old foam was the most time consuming and rather tedious.

Not knowing where you live it's hard to say where to go for materials. I went to A-1 Foam and Fabric in Santa Ana, Ca. They have a web site.

Don't know the brand name but the part # was weh1910 for the light grey headliner. I think they called the color quartz.....

I have a 2000, I redid my headliner. About the same instructions as above. But I used my dremel with a small wire cup to remove all of the residual foam from the fiberglass board. Be careful using the dremel too, extremely time consuming and I didn't give my dremel a break and burned it up. ANY fabric store should have headliner material, the problem will be with getting the color to match perfectly. I went with a slightly darker than original color and I think it looks good. The only place I ran into problems was the back edge by the speakers. I have some wrinkles/folds in the back corners but you can't even notice them. As for following directions on spray adhesive, I agree. Spray the board and the material and do a little bit at a time and if you have someone to help you it makes it a LOT easier. I got my wife to help me. Overall my headliner looks awesome and no more sags.

Use a top quality adhesive. It's expensive but properly applied will last a long time.

i did mine last summer, installed a fleece john deere headliner, just as mudbutt said, used 3m spray, make sure the little white nipple is there, it helps spray. i also installed another speaker rack from the jy and did those too, the fleece pulled real nice and no wrinkles, i also used a broom as i laid it on kinda press it on more. looks awesome!

Is just replacing it with a nicer one an option? I've done that on a few vehicles, and have had good luck. I just put a '98 headliner in my '92. Looks good, but it is already twelve years old! So, I may end up going the re-upholster route soon. I think the most important step, which everyone will agree with, is make sure you get all the foam 'crumbs' off. Someone here had suggested using a wire brush, back when I was investigating doing the same thing.

Yes, make sure all the old foam comes off. It is brittle and the adhesive may not bond to it well and could result in premature drooping. Get the fiberglass board as clean as possible. A wire brush will work fine, but if you want it to be done faster you can use a die grinder, dremel, or drill with a wire cup attachment and it will go much faster. Just be extremely careful because due to the high RPM's it can cut right through the fiberglass board and then you'll have to patch it and that will be a big pain in the @$$.

if your going to redo it, make sure to get all of the old material off. including the foam. check your local junkyard. i have a 97 and i scored a perfect headliner out of a 2000, upgraded all of my interior lights, took the rear speakers in the molded in sound bar, and saved a ton of work by going this route. only costs me $50 and my time (one day of dorking around).



on a side note, are you a smoker? the nicotine in cigarettes has been proven to quickly eats away at the adhesive causing the dreaded "headliner fall". just some food for though.

60Driver said:

A wire brush will work fine, but if you want it to be done faster you can use a die grinder, dremel, or drill with a wire cup attachment and it will go much faster.

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I think that is an extremely bad Idea. For this very reason:

60Driver said:

Just be extremely careful because due to the high RPM's it can cut right through the fiberglass board and then you'll have to patch it and that will be a big pain in the @$$.

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I doubt a motorized wire cup will save you that much time, it will just be much less labor intensive.

Assuming of course, you don't ruin the very thin, fragile, brittle shell with said motorized wire cup. Because if that happens a 1/2 day $50 dollar project turns into a weeklong $100+ project.

Thanks for all the info. I have a good idea of what I am going to have to do. I don't smoke so that answers that. I live near greenvile MS and as far as I know there is only one automotive upholstery place nearby (the same one that said you can't reglue the fiberglass board and that mopar didn't make replacement ones for the 2000 xj anymore. I guess I will just have to get online and take care of finding the equipment. is there a specific 3M adhesive? if so anyone know the name or product code?

Walmart sells it. 3M spray adhesive, might even be designated for automotive use. Can't really remember though.

Auto Zone sells a nice selection of 3M auto products. I'm guessing the adhesive should be automotive grade because of the temperature extremes a car sees. A mere arts and crafts adhesive simply won't do.

You can get the headliner fabric at many, if not most, large fabric shops. Joanne's is one multi-location-chain and others have been mentioned in previous threads.

Some adhesives otherwise designated for automotive use will state that they are not suitable for headliners. I saw some the other day at AZ or O'Reilly for IIRC around $15 a can that I believe was listed for headliner use. I used 3M heavy duty stuff from O'Reilly when I did mine years ago and I think it was ~$17 a can. I mention the price just to give you an idea what you are looking for. I do not know if you can find a suitable adhesive for less.

the stuff I got was branded for A-1 Foam and Fabric. It was made specifically for headliners and was $8.25 a can.

heyhar said:

Auto Zone sells a nice selection of 3M auto products. I'm guessing the adhesive should be automotive grade because of the temperature extremes a car sees. A mere arts and crafts adhesive simply won't do.

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I used the 3M 90 super adhesive with good success. Some folks reported problems with the 3M 77 releasing if the car got real hot. Both can be found at a crafts or hardware store.

I had a little less area since I have an MJ, but wire brushing off the old foam only took about 20 minutes with a hand brush The fabric I chose was the medium gray material that's normally used for thermal underwear at $1.97 a sq yard. The little bit of stretchiness was very helpful is wrapping corners and curves. The materials intended for headliners were not stretchy at all and cost about 5x as much. Let it dry for a day or two so the fumes dissipate unless you don't mind driving with the windows down.

Someone had a writeup somewhere about using a bed sheet. As I recall it was a zoo pattern with lions, tigers, and giraffes (oh my!).

Just did mine on saturday exactly like post #3, and it was easy. I used the headliner fabric they sell at Joanns fabric, it's $14 or $15 a yard (I bought 3 yards to be safe), but its thick so you can lay on the glue. I used 2.5 cans of adhesive.

anybody know if Joanns has a website?

About ready to do this myself. Just requested some swatches from here:

http://www.automotiveinteriors.com/headliners_readymade/order_foamback_material.htm

This site looks pretty good too, probably going to get some samples from them as well:

http://www.yourautotrim.com/auothead.html

Going to use the wire brush method, and 3M Super 90 if I can find it (77 is pretty easy to locate). Also putting in an overhead console from a 98. It's got a darker fabric on it, so I'll be re-covering that as well.

http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Interior/Headliner.htm

is this what you were looking for?