Headliner adhesive recommendations?

[Heap O' Jeep]

I am getting ready to re-do the headliner in my 89' XJ, and I need some recommendations for what adhesive to use. The previous owner put some sort of cloth material up on the ceiling, but it is only held up on the sides and the middle interior lights.

Is there some spray adhesive that would be good to hold the cloth-like headliner up? Where could I buy it?

TIA

 

[jmg256]

3M spray adhesive available in most places like walmart, lowes, home depot...

Or bubble gum, lots of bubble gum

 

[Heap O' Jeep]

I was thinking of bubble gum or tacks as a last resort

 

[stephenspann27]

Some post I've read on replacing the head liner's yourself.. the guys spend more on adheasive spray than if they had just carried the head liner to a shop. The shops spay it out of paint gun type thing.. You can save a lot on cost if you take head head liner backing board out yourself and carry it to the shop. Here in Texas it is usually about $35 to $45, materials and labor (that includes the headliner from them)

 

[Heap O' Jeep]

I will call around and take that into consideration when I do the job, thanks for the tip.

 

[RINGKONG]

this may sound stupid. but I used rivets on my 84. hasn't come down nor leaked thru the rivets:eyes:

 

[90cherk]

I replaced my '90 headliner last year and i would recommend trying to seal the liner board before spraying on the adhesive. When I sprayed the 3M onto it the board acted like a sponge and soaked up a lot of the spray, hence it wasn't tacky enough to adhere the cloth. i ended up using more spray cans than I expected but it eventually worked. Be careful not to over spray as it will saturate the cloth and then you'll get a less than smooth headliner but at our Jeep's age it should have a few wrinkles in it.

 

[bchulett]

Here's some resources:

For older OEM fabric:
http://www.smsautofabrics.com/


For newer OEM fabric:
Lindsey & Hall Inc.
Automotive Fabrics
940 North Durfee Ave. Unit B
South El Monte, CA 91733
Ph: (626) 575-5100
Ph: (800) 444-4255

I bought "TAC-IT Neoprene Contact Upholstery Adhesive" made by Alchemco from L&H... not sure they would sell and ship to you.

This company has an assortment of automotive adhesives and carries Alchemco.
http://www.autotopsinc.com/products_we_carry.htm


My personal experience supports removing the headliner yourself and taking it down to have an upholstery shop re-do your headliner. If you've never worked with these adhesives I can say you're in for the experience of your life.... not to mention the chemicals are extremely flammable and should be used with proper saftey equipment and ventilation.

I did the center console and what a hassle... next are the sun visors and I'm not looking forward to it.

SMS has OEM fabrics that will match your existing upholstery... a great resource that will send samples via the mail for an exact match. I have enough OEM fabric to re-do my entire 1991 XJ from end-to-end.

Good luck

.

 

[montanaman]

Just as an aside, Jo-Ann Fabrics has padded headliner material that was an exact match (in color, padding thickness, and fabric weave) to my '91 xj. It was pretty cheap too.

 

[MaxxXJ]

I replaced my '90 headliner last year and i would recommend trying to seal the liner board before spraying on the adhesive. When I sprayed the 3M onto it the board acted like a sponge and soaked up a lot of the spray, hence it wasn't tacky enough to adhere the cloth. i ended up using more spray cans than I expected but it eventually worked. Be careful not to over spray as it will saturate the cloth and then you'll get a less than smooth headliner but at our Jeep's age it should have a few wrinkles in it.

i was thinking maybe spray it down with a primer spray or spray paint, letting it dry then using the adhesive, that way when you spray the adhesive it wont soak up in the materal, just stick to the paint

 

[8Mud]

I was thinking of spraying mine down with clear epoxy paint then gluing. The last headliner I did was a flop. I should have read the can of contact cement I was using, "not to be used in high temperature applications". I found some contact cement that is used for counter tops and has a high temperature rating, for the next try.
The first hot days of summer and my headliner started to come unglued.

 

[Backroads]

walmart actually sells a headliner adhesive here in PA. Its usually in the automotive section next to all the additives and crap. Similar to the 3M spray (which I used) but in smaller bottles.

 

[lawsoncl]

When I did my MJ, the foam was crumbly so I went over it wire a wire brush and knocked it all off. Used about 1/3 of a can of 3M spray adhesive (Super 77 I think). The material I used looks just like medium grey thermal underwear material. It was a little stretchy and worked much better than the stiff vinyl headliner material.

I came out looking pretty nice. I think I spent $10 on the adhesive and $3 for 2 yards of fabric. Obviously you'll need a little more material for a full XJ headliner.