Glueing Headlineing back up

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trish441, Apr 14, 4:34am
Can anyone please tell me what the best glue is for glueing my headlineing back up. This is the 2nd time its started to fall down. Thanks in advance
franc123, Apr 14, 4:49am
Nothing, it's a waste of money trying to glue it. The only long term fix is to get the headlining completely removed from the car, what's left of the fabric removed and replaced with new fabric and foam backing glued into place after stripping the old foam remains off the base sheet The issue is the disintegration of the foam backing which is not curable with patching it with glue. This work normally costs $3-400 to do, but once it's done you forget about it for another 15 years.
macman26, Apr 14, 4:51am
Needs to come out. Old lining needs scraping off. The foam has gone so needs replacing. Find a motor trimmer or a handy mate. Some people have just gotten barbed retainers and after drilling a few holes popped them in. Doesn’t look the best but it’s an improvement.
andy61, Apr 14, 5:05am
As everyone else has mentioned- dont try reglueing the headliner fabric back up. you will only end up with glue stained fabric , lumpy bumpy mess with the holes for sunvisors , grab handles etc all in the wrong place. the only solution is to replace the fabric with new fabric. At the moment there is a supply issue with the headliner fabric as there are delays in shipping etc with many of the suppliers. Check with your local Auto Upholstery Shop/Motor Trimmer as they may still have some fabric in stock.
marte, Apr 14, 5:12am
What sort of car is it?

For DIY, there's a kit on trademe for $100 though you would probably need another can of spray glue.
You have to remove door pillar trim, etc etc, remove roof card, clean, glue, glue material, stick & press, wait & refit.
$400-500+ if you get it done.

Mines covered in thumb tacks.
muppet_slayer, Apr 14, 5:20am
Bet you it's a ford falcon. I ripped mine out and left the hard lining behind. Did it in situ. Used the vacuum cleaner and rubbed the disintegrated layer of foam rubber off while holding the vacuum hose near the lining to catch all the old foam rubber. Worked a treat and problem solved!
stornello, Apr 14, 5:34am
Thumb tacks - I have stars on my ceiling.
andy61, Apr 14, 5:41am
All Aussie cars{ Commodores Territory, Falcon, Camry etc) are affected, the fabric all came from the same supplier
apollo11, Apr 14, 5:41am
yep, they supply one can of spray glue with the kit but really you need two.
kazbanz, Apr 14, 7:19am
what exactly is the car ?
rovercitroen, Apr 14, 7:47am
Common problem on 90s BMWs and Jaguars too. I had one of my Jags redone a few years ago. Cost about $1100 as the front windscreen had to come out to remove the roof lining card. No rust around the screen either which was a surprise.
3tomany, Apr 14, 7:52am
No glue will fix it just spend about three hundy and replace it.
yz490, Apr 14, 8:00am
Yes my "07 Passat is doing that. Not sitting on my head yet but! .
timmo1, Apr 14, 8:13am
. also a common problem on VWs
kazbanz, Apr 14, 7:23pm
Strangely enough the 2005-2011 Toyota Avensis built in Europe also has exactly the same issue. Given no manufacturer is deliberately wanting to have this issue occur I suspect it was a result of a legal requirement for the glue type
Any way you look at it Trish you have to remove the hood lining and as a minimum scrub the "cardboard" clean No glue is going the stick loose gobs of foam rubber in place. If its an old banger you don't want to invest anything at all into then stapling or using tacks to hold the liner up off your head makes sense
intrade, Apr 14, 7:51pm
#15 You seem to understand what the problems are. its not about 1 brand if a aisin transmission in a vw tiguan is crap then it is also crap in the toyota., simple straight forward logic. corner cut manufactured items affect all brand. laws and regulation making things worse not better also affect everything . like shoes whom fall A part after storing 5 years on a shelf t shirts who turn to rags after 10 washes or less.
They now want to just legislate it with it must last 10 years and think its fixed when the problems are immense caused by loads of banning and law changes over 30 years +
cognition, Apr 14, 10:05pm
Yep, as others have said, don't bother gluing it as you will most likely end up regretting the result (glue stains, etc). Toyota Avensis, which is the car I have, is especially bad for this. Ended up with sticking twist pins in (staples and regular tacks seem to come out too easily presenting a potential safety issue for passengers)

Just going to run the car in to the ground and get rid of it. Mechanically, it's still sound, but too costly to fix cosmetically. The paint work is fading, dash is cracking, door dents from neighbouring parked cars. Probably wouldn't get more than 2,000 for the thing given age and mileage. Holds the unenviable title of being the worse car in the street and at my workplace.
kazbanz, Apr 14, 11:25pm
Actually if its a mid 200's model they have become sought after. if you grab the head lining out yourself its not too expensive to get recovered.
Word of warning though protect all potential contact areas when remocing it because the foam/glue turns into a tacky goop that sticks to everything.
nice_lady, Apr 14, 11:43pm
Did that in our old 2001 Civic which had a bit of the lining falling down. Worked fine.
cognition, Apr 15, 3:19am
Well admittedly that's surprising. Not long ago these vehicles were roundly shunned because the majority of those era models were fitted with those D4 direct injection petrol engines (even though mine has never given me trouble apart from a single oxygen sensor failure)

I guess I could look to give it ago removing the ceiling board and re-covering it on a spare weekend. Would be nice to find an economical way to also fix up / restore the fading paint work (plastic bits especially)
andy61, Apr 15, 4:43am
Its not the glue that lets go,- its the type of foam used that perishes with age and heat. I did a headliner in an Avensis yesterday- god what an awful car with that splitting cracked dashboard! . Are they prone to burning oil? (2.4 D-4)This one was rather rattly, so I checked the oil and there was a tiny bit on the end of the dipstick ,I put about 750 ml of oil in it and was much quieter.I dont like putting oil into customers cars!
marte, Apr 15, 4:50am
#21 Yep its the foam lining that disintegrates.

The same foam in my Audis as in a friends Holden. The Holdens are nowhere as bad as the Audis though.
You have to remove the foam by scraping it lightly , not forwards ' chisling action' , but a light 'painting action' drawing the scraper across the foam, and it will pill up behind the scraper & brush it off.
andy61, Apr 15, 4:57am
I clean the foam off by wearing gloves and rubbing it off. Scrapers would damage the surface too much leaving imprefections showing thru the new fabric.
kazbanz, Apr 15, 5:12am
Ive got an 06 wagon in my garage right now. They are well known for dash splitting. Again european built so I THINK the dash issue is to do with biodegradability. by the sound of things the one you have there has been abused.
kazbanz, Aug 22, 12:07pm
You are more the expert but it feels to me that the glue over time melts the foam. Either way it turns it into an evil yellowy orange mess that sticks to everything--EXCEPT what its soposed to.