As always, I enjoyed the show Sunday morning via WLRN. Unfortunately, contact cement is generally not heat proof and wouldn’t hold up on a hot day even in Northern locals. However, there is a product that does do what the young lady was trying to achieve.
MAX (aka MAX Professional) (in Ft Lauderdale FL) makes “Trim Spray Adhesive” “For Foams, Carlet & Lightweight Headliners”. It’s like a special spray-on contact cement. Even if the foam layer was degrading, you can scrape it off, use this stuff, and put a new layer of headliner insulation up, followed by more stuff, and your (flame retardant) fabric of choice. I’ve even used this to mount insulation inside a home A/C evaporator in the attic (where it reaches 120F to 140F in Florida). I’ve also used it on auto interior vinyl, but like with any plastic or foam, be careful to test first so you don’t melt your work piece.
Btw, I have no affiliation with MAX other than buying their products from time to time.
Btw, Scotch makes a double sided tape (I’ve bought at Home Depot) called “Exterior Mounting Tape” (Model # 411-DC) that holds up under heat too. Might be 3/32 thick, so works for uneven surfaces.
Hope that helps. As always, your comments and suggestions are always appreciated.
I hope this isn’t a commercial. The adhesive I have used is 3M brand heavy duty spray contact cement. The problem with headliners is that the foam deteriorates and becomes powder and cannot be glued back in place.
lol … I am using straight pins like come w/new dress shirts to hold the headliner up on my Corolla. I had to buy a bunch of dress shirts for work, ended up with a pile of straight pins, and as a result my headliner problem and my excess pins problem both got solved.
Seriously, if the MAX spray adhesive BABAB posted works as advertised, then it’s good there is a simple do-it-yourself sol’n to the seemingly common headliner problem. The caller mentioned she had tried glue, but almost passed out from the glue fumes. Hopefully the MAX product is safe to use inside the passenger compartment. With MAX, youmight not quite have the new car look you’d get if a pro removed the windshield and all the side moldings prior to the install , but it should look ok and be functional at least.
Been there, done that, lots of 1980’s &90’s vehicles with saggy headliners, even after removing the perforated cardboard liner and hours of scraping crystalized foam off of it, primer painted the cardboard then 3M spray glued the new fabric to it, used a plastic bondo spreader to smooth it, still looked like a bowl of oatmeal, even with fabric with foam factory attached.
Def not making a plug for this catalog (LMC) but on pg 102 i bought an entire 1pc ready to install headliner for my 1990 truck. The color choices are limited for fabric, but they do have a plastic only model that can be spray painted to match your interior, which is what i opted for, fit was OK, but i also installed a self adhesive foil faced liner (same catalog actually sold as floor sound deadner) this step is important since roof can get so hot that it may sweat between the steel roof & the plastic alone. Mine looks good & the sound reduction was quite noticeable,
if they have your make/ model.