Dear Car Talk 's most recent entry is about repairing failing headliners. I got to wondering why there’s a foam rubber liner under the headliner in the first place? One idea might be to make hitting your head on the ceiling hurt less; but the foam rubber liner is so thin it doesn’t seem like it w…

I’ll play! I think it’s for noise reduction.

Ah, didn’t think of that one. Makes a good deal of sense, good idea.

I’m not sure if the foam rubber portion is for sound reduction or not. But, having driven my car without the headliner (I had someone recovering it), I know for certain the headliner does function in noise reduction…a lot!

The headliner in my 59 VW was just vinyl with the wire bows to hold it up when I replaced it. I think this was pretty standard back then-no foam, just the sewn material. But using a Styrofoam shell with the foam headliner glued to it just makes a nice finished product, and no sewing required.

Then there is a convertible with no headliner, just saying.

[image] pleasedodgevan2: How long will the foam last is what I might wonder about next. Heh heh. My experience is at about 15-20 years of hard usage, the headliner will start flopping in the breeze. Then it’s spend $100 and a Saturday replacing it, sell the car, pin it up, or look like a do…

The headliner insulation improves comfort during not and cold environment conditions as well as providing a degree of sound insulation. Vehicle manufacturers have been installing headliners with insulation in convertible cars for the last 30 years in an effort to offer the same comfort level in con…

[image] Nevada_545: The headliner insulation improves comfort during not and cold environment conditions as well as providing a degree of sound insulation. I can see that. I drove a 16-foot rental moving van east to west all the way across northern Nevada in the summer. The weather that …

What's the purpose for the foam rubber liner under the headliner?

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pleasedodgevan2 January 3, 2020, 6:31am 7

The replacement is usually foam, the original used to be some fiber matting which held up for a while but wasn’t too good. How long will the foam last is what I might wonder about next.

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What's the purpose for the foam rubber liner under the headliner?

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