Cut Headliner

savegoodautonfg said:

Yesterday I was installing XM Radio and i made a really stupid mistake, to get the antenna thru i cut a whole in the headliner unfournately i made it too big i did'nt realize at the time. what can i do. can i buy a small piece of it and just patch it on the back. at least something to make it look a little better.

any opinions would be appreciated.

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If you cut just the headliner "cloth":

Go to your local cloth store (Crafts N Stuff, JoAnns Fabrics, WalMart, ect). They sell headliner material. Also get a can of 3M Super 99 adheisive spray. Completly remove your headliner board from the car. Peel as much of the material off as possible, using a razor blade to help. Then use something to remove the rest of the material foam. I used a scrub attachment for my drill. You want the headliner backing to be as smooth as possible. Lay the backing on the ground and lay the new material ontop. Trim the cloth out to a few inches larger than the backing board, all the way around. Fold the material back so you have half the backing board exposed. Spray the Super 99 on the back of the exposed material and on the backing board. Make sure to cover the backing board and the material VERY well. Allow a few minutes for the Super 99 to get "tacky". Then slowly and gently fold the headliner back onto the backing board so the half of the headliner you just sprayed is done. Use gentle, even brushes with your hand to smooth it out. Now fold the unglued half of the material back so you can repeat the same procedure on the back half of the headliner. Make sure the entire headliner is smooth, no folds, wrinkles, or creases. Let sit for at least an hour. Using a razor blade or exacto knife, carefully trim the excess material from the outer edges of the backing board, and cut out all the holes for the visors, lamp, ect. Obviously you just follow the precut holes in the backing board.

If you actually cut the backing board itself:

Strip the old headliner material like above. Using duct tape, simply line up the cut backing board and tape it back together from ABOVE the backing board. You want the tape to end up being on the roof side of the backing board. Then follow the rest of the above instructions.

It is easy to do, and when you are done it will look like a brand new, professionally done, headliner. It should take you no more than 3 hours or so, from start to finish, including drying time.