Headliner material source

[CSFJ]

Has anyone here dealt with Stockinteriors.com? Just ordered some material samples for the headliner in my '88 Silverado.

 

[bucket]

Headliner fabric is basically all the same no matter where you buy it from. The actual colors will vary depending on where and when it was made, so even if you match up to a sample, what you get may be a few shades off.

I usually get mine from the local JoAnne's craft store. The selection constantly changes, but they always have black and dark medium gray. They often have other common colors like tan, blue or maroon.

 

[CSFJ]

Headliner fabric is basically all the same no matter where you buy it from. The actual colors will vary depending on where and when it was made, so even if you match up to a sample, what you get may be a few shades off.

I usually get mine from the local JoAnne's craft store. The selection constantly changes, but they always have black and dark medium gray. They often have other common colors like tan, blue or maroon.

I hit them up this afternoon. Both stores in the area had tan gray and black. Unfortunately, the inside of the '88 is done in the red GM was so fond of in the eighties. lol. I looked at other stuff they had too, but nothing they had matched the color or texture. And I wasn't looking for an exact match either, they just didn't have anything remotely in the ballpark. I wanted to kinda stay close to original, since I just put an overhead console in, and it has a band of the maroon headliner material on it from the factory.

 

[bucket]

Might try a couple local upholstery shops. They often don't sell just material, but a lot of them hate doing headliners too, so getting them to sell headliner material may be easy. It will just cost more than JoAnne's.

 

[CSFJ]

Yeah, I thought about looking for an upholstery shop. I may still do that. I'm not rushed for time on this, so I'll see what the samples look like when they arrive. Seems like I saw a price of about $15 a yard on the website, so it wouldn't be too much more than what the fabric shop wanted. I still need to pick up some wire for the harness for the map lights, and get some replacements for the few pieces of trim I managed to break. I'll get everything on hand then knock it out all at once. I was just curious if anyone had used this place before.

 

[HotRodPC]

I wouldn't look at an upholstery shop. The price will be high. As bucket said, it's all about the same. I did mine in my C20. Seems I spent $18 on the fabric and about $7 for the spray on adhesive from a Heat and AC supply shop. The same commercial grade adhesive they use to glue the insulated board into the air plenum. I used that instead because I figured if it could stand up to the extreme heat and the extreme cool for years, then it certainly should hold light foam fabric without the extreme temps and it has worked out fine. I got my fabric from a local sewing fabric shop. They had all colors and in different shades too. About 4 shades of gray, black, 3 shades of blue and 3 - 4 shades of red/maroon. Pretty sure I did a write up on it too.

The trick to the adhesive, is spray both sides, the fabric, and the headliner board. Let that sit for about 10 minutes so that both sides are getting tacky. Then lay the fabric on the backer board and massage the 2 together. Then trim off the exta and install it.

 

[CSFJ]

I wouldn't look at an upholstery shop. The price will be high. As bucket said, it's all about the same. I did mine in my C20. Seems I spent $18 on the fabric and about $7 for the spray on adhesive from a Heat and AC supply shop. The same commercial grade adhesive they use to glue the insulated board into the air plenum. I used that instead because I figured if it could stand up to the extreme heat and the extreme cool for years, then it certainly should hold light foam fabric without the extreme temps and it has worked out fine. I got my fabric from a local sewing fabric shop. They had all colors and in different shades too. About 4 shades of gray, black, 3 shades of blue and 3 - 4 shades of red/maroon. Pretty sure I did a write up on it too.

The trick to the adhesive, is spray both sides, the fabric, and the headliner board. Let that sit for about 10 minutes so that both sides are getting tacky. Then lay the fabric on the backer board and massage the 2 together. Then trim off the exta and install it.

Yep. I knew about the adhesive, I've had occasion to use it a time or two over the years. The last headliner I did though was back in high school. Did the liner in the '79 cheynne K10 I had. Red tweed. lol. Got it from some small little independent fabric store. Did the roof and the door panels. Came out pretty good. (at least I remember it looking pretty good). But sometime in the intervening two decades that fabric shop went out of business. Bummer.

 

[MadOgre]

http://www.perfectfit.com/

 

[yevgenievich]

I have bought vynil floor cover from stock interiors before and been looking at headliner fabrick as well. They were also the only ones I found to sell blue dash pad cover.

 

[VAL]

There's a guy here in town that has an upholstery shop. He has a new way of doing headliners. He completely removed my old headliner, because it was too deteriorated around the sun visor areas to be repaired. He used two types of materials, they are both some kind of foam based and very lightweight. He cleaned up the roof really good, sprayed adhesive, installed the white foam, sprayed more adhesive on that, then put the other material with the color to match the truck. The finish material has some kind of cloth. It worked out really good. The contours of the roof are clearly visible and its not as bulky as the original headliner. I had it done 3 years ago, and its held up exceptionally well in the Arizona heat where the temps inside a car can reach 150+ degrees. It cost me $125. Most of the cost was the labor involved. Hear's some pics.

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[DoubleDingo]

Walmart has a fabric area too. I got some from them when I made a halloween costume "Median Man". Made a cape with a raised median on it. They had a good selection from what I recall.

 

[CSFJ]

http://www.perfectfit.com/

I'll keep this in mind if the other place doesn't work out.

 

[chengny]

FWIW - I use material from JoAnn Fabric. Comes out great when the job is done correctly.

Recently did this job (successfully)

The headliner on my 1986 GMC Sierra Classic looks like factory. Here's how I did it:

1. The molded backing board/shell (don't quote me on nomenclature) is the key to this whole repair and it cannot be in the vehicle to do this properly. Remove the pieces that support the headliner. Just do it - don't be overwhelmed. Label the parts with Post-Its or a Sharpie and put all the fasteners back in the appropriate holes for the duration of the job. Gently twist, bend, turn (or whatever is required) the complete headliner shell and get it out of the truck and into the garage or cellar. Be prepared to look up at the steel ceiling while driving for awhile.

2. Peel the headliner fabric carefully away from the shell. If any pieces of the shell start to come off with the fabric, separate them with a butter knife and set them aside. If you can't locate a perfect shell at the junkyard - or don't want to pay for a new one - you can glue them back into their original positions with adhesive cement.

3. Step back and see what you have to work with. If you are lucky the fabric will have cleanly separated from the fiberglass shell. If not, that is why you so carefully saved those little chunks. Now is the time to carefully apply some adhesive and fit them back into place. Let the adhesive dry for a while.

4. After the adhesive holding the little pieces has set up, get a shop-vac and a brand new toilet brush (toilet brush - not a wire brush). Get down on your hands and knees and start firmly but gently (can I say that?) removing all of the failed/dried adhesive. As you brush the old adhesive away, don't worry if some of the shell carries along with it - it is actually better to get down to a new surface. After you are done scrubbing, use the soft brush attachment for the shop-vac and get all the old glue off. Then get your toilet brush back in hand and do it all over again, and again until you have a new fiberglass surface to work with.

5. Go to the Home Depot and get a couple of cans of spray-on polyurethane and 4 cans of 3M heavy duty adhesive. (Also pick up a paint roller - with a nice fluffy cartridge)

6. Spray the newly cleaned shell with the poly and let it dry overnight. In the AM you should find that you have a nice hard/firm/sturdy shell to work with.

7. I forgot to tell you that on the way home from Home Depot you should have gone to JoAnn Fabrics and asked one of the nice ladies there to direct you to the headliner material. You also should have measured your shell or brought your old headliner fabric with you in a plastic bag. They at JA Fabrics will set you up a beautiful piece of foam backed headliner that is thick enough to hide any gouges you may have made during the cleaning process.

8. Back down on your hands and knees and lay the new material out over the shell trim away to fit (leaving about two inches over on all sides.

9. You can guess the rest - read the instructions on the 3M can. I believe it will say to spray both surfaces and wait 30 minutes before joining. Use all 4 cans - trust me! It will look like a winter wonderland, but that's correct.

10. Have an assistant help you lay the fabric back down on the shell and get that new paint roller that I forgot to mention earlier. Get back down on your H&K's again and while gently tugging where needed, start rolling the fabric onto the shell.

11. Let it dry, do the final trimming of excess fabric and go hang in back up in the car.

One note; depending on the contours of your shell it may be a good idea to place some folded up towels under certain areas of the shell so that when you roll the glue into the interface you can press down firmly.

This will work and you will not be able to take your eyes off of the wonderful job you did ( and keep showing people till they are sick of hearing about it). It will last for 20 years.

 

[HotRodPC]

There's a guy here in town that has an upholstery shop. He has a new way of doing headliners. He completely removed my old headliner, because it was too deteriorated around the sun visor areas to be repaired. He used two types of materials, they are both some kind of foam based and very lightweight. He cleaned up the roof really good, sprayed adhesive, installed the white foam, sprayed more adhesive on that, then put the other material with the color to match the truck. The finish material has some kind of cloth. It worked out really good. The contours of the roof are clearly visible and its not as bulky as the original headliner. I had it done 3 years ago, and its held up exceptionally well in the Arizona heat where the temps inside a car can reach 150+ degrees. It cost me $125. Most of the cost was the labor involved. Hear's some pics.

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So he goes directly the metal then. That would be good for the guys who don't have the OEM board in their trucks. Not needed obviously.