fyton2v
SILVER Star
The quality is pretty good and it looks much better than a naked ceiling. This was my first headliner attempt and there is a learning curve. The next time I need to install one I imagine I'll do a better job.
Here's what I learned: Use scissors to trim, not a razor. A razor might work better if you're a headliner installer ninja though.
My process:
- Cap off, laying upside down on a moving blanket.
- Remove any crap that may be left over from the last headliner. I used pretty coarse sand paper.
- I fit the entire liner within the cap and tucked in the edges as far as possible. Make sure it lines up and you have a little overlap on all sides.
- Lifted up the back half and flopped it over the front half. Used 3M headliner adhesive to start glueing the liner down from the middle of the cap, working gradually towards the back.
- Did the same thing for the front half.
- Working from the middle outwards allows for a pretty flat and smooth install.
Where the learning curve kicks in:
- I left all of the edges unglued around the entire perimeter.
- Here is where I messed up: I then refitted the headliner into the edges of the cap, pushing it in to create a fold at the seam where fiberglass meets metal. I suppose most people would use a razor to trim off the excess headliner. However, it's tough to cut at that angle and you may end up hacking at the liner without even realizing it, as the liner isn't all that easy to cut. I hacked a small section
- After hacking a small section I tried scissors. You can pull out the liner a bit and trim along a smoother line with scissors. Trim, then fit. Trim a little more, then fit. It's a PITA.
- Once trimmed, use more 3M adhesive and glue the edges in.
The SOR headliner at the rear corners has sewing seams to allow for the liner to mould to the shape of the cap back there. It also has a seam that runs across the middle of the liner. If you look at the pictures on the SOR web site, I think they photoshopped out the seams. It doesn't look too bad though. Since the rear corners are not perfectly moulded to fit, they're very hard to glue. My corners ended up a little bit flappy.
I'll post some pics in a bit. All in all, it looks a lot better than it did before and I guess it's worth $146. It's not all that easy to install and it makes me wonder what it would cost to have a professional do it. It might not be cheap, but if it is... have someone else do it
.
Here's what I learned: Use scissors to trim, not a razor. A razor might work better if you're a headliner installer ninja though.
My process:
- Cap off, laying upside down on a moving blanket.
- Remove any crap that may be left over from the last headliner. I used pretty coarse sand paper.
- I fit the entire liner within the cap and tucked in the edges as far as possible. Make sure it lines up and you have a little overlap on all sides.
- Lifted up the back half and flopped it over the front half. Used 3M headliner adhesive to start glueing the liner down from the middle of the cap, working gradually towards the back.
- Did the same thing for the front half.
- Working from the middle outwards allows for a pretty flat and smooth install.
Where the learning curve kicks in:
- I left all of the edges unglued around the entire perimeter.
- Here is where I messed up: I then refitted the headliner into the edges of the cap, pushing it in to create a fold at the seam where fiberglass meets metal. I suppose most people would use a razor to trim off the excess headliner. However, it's tough to cut at that angle and you may end up hacking at the liner without even realizing it, as the liner isn't all that easy to cut. I hacked a small section
- After hacking a small section I tried scissors. You can pull out the liner a bit and trim along a smoother line with scissors. Trim, then fit. Trim a little more, then fit. It's a PITA.
- Once trimmed, use more 3M adhesive and glue the edges in.
The SOR headliner at the rear corners has sewing seams to allow for the liner to mould to the shape of the cap back there. It also has a seam that runs across the middle of the liner. If you look at the pictures on the SOR web site, I think they photoshopped out the seams. It doesn't look too bad though. Since the rear corners are not perfectly moulded to fit, they're very hard to glue. My corners ended up a little bit flappy.
I'll post some pics in a bit. All in all, it looks a lot better than it did before and I guess it's worth $146. It's not all that easy to install and it makes me wonder what it would cost to have a professional do it. It might not be cheap, but if it is... have someone else do it
.
