I need to re-cover the headliner in my 86 SE with grey interior. I have looked at all the fabric places around town and the closest thing I can find to headliner material is felt. How well would felt work out and would it hold up OK as a headliner material in a sunroof car? My other option is a grey vinyl material. I'm afraid vinyl would be too heavy to stay glued to the headliner board and I'm not sure how a vinyl headliner would look? What is everyones thoughts?

Try American Trim & Upholstery Supply, they have every color of foam backed GM headliner material you could possibly want:
www.atrim.com/Page199g.html

Any fabric store will have it. I always get the foam backed felt stuff at Hancock Fabrics. Real cheap.

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1986 SE 350 V8

I'v seen headliner material (cloth w/foam back) at JoAnn Fabrics locally. Don't know if you have one by you? I think the price was 14.99 a sq yard.

http://www.joann.com/joann/

I did mine in grey vinyl from Rockford Supply







Been in for awhile, so far no problems with drooping.

quote Originally posted by lcorrell: I need to re-cover the headliner in my 86 SE with grey interior. I have looked at all the fabric places around town and the closest thing I can find to headliner material is felt. How well would felt work out and would it hold up OK as a headliner material in a sunroof car? My other option is a grey vinyl material. I'm afraid vinyl would be too heavy to stay glued to the headliner board and I'm not sure how a vinyl headliner would look? What is everyones thoughts?

If you have a sunroof, I do not believe that you would have an issue with using the heaver vinyl because of the short distance between any edges.

Steve

I have read here that others have tried to use the vinyl on a non sunroof car , and it would not work. To many highs and lows etc. I covered my sunroof headboard with a dark vinyl I got off of E-Bay. I used fiberglass on the board to stiffen it up some before covering it. Worked out real good, I only spent about $20.00 doing it myself.

Jose,

About fiber glassing, could you give some details on that? I have a non sunroof panel that has a crack down the middle and one corner is broken off. Was the fiberglass one layer or more? Can rosin be used by it's self or do I need to add fiberglass to the panel?

Also, I got my headliner material at Jo Ann Fabrics for $16.00 Gray material - I don't think they have buckskin.

quote Originally posted by Xanth: I did mine in grey vinyl from Rockford Supply Been in for awhile, so far no problems with drooping.

Thanks for the inspiration, that looks really good!!! Where is the seam on your sun visor? Is it along the top? Did you stitch this yourself, or did you have someone do it?

I will be doing my headliner in black, and the visor's in red.. Check out this link ( http://www.atrim.com/Page135.html ) for some color options. If you right click the samples on the lower half of the page, and choose view image, you will get a nice LARGE view of the color & grain pattern.

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 05-17-2009).]

http://www.headsuponline.com/products.php

Almost all automotive stores have this product. You can do a dealer search on their webpage.

[This message has been edited by IMSA GT (edited 05-17-2009).]

I've gotten it in Pep Boys

JoAnn Fabrics has grey and tan that are excellent matches for the GM colors - got ours on sale with a coupon (check at the front of the store) for $7.00 a yard. One yard will do the job.

A local shop does the headliner and both sun visors for $75. I'm a DIYer but for this money I can't see doing this job myself

quote Originally posted by RumbleB: Jose, About fiber glassing, could you give some details on that? I have a non sunroof panel that has a crack down the middle and one corner is broken off. Was the fiberglass one layer or more? Can rosin be used by it's self or do I need to add fiberglass to the panel? Also, I got my headliner material at Jo Ann Fabrics for $16.00 Gray material - I don't think they have buckskin.

I used some cardboard from a macaronnie box on the up side to patch the weak spots, and glassed the cabin side with two coats to make it strong enough to handle with out breaking it so easy. I didnt use any og the glass matte on mine. I used the 3M spray on the board, and the vinyl. Then I worked it smooth.
It looks good still. I didnt want to use the cloth stuff. I did do the headboard of my S-10 P/U with the cloth stuff. I got it at the auto uphostery place in Huntsville, Tx for $15.00

[This message has been edited by josef644 (edited 05-17-2009).]

quote Originally posted by josef644: I used some cardboard from a macaronnie box on the up side to patch the weak spots, and glassed the cabin side with two coats to make it strong enough to handle with out breaking it so easy. I didnt use any og the glass matte on mine. I used the 3M spray on the board, and the vinyl. Then I worked it smooth. It looks good still. I didnt want to use the cloth stuff. I did do the headboard of my S-10 P/U with the cloth stuff. I got it at the auto uphostery place in Huntsville, Tx for $15.00

Thanks for the info!

Jo-Ann's fabrics carries headliner material. 2 colors: Grey and tan.

I think there a few online places that sell micro-suede headliner material. Probably in more colors too. It's the really classy looking stuff you see on many exotics these days.

If you're willing to step out of the established headliner canon: Feel adventurous with materials. Bobadoo funk used Velvet and it looks awesome. Just glue the material to some thin foam, to get the softness (if you like the soft feel of OEM headliners)

mine is a non sunroof and I did mine in black vinyl

this is the best pict. i have it holds up fine Ray

When attaching the Vinyl or foam back fabric, how do you keep it from wrinkling due to the domed head places and other curves. Do you stretch it in any way or just lay it flat and then push it down to the adhiesive and it sticks into the head domed area?