Suburban headliner

[rke1]

I had posted the following on another forum and only got one reply. Certainly more have had/delt with the problem ...... How about some input.

"Can anyone share their experience/solutions to the dreaded falling headliner problem on Subs. Are aftermarket versions available?
Appreciate your thoughts."

[Dieselboy]

I think that the only real solution is to find a top notch auto upholstery shop that you can trust. Fortunately, I do have a good one that I can call on, and their work is second to none. It runs a pretty penny, but the ability to see out of my rear view mirror is well worth the cost.

[cschneider]

There are no aftermarket solutions for the suburban. The only thing you can do is order a do-it-yourself generic kit online and save some money that way. Hope this helps.

[catmandoo]

i have an upholstry shop near me that does it for 50.00 material and labor if you take it out and bring it in, he won't pull them out of the vehicle

[TimK]

Rke1,

I went to a local fabric store chain called Joane's fabric and was able to buy the new headliner material. It is a thin material with a thin foam backing. I removed the headliner and carefully tore the old sagging frabic off of the cardboard. I then used a cupped wire brush on the end of my drill to remove the old foam. The card board will still have some sticky glue on it. Don't worry about removing it. I also bought a quart can of contact cement at the local hardware store that I liberaly brushed onto the cardboard. After letting it dry for a couple of minutes (also a good time to recover from the fumes), I carefully rolled out the material. The material should have no wrinkles as it is layed down and you also don't want to stretch it. Any glue you get on the material will not come off. I used my wife's rolling pin to firmly press the material down onto the glue.

I previously tried the 3M 77 spray on adhesive but it started to sag soon after. The contact cement has held up for the past 2 years with no problems. I also had a problem with my head liner sagging because the cardboard itself was losing it's shape. I took 2 pieces of Oak wood molding from Home Depot. 1" x 1/4" x 36" with rounded off corners and used these to provide additional support. When you remove the headliner you will see there is a metal roof support almost right above the drivers head. This is what I drilled into to fasten the wood strips. You can do the same with the back of the truch with the other piece of wood. The very center is pretty well supported by the interior light but you may need to get some shorter screws.

It took me about 4 hours and an extra pair of hands to do this.

TimK