How can I glue (fake) suede to my headliner?

[Mar]

I've had a second headliner sitting in my garage for the last 2 years so I finally want to get it into my car. For things like doors I usually use a 77 Super Tack spray glue but that works fine because gravity isn't pulling against the glue like on a headliner. I'm afraid too much glue would seep through the material and ruin it, too little glue wouldn't hold it on there, it will sag.

Is there another way to hold this material up? It'll likely just be a fake suede from Fabricland.

[Weapon_R]

Try liquid nails spray form. It's too fine to seep but it holds very well.

[GT4rally]

For the suede headliner in my old 93' 325i, I used 3M spray adhesive, not sure what number, but it worked great.

[ercchry]

even with door panels its not just gravity that is acting on the fabric. you are tensioning the fabric and if your current method can already fight that tension then i see no reason it wouldnt work on a headliner.

[Mar]

Originally posted by ercchry
even with door panels its not just gravity that is acting on the fabric. you are tensioning the fabric and if your current method can already fight that tension then i see no reason it wouldnt work on a headliner.

With all the summers and winters on the doors, parts of it are pulling away but you don't notice it because it doesn't pull itself that far from the panel under it.

[Mar]

This is the donor headliner I have and I just picked up some sable suede today. Should I remove the factory fabric from this or just glue right over top of it? It looks like there's a layer of fabric, then a layer of sponge type stuff, then the cardboard headliner. I'm afraid if I remove it, it won't have that spongy feel to it, I want to keep that. What do professionals do?

[realazy]

I would just glue it over the fabric, unless you plan to rip off the spongy material and replace it with new spongy material.

[jonfoo]

I had the same issue with the door panel inserts on my 240. 3M super 77 is pretty low tack. It would bubble over time and in basically any temperature change. You want to get 3M super 90. I'll save you the trouble of looking now because most hardware stores don't carry it. I saw it at Rona once but they were sold out. I eventually ordered mine on Ebay.

What you want to do is spray both the headliner and and the fabric, making sure it doesnt bleed thru. By doing both sides you allow the adhesive to bleed slightly into both surfaces giving you a better hold

[Mar]

Thank you, I saw 90 recommended on another forum and was wondering if it was overkill. Now I'll definitely hold off until I find it somewhere.

I'm also wondering how I'm going to black out the plastic pieces like the handle and mounting pieces for the visors. Plus the trim around the dome / map lights.It'll be light gray still if I don't dye / paint it somehow. I see other tutorials using plasti-dip, should I use that? What is it?

[Mar]

One of my friends works at a lab here in Calgary so I had her order a can of 90 from her supplier this morning. He dropped it off to her office this afternoon and she brought it to me after work. It cost $35.
I'll post pictures of the progress.

[jonfoo]

I've never had an issue with duplicolor vinyl spray/dye. Some armor all cleaners can remove it though. As long as you prep the surface it should be fine. If you do use sand paper use a very high grit cause it goes on really thin