G body parts head liner falling down

[BOP4ever]

I purchased a new head liner for my 87 GN 3 years back from Gbody parts and it fit great color match was great and I was happy. Now the fabric is coming off the backing board.
I've not contacted them to see if they will stand behind it after three years so fingers are crossed they will help . The stock one lasted 20 years I expected this one to do better than 3 years. Anyone else had this issue ? Any advice?

 

[bigcap]

Call G - Body and ask for Brian. He is a great guy and if anything can be done for you it's him who can do it. G-Body IMO is one of my fav. sponsors of this forum.

 

[Bruce Urie]

Call G - Body and ask for Brian. He is a great guy and if anything can be done for you it's him who can do it. G-Body IMO is one of my fav. sponsors of this forum.

I second that.

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[Grumpy]

X3... sorry but it shouldn't have been posted here FIRST Why in the hell wouldn't ya call him first ???

 

[BOP4ever]

Dan I have not been negative I've purchased many parts from them and have bee happy with them until this issue so I was just looking to collect some information on if this was a common issue and if anyone could relate how the problem was handeled. I'll call them Monday after the holidays. This was not intended as a negative post toward gbody parts I've purchased a lot of parts through them and consider them good vender. This is the first issue I've had with any of them.

 

[84BuickGNYorkPA]

I did my own and it lasted 5 yrs, time for me to redo mine again... I wish there was a permanent fix for this...

Chuck

 

[27Skulls]

Liner

X3... sorry but it shouldn't have been posted here FIRST Why in the hell wouldn't ya call him first ???

Sometimes we get up and out on the "wrong" side of the bed! I don't think his post was negative in any way.

 

[K Beauchamp]

Hey give Brian a call, I'm sure something could be worked out. With everything there is a failure every once in a while. These parts are made by humans and well all know how faulty we can be.

 

[Bruce Urie]

I did my own and it lasted 5 yrs, time for me to redo mine again... I wish there was a permanent fix for this...

Chuck

Same here, Chuck. My wife and I did the one in our '87 GN about five years ago and it's "just" starting to sag again. And I HAVEN'T EVEN DRIVEN IT SINCE!!!

No matter how nice you are to your Regal, it will always come back in some way and BITE you! Nasty little suckers!

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[Bruce Urie]

Hey give Brian a call, I'm sure something could be worked out. With everything there is a failure every once in a while. These parts are made by humans and well all know how faulty we can be.

Thanks. You described me to a T. Every day something's my fault.

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[BOP4ever]

To follow up I called today and talked to I think her name was Jenny....
She spoke to Brian and they are shipping me new material that I can glue on my backing board. I could have sent the board back and they would have done it, but I figured I could handle stripping the old off and glueing it on. I did one like that for my TA years ago. I am very happy with the customer service !! Thanks G-body !

 

[YouLikeThat]

To follow up I called today and talked to I think her name was Jenny....
She spoke to Brian and they are shipping me new material that I can glue on my backing board. I could have sent the board back and they would have done it, but I figured I could handle stripping the old off and glueing it on. I did one like that for my TA years ago. I am very happy with the customer service !! Thanks G-body !

Good deal. There aren't very many people that would stand behind anything after 3 years and on something that could have been installed incorrectly on top of that.
SR

 

[Bweavy]

We don't build these in house. I could of had the manufacturer stand behind it but we keep plenty of material in stock for Moon roof sliders & visors. It was just quicker & faster for us to handle it direct. Even large manufacturers some times have bad days. We had you shipped out yesterday.

I don't mind the posting but e-mailing would of had the same result. I just did a search this morning & found this post. Judging by the post date of 11/25 you would of already had this shipped by simply e-mailing me. It would have shipped Monday.

I also appreciate the fact that you posted your results & not just the problem. Why we can't stand behind every manufacturer & handle it in this fashion but we look at it this way. The material for a T-top head liner cost us $15.00. The amount of time involved in trying to coordinate your shipping the head liner to the manufacturer. Them removing & trying to find out what happened. Then recovering it. Then shipping it back to you was in excess of $15.00, shipping,Time, & better customer service.

Now if this was a common problem that was happening we would have set up some program with the manufacturer to handle this.

Once again we appreciate your business & thank you for posting the good & the bad. This is not always the case.

 

[scot w.]

As I have been in Auto Upholstery for the last 27 yrs with my mothers shop I can honestly tell you guy's that have done them yourself why it has fallen after only 5 yrs.. It's one of two things, or both!

* Type of glue used / amount of glue used / time for the glue to tach up before laying it down.. The Auto upholstery shps glues are industrial and the Best! For the guy's doing it themselves there is only One glue that will work from the auto parts stores and that is the 3M "General Trim Adhesive" NOT THE "SUPER", that stuff is JUNK!

* Area and conditions where your car sits, "Heat" is the culprit for ALL fallen headliners! From the factory they used the industrial glues that hold up MUCH better and the main reason for them falling is due to the heat drying out the foam in between the headliner and board. With the auto parts store glue the heat does it's job on drying up the glue and now you will see that the headliner you done yourself is just dropping away from the board with the foam still intact, this is either caused by (Not enough glue), (Crummy glue), or you just didn't let it tack up long enough or too long!

Headliners seem like they are easy to some people but there are a bunch of things that need to be done correctly to insure long life..


Scot W.

 

[Blown&Injected]

As I have been in Auto Upholstery for the last 27 yrs with my mothers shop I can honestly tell you guy's that have done them yourself why it has fallen after only 5 yrs.. It's one of two things, or both!

* Type of glue used / amount of glue used / time for the glue to tach up before laying it down.. The Auto upholstery shps glues are industrial and the Best! For the guy's doing it themselves there is only One glue that will work from the auto parts stores and that is the 3M "General Trim Adhesive" NOT THE "SUPER", that stuff is JUNK!

* Area and conditions where your car sits, "Heat" is the culprit for ALL fallen headliners! From the factory they used the industrial glues that hold up MUCH better and the main reason for them falling is due to the heat drying out the foam in between the headliner and board. With the auto parts store glue the heat does it's job on drying up the glue and now you will see that the headliner you done yourself is just dropping away from the board with the foam still intact, this is either caused by (Not enough glue), (Crummy glue), or you just didn't let it tack up long enough or too long!

Headliners seem like they are easy to some people but there are a bunch of things that need to be done correctly to insure long life..


Scot W.

LMAO!!!!!-"seem like they are easy"
That is when ya got to watchout - when it "seems easy"!

 

[Bruce Urie]

Scott, thanks for recommending the right kind of glue for the headliners. I had several types and tested each on an old piece of foam headliner....the reason is, some of the glues eat right through the foam like the scene in "Alien", where the blood of the "baby crab alien" ate right through the decks of the spacecraft....all four floors. I can't remember which glue worked without eating through the foam, but would like your assurance that the "3MM Trim Adhesive" will not do this.

Can you verify? This 3MM Trim Adhesive was sprayed on both the foam headliner material and the backing board? (hard foam) I'm asking as I might have to do mine over again this winter, though only about a 3 inch square area has come loose. All the rest is tight right up against the headboard. I'd appreciate your opinion on this.


Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[scot w.]

Scott, thanks for recommending the right kind of glue for the headliners. I had several types and tested each on an old piece of foam headliner....the reason is, some of the glues eat right through the foam like the scene in "Alien", where the blood of the "baby crab alien" ate right through the decks of the spacecraft....all four floors. I can't remember which glue worked without eating through the foam, but would like your assurance that the "3MM Trim Adhesive" will not do this.

Can you verify? This 3MM Trim Adhesive was sprayed on both the foam headliner material and the backing board? (hard foam) I'm asking as I might have to do mine over again this winter, though only about a 3 inch square area has come loose. All the rest is tight right up against the headboard. I'd appreciate your opinion on this.


Bruce '87 Grand National

Bruce, NO the " 3M General Trim Adhesive" Will NOT eat the foam away like a baby crab alien..... LOL


Here are the proper steps and method to doing a headliner yourself..

* After removing the headliner pull off the old material...

* Now you will have the old foam stuck to the board, using your hand or wire brush rub it all off as good as you can leaving behind a smooth surface with NO Bumps! The smoother the better because it will show in the new headliner!!

* You will always have the tabs broken off where the visors were, that is Normal !!! Simply take some duct tape and tape the seams from behind to hold it in place untill you glue the material down.

* Now that all the cracked seams are taped up, Now place the headliner board with the face to be covered facing up towards you, roll the material out over the board with the fabric side facing towards you and the foam side down towards the board..

* Now take just one side and fold the material in half so it covers the other half.

* Glue both halves holding the can roughly 2 ft away from the surface and you will want to spray in a Spider web pattern and the more of the material and board you cover the BETTER!

* Now let the glue tack up (dry) to the touch, You DO NOT want it still wet, OR you DO NOT want it to dry too much...Just enough for it Not to be wet but still very tacky to the touch.. You will see what I mean once you do this...

* Once it's ready then pull the section over and use your hand working from the center out to smooth it and press it into place.. Once your done pressing that section down.... REPEAT the other side!!

* Now your headliner should be all glued down nicely...

* Flip it over and now you will want to cut the edges all the way around the board....
NOTE: It's VERY inportant that you DO NOT CUT IT FLUSH but instead you will want to leave about a half inch all the way around the headliner board. This is because you will not get it in the exact place as it was before and you may need the added material to float a gap!!

* Now that your headliner is trimed it's time to mark all the holes for the visors, coat hooks and dome light.. Take and cut an X in the large visor holes...now take a philips screwdriver and push it through the screw hole where the coat hook was secured, Now cut an X in the open area where the dome light goes- take the excess material and fold it over--it should still stick..

* Install the headliner back in, Best to slide your front seats all the way back and the back rests all the way layed back (if possible) and then start with the rear of the headliner going in first and at the same time twist the headliner in a half moon pattern as your putting it in and it will just go right in the car real easy..

* Now install the board into place, attach the front & rear trim first, then the sides, then the visors, then the dome light, then the coat hooks...

* Then your DONE!! :biggrin:


Scot W.

 

[Bruce Urie]

The Expert has spoken again. Scot, I can't thank you enough for writing this all down for us. It's going to be very helpful to the guys who are going to do this for the first time or over again. (like Brucie here)

Thank you for going through the trouble to detail this procedure. You are quite the pro here and, as always, so helpful to us. My best to you.

(it's obvious that you've seen "Alien".)

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[rw87tt]

Headliner glue

Look up Dap Weldwood HHR Contact Cement. Harbor Freight spray gun #43760

 

[BOP4ever]

Brian thanks again it was delivered today.
Thanks to everyone on how to do the job too.