Drooping headliner in minivan - what to do?

Both Chrysler minivans I have owned have had this problem! The
headliner cloth has come loose over both the front driver and
passenger seats, but nowhere else. My regular garage suggests a
specialty car interior/headliner shop. Is there a cheaper alternative
for a 10 year-old-minivan that I'll be keeping for a few more years,
but does not need to look professionally repaired? I can imagine a
spray adhesive, then using a small wallpaper roller to move it through
the cloth, and seal it to the underlayer. Could this work?

 

Not very well. Might as well trim it out with a razor blade, brush
down the molded backer, and paint it.

 

I believe 3M makes an adhesive for this/

 

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My local CarQuest store has push pins in various colors that one
can install to fix the problem.
Also available where Dorman products are sold
(almost all parts stores)
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0x00fbce02&item=74361&icrid=&clt=hwrap1&vsrch_str=headliner&vsrch_
brand=ALL&vsrch_cat=ALL&st_amount=&end_amount=&start=&vfrom=&prev=
&vnext=&category_list=:0>

 

Is there a cheaper alternative

I once used a waterbased contact cement to aghere my fallen headlinr
in a 72 Dodge PU. Stayed nice and tight for the additional 30 years I
owned the truck.

FWIW I would get the vehicle in a warn place and condition and then
roll on the adhesive on both the headlier and what it is to be adhered
to. The adhesive does not work well in cold conditions.

Bob AZ

 

It somewhat depends on whats on the roof side of the liner. There was
no way I could get the liner on a Chev. Cavalier I had once that did
this because the lining of the liner was a cheap layer of foam rubber
about 1/16 or 1/8" think. The reason it fell down in the first place
was that the foam material had started rotting and turning to dust. I
tried contact cement, which ended up holding the next layer of exposed
foam dust to the roof while the rest of the liner fell away again in a
matter of days (maybe even hours).

My only comment is that if the liner has this foam backing, there is no
way you will glue it back on and have it stay. Options are either use
the push pins someone mentioned or an upholstery shop. There's people
that travel around to used car lots that replace liners. You can check
a local lot to see when they're due to come back thru your area. The
price last time I checked - about 10 years ago - was on the order of
$55. SUre to be more now, and higher probably for a (larger) minivan.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Ayup, he problem IS the foam backing on the fabric and Chrysler
minivans are infected with the foam eating blight.

The proper fix involves removal of the molded headlining (after
disassembling most of the side trim). The FSM tells one how.

As suggested, fabric and glue are both readily available. I have a
parts minivan whose ceiling is peppered with pushpins and an old
Duster that soon will be.

 

3m makes a super heavyduty spray adhesive that is yellow .
this is what i use to redo headliners when i do a moonroof cut in
it lasts a good long time
the headliner is real easy to remove and one it is out you can easyly repair
the fabric to the backer
don't be afraid to pull it loose more were it is loose and spray the 3m goo
to the backer i never use a roller but a big peice of cardboard to pressure
fabric to backer after spraying on goo then let it dry and set up which
doesn't take but a hour or less

 

Gluing liner that is in good condition back in place is a different
story than gluing one that the surface (foam) that you are gluing has a
thickness and is rotting and turning to dust. The best glue in the
world won't hold that. You end up with glue that is coated with foam
dust, and the liner totally fallen.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Not only that but if you spray the material with any kind of glue it may
bleed thru. If it separates from the foam it is no good.

Glenn

 

Is there a TSB or anything out there for this issue? Seems that there
are more than just a few isolated instances of the rotting/sagging
headliner problem on fairly new Chrysler/Dodge vehicles. My Dak is an
'03, and the headliner foam's pretty rotted. Also, anything on the
bubbling clearcoat? I've got that problem as well. Simply bad news for
a vehicle that's less than 5 years old.

 

I have noticed that the headliner lasts for about 10 years before it starts
to deteriorate. At least with the vehicles I have owned.
There are no TSB's on this or paint.

Glenn

 

Stop smoking in your car.

 

Glenn, thanks for the info. Unfortunately, my experience has sort of
soured me on Chrysler/Dodge, as this is the first vehicle I've ever had
where both the paint and headliner haven't lasted 5 years.

 

The sagging headliner thing happens to a lot of cars. I had a 88 Olds that
did it, same issue, the foam rotted away.

I've heard a number of theories. The guy that I had replace the headliner
in the Olds told me that the factory used a glue that was incompatible with
the foam and it caused the foam to disintegrate over time. I have also
heard
it happens more often to cars that are in southern climates because they get
hotter inside. I'm not sure if the smoking is an issue - I own a 94 T&C
that the prior
owner definitely smoked in - I don't smoke - it's headliner has never
fallen.
I also own a 84 Chevy Celebrity wagon that has the original foam headliner
and it has not disintegrated either.

As for the paint - that's a fairly easy one. The general consensus with few
exceptions is that cars
that have clearcoat delaminate aren't waxed regularly. Or, they are waxed
but they are in areas that have a lot of acid rain which washes the car wax
away much more rapidly than the owner expects.

You cannot expect clearcoat to substitute for car wax. Solar radiation -
ie:
ultraviolet - will over time bleach and destroy paint. It makes no
difference
what kind of paint is on it or how expensive it is. I had my 68 Torino
completely
repainted about 20 years ago with Sikkens, which was one of the most
expensive
auto paints I could find, with a lot of glossy brochures claiming their
paint clearcoat
was so good you never needed to wax. Stupid me, I didn't wax it, and today
the
paint has faded and the clear has delaminated in a number of places.

Car wax is designed to absorb UV and the UV will cause the car wax to
disintegrate.
It is like adding sunscreen at the beach. You can go to the beach and never
put on
sunscreen and get sunburn after sunburn and after 10 years of this your skin
will
look like an old rawhide football. Or you can put on sunscreen and your
skin will
remain soft and young looking.

Ted

 

gee if it was gm product 3 years is the norm

 

Never smoked in the truck, and I do live in South Florida. However, I'm
still surprised that the foam on a 4-year old headliner is basically
rotted away - heat or not. My '93 Mustang's headliner is still fine
after 14 years, as is my '96 MPV's after 11 years.

I'm not a polish-n-wax freak, but I do take care of my vehicles. Again,
I'm surprised that the paint hasn't lasted 4 years. I haven't waxed the
MPV or Mustang in over 6 years, and the paint on those vehicles is just
fine (like the headliners).

Even without wax, I can't see _any_ factory paint job bubbling in 4
years.

 

I used to think it happened only on lower lines of GM cars (it had done
it on a Cavalier I had owned), until I bought my mother's 88 Cadillac,
and darn if its liner didn't fall (neither I nor my parents smoked, but
perhaps the previous owner had?).

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Do you garage all 3 of them? South Florida isn't known for acid rain, but
it does have much stronger sun than most of the rest of the country. Also,
what are the colors?

I guess I'm a bit unbelieving since if you haven't waxed the other 2 cars in
6
years I can't really believe you waxed this one every couple of months.
Normal
car wax only last a couple months. The synthetic waxes can last up to a
year
but that's about it.

Ted

 

'93 Mustang - Calypso Green (sort of light teal) - waxed religiously 4
times/year when new, started slacking off as the years went by. Garaged
about 3/4 of its life.

'96 Mazda MPV - Gold - waxed about 5 times in its life. Garaged about
3/4 of its life, although it spends every day in the elements.

'03 Dakota - Black (ah, there's the rub) - waxed religiously 3
times/year for the first couple years, then slacked off a couple years
ago. Clearcoat started bubbling about a year ago, headliner started
sagging around same time.

See above.

Ted, even if I'd never have waxed the truck and still being in South
Florida, the clearcoat should still be fine after only about 4 years or
so. I can certainly see 8-10 years, but only 4-5? No way.