LCFRJEEP

Hey my fellow XJ lvrs. Like many I'm sure, the liner for roof inside my XJ is drooping down now above my head when I drive. When it is cold it droops lower and then slowly goes back up as it warms up. Does anybody have a good way to fix it?? I can honestly say I really don't know where to begin. Thanks in advance!!

LCFRJEEP

xplizit31

I had the same problem with all the humidity in Hawaii. If yours is already doing it, then it is only going to get worse.

I do not recommend using any sort of spray glue or regular glue. It will only end up costing you money for a very temporary fix. In some cases cause even more damage and work.

Walmart sells(under $2.00) roof headliner fastners. You have to look around to find them. It might not be in the automotive section, could be in the fabric section. It is the size of a button with a corkscrew looking wire coming off of one side. Almost like a thumb tac. You can try asking a walmart employee where to find it, but I had no such luck. I walked around for 10 min and finally found it in the Auto section.

I put 2 packs of them all over my roof to make sure it will not droop anymore. Even in spots that didnt look like it needed it.

The only other good option is to have the whole thing replaced. You might be looking at some $$$$ on that one. I know in Hawaii they have an outfit that is a mobile headliner repair service. Give em an address and they will come to you. Not sure they will have that where you are, but its worth a look.

caged

yeah, the foam is drying up. as said, if you were to spray glue, it will only be temporary, as the foam will just crumble and fall again.

best thing to do is remove it, tear off the fabric, scrape off the foam down to the board, then grab a roll of padding and a roll of your favorite fabric, and a bag of buttons from wall mart. you can even wrap the buttons with the fabric.
i know a few that have done this, and i will be doing it soon too.
they even wrap the overhead console and it looks way better than stock.

wicked_xj

rip it down and rhino line it

diskman

Quick fix.. Go to your nearest home improvement store (Menards, Lowes, Home Depot). Purchase 8 feet of 3/4 wide by 1/4 or so fake wood trim. Cut pieces long enough to "bow" across the headliner above your head into the trim on the sides. My '84 was purchased that way and I drove it like that forever. Didn't fix it till I went doorless.

Othewise you are looking at about $80-100 to fix it properly.

In a nutshell---

Remove domelights and visors.
Lay plywood or a door across 2 sawhorses for a work area
Remove all side trim (Sucks. Keep ALL screws)
Wearing gloves, carefully release the liner from the side "tabs" in front and rear. My '84 had velcro under the visor area too.
Carefully work liner out the back hatch with a helper
DO NOT CREASE or FOLD.
Gently peel the old crappy material away from the nasty foam
Using a wire brush, carefully remove the remnants of foam down to fiberglass. Carefull to NOT damage the fiberglass.
Goto Walmart and buy 12-20 cans of .97c paint. I used black.
Soak the entire side that you just removed the old liner from with paint to "seal" it. Some people use fiberglass resin. If so, add another $100 or so.
Go to fabric store and pick nice headliner color.
Go to Wal-Mart or somewhere else and buy 5 cans of Headliner Adhesive from 3M. $14 a can sometimes.
Hose down the dried painted liner
Have an assistant help lower the liner on the glue (foam side down)
Do NOT trim the ends. Leave about 4-6 inches on both ends (Front and back). Sides can be trimmed down to the edge.
Carefully fold the front edge around. Add glue to the otherside to hold it down. Rear can hang freely and be trimmed later.
When dry, cut out the domelight areas and visor areas.
Carefully reinstall in the XJ with a helper and cuss and swear. (Wear gloves still. It's figerglass)
Replace trim and domelights and visors.
Done!

LCFRJEEP

Wow, thanks for all the great input guys!! Your guys FREAKIN ROCK!!!

XJersey

haha it seems in the XJ world these are the only valid words of wisdom...

"Dude my breaks are goin on the cherokee... rip em out and rhino line it"

"I need new tires - - ehh...just rhino line them"


apparently rhino line = duct tape...works for everything!

okcjeeper

I am curious why no one suggests pulling it cleaning it and relining it? I have relined a number of headliners by simply scraping the old foam backing off the backer board and just putting some new foam down and using a headliner spray glue to reglue the fabric as well as the foam and never had an issue with it coming down. All headliners are glued both the foam and the fabric...That's how the upholstery shops do it as well. There are lots of writeups on redoing your headliner and here's one for reference and go-jeep has one as well..
http://www.4x4xplor.com/headliner.html

thebrow89

i like thumb tacks my self

wicked_xj

they make them that screws in to tighten the fabric

redmuck

yea i took mine down and redid it with new gray headliner fabric and printed fabric. and this is what i hav.

JakeWI

I agree with OK on this one. yeah the tacks and stuff work. but why not just redo the headliner. my brothers was falling down. when this happens, it opens up all new possibilites on the design you can put up there. we bought some fabric, then we went to wally world and bought Headliner Spray Glue. 3m makes it. it is not cheap, but you dont need tacks or fasteners. we redid all of and let it sit for a day to dry. dont know if you need to, we just didnt have time or the light to do it so we figured it was for the better anyway. this is how it turned out:

JakeWI

and that has lasted for months without any droop yet. even with humidity and everything else.

cherokeefamily

Those look awesome! Thanks for sharing the pics guys!

Programbo

How far into WV are you?..If you make the drive down to Baltimore there are a number of pick it yourself junkyards with a lot of Jeeps in them and you can buy a nice clean headliners and foam backing for like $15 and change it out right there on the parking lot