Jeep Cherokee Forum - replaced headliner...

remembered seeing a few questions here about headliners.. i replace mine last week, and have a few pointers to add......

I dont have any before pictures, but imagine the worst possible situations, what remained was heald up with staples and thumb tacks, nasty old disolved foam flying everywhere....

first thing i will mention is the bigest most important thing is the glue you use.. dont go cheap... the stuff they sell at pasrts stores in a rattle can did not hold for me... I live on the texas gulf coast, heat + salt + humidity = sagging headliner in about 3 months.... I used Dap upholstery and carpet cement... it's a little pricey, but worth it, if you can use an air compressor to apply, great, if not, you can brush it on...

so. procedure, pretty much self explanitory....

1) remove all the trim panels, remove the overhead instrument cluster/sunglass holder/etc... be careful with the rear cargo lamp section, mines pretty fragile, there are 2 screw inside the lamp, pop it off and remove them

2) remove the Oh $H*T handles

3) remove the few clips that are holding it up, 2grey, 2 black.

4) now, carefully remove the whole liner shell, careful not to bend, creases in the shell will show up teribly when done...

5) remover old head liner and using a medium bristle brush (a broom works well) brush off all the remaining foam

6) lay out the shell upside down and roll out your new headliner, if it's been stored/rolled for a long time roll it out in the sun and let it warm up to release any wrinkles....

whats it's laying on top, fold back one half, front or back, and spray/brush the glue onto both the shell and the back of the headliner, let it sit for a few mintues til it gets tacky....then starting from the center, work your way out to the edges... dont press too hard with your finger tips, use only your palm or a small paint roller (clean!) pressing too hard can push the cement into the foam and leave "dents" in the head liner.....

repeat this for the other half, and installation is the same as removal.....

This is a very time consuming project, about 6 hours for me working by myself, but soncidering the $30 in supplies was alot cheaper than the $200 i was quoted to have it done, it was worth it, and a great bonding experience for me and my jeep... I'll post a pic later...

Herb