Car Headliner Guide: What It Is, Fabric Types, and FAQ

The headliner is the material that covers your car interior’s roof. Most modern vehicles are equipped with a headliner inside their cabins. However, headliners are more than just decorative pieces of fabric that cover the bare metal of your vehicle’s chassis.

What Is the Purpose of a Headliner?

Headliners provide insulation against heat and noise, and they also usually conceal wiring and hardware for electrical components, antennas, and other accessories. Headliners are made up of several layers of different materials, one of which is foam or polyurethane, which is either sprayed or attached to a headliner board. This layer also makes the headliner softer to touch.

This thin layer of insulation allows the vehicle to preserve its interior temperature,  to stay cooler on a hot sunny day, or warmer on a freezing winter night. Additionally, the layer of insulation also lessens wind noise, especially at highway speeds. The foam layer can also improve your vehicle’s acoustics because of its sound-dampening qualities.

What Are the Different Fabric Types for Headliners?

Most vehicles use automotive headliner fabric. This type of headliner fabric is used for a wide range of vehicles and even boats because it is lightweight, thin, and made from polyester, which makes it durable and moisture-resistant. You can easily clean automotive headliner fabric with a damp cloth. This type of headliner fabric is also affordable and can come in different colors, so you can easily replace your headliner with another one with a different color if you desire. However, this type of headliner can feel cheap.

Luxury vehicles can have headliners made from nicer materials like Alcantara, which is more durable, resistant to stains, and nicer to touch. Aftermarket manufacturers also offer many different types of materials like leather, vinyl, or suede.

Another popular headliner fabric is velvet. Usually associated with clothes, velvet’s ability to present a flat look or tufted appearance with the right application makes it a great car headliner fabric.

How Long Does a Car Headliner Last?

Vehicle manufacturers have designed their headliners to last for many years. Expect them to last for at least 10 years before needing repairs. However, exposure to heat and sunlight eventually takes a toll, and either the material on the headliner’s edges or the headliner’s foam backing dries up.

When the headliners start drooping from the ceiling, they can’t simply be reattached because the foam has worn out and needs to be removed from the headliner board.

Headliner fabric can also get damaged in various ways. Depending on the severity of the damage, they might expose the substrate layer underneath them, increasing the chance of the rest of the headliner degrading.

Can Headliners Be Repaired?

Sagging headliners can be repaired using glue. However, headliners need spray-on glue so they can adhere properly to the headliner board.

You can also reattach the headliner using a steam cleaner and paint roller. The steam roller will be able to make the old glue adhere again while the paint roller is supposed to spread the headliner without making creases.

How to Get a New Headliner for Your Car

Having a damaged headliner might not seem like a big deal, but it’s bound to inconvenience you at some point. Headliners help keep you cool on a hot day while keeping wind noise at a minimum. Without one, you’re likely to feel uncomfortable in your cabin and unable to hear beyond the harsh wind as you drive. Luckily, you don’t have to worry about any of these as long as you get a brand-new headliner from CarParts.com today. 

CarParts.com offers a wide selection of high-quality car headliners, all sourced from the most trusted manufacturers in the industry. You can easily browse through our catalog using our vehicle selector and search filters. CarParts.com also guarantees fast shipping, thanks to our strategically located warehouses around the US. Order by 12 p.m ET., and you can expect your new headliner to arrive in as fast as two business days.

Don’t wait until your headliner breaks before replacing it. Check out our high-quality car headliners at CarParts.com today!