Replacing Your Headliner: A Step-by-Step Guide

Replacing the headliner of your car is difficult, but not impossible. If you don’t want to hire a professional to do the work for you, all you need to do is follow these steps carefully:

1. Remove accessories and devices from your car’s ceiling.
2. Remove all the trim panels that go up to your vehicle’s headliner. 
3. Take off the old headliner from your vehicle and remove the board.
4. Scrape off the foam from your headliner to make it smooth.
5. Set the replacement headliner fabric down on the board. 
6. Fold the fabric and apply the adhesive one-half at a time.
7. Let the adhesive on the headliner board dry.
8. Cut out holes in the headliner fabric for accessories and devices.
9. Return the headliner board and reinstall the accessories and devices.

How Much Does A Headliner Replacement Cost?

The price you have to pay for a new headliner will vary depending on what sort of vehicle you have.

A replacement for a standard sedan costs roughly $200. On the other hand, headliners for bigger cars like SUVs and vans would cost around $350 to their sheer size.

These prices don’t even account for other potential expenses like buying your own adhesives to secure the headliner.

However, if you want to get your headliner replaced by a professional, you’ll need to pay them by the hour. The process takes roughly three hours, though it could take longer depending on the size of your vehicle. Expect to pay between $75 to $150 an hour.

Fortunately, paying someone else to do the work for you is optional. For those of you who aren’t eager to spend so much for a headliner replacement, you could always try and do it yourself. Replacing your car’s headliner yourself can be a difficult and tedious process, but it’s a job that anyone can learn.

Car Headliner Replacement: 8 Simple Steps

Since fixing headliners is more trouble than it’s worth, you’re better off replacing the entire fabric yourself. If you want to learn how to replace your car’s headliner safely and effectively, be sure to read the following instructions:

What You’ll Need

• Screwdriver
• Bristle Brush
• Strong heat-resistant adhesive
• Trim Tool
• Socket and Extension Cord
• Ratchet
• Hobby knife

Detach Car Accessories And Devices

Before removing your headliner board, it’s important to detach all your seatbelt covers, lights, speakers, hangers, and visors from your vehicle. You won’t be able to remove the headliner board of your car without getting rid of these parts first.

Bear in mind that many parts are bolted on, which means you’ll need a screwdriver to remove them. Some accessories and devices might even need to be pried off so take extra care to avoid doing any damage.

Remove The Headliner Board

Once all the different accessories and devices of your car have been taken out, you can start making preparations to retrieve the headliner. To remove the headliner board from underneath the roof of your car, you must first pry off the trim that keeps it in place.

Once the trim is gone, unclip any materials suspending the board. Once the headliner board is free, you can slide it out of the vehicle with ease. Be sure to set it down gently on a flat surface to avoid damaging its shape.

Scrape Off The Foam

Removing the leftover foam on the headliner board can be accomplished with any soft scraping tool like a bristle brush. You need to keep your board nice and smooth so you can apply the replacement fabric without any complications. Just take care to avoid scraping the material too hard or else you might end up damaging it.

Set The Headliner Replacement Fabric

Once you’re finished scraping the foam off the board, you can set down the replacement headliner fabric. When you set it on top of the board, spread it out flatly to make it as smooth as possible. Keep a sharp eye out for any folds as this could make your headliner look wrinkly and malformed.

After setting the replacement fabric down, fold it back onto itself. This will leave one-half of the headliner board exposed, but this will also make it easier for you to apply the adhesives to stick them together.

Apply The Adhesives

With the underside of half the fabric exposed, you can apply an adhesive of your choice to stick it to the headliner board. Contact cement works just fine, as does spray glue. Just be sure to use strong, durable glue that doesn’t weaken in high temperatures. This is because car roofs have the tendency to heat up quickly.

Once you finish applying the adhesive, you can paste the fabric onto the board and fold the other half of the fabric back onto itself. You can now apply adhesives to the other half of the fabric.

Let The Adhesives Dry

After spraying glue or applying contact cement on the fabric, you must set them on top of the headliner board to stick them together. After doing so, give the adhesive time to dry. The length of this process depends on the type of adhesive you used, so be sure to read the recommended waiting time on the label.

Cut Holes For Car Accessories And Devices

Now that the headliner fabric is stuck to the board, you can safely cut holes in the fabric. The holes on the headliner board indicate where different accessories and devices like lights, seat belts, and hangers will be. You can cut the holes with a hobby knife or any knife sturdy and precise enough for you to guide with ease.

After cutting out all the necessary holes, you can trim any extra fabric on your headliner. Leave roughly half an inch of the excess fabric to tuck in around the board. This will make the headliner of your car look more seamless when you slide it back in.

Return The Headliner Board

Once the fabric is tucked, you can return your headliner board to the underside of the roof of your car. Be sure to use the clips to keep it in place before giving it one last look to confirm that everything is nice and secure.

Finally, you can return all the different accessories and devices of your car to their rightful place. This means reattaching the visors and installing the speakers, lights, and hangers once more.