spray glue for headliner

T2urtle

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2004
3,432
3
81
My parent's 2009 camry has the cloth separating from the headliner in the back.

Jumped on amazon and saw this stuff made by 3m.

http://www.amazon.com/3M-38808-Headl...headliner+glue

Is this whats needed? Seems a little high but i guess for the rare purpose of it, i can swing it.


I think i can tuck the cloth under the cardboard or w/e it is. Hope the spray glue holds this down. I'm just worried about glue marks and etc, its a tan headliner so EVERYTHING will show.
 

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
1,575
126
You can probably find a can of 3M Super 77 at Wally World for 10 bucks.
 

iamwiz82

Lifer
Jan 10, 2001
30,772
13
81
Super 77 is locally available and works great. Follow the instructions. I'm not certain you can use it in cold weather as a heads up. Just a guess on my part, though.
 

Pacfanweb

Lifer
Jan 2, 2000
13,149
57
91
Concur, go with the Super 77. I carry a can of that with me all the time, for the same reason you want it: Headliner fabric falling down. Works great.
 

T2urtle

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2004
3,432
3
81
Hm... cold weather part might suck. I don't see it getting above 50 anytime soon.
 

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,459
854
126
You can try, and honestly, that is probably your best bet, but it will probably look like shit.

My wife had a VW Golf many years ago that had the same problem and I used one of those spray on adhesives to tack the headliner back on but it looked like ass.

Best bet is to just replace the entire headliner but that might be expensive.
 

Crotulus

Senior member
Sep 2, 2008
216
161
116
Earlier this year both my wife's old 2000 Corolla and my 2008 Escape started losing their headliners. I tested the 3M headliner glue out on the Corolla to see how it would work. In short it sucked. Although it does hold the headliner up it looks like its gotten wet and dried. Not very nice at all.

Took my Escape in to a local upholster I've used before for furniture to see what he could do. For $200 he completely re-upholstered the headliner. He even upholstered the sun visors so that everything would match even though his fabric color was really close to the factory headliner.

So check around with your local upholstery shops. If your parents plan to keep the Camry for a while they will be a lot happier with it looking nice.
 

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,459
854
126
Earlier this year both my wife's old 2000 Corolla and my 2008 Escape started losing their headliners. I tested the 3M headliner glue out on the Corolla to see how it would work. In short it sucked. Although it does hold the headliner up it looks like its gotten wet and dried. Not very nice at all.

Took my Escape in to a local upholster I've used before for furniture to see what he could do. For $200 he completely re-upholstered the headliner. He even upholstered the sun visors so that everything would match even though his fabric color was really close to the factory headliner.

So check around with your local upholstery shops. If your parents plan to keep the Camry for a while they will be a lot happier with it looking nice.

:thumbsup: That's a pretty good recommendation actually and probably a lot less expensive than ordering a new headliner from the dealer and having them install it.
 

Scarpozzi

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
26,389
1,778
126
Earlier this year both my wife's old 2000 Corolla and my 2008 Escape started losing their headliners. I tested the 3M headliner glue out on the Corolla to see how it would work. In short it sucked. Although it does hold the headliner up it looks like its gotten wet and dried. Not very nice at all.

Took my Escape in to a local upholster I've used before for furniture to see what he could do. For $200 he completely re-upholstered the headliner. He even upholstered the sun visors so that everything would match even though his fabric color was really close to the factory headliner.

So check around with your local upholstery shops. If your parents plan to keep the Camry for a while they will be a lot happier with it looking nice.

I was going to post my story about the headliner I replaced earlier, but refrained. Basically, when I sprayed the 3M stuff on the headliner, it soaked through the material and dried hard. For that particular car, the headliner material was very thin and stuck to some 1/8-1/4" foam...then the foam was stuck to the roof of the car as insulation. Over time, the foam broke down and the headliner lost its bond.... Reupholstering the headliner sounds like a much better solution if you expect to keep the car.
 

sontakke

Senior member
Aug 8, 2001
895
11
81
How in the world a 2009 model car develops that kind of problem? In my world, that is a practically a new car!
 

KentState

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2001
8,397
393
126
My 2003 Mazda 6 had this issue. I just went with the staple gun and it's fine. Guess it depends on if the car is a beater or something brand new.
 

Crotulus

Senior member
Sep 2, 2008
216
161
116
:thumbsup: That's a pretty good recommendation actually and probably a lot less expensive than ordering a new headliner from the dealer and having them install it.

My service advisor at the local Ford dealer told me a replacement headliner would run about $800 plus installation. The upholstery shop was a no brainer at that point.

sontakke said:
How in the world a 2009 model car develops that kind of problem? In my world, that is a practically a new car!

In my case, my vehicle is not garaged or covered. UV protection of the windshield can only do so much in Southern California. The headliner fabric weakened and ripped where it tucked under the headliner and just started falling from there.
 

ummduh

Member
Aug 12, 2008
83
2
71
You can't just respray the cloth to the headliner. It's falling off because the headliner material is disintegrating.

What you need to do, is pull the headliner out of the car. Strip all the old material off, and it'll leave the old backing. You need to scrape/brush/wire wheel/sand it off the headliner board.

Then, you take youself down to jo-ann fabrics, or hankcocks, or whatever sewing store is near you, and buy an appropriate amount of headliner material in the color and texture you want. They have a few options.

THEN, you take your 3M heavy duty spray adhesive, and glue your headliner back on to the old board.


I've done like 4 of these now. I absolutely can't stand a messed up headliner. It drives me NUTS.

It seriously costs less than $50 to fix. Only catch is you pretty much have to take your interior apart to get the headliner out of the car.
 
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sontakke

Senior member
Aug 8, 2001
895
11
81
So I guess I have to settle for rust or headliner falling off depending upon where I live :-(

I still think something was wrong in the manufacturing or there was prior collision damage. There are lots and lots of cars in southern California which are not garaged. The falling off headliners is something which one should not see for a car which is less than ten years old.
 

tweakmonkey

Senior member
Mar 11, 2013
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If it's just coming up in small spots you can use Elmer's / white school glue. It dries clear even if you put a lot on and it's pretty effective for touchup. I've used it on my car and it can't be beat for the effort and cost :)
 

crashtech

Lifer
Jan 4, 2013
10,524
2,111
146
You can't just respray the cloth to the headliner. It's falling off because the headliner material is disintegrating.

What you need to do, is pull the headliner out of the car. Strip all the old material off, and it'll leave the old backing. You need to scrape/brush/wire wheel/sand it off the headliner board.

Then, you take youself down to jo-ann fabrics, or hankcocks, or whatever sewing store is near you, and buy an appropriate amount of headliner material in the color and texture you want. They have a few options.

THEN, you take your 3M heavy duty spray adhesive, and glue your headliner back on to the old board.


I've done like 4 of these now. I absolutely can't stand a messed up headliner. It drives me NUTS.

It seriously costs less than $50 to fix. Only catch is you pretty much have to take your interior apart to get the headliner out of the car.


Exactly. There is a guy in my town that will do this for ~$60 for me, so I can pass on the fume high. If the headliner fabric falls down it is toast and can't be saved, it must be re-covered.
 

SparkyJJO

Lifer
May 16, 2002
13,357
7
81
There is no reason a 5 year old car should have a headliner separate like that. Even if it isn't garaged it shouldn't happen that soon. None of my cars have been garaged until last month when I bought my house and only one developed a headliner problem just this past summer, and it is 12 years old and the headliner was cut/modified by the previous owner for a sunroof install (separation started at the backing cut points).

I don't know if you could complain to Toyota for that or not, but that's ridiculous.
 

T2urtle

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2004
3,432
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b5e9e01feec6bc5b4f869e70d8271926.jpg


Found 3m headliner spray at walmart for under $10.

I'm giving it a shot once we get warmer then 50degrees on a weekend.