Hey Guys,
Just wanted to share my headliner restoration story with the group in case it helps anyone out in the future. It’s very lengthy, but I feel the more information, the better. Pictures at the end of various stages. They are from a camera phone so not the best quality.
My headliner has been sagging for quite a while now and the hot days had caused it to start sagging and hitting my head. After spending about a week researching options, I decided to remove the cloth and paint it. I didn’t care about cost, but I didn’t want to risk it falling again and figured that painting was the way to go. I had seen several guys use bed liner and different house paints on other websites. I decided to use “Kilz Over Armor” in the slate gray color. This is an acrylic paint that is meant for wooden decks, concrete and should stand up to foot traffic or weather. I thought from looking at images online it was going to be a dark gray, but it actually matched the original color almost perfectly! You can tell from the pics that the original cloth had more yellow in it, but that may just have been from the aging process (this is a 99 so it’s almost 20 years old!). So anyway, materials, thoughts and pictures are below. Any questions, feel free to ask.
Materials list
1. Kilz Over Armor slate gray textured paint ($30 Walmart). http://www.kilz.com/wood-care/kilz-over-armor-textured
2. Duck Aluminum Foil Tape ($7 walmart). https://www.walmart.com/ip/Duck-Bra...um-Foil-Tape-1-88-In-x-45-Yd-Silver/844397821
3. Reflectix Insulation ($15 lowes). https://www.lowes.com/pd/Reflectix-33-3-sq-ft-Reflective-Roll-Insulation-16-in-W-x-25-ft-L/1014123
4. Paint roller and sleeves, pan, etc: ($6 walmart)
Total cost was around $60, so not too bad.
Removing Trim and Painting
• Remove all trim around perimeter of headliner. This process can be found in detail in other threads and a few other sites as well. If doing it again I would start at the front and work back.
• Be very careful getting the headliner out. The biggest surprise to me was how FLIMSY this thing is! I thought at first I had the cardboard version, but it’s a VERY thin layer of fiberglass, then a thin layer of foam and then another very thin layer of fiberglass. There were a couple places on mine where it was already creased slightly, I could picture it breaking VERY easily. If you can get a helper for this part it probably make it easier.
• I used a regular old plastic/nylon bristle scrub brush to remove the foam. It took about a half hour. Interestingly, the areas behind where the visors fold up was still very much in tact. I had to use a WIRE brush to get the foam in those areas removed. I wore a dust mask for part of it but was outside, and didn’t really take any special precautions. I think as long as you’re not sanding the fiberglass or intentionally trying to get it on you, you’ll be ok.
• Before painting, vacuum or blow off the entire board to be sure most of the old foam dust is gone. I didn’t get real crazy here, there may have been a tiny amount of residue left here or there, but I figured 2 coats of paint would be more than enough insurance.
• After removing all foam, I put the first coat of paint on since dry time is 4-6 hours.
• Don’t even TRY to brush the paint on any other way than with a roller. The nap of the roller combined with the textured paint created a very nice professional looking effect. You may want to use a foam brush just to spread the paint into the corners behind the molded speaker areas, but I still tried to work the end of the roller in there to get the “texture” effect from the roller. This paint is THICK! Picture pudding with sand mixed into it.
Putting the Insulation on the Ceiling
• Be careful working with the foil tape if you haven’t before. It sticks to itself and can be a huge mess. Try to start on one end then peel the liner back as you press it onto the seam. Don’t try to peel the whole liner off first, you will be sorry. I tacked each piece up with a couple small pieces then did a long piece to hold it in place. For the strips that go across the width of the jeep (side to side), I found it easier to cut one long strip, then cut it in half and meet in the middle. The foil tape can get pretty unmanageable with longer strips. After I had the tape on, I pressed it smooth with a rag to be sure it was nice and tight.
• I was able to cover the entire ceiling area with about half the roll of the Reflectix insulation. I had to splice some lengths from front to back since my roll was only 16” wide. The middle section length is 26” and the front section is 22”. The back section worked great at the stock 16” that the roll came in. Make all of the widths 42” and that will leave you room for the width of the tape along the edges.
Reassembling
• When putting back together be sure to work from the front to the back, it will be much easier getting the interlocking metal trim pieces together that are above the rear windows to line up.
• I did not have a helper, so I had to prop up the back end from underneath until I had enough pieces in to hold it up. I used a big roll of foam to hold up the back while propped against the floor in the cargo area.
• If you have an overhead console, be sure to route the wires so that they are not causing the headliner to bulge. In my case, I forgot about this and had to take the passenger visor off again and try to cram the long harness back up in. It didn’t turn out perfect, and I could have done it better if I had taken the OC out, but at that point it was “good enough” and you can’t notice it anyway.
• WORST part was lining up the damn visor screws when putting those back in!
The results were MUCH BETTER than I expected! The thing honestly looks “factory”, and I won’t ever have to worry about the cloth hitting me in the head again.
Just wanted to share my headliner restoration story with the group in case it helps anyone out in the future. It’s very lengthy, but I feel the more information, the better. Pictures at the end of various stages. They are from a camera phone so not the best quality.
My headliner has been sagging for quite a while now and the hot days had caused it to start sagging and hitting my head. After spending about a week researching options, I decided to remove the cloth and paint it. I didn’t care about cost, but I didn’t want to risk it falling again and figured that painting was the way to go. I had seen several guys use bed liner and different house paints on other websites. I decided to use “Kilz Over Armor” in the slate gray color. This is an acrylic paint that is meant for wooden decks, concrete and should stand up to foot traffic or weather. I thought from looking at images online it was going to be a dark gray, but it actually matched the original color almost perfectly! You can tell from the pics that the original cloth had more yellow in it, but that may just have been from the aging process (this is a 99 so it’s almost 20 years old!). So anyway, materials, thoughts and pictures are below. Any questions, feel free to ask.
Materials list
1. Kilz Over Armor slate gray textured paint ($30 Walmart). http://www.kilz.com/wood-care/kilz-over-armor-textured
2. Duck Aluminum Foil Tape ($7 walmart). https://www.walmart.com/ip/Duck-Bra...um-Foil-Tape-1-88-In-x-45-Yd-Silver/844397821
3. Reflectix Insulation ($15 lowes). https://www.lowes.com/pd/Reflectix-33-3-sq-ft-Reflective-Roll-Insulation-16-in-W-x-25-ft-L/1014123
4. Paint roller and sleeves, pan, etc: ($6 walmart)
Total cost was around $60, so not too bad.
Removing Trim and Painting
• Remove all trim around perimeter of headliner. This process can be found in detail in other threads and a few other sites as well. If doing it again I would start at the front and work back.
• Be very careful getting the headliner out. The biggest surprise to me was how FLIMSY this thing is! I thought at first I had the cardboard version, but it’s a VERY thin layer of fiberglass, then a thin layer of foam and then another very thin layer of fiberglass. There were a couple places on mine where it was already creased slightly, I could picture it breaking VERY easily. If you can get a helper for this part it probably make it easier.
• I used a regular old plastic/nylon bristle scrub brush to remove the foam. It took about a half hour. Interestingly, the areas behind where the visors fold up was still very much in tact. I had to use a WIRE brush to get the foam in those areas removed. I wore a dust mask for part of it but was outside, and didn’t really take any special precautions. I think as long as you’re not sanding the fiberglass or intentionally trying to get it on you, you’ll be ok.
• Before painting, vacuum or blow off the entire board to be sure most of the old foam dust is gone. I didn’t get real crazy here, there may have been a tiny amount of residue left here or there, but I figured 2 coats of paint would be more than enough insurance.
• After removing all foam, I put the first coat of paint on since dry time is 4-6 hours.
• Don’t even TRY to brush the paint on any other way than with a roller. The nap of the roller combined with the textured paint created a very nice professional looking effect. You may want to use a foam brush just to spread the paint into the corners behind the molded speaker areas, but I still tried to work the end of the roller in there to get the “texture” effect from the roller. This paint is THICK! Picture pudding with sand mixed into it.
Putting the Insulation on the Ceiling
• Be careful working with the foil tape if you haven’t before. It sticks to itself and can be a huge mess. Try to start on one end then peel the liner back as you press it onto the seam. Don’t try to peel the whole liner off first, you will be sorry. I tacked each piece up with a couple small pieces then did a long piece to hold it in place. For the strips that go across the width of the jeep (side to side), I found it easier to cut one long strip, then cut it in half and meet in the middle. The foil tape can get pretty unmanageable with longer strips. After I had the tape on, I pressed it smooth with a rag to be sure it was nice and tight.
• I was able to cover the entire ceiling area with about half the roll of the Reflectix insulation. I had to splice some lengths from front to back since my roll was only 16” wide. The middle section length is 26” and the front section is 22”. The back section worked great at the stock 16” that the roll came in. Make all of the widths 42” and that will leave you room for the width of the tape along the edges.
Reassembling
• When putting back together be sure to work from the front to the back, it will be much easier getting the interlocking metal trim pieces together that are above the rear windows to line up.
• I did not have a helper, so I had to prop up the back end from underneath until I had enough pieces in to hold it up. I used a big roll of foam to hold up the back while propped against the floor in the cargo area.
• If you have an overhead console, be sure to route the wires so that they are not causing the headliner to bulge. In my case, I forgot about this and had to take the passenger visor off again and try to cram the long harness back up in. It didn’t turn out perfect, and I could have done it better if I had taken the OC out, but at that point it was “good enough” and you can’t notice it anyway.
• WORST part was lining up the damn visor screws when putting those back in!
The results were MUCH BETTER than I expected! The thing honestly looks “factory”, and I won’t ever have to worry about the cloth hitting me in the head again.
Oh and I ALMOST went with a paint made by Behr, called "deckover", but read way too many reviews on homedepot.com about it peeling off after a short time!
