I know this has probably been done to death and is a very regular problem but I have a specific question. After much sanding, filling, sanding, filling I am now at the point where I am just about happy with the finish to enable sticking on the vinyl. I have found superglue to be excellent at gluing cracks but I am considering putting a thin layer of fibreglass resin (without fibreglass matting) over the whole surface just to give an extra but of strength. Has anyone done this and did it make much difference?
Since you've smoothed that side of the headlining, you would be better adding a layer of resin and matting to the other side. It will strengthen the moulding just as well, and won't ruin your "good" side.
Quick update. I tried fibreglass resin on a couple of areas of the headliner. It went on nice and smooth and does seem to improve the rigidity. However, the resin melted through a couple of the thinner bits of skin so I am left with filling more holes I won't be proceeding with more resin coating. On the upside in have ordered some foam backed vinyl and high temp spray adhesive. If it's dry at the weekend we will give it a go.
Oh dear, that's a shame. I've read quite a few posts where people have used fibreglass to strengthen their broken moudling.
I bought one of the fibreglass moulded ones from ebay. Its not bad at all, not perfect mirror of the flimsy VW one but a hell of lot stronger. Peeled off the vw covering and will at some point try sticking it onto the fibreglass one. The only issue I have at the moment is whether to get a 2mm foam sheet to give it the cushioned effect or glue the vinyl straight to the fibreglass board.
When we got hardtop for our mg the headliner cloth was missing, stank like the Marlboro man had slept in it too, jetwashed it , then used faux suede straight on the grp, good spray glue, no foam and its really good.
Oh dear, that's a shame. I've read quite a few posts where people have used fibreglass to strengthen their broken moulding. I've used fiberglass matting to repair one in the past and that worked ok
I think that because the hard outer shell is cracked or damaged in places the fiberglass gets under it and melts the soft styrene inside. Where the shell is good the fiberglass worked quite well to further harden and stiffen the board. My concern is now that the glue will have the same effect. We shall see.
T5 man, yes I got mine from the same place. Not cheap but lot of work and then of course at least they deliver. And man the box is big!
I've fibreglassed a broken one too... I don't think I'd do another though. They must be made out of compressed chicken sh1t or something similar, because they're terrible.
Ploughed on today. Material and glue had arrived. Unfortunately the foam backed vinyl seemed too thick to be able to get it on the headboard well. I was right. We have some nasty creases in the rear corners. Looks like we will have to cut them and fashion some covers that look like they belong. Also on the right near the sunroof the material didn't stick down properly and it looks a bit ropey. Typically, we ran out of adhesive so the last 3 inches still needs doing along with all the edge fold overs.......and the sunroof panel of course. I'm sure we will get it looking reasonable in the end. Sorry about the low light rubbish final pic.
Remember, you need to leave some "spare" material around the sunroof opening, to glue up into the roof of the car. It does just fold around the headliner.
Thanks Tristan, got that. I have watched various You Tube vids. Where would we be without the internet!
Done! Took about 3 hours for two of us to fit and then another hour or so to do the sunroof. It has gone much much better than I expected so well pleased. Last bit (apart from change the remaining fittings to black) is the internal sunroof trim. I can't use the original as that is cream and it doesn't seem to be available any longer. What have you used? Is regular panel trim OK? Does it fit well enough?