Yet Another Headlining Replacement

At last got around to replacing the headlining on our LM, well everything is stripped away now with the roof panel pretty smooth. Just got to complete the job now.

I've read with interest the recent headlining replacement work some of you have undertaken, but not being a stickler for originality (as some of you well know) I'm not putting the original headlining back and it's horribly tacky on the underside anyway.

Last year at the Renaultsport gathering at Gaydon, one of you showed me your replacement headlining - alcantara - sorry I've forgotten your name! Anyhow, the alcantara was fixed directly to the roof without the dreaded sponge etc and looked good. There are issues with potential gaps between the side trims and a 'flush' trimmed roof with no padding underneath, and the rear trim does not cover the lip of the frame that the roof is bonded to so there are a few challenges to resolve. Of course the sponge backed original lining covered a multitude of sins, but the sponge backings never last so I'm reluctant to go down the same route.

Just wondered if anyone has a view on this, or any advice to offer on fixing the lining directly to the roof. For the chap with the beautiful red GTA and alcantara headlining, if you see this, any hints would be appreciated. And alcantara (proper alcantara - not one of these fake lookalikes such as 'alicante') is what I've gone for, not grey, but a sort of pale mulberry which I'm hoping will look OK with the sea of grey in the car and the burgundy (rouge imperial) bodywork - we'll see soon enough!

Paul T

At last got around to replacing the headlining on our LM, well everything is stripped away now with the roof panel pretty smooth. Just got to complete the job now.

Well my view, for what it is worth, is that my original headlining lasted 20+ years, but with the gap issues you have, I would opt for the 5mm foam replacement as well. But what ever you do, make sure you use an adhesive that is heat proof, as it is the heat from the sun especially on dark roofed vehicles that causes the problem of premature dropped head linings.
If you do use the foam, attach the lining to the foam before fitting to the roof panel.
BTW when you say the roof panel is "pretty smooth"...... are you saying that there are still traces of old adhesive? if so, you can wipe it clean with Acetone, but be careful not to let it drip on to the seats etc...... put an old sheet to cover first.

Hi

When I did mine I bought ½” thick foam sheet of eBay from the below supplier but in a sheet of 60” x 40”. It is upholstery foam and should be superior to the stuff used by the factory, which from what I could see of what was left of the old stuff it was really poor quality cheap stuff, this new foam seems to be far better.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FOAM-SHEET-1- ... 1e65785661

I also used High Temperature Contact Adhesive from Car Builder Solutions, this stuff is paint on and went on with a 2” brush, I have a Le Mans also and found I had to cover the black roof on the outside to prevent the sun heating the roof and causing the glue to dry too quickly. Painting it on to the foam is not the easiest job but it is can be done and I think my work is quite good. But only time will tell if the adhesive is man enough for the job and if the foam sheet is better than the original. Fingers crossed.

http://www.cbsonline.co.uk/product/High ... Ltr_ADHCON

If you do decide to use the above then cover the black roof, paint the adhesive on the inside of the roof before doing the foam as it will become tacky on the foam much quicker than on the roof.

I had mine done in alcantara by a local trimmer and he was extremely reasonable price-wise. Had to have it done twice, though.

First go, we used 2 layers of foam to snuggly fit the trim panels but after a little time, the headlining started to drop. Turned out it was the glue bonding the 2 layers of foam together that let go.

Anyway, reverted back to single layer of (I think 5mm) foam and all has been excellent. I was advised to leave it out of the sun for a couple of days (I think - could have been a week) to let the adhesive cure properly.

Suggest you check out this Heat Resistant Spray Adhesive..... easier to use than out of a pot with a brush.

http://covertecsolutions.com/store/90-h ... -adhesive/

Suggest you check out this Heat Resistant Spray Adhesive..... easier to use than out of a pot with a brush.

http://covertecsolutions.com/store/90-h ... -adhesive/

I did have some of this type of product in the garage as I used it for gluing my kit-car hood material to the fibre-glass sections that connect it to the windscreen and the body work at the rear of the cockpit, but I became a bit paranoid about the Le Mans black roof and high temperatures. The spray adhesive I used/had for the kit-car was 3M Scotch-Weld 90, see link, and has a 90°C or there about maximum temperature, the same as recommended by JohnC, but as I had no real idea exactly how hot it would get I decided to use the brush on type I had originally bought to glue my kit-car’s carpet in place as this had a maximum temperature limit of 168°C. As I haven’t put my carpets in the kit-car I now need to buy more, but if it does the job on the roof lining of the Le Mans, result, happiness.

http://www.vikingtapes.co.uk/3M_Product ... eld_90.htm

Thanks all for your replies and advice. I don't live too far away from Woolies Trim so popped down yesterday and bought the foam (12mm - the thickest remnants of the original were around 10mm although the original foam doesn't appear to have had much 'body') and high heat glue which should be strong enough. Got both spray and spreadable adhesive but will use the latter if it spreads evenly without too much difficulty. The fun starts tomorrow!

PT

BTW when you say the roof panel is "pretty smooth"...... are you saying that there are still traces of old adhesive?

Paul..... Sorry to harp on about this but if you don`t want the roof lining to drop prematurely again, it is imperative that the roof panel is completely devoid of any trace of old adhesive. If any is left on it does not matter if you use the highest temperature Heat Resistant adhesive, the weak point will be the old adhesive residue. When all traces of old adhesive are removed, the panel is completely smooth.

BTW when you say the roof panel is "pretty smooth"...... are you saying that there are still traces of old adhesive?

Paul..... Sorry to harp on about this but if you don`t want the roof lining to drop prematurely again, it is imperative that the roof panel is completely devoid of any trace of old adhesive. If any is left on it does not matter if you use the highest temperature Heat Resistant adhesive, the weak point will be the old adhesive residue. When all traces of old adhesive are removed, the panel is completely smooth.

Hi John

If the Paul above is me, then yes I did remove all of the old adhesive, if it is Paul T then I agree with you.

I used a wire brush to remove the remains of the sponge and adhesive until it was smooth. In the process I got covered in the dust and could smell and taste the dust for a day or so afterwards, I did wear goggles but in hindsight I should have worn a dust mask also. After the wire brushing I made sure I washed the roof twice in warm soapy water and then a rinse in cool water to remove any residual dust. I ensured it was fully dry before I began.

Paul.

Hi PaulC, my comments were directed to Paul T, I was concerned about the "pretty smooth" comment.
My method of removing all the old adhesive was, at the time a bit controversial to say the least when I posted it last, but it works fine.
Cover all the interior with a couple of old sheets, get hold of an empty and clean household cleaning spray bottle, fill with Acetone, spray small areas of the old adhesive, and with a, say 1", not too sharp wood chisel, scoop it off into a container held underneath.... you should be able to catch all the gunge, finally finishing off with a good wipe down with the Acetone on a cloth. Sitting on the back seat you can reach all areas of the panel.....;. needless to say, use this method in a well ventilated spot with the doors open, but as you are doing a small area at a time, say 9" square, there is not too much vapour. I suspect any adhesive remover will do, but I had some Acetone available... so used that.

Hi John,

Point noted about the roof - I'm something of a perfectionist myself and my 'pretty smooth' comment really does mean it's smooth - there is no adhesive left and the roof is smooth and clean to the touch. I don't think there's any way to eliminate the residual staining though, even when every trace of adhesive has been removed. To finally smoothen the surface, I laboriously (and carefully) used a stanley blade in 'cabinet scraper' fashion to leave the surface as near pristine as I could get. Just got some of the residue to remove from the tubular frame now (thinners will do that), more because it's messy than anything else - it wouldn't interefere with the new lining.

Hope what I have done sounds sensible - I do not want to have to repeat this exercise in a hurry! So far the new lining has been glued to the sponge, and as sod's law would have it I underestimated the amount of glue that stage would take (two fairly absorbent/rough surfaces) and I'm going to have to make another trip to Woolies tomorrow. I wouldn't have tried to finish the job today anyway. I'm sticking (pardon the pun) with the spreadable stuff for the final gluing - it is actually stronger than the equivalent high heat spray adhesive and the solvents don't evaporate as quickly. The glue I'm using is strong enough to glue vinyl roofs so fingers crossed - just need to be mindful of the vapours though working inside the car, it's pretty powerful stuff!

Paul T

Further to my last, for anyone else planning to replace their headlining anytime, I found that using a powerful vacuum cleaner (flex hose/narrow nozzle) both removed all the friable spongy dust and quite a lot of the old glue with minimal 'fallout' and also removed most of the muck generated by subsequent scraping/cleaning. Still not a nice job to do though!

PT

vapours...welcome to my world ...good glue sniffing opportunity ...not looking forward to having to do this as two of my cars need the headlining refitting but well done guys.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for clearing that point up for me. I should hate to think that a lot of work is put into this task only for the lining to drop again because old adhesive was still lurking around. ..... However, you say you have thinners....... I would go over the roof with a cloth and thinners..... do a little patch first to see if there is any discolouration on the cloth from the virtually invisible traces of adhesive. To my way of thinking, scraping will not remove all the old adhesive unless it comes away with the minutest film of roof, however thinners/adhesive remover will clean it perfectly. I know I am being very pedantic about this, but as the old saying goes.... "you can`t do it after"
Best of luck, and let us know how you get on.

John

Hi John,

Cleaned down the roof with thinners this afternoon - just repeated wiping with a thinner-soaked cloths to keep things under control - had a pile of them by tea time! Barely picking up any glue discolouration (orange) now with clean cloths, but I'll give it one final go tomorrow morning before trial fitting the lining. I can only take so many fumes in one day! Planning to wear a mask for the gluing though. The guys at Woolies just recommend standard thinners for old glue removal, they say it's as good as anything they've tried. Much as it will be nice to finish the job I'm not rushing, it needs to be right. I agree that it's better to remove every trace of adhesive if possible - not a job perhaps to trust to a contractor, don't think I would trust any garage 'specialist' to spend the hours it takes to clean the roof properly!

PT

Hi Paul,

Thanks for clearing that point up for me. I should hate to think that a lot of work is put into this task only for the lining to drop again because old adhesive was still lurking around. ..... However, you say you have thinners....... I would go over the roof with a cloth and thinners..... do a little patch first to see if there is any discolouration on the cloth from the virtually invisible traces of adhesive. To my way of thinking, scraping will not remove all the old adhesive unless it comes away with the minutest film of roof, however thinners/adhesive remover will clean it perfectly. I know I am being very pedantic about this, but as the old saying goes.... "you can`t do it after"
Best of luck, and let us know how you get on.

John