RE: loose headliner

[George Tur <gtur@lucent.com>]

Some info on headliner replacement costs.

My son's 87 5ktq has the headliner problem. He called around for prices
on the original Audi headliner and also some third party stuff. The
cheapest he was able to get the original headliner for was around $400 +
from Linda at Carlsen Audi. That price was for just the material.
Installation, depending on where you went, for the Audi liner varied
from a couple of hundred dollars to around $400 at the local Audi
dealer. Going to various body shops and putting in an after market
headliner material goes for around $200 to $250 with material and
installation in that price. The after market material is a sponge foam
that varies from an eight of an inch to about a quarter of inch in
thickness. The color match is actually pretty good, there's a pretty
wide selection. After looking at two jobs, one by a local interior/sound
system place and the other by a local mechanic, I'd say that going with
the thinner material is the better way to go. The heavier guage material
around the sun roof makes it look bulkier, plus the heavier material
tended to bulge at the C pillars. That could have been also a sloppy job
but I think it's more a case of the material than the installation
effort. If  the headliner on the sunroof is fine and you can match the
existing color with the new headliner material then leave the sunroof
liner alone. This saves about $50 in the installation and a lot of
aggravation in trying to get that material to lay in nicely on the
curves around the sunroof. Hope this is useful to someone looking at
headliner replacements.

++++++++++++++++++++
Todd Young said...

Sent this out once, not sure if it made it so here it is again:

"P-O Selander (EUS)" wrote:

> Parts of this weekend was spent on fixing the old car, 89 100E.
>
> Loose ceiling liner was reglued (somewhat). The stuff (foam
deteriorated by
> UV and old glue) up there is MESSY beyond belief. My repair will not
hold up
> for long, but hopefully until a sunny summer/spring day. And, I
actually
> might rip it out completely and paint the hard shell instead. Possibly

> easier to get it to look nice since the liner will be VERY hard to
clean out
> on the back side and stretch even so it covers the whole thing...

Just thought of something and thought I would pass it on. For all of you

with
headliners coming loose, here's an alternative.  Mr. Selander's comment
about
painting the hard shell made me think, "Not a bad idea, but you would
lose
sound insulation." Then I thought of a product on the market that would
cover
the metal, provide sound insulation, and look good as it is available in

multiple colors. What I'm refering to is the new spray in bed liner
material
available for pickup truck beds. This stuff is supposed to be available
in a
"roll-on" form also. With the proper prep, and application, you could
have a
nice looking headliner, that you wouldn't have to worry about re-glueing

again
in a few years.

HTH, somebody.