Headliner

[TeamOxford]

Hopped into my Cayman this morning for a quick jaunt, when I noticed that the headliner had let loose and was drooping down like a Kardashian's boobs. Made an appointment to get a new headliner installed on Saturday. Sourced the material from a local supplier, so I'm only paying for labor.

Wouldn't be so bad, except for the fact that I just replaced the headliner in my wife's Cayman just 6 weeks ago. So what's the dang deal here? Well, both headliners failed at the 10 year mark. According to more than one installer, European manufacturers used an adhesive back then that couldn't withstand the heat and humidity of American weather.

True? Dunno, but be forewarned that Cayman headliners tend to sag after 10 years. Noticed the same issue on other forums.

Just sayin'............

TO

[Smallblock454]

Not a 986, but a Crossfire. 12 years. Headliner is down. And i'm not the only one. And my car runs in more moderate climated Germany. I would say the problem is the foam coating. The fabric itself is OK, the glue is OK, but the foam between the headliner fabric and the cardboard has disintegrated.

[husker boxster]

Think there's a connection between the heat and the glue letting go. Cars that sit out in sun for long hrs can be affected. VW must use the same glue as Beetles have trouble with their headliners and door panel inserts.

[Smallblock454]

Pretty shure the problem is not the glue. It's the foam between the glue and the fabric.

[Ratanui]

Sagging roof linings are a problem that spans many make and models. To be fair to the manufacturers sometimes there is no substitute for time out in the real world climates to test things to destruction point. By the time that these failing roof linings and, (as another example, peeling clear coat on the paint work) show up, the cars are usually years out of warranty. At that point it's not really their problem anymore. After all, they are selling new cars not second hand ones, so it's not likely to effect their sales.

Something else to consider is that manufacturers are being pushed to produce "green" vehicles that are easy to recycle or biodegradable. You see a lot of BMW's here in New Zealand from the late 90's on that had badly perished seals round the windows, the roof linings are known to commonly sag, and pipes to the windscreen washer just fall to bits.
And that was on 10 year old cars.

[mwestboxster]

I just noticed this headliner thread.
My business is repairing automotive interiors.
Our customers are primarily car dealers. We also do work for body shops, insurance companies, after market warranty companies and individuals by referral.
In addition to tears and various types of damage to headliners we often come across sagging headliners.
Typically it's caused by a combination of age and sun taking it's toll on both the adhesive and the backing which is often foam but can be other materials.
When this happens the only real fix is complete replacement.
But, when we are dealing with a car dealer, they don't want to spend the $ to replace if at all possible.
A fix we sometimes do when it's possible and looks right is use a plastic thumb tack like item that pushes into & screws into the headliner. The part that is visible looks like a flat button.
What we do is use these buttons to hold the head liner in place and we place them strategically into the headliner in a symmetrical pattern that makes it look like they are supposed to be there.
If we don't have them in the color we need we'll paint them in the correct matching color.
When this method is used correctly and placed correctly it works beautifully. and it looks OEM. But, this method is not applicable in all situations. If the headliner is coming down completely all over the place, yes it will keep the headliner off your head but it's not going to look great. But when applicable and done right, you'd never know the difference.
You should be able to search these on line by searching: headliner retaining pins or headliner trim pins. Maybe this will help someone save the cost of replacement.