I noticed recently that my truck's headliner is starting to sag (of course, directly over my head), and I was wondering if anyone has used the plastic-backed headliners on LMC Truck? How are they different from the factory headliners? Do they look factory?

 

I have not bought anything from LMC, because I haven't heard many good things about their products in general.

But a few guys on here have had good success refinishing their original headliner. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...headliner.html

Mine has been out of the truck for 2 years now, but I'm thinking about getting a custom one from Dashtops.com

 

Do it yourself, about $30.

Here's a write-up I did:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...headliner.html

Let me know if you have any questions Christian!

S/F,

-Matt

 

That's a good write-up for sure. Took mine out for same reason as Christian's. Looked up at the 30 year old sheet metal roof and it is immaculate...almost too damn nice to cover up.

 

Wait until summer though...Then your cab becomes an easy bake oven.

 

My only concern with recovering the original cardboard is: cardboard just seems so temporary. A really humid day and it seems like the cloth would start delaminating again, or the cardboard would start disintegrating. The plastic replacement seems like a much better option to me.

I agree, great posts on recovering the headliner. I'm still considering the LMC headliner, but if I decide to recover the original, I'll follow those directions!

 

I took mine out 2 years ago because I got tired of watching it blow in the wind. I was going to fix it, but I've grown to like my red ceiling

 

Many auto upholstery shops will have good headliner material and even better glue than you can get in any spray can. There are many places that specialize in headliners.

The headliner material these places use is thicker with more foam, and they use glue that has to be sprayed on with a gun similar to a paint gun. These headliners will not fail, while a thin, spray can glue headliner will start falling down again before too long.

I had a car dealership quite a few years, and had my share of headliners installed, and I did exactly one myself. After seeing the difference in material and glue, I gladly had the guy come to my lot and do one in under an hour.

PS, the old foam does not need to come off. Just pull the old material off and spray over the old foam.

 

So I'll combine my response to both Christian & Yardbird; preparation is absolutely KEY to having a good result. Yardbird is right that it can turn out poorly if done wrong. I must disagree with you Yardbird with regards to the old foam remaining - it absolutely must come off. If your fabric has delaminated from the foam it is because the foam has degraded and is starting to crumble/dissolve. You most *certainly* will have that fabric flapping in the wind in short order if you leave the old foam.

Christian, you don't really need to be concerned about the cardboard being the issue as long as you don't have any leaks in the roof that would cause the cardboard to degrade/mold/fall apart. Humidity isn't the issue - think about it - all of these trucks came from the factory with the cardboard as the OEM backer and we are at 20+ yrs and the foam is the part that is failing, not the cardboard.

Regarding the glue - it is very important that you use quality *headliner* glue and follow the instructions by letting both sides (the cardboard backer and the new headliner material) get tacky before affixing them together. Additionally, do use the crosshatch pattern that the can tells you to use.

Lastly, let the headliner sit upside down to dry over night before reinstallation. There is no need to make the glue/fabric fight gravity while curing.

This is the first headliner I ever did (so now my count is a big ole 2, it doesn't take an expertly skilled person) in my 1987 Jeep Wagoneer XJ about two years ago. Still looks great!


How do you not bake in the summer!? lol

 

Your Jeep headliner has held up very well and looks good. My headliner guy had been doing this for around 30 years, and he never took the old foam off. His material was about twice as thick as what can normally be found though. It would cover up lots of imperfections.

As far as I know, none of the headliners he did for me ever failed. I found it much better to call him, have him come to my lot or home, remove the old headliner, replace the fabric, put everything back, and be done in 30 minutes to 1 hour, with a cost to me of $75.00 to $125.00.

The materials were almost half that, and my time was worth something. The one I did, I didn't like smelling the glue, wrestling the fabric, trying to keep wrinkles out, and his fabric and glue were far superior.

I'm a pretty fair mechanic, but an upholsterer I'm not.

 

It gets even better though...my AC hasn't worked for 6 years and I don't care enough about it to fix it

We rarely get above 90 degrees in the summer and I've never really noticed it feeling any hotter with the headliner out, the inner layer of the roof is always cool to the touch. Plus I have a pretty high tolerance to the heat (I love when it's 90 degrees)

 

I live in New England towards the Cape side. I will take that 90 degrees all day long! Windows down, breeze on my bald head.

 

Having a supercab not many places have a headliner for my truck but the cheapest I found was 1a auto. I was going to redo it myself by the precious owner cut up the backing to install an upper console that I'm removing

 

This is BS.

It is the *foam* that is failing, not the glue or fabric.

My BIL is third generation owner of an upholstery shop.
He's been into auto interiors since before he was old enough to go to school.

​​​​​​​

 

Well, yeah, if the foam is rotten and coming apart. Many times it's just the old fabric turning loose from the foam. Everybody has different ways of doing things. The headliner guy I used who had decades doing this said if the foam was good, it didn't need to be removed. He may have been right or wrong.

I would prefer a clean board, but I never had any problems with any he did, and one was on a Jeep Cherokee my son had for years.