Saggy Ass Headliner

Hello! I have a 94RMW with a sagging headliner. This is a replacement to the original and was done professionally about eight years old or so. I don't want to have to keep replacing it. Mine buckled badly at the narrow strip alongside the skylight opening when I removed it.

Is there any alternative method or replacement material other than fabric glued to foam board?

If I have to remove the foam board again I was going to cut it at the skylight opening where it buckled. It's just too  floppy and fragile now. It would then be reinstalled in two pieces with a small seem visible at either side of the skylight which is OK with me. No.

Or .....What if I was to glue a strip of thin wood across the back of the section where it  buckled to reinforce it? Or reinforce the backside with some fiberglass mat?

" No" at the end of paragraph three was a typo. Disregard

I set the headliner in its proper shape and fiberglassed the back side (top) with 3 oz cloth on both sides to just beyond the opening of the vista window. Then glued new material on the facing side. Someone glued paint stirrers on the backside of mine, and they did not have enough strength to reinforce the area.
I also used a headliner from a Caprice, glassed the whole vista window area (about 2" front and rear), then used the original headliner as a template to mark and cut out the vista window area, and courtesy light holes.

Okay, so fiberglass reinforcement sounds best. I too have thought of paint stirring sticks. maybe embed them in the fiberglass resin?
. In addition to reinforcing the foam, I am hoping to find some other surface material that won't fail and start sagging again. Is there anything that could be sprayed on the foam that would be attractive as a finished look instead of gluing fabric on it? I read somewhere that glued fabric all eventually will fail, especially in the Florida heat.

The foam backing to cloth is what fails. The glue is the problem with porous material, because the glue soaks through staining the visible surface. It also depends on how much money you want to spend. The foam it is made from is really light and will not support much weight. If you glass the whole thing on both sides it will be much stronger and can hold more weight. The foam will make it extremely stiff, because it separates the glass. The other problem is shaping material to conform to the compound curves of the headliner. A heavier cloth on the glassed liner may work with regular headliner spray glue, but make sure the cloth will conform to the shape, before applying glue.

Thank you Fred, I hadn't thought of taking it that far… fiberglassing the entire shell. that would offer a more durable solution but a lot more work than what I want to put into it. I might just go with slicing the foam board in the middle of the skylight opening and reinstalling in two separate pieces, knowing that there will be a short seam visible. The skylight opening trim piece should hold it up. That will make it a far easier proposition if I have to redo it yet again in the future.

roadsurfer wrote:

If I have to remove the foam board again I was going to cut it at the skylight opening where it buckled. It's just too  floppy and fragile now. It would then be reinstalled in two pieces with a small seem visible at either side of the skylight which is OK with me.

I already cut my headliner at the rear of the skylight opening and am going to reinforce it similar to Fred's recommendation, but I am going to leave it in two pieces just in case I need/want to remove it again for any mods/issues that may arise, and also to make the install/removal easier by myself. The cut is at the back of the skylight opening right where the rear lights are, so the cut will be almost unnoticed once the lights and skylight trim are reinstalled.

OK, good..... thank you so much for telling me that... that's encouraging.

I added strips of Luan to the sides around the moonroof and glassed the entire bottom plus the top in the area where reinforcement strips were added. VERY strong when finished. I also wrapped glass cloth a few inches around all edges. What I did is certainly overkill, but I am confident I will never have to touch it again. Also, while you have the headliner out, it's a good idea to line the roof with a sound deadening product like dynamat. I've done the roof, floors, wheel wells and 1 door so far. Makes for a nice improvement. Fair warning, wagons take about 80 square feet of product to do it well. I also stuffed fiberglass insulation in the rear hatch and most voids in the fenders, etc. I can't say how much difference it made because I did it all at the same time. The insulation was sitting in my garage, so why not.