How about white vinyl headliner?

[rstewart412]

What does everybody think about a white headliner and sun visors? My car doesn't have a headliner and the sun visors need to be re-covered. I really want to go with white. I'm thinking either leather, pleather, or vinyl, something kind of shiny like that. Just thought I'd see what everyone thought. I think it would look sick. Not considering how hard it may be to keep it clean of course. It's tax time so my gears are turning about what I want to do. The only expense to me would be the material and thread. Lucky for me i can just take all the measurements and my girlfriend can sew it. How do you guys think it would look?

 

[wht420aeclipse]

What color scheme is your interior atm?

If it's the gray and black I'd have to say, go with black but if all gray I guess white would be ok? Probably get sick of it quick

 

[rstewart412]

Its all dark grey and black. If I got the white headliner I would do the same thing with my back seats. But you're probably right. I probably would get sick of it quick. Especially with a baby on the way that will be in the back seat, and there's not much sense on doing just the headliner and not the back seats. Maybe ill just go with a shiny black. I'm not sure yet.

 

[motozachl]

If you do the white, then you'd have to do other items white which would get dirty quick. Do black perferated vinyl

 

[anthonydinatale]

do black is would look nice

 

[2GbTalonGuy]

I think black would look better as well.

 

[TunaTalon]

See Automotive Upholstery and Automotive Supplies - Gary's Upholstery Supplies for a wide choice of headliner material and colors.

I went with a light blue headliner on the Talon to match the Sparco seats.

With a baby on the way I recommend the phrase "What color do you like Mommy to be".

 

[inix92]

I wouldn't do white because it gets dirty way to easy, i redid my headliner black and it came out excellent and if i have dirty hands from working on the car or what not and i touch the headliner it doesn't show.

 

[rstewart412]

Haha she doesn't seem to care either way but I think she'd really rather the black as well.

 

[TSI from Hell]

It can get dirty, however with vinyl or leather a quick wipe with the correct cleaning product and it's back to white. Just a thought.

I'd personally go with a white headliner, black or white sun visor (not sure bout this one) and white lower dash kinda theme.

I always liked white and black interiors when done clean. Perforated vinyl or leather is also nice. Just my 0.2

 

[rstewart412]

I think it'll come down to which color I find a better deal on. Either black or white.

So I changed my mind on having my gf make me a head liner ### her sewing machine broke, so does any1 kno where i can get a good deal on a perferated vinyl headliner for a 2Ga? can anyone send me a link? ebay isn't showing anything

Oh sorry about the texting lingo there. I didn't even realize.

 

[jdodds]

Heres my thoughts on why white would be a bad choice over black. Lets say youre driving around at night. Most of the light youre seeing is coming through the windows. When you have a huge white panel above your head, it will catch most of that light and could be a large distraction/impairment to your vision. Black on the other hand does not reflect any light. Since switching from the stock gray to black, Ive noticed that Im able to focus more on whats in front of me.

Also, if you plan on reupholstering it, consider a few things. Vinyl doesnt like to form to curves very easily. You would need to apply it with a heat gun to get it to stretch a bit. That brings up problem #2. The OEM headliner is a very thin sheet of something similar to particle board. Pressing down on it and heating it a little if you need to will most likely warp it. You would have to reinforce it with a layer or two of fiberglass to get the strength you need. Also, depending on the specific vinyl material you use, it can be quite heavy for being glued upside down for the rest of its life. You would need to find a VERY strong glue to hold it down. I use 3M super 90 spray adhesive on headliners I do but I doubt its ability to hold something heavier than cloth for long.

Head over to a few fabric stores in your area if youre looking for a material you can use. Most of that stuff can be found at fabric/craft stores all over the place. If youre looking to do something like I did and emboss a design into it, find something thats able to stretch a bit. The velvet I used in my door panels didnt stretch all that well so Im sure it will be coming out at some point to have a better material put in. Heres a few pics of my work. If you want details on the steps I took, shoot me a PM and Ill type it up when I can.

Bad cell phone pic of my first attempt at doing anything upholstery related. This headliner was actually very dark black. not sure why the pic made it look purple. I ripped it out due to not using a good glue and eventually hating the OEM style material.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

After a bit of practice and finding better materials to emboss a pattern into, I did a little piece while I was bored a little over a year ago. Currently, its hanging in the shop and the glue hasnt let go one bit.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

This is when I tore the doors apart while trying to gather all the pieces for a black interior. Couldnt find black door panels so I went out and bought some vinyl that ended up being a bit nicer than what used to be on there. They took a bit of work with the heat gun and staple gun to get the material to form to all the curves. this is why I dont recommend vinyl on a headliner. way too much work.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

hatch cover

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[motozachl]

I think it'll come down to which color I find a better deal on. Either black or white.

So I changed my mind on having my gf make me a head liner ### her sewing machine broke, so does any1 kno where i can get a good deal on a perferated vinyl headliner for a 2Ga? can anyone send me a link? ebay isn't showing anything

Oh sorry about the texting lingo there. I didn't even realize.

You don't sew anything when redoing the headliner, just the visors. Here's a linky to some fabric.

Also just a thought but I've done mine with sweatshirt material before and it came out very nice as it contuors to the mold.

 

[99gst_racer]

I did a vinyl headliner many years ago, and it didn't last too long. It looked good for about a week or two before the summer heat got to the adhesive, and it started to sag. Vinyl is just too heavy for the Super 90.

 

[TSI from Hell]

I don't know what material my girl friends headliner is made out of in her "95 civic coupe but it looks very much like some kind of vinyl or fake leather and is very clean and lasts very well to any weather. It looks thinner and lighter than typical vinyl though. I'd like to have the same material in my 1g, but like Jdodds said, black is actually better at night time.

 

[rstewart412]

Yeah vinyl probably would be too heavy. The only reason I mentiones sewing is because the fabric roles at the store aren't as wide as the roof of my car, so I'd have to sew like 1.5 together. I've definitely decided against white, because of the light that jdodds mentioned and because of having a newborn baby in the back seat.

So I should just look for something about 54" wide that is a light material?

 

[TunaTalon]

The link from my post # 7 has 54 inch foam backed headliner material in several colors in both fabric and vinyl.

I bought two yards of 54 inch wide material and had some left over. No sewing required.

 

[jdodds]

You can do it with basically any material of your choice. Just keep in mind that if its thin, youre risking a couple things. One would be the glue soaking through it you start pressing it down while its too wet. The other would be that the board youre gluing to isnt exactly perfectly flat. Take your time and do proper prep work. the finished product comes out 10x better. Ive used stuff that was pretty cheap and had great results with it. One customer couldnt spend a ton and wanted something that he wouldnt feel bad about beating up so I tried some black felt like material that was like $3 per yard in his trunk that I did for him. No problems over a year later.
I went from bare metal in the bottom of the trunk to this after 6 hours and $40 for all the supplies.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.