The sad truth is that no matter how well-made a vehicle is, parts are going to break down over time. One of the more overlooked parts that most people don’t think about until it starts to fail is the headliner in your vehicle’s interior.Lack of cleaning and sun exposure to your vehicle’s roof are the most common culprits of a sagging headliner. In this article, we’ll take a look at 5 easy and cost-effective tips for fixing a sagging headliner.
Headliners are the fabric-covered materials that run along the interior of your vehicle’s roof. While you might think the sole purpose of a headliner is to simply add another degree of style to your car, truck, or SUV, the truth is that a headliner serves a larger and more practical purpose.
![How To Fix A Sagging Headliner [5 Easy Methods]](https://pro.autospt.com/UploadFiles/202202/2022021616463399.jpg)
Headliners help insulate your vehicle in hot and cold weather so that your A/C and heater can work at maximum effectiveness. Headliners also serve in keeping down the vibration and noise in the interior of your car as you drive.
It’s the construction of the headliner that aids in this noise buffering, and understanding how headliners are constructed is the first step in understanding why they sag over time and how to fix them.
Headliners aren’t just a piece of fabric covering the metal roof of your vehicle. They’re actually a form-fitted piece made up of three separate sections:
Headliners start as a piece of foam with a layer of material like cardboard or fiberglass on top. Then, a material like vinyl, leather, or cloth is laid on top to complete the finished headliner. It’s this final layer of material that will sag over the extended life of your vehicle.
It’s important to know upfront that the only real way to permanently fix a sagging headliner is to replace it entirely with a new piece. But that isn’t exactly the cheapest option and many car owners will look for something a bit more cost-effective.
The methods outlined below will suffice to get your headliner off your head, out of your line-of-sight in your rearview mirror, and back up where it belongs. However, there’s no guarantee as to how long the fix will last or how “pretty” it will be.
But if you’re looking for an inexpensive and fast solution to your sagging headliner, any of these methods will get the job done.
Gluing your headliner back in place is the most obvious choice for most owners. However, it’s not always the easiest method and there are few things to consider before going this route.
![How To Fix A Sagging Headliner [5 Easy Methods]](https://pro.autospt.com/UploadFiles/202202/2022021616463462.jpg)
First off, you should really only attempt the glue method when you first notice your headliner starting to sag. If you can stop the process early and get any sagging portions stuck back in place with glue, you can head off a much bigger issue before it starts.
The outer layer of your headliner would have been glued in place, originally, and over time, that glue will break down.
While any portion of your headliner can sag, it usually starts around the front of your vehicle where the top of your windshield meets the roof. This area exposes to the most UV rays, so it’s normally where the sagging will start.
If you notice this area of your headliner starting to hang, head to your local auto parts store and pick up a can of headliner adhesive.
Our favorite is the Permatex Body Shop Headliner Adhesive. It’s a professional-grade product that goes on smoothly and will securely hold a sagging headliner back in place. What’s more, it’s specially designed to withstand particularly damp conditions and extreme temperatures.
To use a spray adhesive to secure your headliner in place, the process is pretty simple. You simply apply 2-3 light coats to the materials that are to be bonded, allowing about 5 minutes of dry time between coats. When you’ve applied the final coat, wait 5 more minutes, and then press the fabric back in place, taking extra care to avoid wrinkles and air pockets.
The thumbtack method of re-securing a sagging headliner is definitely the most unattractive method, but if you’re just looking to get your headliner back in place in a hurry, it’s probably the fastest and cheapest method on the list.
![How To Fix A Sagging Headliner [5 Easy Methods]](https://pro.autospt.com/UploadFiles/202202/2022021616463428.jpg)
There’s really no special method or science behind this particular route:
Simply stock up on some thumbtacks and start fastening your headliner back in place. Remember, you should have a middle layer of cardboard or some other similar material in your headliner’s construction, and you’ll be pinning your outer fabric to this middle layer.
If you want to add a bit of flair to your repair, construct a pattern out of your tacks. But other than that, this one is a pretty straight forward fix.
If you’re going to go the route of tacking your headliner back in place, our recommendation is to go with specially made twist pins that are specifically designed to use with upholstery. It’s definitely a step up from the gas-station-thumb-tack method.
![How To Fix A Sagging Headliner [5 Easy Methods]](https://pro.autospt.com/UploadFiles/202202/2022021616463472.png)
These special upholstery pins are constructed with a corkscrew design to the pin so that as you push the pin in place you twist and the pin locks whatever fabric you’re holding in place much more securely.
What’s more, the heads of the twist pins are clear, so your “fix” will be a little less obvious to any passengers in your car.
Plus, once you’ve secured your headliner in place with these pins, you really don’t have to worry about them coming loose as you would with traditional thumbtacks.
Another perk of using this method is that these clear-headed twist pins are fairly inexpensive and can be found on any major online retailer’s website.
Double-sided carpenter’s tape is one of the most useful items you can possibly have in your toolbox. The possible uses of this tape are virtually endless. One of those fixes is helping to secure a sagging headliner in your car.
![How To Fix A Sagging Headliner [5 Easy Methods]](https://pro.autospt.com/UploadFiles/202202/2022021616463509.jpg)
Using the tape is easy enough. You simply cut off the length you need and stick the strip to your first item that needs to be bonded.
Then, you peel off the removable backing on the strip you just put down and secure your second item in place. You can repeat as much as needed and rest easy knowing that a roll of this stuff is a relatively small investment.
However, this particular method won’t work in every situation where you have a sagging headliner. You need to have some kind of “edge” to work with in order to get the tape down and functioning properly.
In other words, if your headliner is sagging around the edges of your vehicle’s ceiling, or if you have tears in the fabric that you can easily get a piece of tape behind, you should be fine.
On the other hand, if your headliner is only sagging in the middle and you have no way of getting behind it, you’re not likely going to be able to secure it with tape (or spray adhesive, for that matter) and you’ll probably need to look at the pin method as a solution.
As we mentioned above, the reason that your headliner sags in the first place is that the original manufacturer’s glue will start to break down and fail. Our final method for re-securing your headliner is to “rejuvenate” that original, factory glue.
To do so, get yourself a small steam cleaner. Running the applicator of the steamer along your headliner can actually “re-melt” the glue if it’s not too far gone.
Test a small portion of your sagging liner with this method and if the glue still has some tackiness, you can work the entire headliner back in place.
When you’ve run the steamer across your entire headliner, use a (clean) paint roller to roll the liner back in place, pressing firmly as you go so the glue sticks. The roller will also help prevent any wrinkles and creases.
It’s important to remember that this method is definitely a temporary fix. If the glue has failed once, it will likely do so again. But if you need a quick fix and don’t have the budget for an entire headliner replacement, it’s a great option.
A sagging headliner is an annoyance that will eventually plague every car owner if they hang onto their vehicle long enough.
But, as you’ve seen, a sagging headliner is relatively easy to fix. The most important thing to do is evaluate where and how bad your liner is actually sagging and pick a method that fits the issue because, as you’ve seen, not every fix will work in every situation.
Regardless of which method you go with, though, you can be proud knowing that you’ve deployed an effective and budget-friendly repair all by yourself!
