Hard Top Headliner Question

[McBenz]

In process of restoring my hard top. Looking at headliner replacement and was curious to what is included with headliner replacements out there. When removing my old headliner, noticed there were (2) cardboard strips  on each side that anchored the headliner to metal tabs. Are those usually included with headliner kits, or will I need the fashion some plastic equivalent. Also, since the old foam backing was nothing more than dust, do the headliners come with new foam backing or is that a separate part needed? I’ve been looking at headliners from the website “German Auto Tops.com”. Any recommendations as to which kits to go with? Thanks,

Mark

[johnk]

German auto tops is a great place to buy one. Or you can pay double the price for the same headliner at heritage. No unfortunately there is no kit. You can replace the cardboard with plastic strips cut from a plastic container or something. Get the foam from
Your local craft store.

You will find when you go to fit the top you get a lot of wrinkles that in the headliner. Don’t start gluing right away. Use office clips to secure the fabric after you pull the fabric from many different angles. Don’t start gluing until you are happy with how the fabric lays down. Also if you are using a spray headliner adhesive use tape to mask off the area past the edges where you need to spray.

[McBenz]

Great, thanks so much for the advice. I sure could use it.

[johnk]

You will find a lot of important tips reading the headliner posts here. gernold’s article is very helpful with the basics but he does not cover everything you need to know. Tomistuff’s recent chain is very helpful.

Also when I said office clips I meant the binder clips not paper clips.

[mdsalemi]

German auto tops is a great place to buy one. Or you can pay double the price for the same headliner at heritage.

I paid a bit less at Heritage for my new headliner a year or so ago than the pricing at GAT, but no that much lower. Both of these prices are considerably less than the Classic Center, which was $421.80.

The Heritage headliner is just fine. Very pleased.

[johnk]

Heritage tried to stick me with a $1,200 bill
For carpet that I did not order. I bought it from German auto parts for less than half of that. I can only assume his headliners would be the same. GAT did raise their headliners from $200 to $250 this year though.

[Dave H]

Did the headliner on mine during lockdown, as others have said use masking tape, spray glue and clamps and don’t be afraid to peel off and re glue the edges to get the creases out, good luck, I thought the headliner was the easy bit, refitting the chrome was the hardest plus the rear quarter glass, lots of silicon required and eventually in she pops.

[Sead]

Did the headliner on mine during lockdown, as others have said use masking tape, spray glue and clamps and don’t be afraid to peel off and re glue the edges to get the creases out, good luck, I thought the headliner was the easy bit, refitting the chrome was the hardest plus the rear quarter glass, lots of silicon required and eventually in she pops.

I see you have closed/covered vent openings with foam to the rear, which is wrong...

[waltklatt]

Also mark the centerline of the front and rear of the hardtop and also mark the centerline of the headliner.  That way you have the exact center to line up to.
Walter