Not entirely sure if this should go under the oily bits of the forum but couldn't see where else to put it.

I've removed the headlining from my car and taken off the covering material then brushed off the old foam. The surface has remained tacky.

Do I need to neutralise the old glue or can I spray new glue over it.

If I need to remove the old glue, what should I use?

All advice gratefully received.

No need to remove the old glue, just the horribly sticky bits of orange foam so the surface is smooth without lumps.

Thanks GilberD.

I was just a bit concerned that the old and new glue might react badly and cause it to fail to stick.

Oh it will stick believe me. That why is it a two, or preferably three, person job. One person to smooth it down while the others hold it up because once they come into contact they are stuck.

I used bit of cellulose thinners to shift some old tacky bits of glue. The orange stuff remnants scrubbed off fine with a stiff brush.

Don't be stingy with the stickum stuff and make sure you have plenty of overlap to pull round the edge. I only used one can of the Martrim glue and didn't allow enough overlap. 3 or 4 years on its coming unstuck again so redo is on this summers job list. Appeared to stick good and proper but it didn't last.

Rolled my material round an over length broom handle which made it much easier for two people to handle. If you possibly can get a third or even fourth helper. Pretty sure trying to do the job with insufficient assistance was a major reason for mine not turning out too well.

Don't breathe the glue fumes. Inspector Wasp buzzed over, settled in the middle and promptly keeled over. Not sure if a full 6 point landing was managed before expiry. Fortunately the touch was light enough not to stick.

Clive

Martrim supply 3 cans of glue and we only used just over 2 when we did mine. Subsequently found why they supply 3 as it has come away in a couple of places. They supply what you need.

And spray both the liner and the cloth.
My attempt went reasonably well, couple of small wrinkles from trying to push it into the grab handle recesses and some finger indentations where I pressed too hard. I thought the foam backing would recover there but it didn't. Still looks good though.
If you are dropping the sunroof cassette and even if you aren't check the foam seal around the outside edge, they go thin and floppy and let in water. 2 mtrs of neoprene 20mm x 10mm foam strip and a tube of contact adhesive will sort it.

All good advice and much appreciated. Thank you all.

Yes, I need to drop the sunroof to do the sunblind. Not looking forward to it if I'm honest but waiting until my trusted assistant returns this weekend.

Sunblind can be taken out without taking the sunroof out. You can either do it by the book and loosen the runners on one side or the less technical method of simply bowing it upwards in the middle so it pops out of the runners.

How likely is it to break using the bowing in the middle method?

We had a summer camp about 3 years ago where we did 8 headlinings one after the other (2 guys taking the liner out, my missus cleaning the old foam off, 3 of us putting the new material on before bunging it back at the 2 guys with the screwdrivers) and didn't break any by bowing them. I've since done 2 more on other cars using the same method too.

Thanks Richard. So basically pull down in the middle to flex it enough to pop out one side?

Yup. there's 4 little sliding spring things that will shoot out never to be seen again that stop it from rattling in the channels but when you put the new material on, if you fold it over the edge you don't need them (and you'll never get them back in anyway).

If it breaks in the middle can I send you the bill for a replacement? 😀

What do I win if I can
a) Find all 4 clips and
b) refit all the clips?

If it breaks I've got a spare one.....

Confirming I'm still very happy with the headlining we did!

As GilbertD rightly says, you will need two people at least. But it is fairly straight forward with two people, provided that the other person is fairly good with their hands. I did mine with my wife and it turned out pretty much perfect. We just looked at the fibreglass panel carefully and practiced laying down the new fabric a load of times until we got it right in our minds.

We only sprayed the fibreglass with a spray-on adhesive, we didn't bother doing the material as that would have meant laying the material upsidedown on the floor. The corners and edges, such as where the grab handles go, and the awkward bits at the tailgate end, and the sunroof cutout, took a while to do, and necessitated ensuring that the material didn't touch the fibreglass while working on the tricky bits. We started at the tailgate end and worked up the panel, also working the material outwards from the centreline to the sides.

There are a couple of decent videos online which will show you how to cut the holes for the grab handles, the roof lights and the front courtesy light. Make sure that you cut the holes from one corner to the opposite corner, crosswise, and don't cut right into the corner as you need to work a bit of material around the edge of the holes to ensure that you can't see any cuts where the roof fitting are located.

It took us about 4 hours to lay down the material, and make all the cutouts. I took out the sunroof cassette to do the sunroof panel. The edges on this panel are a bit awkward because there is very little of an edge to stick the material to, where you fold it over the edges of the panel. We used bulldog clips all around the edges and it has stayed stuck down since - about two years now.

Pierre3.

As I’m stubborn, I did mine by myself. A helper or two would have been nice. The job turned out okay anyway. No one but me (or someone who’s done these) would notice my imperfections. I also needed 3 cans of glue.
Richard, your missus is quite the lady. Removing the old glue is the worst part of the job.

I was lucky in that the old material came off cleanly. I think that the roof had been relined previously because there were one or two black marker marks on the fibreglass, and the old material just pulled off without leaving any residue. So at least I didn't have to go scrubbing with a wire brush or whatever.

I used the roof lining from Martrim, in Oatmeal, which I believe is the lining when the leather trim is Light Stone. I also used Tensorgrip T44 high temperature adhesive, which gives you about 10 minutes to attach the material. Just bear in mind with these adhesives you can't take the material back up once you have let it touch the adhesive. It's a one time job !!!!

Pierre3.

The glue that Martrim supply, which they can't send outside the UK due to postal restrictions, is a contact adhesive so must be sprayed on both sides or it doesn't stick at all. With it on both surfaces once they touch that is it, it isn't coming off.

Richard, your missus is quite the lady. Removing the old glue is the worst part of the job.

It was quite amusing. After the removal crew had done their bit, the liners were put on a couple of trestles so she got stuck in with a wire brush to get the old stuff off which ended up all over the workshop floor. As she moved around it stuck to the bottom of the old trainers she'd worn especially as I'd warned her it could get a bit mucky. The more she walked around the more of it that stuck to her trainers until there was at least an inch layer on both. Then she walked out of the workshop over gravel and ended up a good 2 inches taller than normal.