Hi Everyone-
So long story short a few days ago the headliner over the rear seats of my 08' M35 decided just to plop down and now it looks like I have a parachute hanging from my ceiling. Luckily it only occurred over the back seat of the car.

I went out yesterday and bought some headliner adhesive from advance auto parts, but I was wondering if anyone else had had this problem and if anyone knew of a DIY posting for reattaching the headliner to the roof itself. (preferably one that does not involve having to take the entire roof apart but I know that this will probably have to happen)

Any comments are appreciated


-FL_Infin

No ideea, but i see only VERY cheap and VERY old cars with such problems... Someone must have done something to it before you owned the car....maybe...?!

I don't know. It was owned for the majority of its life by an employee of my local Infiniti dealer so I would find that rather unlikely but then again who knows.
My guess was that this FL heat had some effect on the adhesive but my guess is as good as any.

http://www.amazon.com/3M-38808-Headline ... B004MEBENM

3M headliner adhesive is the answer. Don't try any other spray on glue or adhesive unless they specify automotive applications, they will fail.

double sided tape or velcro... that's my suggestion and i have used it on several cars with great success.

psyopper -
I did buy permatex branded headliner adhesive. The problem is I am having a hard time finding a DIY tutorial for it.

cruzad3r-
Interesting idea, if I have too much of a hassle with the adhesive then that might be something to consider.

man that's the first time I ever heard a newer car having this issue. Was your car a flood salvage or something?

If it's just the glue that dried up perhaps using an iron set to steam run gently over the material would soften the glue up and re-adhere. Some Bimmer guys used a steamer and a paint roller with some degree of success. Using the spray glue requires access to the underside of the material.

I had a little trouble with the headliner where it meets the windscreen in the top center. About 1/2 inch along the leading edge was loose, but no bad enough to hang down. The dealer fixed it. They couldn't explain why it happened.

My '08 M35 headliner is starting to peel off by the front windshield. Noticed this 2 weeks ago. Stopped by the dealer yesterday and they said that it can't be fixed and will cost about $600 to replace the whole thing. So googled 2008 m35 headliner and came across this. I'm hoping if more people report it, Infiniti might do something about it. I think that's what happened to the door wood trim because they replaced mine under warranty.

Bummer that things are falling apart so soon.

Larz, would you be able to PM me which dealer you went to? Is that ok to ask?

This is kind of old, but did the 3M adhesive work? Does anyone know? I'm having the same problem as Lars I think, but mine IS bad enough to be hanging. Only difference is basically in the middle around the mirror is the only place that is sticking.. The sides hang.

The headliner is bonded to foam backing that is about 3/16 inch thick or so. This in turn is glued to the headliner board using special high heat adhesive (3M).
The problem is with age & heat, the foam backing deteriorates & crumbles away from the fabric & headboard.
You can try to do a spot repair, but eventually it will be a loosing battle as the deterioration has probably begun.

a month or two ago I assisted someone who was looking to replace his headliner. I gave him the name of 2 suppliers, he says one of them came very close to matching the ones in our cars. He bought a few yards from them, & removed his headliner to do the change out. He never posted back as I recall. I will try to dig that OP thread up for you....here it is:

forums.nicoclub.com/post6693520.html#p6693520

Lol he never did update but I do think the sample he posted was (from memory, I don't want to get off my couch right now to check ) very close to original. Thanks for directing me to it!

I was just gonna search this today, I noticed over the weekend that my headliner is coming loose over the rear seats too. I kinda figured it'd have to be an entire removal to get access to everything. I'll see what I can do to pin it back up till winter and then look into replacing the entire thing. I'm thinking black suede, or like a space themed fabric. Idk

reefscape15 wrote:....I noticed over the weekend that my headliner is coming loose over the rear seats too. I kinda figured it'd have to be an entire removal to get access to everything......I'm thinking black suede, or like a space themed fabric. Idk

I think it is Bentley, they offer a deep space headliner option complete with stars which are backlit by LED's!

I am having the same problem with my M I was also thinking that I would have to replace the whole headliner.

Same problem here, on my '07 M45S. I had to repair this issue on a 1994 Chevy truck I used to have. I remember it being a huge PITA. Looking at the car, I can't even figure out how they got the headliner into the car. It doesn't look like it will fit through any of the doors.

I think it will have some slight flex once you get it off. Probably have to put one of the front seat backs down and slide the seat all the way back. I think the opening from the bottom front to the top rear of either front door is the widest opening. May need both ft seats as mentioned above to be able to jockey it around and get it started to head in the direction you want......definitely not looking forward to doing mine

Some headliner Inspiration

http://www.starlighthq.com/

I wanna say the headliner is supposed to come out thru the front pass door with seat removed but the FSM shows it coming out of the rear door.
I think I would redo mine in suede if I end up having this problem, pillars as well.

Six_Legs wrote:I wanna say the headliner is supposed to come out thru the front pass door with seat removed but the FSM shows it coming out of the rear door.
I think I would redo mine in suede if I end up having this problem, pillars as well.

Agreed! Pillars have to come off to get the headliner out anyways, May as well do it all

I thought I would jump in here years later. I have a 07 infiniti that I just picked up. The headliner was dropping in a few spots. Living in Florida I had an idea that the adhesive had released. I didn't think about the sun roof needing space to come inside. The entire headliner is attached to a cardboard/fiber type shell. That shell has plastic standoffs that are glued to it. The majority of the standoffs are attached to the metal roof with velcro. The exceptions are the 4 attachment points near the back window (these are plastic push fasteners) and the 2 attachment points on the rearward center of the sun roof (these are clipped to the ridge of the sunroof by sliding up and forward as you install the headliner. The cardboard/fiberboard shell has some give but it can be broke with excessive bending. I was able to take it out, with all but the drivers seat removed, through the back passenger door. In doing so you have to be careful not to put too much strain on the corners and you make your movements. The pillars must be removed to allow this to happen.

The whole reason I was involved in this project was due to the failure of the adhesive to hold between the shell and the standoffs. The glue "melted" away. I used goofoff to remove the old glue from the shell and plastic. Attached them with a stronger glue (gorilla 2 part mix) to ensure I wouldn't be doing this again.

Check out the YouTube channel: Sweet Project Cars

He has a video on using a syringe to inject glue for a temporary-ish headliner fix (he says it might last months before need a reapplication).

A permanent fix is to remove the headliner and install a new foam fabric, but that project can be tricky.

Hi Everyone

It's been a long time. I'm now having this issue for my car since my car was sitting outside more than normal. My headliner in the rear is starting to fall now and also in the front by the windshield. I saw another post telling me not to do the DIY fix (if-you-re-thinking-about-replacing-your ... 10347.html. I was already leaning to not doing it myself and having someone either redoing the headliner or buying a new headliner and replacing it myself but not sure if that would be too difficult.

Has anyone done the DIY approach recently or hired someone to do it?

The real problem with re-doing headliners is the thin, stretchy OE material. The OP in that other post was right, trying to reattach the OE material is likely to be a fool's errand. However, one of the later posters was also right. Taking the whole thing down and refurbishing with a thicker, less-stretchy material like suede or felt will usually give excellent results. Thin closed-cell sheet-foam is also an option and makes future cleanup a snap, although you have to be careful to select a nice surface finish (some are glossy).

oh. that sounds very involved. I think I'll go with having a professional doing the job if it isn't out of this world expensive. I'll shop around and see what's out here and for pricing.

Try a local auto upholstery shop. Around here they will remove and replace the headliner for about $300. That beats the dealer price of about $2,000.

I believe most manufacturer's use the same method for headliners since the mid 1970's. Fabric attached to a foam backing, which is then adhesive sprayed to the inside shell of the car. The problem is the foam backing behind the fabric disintegrates, causing the fabric to fall free. Repair is really not an option as Vstar mentioned.