Monkey Wrench Mike solves a problem plaguing several models of Mercedes. After a decade or so, the headliner glue gives up and everything starts to droop. But with a little work, and a lot of glue, things get better quickly!
My advise re headliners, having done one a long time ago: (1) it’s worth it to DIY the removal labor and the shell surface prep, but pay a car upholstery shop to glue the new fabric to the shell - they will do a far better job of it than you will, particularly if you don’t have a helper; (2) when you’re ready to try to wrestle the headliner back into the car, *any* blob of grease or trace of dirt that is present on the roof, the doors, door frames, hinges, etc., *will* find its way onto your fingers, and then onto your nice new headliner fabric, so make sure everything is immaculately clean before you start.
@@MonkeyWrenchMike Oh yes please Mike! You always add a nice bit of levity to Randy's walk-arounds, and I doubt his Fiancee likes doing them very much!
Hi Monkey Mike, I enjoyed the video very much. FYI-there is another headliner video on You Tube where the person shows how you can use a needle atatchment to spray the glue through the liner to fix those air bubles where the glue did not make good contact. I apologize but i do not remember the channel. Good Luck and thanks for the great information.
I did this same job in a w202 c230, I found that it was best to remove the seats front and back,along with the center console to get the headliner in & out the easiest. Also, the clips holding the b pillars were REALLY stuck to the b pillar, so I ended up having to use permatex black plastic welder to fix the broken plastic tabs for the spring clips. If you use a thin metal pick, you can safely unclip the metal clips by prying under with it. I didnt have the patience to film everything, but im glad you did so people can see how its done! Also, to fix the bubbles, you could poke a small hole and lightly coat the headliner with more adhesive, then firmly hold the fabric to the headliner untill it sets, too much glue will stay wet for a while. You did this way faster than I could of! Great job!
Great video! I dig any of the restore/repair videos. It's great to see everyday folks keeping older vehicles alive and looking great. We all learn from videos like this!
Mike, the headliner supposed to go out the passenger front door. It's such a tight fit, you have to have the gear selector in 1st to get it to pass. If your car had a sunroof, since the headliner has additional support and is rigid in the center, there is no way to get it out the back door.
Another great job, Mike! I wish I lived closer as you could have used a third or fourth hand and I love these types of projects. I'll be tackling this on my 1990 535i in the next few months and, since I already did the A and C pillars, the procedure is very similar. Keep up the great work, stay safe and thanks for the vids! :)
Well done Mike. It's a tough job. My Jag had the same issue and I decided to let a car retrimmer do the work for me. It cost a fortune but he did a perfect job which included doing the sun visors - very happy
Please look on Amazon or an Autoparts store for a nylon car trim removal set. This will save the paintwork and broken clips with your older cars. A flathead screwdriver is not forgiving. Enjoy from the UK.
Thanks for the video, Mike. I hate modern headliners. When the foam dries out it's all over. I love the headliners on German cars back in the 50's through the early 70's. My 69 Karmann Ghia had a beautiful perforated headliner, it looked like pigskin but I'm sure it was vinyl. So was the headliner in my 72 German-made Capri. Nice job and stay safe.
Ive done this job many a time. Such a satisfying job to see the results once you get it back in the car. Nice work as usual, Mike. Definitely cleans the look of the car up nicely. BTW you have the sunvisors going the wrong way lol :-)
Great video as always!, I guess it’s the hotter summers that cause the saggy headliners over there?, we never seem to have that problem in the UK......apart from saggy sun visors ! Keep safe Mike!
Mike, I have been watching AAR for a long time, and I knew you were with him on a lot of the Copart Walk-Arounds. I have been watching your channel for a long time, and then I was going through channels on my TV because I ran out of RU-vid Notifications and turned on Channel 2 and I was like I recognize that guy. And then I found out it was you. Anyways I just wanted to say you are a really good news reporter and love watching your at home news videos during these times lol. Keep up the good work!
Monkey Wrench Mike I love it too. I grew up in Broken Arrow and now I am in the Jenks area. I lived in OKC for awhile and got sick of the I-35 5:00 traffic. So I moved back here. Best decision ever!
Mike great job on the headliner. They always make me nervous. One thing that I have learned that helps is using a small wood or plastic roller to go over the new headliner once you are ready to put it on. It just helps getting it smoother and to this date since using a roller I haven't had any bubbles..knock on wood...LOL
I think Mr Mike likes using the manual tools. I am so old I need to use the power drive, haha. Not so much a glue problem as a foam problem. I find using more glue is the trick. I always use around 2-1/2 cans on a 4 door sedan, then use a roller to get it all stuck down without any wrinkles.
Get a hypodermic needle and spray the glue in it until it's about half full. Inject it in the bubble on the headliner moving the needle "carefully" in a circular motion. You are putting a very small unnoticeable pin hole in the material. A guy here also will pull the plunger out of the needle and put a tube on the spray can nozzle inside at the base of the actual needle. That way it mists inside the bubble.
My wife’s Dodge Aspen had the same sickness. I took off all the stuff to get the top off. I bought the spray and sprayed it , put I all together. Well it failed after time so I stapled the fabric to the paper board.
I have seen used car lots use a needle to re-glue working front to back with a small roller but those weren't sagging as bad. I know one place that just bought a new one claiming the labor and materials involved made it more efficient to just replace. BTW, they pulled the windshield to get it out and back in.
If you don't want to create a small hole to inject spray adhesive between the panel and the fabric where you still have bubbles, you might be able to use a garment steamer to reactivate the glue in those areas. Those steamers look like a small vacuum cleaner with a remote water tank and heater with a long hose with a head unit that looks a bit like a showerhead where the steam comes out!
I just died when you started talking like Julia Childs... I was trying to be sneaky and watch this in my office, but that all went to hell in a hand basket because I pure HOLLERED! Hahahahaha
You could slice the bubbles with a razor and re glue it and smooth it out. Might be a little better. Sure you will see the slits but its better than bubbles in my opinion.
Mike, Sweet Project Cars has a good youTube hack on repairing a headliner without removal. I qucikly found by youtube search (headliner repair without removing) or go to their site for that and a lot of other good tips.
Good job there Mike mate. Making the Old Girl look her best again and just shows how a lot of knowledge and a bit of ingenuity can work wonders. Result! Good also to see people like yourself showing some responsibility during this virus crisis. Things are tightening up here in the UK but we are doing OK. Just mindless (or is that 'entitled') morons who insist on 'knowing better' One bunch had a BBQ with 20 people yesterday. Why do people do that stupidity?
Mike, PLEASE buy some plastic trim tools! I've never seen the brand of adhesive that you used, but I'd never use anything but 3M on my cars, particularly in hot climates. Please tell me that you let that adhesive dry to the touch before you mated the fabric up to the backer... it's a "contact cement" and is made to be assembled dry. I'm afraid that we'll be seeing you do this job again in a month or so, when it falls off.
I’d cut a super small hole and stick the red tube from some headliner glue and spray it around. The fill the area with pillows to hold the headliner up until the glue dries. Worked great fir one on my W210 cars!!
I like a long handled phillips for good leverage and with two hands, it's nearly as fast as a power tool if you twirl the screw driver shaft between two fingers. Why am I nick picking on the use of a screw driver? Bored !!! Good tip on the mirror !
@@MonkeyWrenchMike Thank you Mike, I'll be doing it to my W203 as well! If you had 60'' roughly 150 cm for the W210 it's certainly enough for the W203. Keep the good content coming!
If you do another in the future, get a drill brush, and you can knock off the glue in a very short time! Now, if I could figure out how to get mine dropped down by the back window to replace my shark fin antenna, not a Mercedes, and no vids on you tube....
