Date: 14 Oct 1998 00:48:24 GMT From: "Richard Doyle" <doyles3nopsamdnet.att.net> Subject: Re: Headliner on Saab 900
The fabric on the headliner in my 1986 900S was hanging loose when I bought my car a couple of months ago. I called around about getting it fixed or replaced. The Saab dealer charges >$335 for a new headliner, before labor. Auto upolstry shops in the area quoted me prices ranging from $325 to $500 to remove, refurbish and reinstall the headliner. The headliner is a molded fiberboard shell that stays up because of the screws to the visors and the handgrips, etc. If you've done some work on cars, you should be able to remove and replace the shell. (Check the saab.com website for some good instructions on removing the headliner shell -- just search the archives for headliner and you'll find lots of good discussion.) My car is a hatchback, so I was able to remove the headliner with no problems. One shop said they would refurbish the headliner for around $125 if I removed and reinstalled it from my car, so that may be an option. A company called Trollhatten at cybertroll.com sells a headliner replacement kit for around $90. You will have to remove the shell, scrape off all the dried foam, cement new fabric to the shell, then reinstall the shell in your car (from what I've read about the kit). In the end, I went to a fabric store and bought three yards of headliner fabric (foam on the back, with a low pile cloth on the front, manufactured by a company called Alpine) for $7.50/yard, and two cans of 3M Foam Fast (?) adhesive cement at $12/can. For around $50, I refurbished the two door panels, both rear side panels, the entire headliner shell, and the sunroof. The work is a little messy, so be prepared and take your time. Due to rushed conditions (a fussy 5--month old baby that day and bad weather) I had to rush and left three small creases in the fabric. While it's not perfect, several people who saw the finished job thought it was original. I chose to use a tan color instead of the off-white that comes in most Saabs, but it matches the seats and rugs very closely. Good luck! Fred M wrote in message <7007hl$50f$1nopsamy.prod.itd.earthlink.net>... >Greetings. > >I was told that recently, there was a lot of discussion in this newsgroup on >how to fix the headliner problem affecting Saabs. The glue holding the >headliner on in my 1988 Saab 900 gave up, and after trying different types >of glue, I finally cut it all off over the back seat area, so I could see >out the rear window. > >Does anyone have a good fix for this? > >- Fred M. > Oklahoma City > >
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