Is Headliner Install really that tough? Outrageous range of quotes

If you decide to strip the old one out yourself to save on labor without fail number the bows in order so they will be reinstalled in the correct order,if you mix them up you will have hell to pay.

 

California Pontiac Restorations are quoting $190 in cloth, standard or special vinyl for 49-52 headliners part no. C1101HR You need to specify year, model, engine, style # from firewall tag,, color ,type of fabric, with or without chrome bows. Can also be supplied with matching sunvisors.Tech support & info 714-245-9800 cpr@dcinternet.net check em out. They'll probably tell how to DIY
RodL

 

If you don't care about exact matches for a restored car, a Chevy headliner will fit identically in any Pontiac bodystyle 49-52. In fact that goes for a lot of other Pontiacs, too.

 

250 doesn't sound bad. I would check his work.
I had a shop do my '35 slantback in a fairly heavy naugahyde material several years ago. It took him two tries to get it. He didn't realize you have to leave the original stays out....after that it went in flawless.
I would not attempt it.

 

It all depends on the year and make. I did my 36 Ford in the 70s with a Lebaron Bonney kit and it turned out excellently if I do say so myself. I want to replace my 56 Ford headliner but I'm leery of it. I did get a recent estimate of 850 dollars. That's not going to happen. 300 dollars maybe 850 I'll live with the water stains.

 

Roeder's in Coffeyville , Ks. ......priced mine at $300.00 & believe it or not a cloth one installed at $360.00 .
Iam going cloth & SALE THE PREMADE ONE.
B.B.

 

Most shops don't like to work with owner supplied parts for two reasons.

First, the sale of the part is part of their profit structure and second if they damage it, they have to pay list price for you to replace it.

Lastly, they usualy have their own suppliers that supply them with a product that they are comfortable using and have had good results with them after they are instaled.

 

I was told by a couple places around here that it would be best if I supplied the headliner. I think I Will be doing this on my own more that I think about it.

 

Try a closed car Packard headliner! No seams but it's sewn. A 1/2 round rubber horseshoe, side boards, windlace, no wireon showing. Yeah, 50s cars are easy by comparison...

 

amen brother. you go on the intrnet and buy the best deal you can find then expect a person that makes a living making and selling the same product and expect a deal?

ain't going to happen.

you bring your gl*** to my shop and the labor goes up 25 bucks an hour. the exception would be if you pulled all the original gl*** out for paint.

I have a rule that if you supply the parts and they break you get to keep all the pieces

 

Here is a thread on my car, about 3/4 down is the headliner portion
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=698724

and the video from Ciadella I watched to help give me some confidence.
http://ciadellainteriors.blogspot.com/2011/10/ciadella-headliner.html

I say do it yourself the first time. If you don't like it have someone else do the next car.

 

So your saying someone would make me a headliner from scratch for same price or less than what I paid? I paid $163 for headliner and windlace shipped. I dont see how anyone could make me one for even double that.

 

No he is saying uhpolstery shops are in business to make money on labour and supplies so when you go out and buy the cheapest headliner you can find and then go try and get a shop to install it they may not be interested in installing it so they jack up their labour prices. They don't get to make any money on sell you the headliner, which is part of their business, and they have no idea the quality or fit of the headliner you bought on the cheap so they factor in "headache" time into thier quote to allow for alterations that may need to be made. They are hoping they make a killing on a pain in the *** little job or are so outrageously priced that you just go away.

 

I WAS TOLD $300.00 WHEN I HAD A LINER (installed)......$360 when he makes & installs (cloth)
B.B.

 

I'm saying that if you bought the product from him he would make a profit from that he wouldn't have to make up for it in labor .plus he could stand behind the job in case of problems
I would like to apoligize for getting off on a tangent from your original post. this does happen to me often and is a personal peeve.jjust one more thought If the product doesnt fit or hold up to use. are you going to blame the installer or the manufacturer. because each will blame the other and you will lose all around.
the best price is not always the best deal.
good luck I hope all goes well.......Jim

 

I always avoided headliners like the plague, especially after hearing all the stories. I installed one in my OT 66 Mustang without a hitch. Probably one of the easier ones to install, but it was just not that hard. I had the gl*** out after paint, and I took extra time for the glue to set at front and back gl***, but it just was not that difficult. I'm sure that a larger car or station wagon would be way more difficult, but still, I installed it, it looked great and was just not that hard. Plenty of good info in this thread and online. I say, if you take your time, use good materials, it will come out fine.

 

Well thanks to yall I tried the install on my own...

It wasnt as bad as I thought it would be, by a long shot. I still need to install rear window trim, and windlace, dome light and visors, but other than that its done and I am pretty happy!

I started with this...

 

How cool is that? Home done and looking great.

 

Looks good. Nice work.

 

Good call! Looks great and you learned something, too. I was planning on doing my 50 Pontiac 2 dr sedan so this was good information.

 

Glad I could help! Let me know if you have any questions... its a fairly smooth job. I think I had about 3-4 hours in it total.

 

It's not that bad.. I've installed 2 vinyl headliners on my own..take your time & it will be fine. Don't be scared

 

Looks good

 

One person suggested that you make it out of fiber gl***, formed on the top of the car with three layers of plastic film to protect the top.

If you try that method, it would look real nice if you streched rope across the roof first and hold it down with 2" tape before placing on the plastic sheet.

That would give the effect of the roof bows that holds up the original headliner.

There are different weights of fibergl*** that would give different fabric looks.

Use only one or two layers so that it will flex a little to ease installation.

 

That sounds like an awful lot of work...
I dont see how that would work, or why you would do that when you could put a headliner in, in less time.

 

I hate to tell you but,,You should've replaced the windlace around the doors BEFORE installing the Headliner..Good Luck

 

wbrw32 is right. The windlace goes in first. Otherwise it looks pretty good. The biggest mistake most people make is not getting them stretched tight enough front to back. Yours looks pretty good up front but the back needs more stretch. One way to tell if its tight enough is to thump it with your finger. It should be tight as a drum.

 

Looks good.

I bought a cheap*** headliner from J C Whitney for my 51 Dodge about ten years ago, I had never done one before but there were a lot of other things I had never done before at one time as well.

Didn't turn out too bad, had to do some t******* here and there, not perfect but a helluva lot better than the rags that were hanging there.

 

I had a pre-made vinyl headliner for my 59 Chevy. I bought the vinyl windlace on eBay and the tack strips and spray adhesive from a local furniture upholstery shop. I had all the headliner bows, and they were in order. I got quotes around $400 for the install from local shops.

I did a lot of reading online, especially here on the HAMB, and asked a few questions. It took me less than 2 hours to install it. No experience. It's not perfect, but it's pretty nice and I didn't shell out a lot of money or time. The trick is playing around with pulling the material in diferent directions until the wrinkles go away. This just takes patience and attention. The adhesive (front & back, the sides tuck in) holds really well, but it will be hours before it really sets up, so you can peel off the material for re-positioning several times trying to get it right. For some cars it will be easier of the front/rear gl*** is out, but that wasn't the case in my 59.

Then again, I say that installing windshields is easy. I've done several.