Is Headliner Install really that tough? Outrageous range of quotes

I Have been checking around town to get a headliner installed in my 51 Pontiac. I scheduled with a shop that quoted $250 plus about $75 more for Windlace install.

I have all the material, pre made headliner.

I have called other shops. One shop told me $850 at least. Another shop said about 2 days work if lucky and couldnt give price. Lastly I had a quote at $500.

I do not want to attempt this on my own, but how on earth can it be that tricky for someone to charge $850 or an unkown amount?

These are just your average locally owned shops, nothing special.

 

Headliners are tricky.

Some cars, the shop will want to pull the windows so they have an easier time tucking the liner and gluing it.

Also, the glue can be a bit messy, so some shops may be doing extra tear down or masking off parts of your interior to avoid drips/mess, which adds up in a hurry.

 

Where is glue used? I was told everything tucks in???

 

Glue is used on many headliners at the door post and corners. Also on front and rear if windshield and rear window have to come out..

I was a master trimmer back in the sixties/seventies.. Tho I haven't been active in trim since 76. If it's pre-made. Even a difficult headliner shouldn't take more than a day for install.

One of the toughest I did back in the day was a rebuilt totaled 59 Chevy 4-door. Changed from cloth to vinyl pre-made headliner. In the shop. The thing was a real ***** to get wrinkles out..Took all day, stretching-steaming and my dad (trim shop owner) was furious.. As I used to drive to area dealerships/body shops and do two a day on location.

Headliners were about $40.00 and labor was less than $50.00. I just this week priced a pre-made headliner for a 59 Stude Lark. Almost fell over.. Guess I'll fire up the old Consew and get practiced after all these years..

 

It's not as easy as it looks, but $850 means they really don't want to mess with it.

 

I just paid $250 to get a vinyl white and red headliner installed in my chopped '53 Chevy. The guy had my car EIGHT weeks and did just an "okay" job. Quality and speed are more important than price!

 

Shops down here charge about $ 100 to replace a sagging headliner in one of the modern cars where the felt just goes up on cardboard with spray adhesive. So $ 250 to do a custom headliner that involves bows and sewing seems pretty reasonable to me. We did a headliner in a VW one time with a kit and it was a hard job to do and I got a cheap high from the glue fumes.

Don

 

My friend and I spent many hours with two different re-pro headliners in an OT '68 Mustang and still didn't feel good with the outcomes (He is a bit of a perfectionist ). This was with windshield and back gl*** out. Finally put it in the hands of a professional. He did it with us providing the headliner for $250. Money well spent.

 

My buddy made mine by hand. I wanted early 60's pontiac headliner with the embossed stars in my 56 Pontiac but they are not made for that.

I bought the material and he cut, sewed it, installed new roof insulation for less than what you are quoted.

 

If you have a headliner made to fit you car you can probably do it yourself, with satisfactory results. I installed my first one last winter and asked myself WTF have you been afraid of? It came out perfect. There are videos online showing installation procedures. (I don't have a link). It is easier with 2 pairs of hands. don't be scared, just do it. Its cheaper to do it twice if necessary and learn, than to pay somebody crazy money.

 

Does anyone have any good links to videos? I have not come across any on you tube. I am not afraid at all to try, if I have an idea what I am doing.

 

If the headliner is pre-made, I would do it myself.. Have installed a few over the years and if you go slow and read up on how to do it, I'm sure you will have satisfactory results.. Plus look at all the money you'll save and have done it yourself.. Go for it.....

 

get a staple gun and some spray adhesive. it is not hard to do. look it up on youtube. It will look super easy, but take your time pulling and stretching. U should also leave it out in the sun for a bit to soften it up and make it easyer to flex.

 

I like that! I am known to be cheap!

I cant find anything on Youtube, everything is 60s cars, nothing like mine, any help?

Headliner is Cotton cloth with foam backing if that makes any difference, seems like it would be easier to work than vinyl, but what do I know.

 

Not hard to do but a fiddly job. You have to put the bows in the headliner and put it in the car, then start pulling it to the front, to the back, stretch it tight, fit it nice all around, then go back, pull off, move it a little, etc etc until you get it fitting nice with no wrinkles. You want to pull it just tight enough to be smooth, not too tight.

Actually you will never get it with no wrinkles. If you do it real nice there will be a couple of small wrinkles in the rear quarters. Then you need a steamer to steam them out (shrink the material). If you do not have a steamer they will shrink out themselves after a while.

Goes easier with 2 people if they can work together.

 

This book has an excellent section on headliners: http://product.half.ebay.com/_W0QQprZ697213 Did I do my own? No,the 50's Fords with bows have to have the rear window removed to install it and with the old seal hard as a rock I didn't think I could handle the gl*** removal.I already have a pre-made headliner and windlace and seal and I was quoted $280-$300 for the headliner and windlace install at three shops all need to have a gl*** guy come in for R&R.

 

I installed one years ago in a '68 firebird I owned,,it was a PIA but I got it installed and it looked good. I believe I used a couple plastic spatulas for tucking fabric in. The windlace was the toughest thing install..It is no fun at all and these days you could likely watch a pro do it or at least provide tips on utube. My current ride has a cardboard headliner,,piece of cake to install

 

I put the one in my 71 cuda, took an hour, 15 minutes of that was feeding the metal bars through. It looked a little rumpled until I parked it in the sun for an hour, now it looks perfect, cost 60 bucks for pre-made headliner.

 

Well,ihave put several hundred in,almost any type car.In my opinion if you can get it done for 250,be very cautios.If they want 800,be gone.If your headliner is cloth you can do it.Its not too hard.If the shop has to supply matching windlace,expect to pay $5-6 per ft. for material,50 to 60 labor per door.if you don't have the panels for the pillars,someone has to make em.if your car has metal frmes on the windows,you wont need to remove the gl***es.Probably the tack strips are partly gone,but if i were doing it that still no big deal.my bid for the headliner not to include the windlace would be 300,with a gurantee of absolute satisfaction,on my labor.but i would need to know who made it,and look at the product.i have been doing this almost 50 years,and i have done 5 headliners this year,and im retired.

 

One of my good friends says, if you can write like a girl, then you can do it. I did my forty ford and I just went slow and took notes when I removed the old one and though it wasn't perfect, it was a really neat job and I learned a lot. I would sure attempt it as it will be a very good feeling when you are done. good luck

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1j8QbkHLZc

 

I have to tackle my headliner soon as I just dont have the coin to outsource, so have been saving threads as I find them. here are some that may help.

Fatlucky!
Low buck but good result

And hit youtube. Good luck!

 

I installed a headliner in a '55 Chevy Coupe and a '68 Mstg Fstbk. No problemo. I pulled the windshield on the Fastback first. Job looked professional without wrinkles. Just make sure you buy a quality replacement headliner.

 

A local shop recovered my Dodge Dakota headliner. 70 bucks, better than new. I suppose that's about the size of a 30's coupe. I've also had some small stuff done, like arm rests, for 20 bucks / beer money. Gary

 

Thanks for the link, I have seen that one, but that car is alot newer, and different all together.

Those are good threads, Thanks!

 

If you do it yourself replace the rubber tack strips that you staple into with old fan belts. Find some that look the same.The old tack strips get brittle with age.
I did the cloth one in a 56 chevy. PIA for an old guy with a bad back and bi-focals but doable.
Use a hairdryer to take out wrinkles.

 

Who did it?

 

It`s all in the prep-work. The package tray, rear seat , rear quarter panels and kick pannels need to be removed. The garnish mouldings, windshield and rear window mouldings need to be removed. If the tackstrip is missing in any section. Replace it all. Thats around the doors and in some cases around the windshield, rear window and rear quarter windows. On some cars, the A pillars, B pillars and sometimes the rear sail pannels need to be made from scratch and covered as well. And last but not least, The Sun Visors. A Pro I worked with said, The most difficult thing to recover in a car is the sunvisors. His advice is to have an upholsterer recover a pair of visors with binding around the edges. If they look bad, proceed to another upholsterer until you are happy with the results. Then they should be able to do the rest of the car with no problem at all. Then the question at hand---removal and installation of a headliner for $250, sounds fair to me. Thats why you got a bid of $850. Its all the extras that add up. Then you have to clean the carpet after all that mouse **** falls during the removal process.

 

At this stage of the game I'd rather pay $250.00 to have it done. Been there, done that, and my **** back says no more.

 

Cleaning the headliner bows of all the rust and what not, helps to let things move around. Makes it a little easier