Best way to remove old headliner glue/foam?

[Nate047]

Hey guys, so I’ve never done a headliner before, and I’m just wondering what the best product and method is to get the stubborn leftover glue and foam bits off? The material was some sort of shitty not OEM foam. I ran out of time yesterday but I tried a little acetone which seemed like it would work. Thoughts?

[simonnim]

I'm not sure, since it's an interior piece I wouldn't want the smell to stick around. WD-40 maybe? That works on plastidip really well.

[dukeofchen]

M539 did a headliner re-wrap on this 750i (starts at the 15m mark), removed a lot of the old glue using a drill brush. Not sure what chemicals though maybe he mentions it somewhere in the video.

[cobra]

I have not done a headliner, but I removed the residual felt backer from the C pillar using a wire wheel. It has to be stiff enough to hook and pull the material off but not so stiff it chews up the plastic.

Warning, it works very well but is extremely messy.

None of the chemicals/solvents or other methods I tried (alcohol, goo gone, chisel, razor blade, etc) were at all effective.

[TexaZ3]

I think the problem here is the glue - not the foam. Nate, if the fabric you removed is NOT an original headliner, somebody already glued new fabric to it, and what you are seeing is non-factory glue. Foam you can remove with stiff wire wheel, glue? That is way harder.

[Nate047]

Thanks guys. So yea. Unfortunately the headliner was redone previously, so what I’m battling is the glue. TBH I’m considering farming this out now, based on the universal sentiment that it’s going to be a giant pain in the ass to get the glue off. I will probably take one more swing at it and decide at that point.

I think sanding and / or a wire wheel. I just need to be careful to not damage the headliner. As you know they are kinda flimsy though, so I’m a little hesitant to try anything too harsh.

What do you guys recommend for the glue? This is the stuff Veteran Co recommended and sold me. Can’t find very much info about it though.

[cobra]

Thanks guys. So yea. Unfortunately the headliner was redone previously, so what I’m battling is the glue. TBH I’m considering farming this out now, based on the universal sentiment that it’s going to be a giant pain in the ass to get the glue off. I will probably take one more swing at it and decide at that point.

I think sanding and / or a wire wheel. I just need to be careful to not damage the headliner. As you know they are kinda flimsy though, so I’m a little hesitant to try anything too harsh.

What do you guys recommend for the glue? This is the stuff Veteran Co recommended and sold me. Can’t find very much info about it though.

I used this and it's pretty good stuff: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08ZDWMTSR...roduct_details

[tlow98]

Bry5on did a pretty stellar job with his. He doesn’t recommend this job with new shoes :-p

[K-Dawg]

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/main-forum/member-build-journals/195928-black-tan-332it?p=221410#post221410

I plan to (try to) strip my headliner myself then pay someone to apply the new fabric. I got these brushes: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G7XG6BV/

If your headliner material has already been replaced once, you may be better off finding another used headliner board to start with. Probably depends on the adhesive used.

[cobra]

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...410#post221410

I plan to (try to) strip my headliner myself then pay someone to apply the new fabric. I got these brushes: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G7XG6BV/

If your headliner material has already been replaced once, you may be better off finding another used headliner board to start with. Probably depends on the adhesive used.

Applying the fabric was the easy part for me. It's all in the prep... kinda like painting.

I used something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Harrier-4-inc...%2C155&sr=1-14

[Nate047]

Thanks guys, FWIW I used a somewhat soft drill brush and it was fine for removing foam, but did nothing against the stubborn glue. Gonna have to go more hardcore than that.