What is smartest headliner replacement?

[DMC1890]

Any thoughts on getting rid of the 'aroma' of the original panels?

[dn010]

You can also lay a few sheets of fiberglass / epoxy down on the original boards if you're worried about how rigid they are and might help with masking odors. Mine are original and they recovered well, although like they say somewhat of a PITA to clean up. Plenty of how-to threads, here is mine.

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?13...liner-recovery

Call me 'cheap', but $550 (plus core fees of $50) for a new headliner set? -$40 I spent on upholstery = at least $560 savings (not including the $ to ship the kit!) for only an hour or two worth of work.

[Jason]

I "restored" my headliner panels by gently scraping them clean and then painting them with fiberglass resin.

[AirmanPika]

I'm glad I caught this thread. I need to recover my headliners again (the foam from my recovery from 10 years ago didn't hold up so well). I didn't have problems with the boards themselves so I think I'll go the resin route too to beef them up a bit.

[DMC1890]

I'm partway through the process now. I find that scraping the old foam and glue off is a bit tedious. The underlying board is still plenty stiff, but feels damp to the touch. I do intend to coat the board with fiberglass resin, mostly to deal with the musty smell. As was commented earlier, your time needs to be almost worthless to do this (which is true in my case). If I fail, I've only lost about $60, and DMCH is only a 30 minute drive to get the $550 new panels.