EA Fairmont Roof Lining

This page is about repairing/replacing/re-glueing the saggy rooflining/headlining/hoodlining in a 1991 EA Fairmont sedan.

As you can see, its getting pretty bad - difficult to see out the rear screen and it sits on top of your head if you're tall.  This is pretty typical of the ones I've seen.









The good news is that the lining material is in good shape - no tears or bad staining, so I will be using it again and just re-glueing it.

Started by pulling off the pinchweld trim around the upper door frames, and all the roof fittings (lights, sunvisors, grab handles).

The perimeter trim is held by hidden screws and plastic clips.

Got to be real careful here not to break the clips.

Once trim is removed, the black plastic buttons holding the rooflining in place can be seen.

A lot of the perished orange foam falls out.

The rear side interior lights must be disconnected on the Fairmont

Once it is freed, the complete rooflining can be maneuvered out through the front passenger door once the seats are fully reclined.

Perished foam makes a hell of a mess and must all be cleaned off both the lining and the cloth covering.

You can see here how crumbly & perished the foam backing on the rooflining is.  That's why the cloth facing sags and drops on your head.

In my opinion, all the "curly pin" thumbtack, spot adhesive and other "quick-fix" methods look like shit and are a waste of time/money.  Hope I don't have to eat my words when this is finished ;)

It is a sticky job, and must be done carefully because the lining is made of a sort of compressed material which will start to delaminate if you get too rough with the wire brush.

You have to get both components (the compressed-board backing and the cloth lining) as clean as possible - the adhesive won't stick if there are loose crumbs.


Okay - I'll get some spray adhesive and a thin foam sheet to replace the perished original.  Has taken about 2 hours so far, and nothing too difficult.  Update soon.

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 The guy at Para Rubber told me that this is the stuff for sticking the foam & headlining to the backing - bloody expensive, though, almost $50 for this one spray tin, which is barely enough to do the job.  Still, don't want to have to do it again anytime soon, eh?

The thinnest foam they had was this 5mm "peeled foam", which comes on a roll.  It is 700mm wide and I got 3m of it for about $20.

The 700mm width is just over half the width of the backing.  There will be a seam down the middle, but shouldn't be visible once the cloth trim is applied.

The foam now stuck to the contoured lining.

Trimmed around the edges and with the holes cut out for lights, grab handles, etc.

And here the cloth trim is stuck to the foam.  This part was actually a prick of a job - it was very difficult to line up the holes in the cloth trim with the holes in the backing, while also trying to minimise stretching and wrinkles.

If doing a similar job again in future, I would definitely just buy a new "blank" piece of cloth trim, then concentrate on sticking it on evenly and just cut out the holes later.  Live & learn.

Well, it doesn't look TOO bad now it is all back in place with the side trim and fittings.  There are a few visible wrinkles, etc., but overall I am happy with the finish.  Job done.