Glue spray for new roof upholstery (car)

[MrMogensen]

The roof upholstery of my old car sagged down everywhere a few years ago due to excessive heat. Was on holiday and the car was parked back home in the sun with doors shut for about 3 weeks... The old glue from 1991 couldn't take the heat

Bought some new leather look-a-like fabric in a similar color that I want to glue to the original ceiling. Has anyone done something like this - I am thinking a "glue spray" of some sort... Maybe 3M?

I know I have to clean the old ceiling from old glue before doing this fix. Yesterday I took out the complete ceiling through the hatchback boot - it was fairly easy.

 

[Motogiro]

It seems like every time I see a liner debonding it's more relative to the materials aging and changing properties. I imagine heat cycles have a lot to do with this aging process. I have an older 98 Toyota 4Runner. It's been so hot where I live that I've had the thermal breaker in a window motor open so the window would not work but the ceiling liner still looks pretty good. Prepping will be very important because no matter what the adhesive you use, it will only be as good as the surface you want to bond too.

Keep in mind there are a few adhesives that are not meant to be permanent adhesives so read the description on the product. I've had some experience doing Formica type lamination on cabinets. We used commercial type contact adhesives. We would spray both the cabinet and the laminate with the adhesive and let both surface dry to the touch. Once those surfaces touched each other they instantly bonded. This meant we had to be creative with how we positioned the 2 surfaced we wanted to bond and do this so there were no ripples or bubbles. We would use thin Masonite strips laid on the panel we wanted to bond to, and starting at one end, we would then lay the Formica sheet on the Masonite strips which would keep the 2 glue surfaces apart. We would then align the Formica sheet and begin removing the Masonite strips so the the surfaces touched. As the surfaces touched we would use our hands to push and work the Formica so that it would bond to the panel surface. After that we used rollers to work the surfaces together even better.

Sorry for being so wordy on this subject but I want to get the idea across that you will probably use this type of procedure to bond your 2 materials together and working with the thinner liner material will be tricky. For the thinner material you could use a 6 mil plastic to keep the 2 surfaces apart. Then fold the plastic back between the 2 surfaces from one end to the other, working the liner by hand to get it to conform to any curvature you might have. This is generally not a one person job and you will need a well ventilated area to working as the off gassing from glue can be both harmful to health as well as flammable!

Do a practice run without the glue to get an idea of how the material might react before hand because once the 2 glued surfaces contact, they are bonded.

 

[MrMogensen]

I found some youtube guides - but they all use different sprayglue and materials...
Not far from here I found a small company where I can buy this product. I think I'll give it a go?

Spraylim – Køb 3M spraylim og andet lim fra 3M billigt
High temp rated and for rubber/vinyl/leather etc...

Besides that I'll follow your description with practice run, dual surface spraying and so on...

 

[patrickb37]

3M Super 77 spray would be my go-to solution.

 

[FinalImpact]

I've done cages... door panels, headliners, carpet, etc...
Is the foam in OK shape? If it's dusty and crumbly, you'll need to remove and replace it...

Go long on materials and usaully start by spraying the location and then lay the fabric in the middle working your way out. Let it overhang and don't cut and trim too soon.
Read the product if it requires both surfaces sprayed and wait time. Some are just spray and go so you can litterally start in the middle and work your way out hand pressing it down or up if doing it in car.

Do a dry run to see what problems you encounter. Obviously having the HL out and upside right is a plus but be warned that when installed the curves will change and can induce wrinkles you didnt have....

If doing this in the car get some help to hold the material up and have a wide and narrow house paint rollers handy to quickly mate the glued materials....

A well ventilated area comes to mind too!
Have fun!

Oh - yes, I've used a 3M product and after 18+ years it was still good!

 

[MrMogensen]

Old foam is dead - I bought a replacement

Headliner is out... I think I'd go insane if I had to do this inside the car.

There is a regular old-school sunroof above the front seats. This accounts for about 1/5 of the headliner so, because of to saving some glue due to the sunroof area, I hope one can of 3M should be sufficient.

I am doing this fix at my parents house. They have a large open terrace with a roof so plenty of natural ventilation. We have close to 25 celcius (77 fahrenheit) here in Denmark right now.

PATRICKB37 > Why 77 and not 80?

 

[patrickb37]

I haven't used 80, but the description says it's for rubber & vinyl. Since you're using fabric it's probably not what you want.

Super 77 is very common, and in the US it's available in most auto parts stores.