headliner

As I'm about to install the headliner in my Monte I have some questions:

1. Can I just attach all the bow clips and put the panels on later, or should it be done at the same time?

2. Is glue only applied in the front and rear?

3. Do the seat belt retractors go under the headliner, or do they clamp it against the roof. If the latter, is it enough to cut holes for the bolts, or should i cut a big square for the retractor?

glue goes on all 4 sides

headliner first than everything after.

attach the clips first, than start to glue it all around. use spray on adhesive, otherwise youre gonna have a mess. it also stays soft fore a short while so you can still make some adjustments. dont worry about spraying it on the seats etc., it will peel off easily when dry. dont worry about using too much either, just make sure to glue only so much material that it gets covered with plastic moldings at the end.

it really isnt hard to do, you just need some patience and feeling for details.

Thanks for the answers. But what about the retractors, question 3 in original post?

unfortunately i dont remember that. maybe some of the guys could take their cover off and snap some photos. i would do that, but i´ll be at the university for the next 2 weeks

When I removed mine it looked as if the liner had been cut after having been installed over any openings that required clips or things such as the rear seat belt retractor covers. Wish I had some pics of it with all the trim off before stripping it off, sorry.

I believe you are over-thinking this. All I know is, when removing nice headliners that I am trying to preserve, I always remove the retractors first as there is always at least one edge that is pinched under the retractor. You've got at least 1-2" of overlap with the retractor trim pc, so you don't need to be precise on the cut. If it were me, I'd glue the headliner in place and do the trim cut afterwards. Start with a smaller cutout and increase the size as needed to get the retractor in place. I've got a used headliner I could show you if that would be of any help.

Mcarlo77 wrote:I believe you are over-thinking this. All I know is, when removing nice headliners that I am trying to preserve, I always remove the retractors first as there is always at least one edge that is pinched under the retractor. You've got at least 1-2" of overlap with the retractor trim pc, so you don't need to be precise on the cut. If it were me, I'd glue the headliner in place and do the trim cut afterwards. Start with a smaller cutout and increase the size as needed to get the retractor in place. I've got a used headliner I could show you if that would be of any help.

Would be great If you could take a picture of the area. But in a way I got the answer in your post, as I wondered if the retractor had a function of clamping the headliner down, and thus tightening it against the roof in the sides.

Thanks

Here is a pic of a cutout for the retractor on the driver side (looking at it from the front). If you look closely, you can see the shadow line where the retractor trim pc covers the opening. As you can see, the cut doesn't need to be that precise. Honestly, I don't think they intended to purposely pinch the fabric down with the retractor.

I'll be out tomorrow searching for stuff. I'll take a pic of a headliner with and without the retractor in place and note how or if it's pinched in place.

That picture was very good, I think I've got a good plan on how to do it now. Thank you Mcarlo77!

Anyone by chance have a sewing pattern for the headliners? I found some carbon fiber that is bonded to a cloth backing, thought about doing up a headliner with it. If not I'll just take my old torn one to the local seamstress and see if she can "reverse engineer" it.