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Cant afford $300-$500 for hardtop headliners? Make it yourself!

Gibbage

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Just finished the first step of a project to make my own hard top headliner, and think it looks great! So far the total cost of materials is about $70 and have really like the results. I have enough materials to do the rear passenger ceiling, but that will need to wait. I did record some footage if people are interested in seeing how to do it. Its not complicated at all! The hardest part was finding a good base material that was light and stiff for wrapping the headliner fabric around.

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Crawl Away

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What material did you use?
 
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Gibbage

Gibbage

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Materials used.
1/4" Foamed PVC board ($20)
1 square yard of headliner fabric ($20)
Spray fabric adhesive
sound matting
1/4" staples and staple gun.
Velcro

Was super easy! I will edit the video tomorrow and hope to have it up soon after. Ya. I painted my roof black because I hated the white considering everything in the interior is black. It was distracting and I hated it.

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ivo

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I randomly came across a review of those headliners several weeks ago. I noticed its basic foam insulation boards wrapped in fabric something I could easily replicate. Looking forward to your video.

What paint did you use for the roof?
 

wibornz

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Nice work. I may do this when the weather is better. So post as much detail as possible.
 

Schism75

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Looks great! Did you finish the back hardtop piece and if so, did 1 sheet of board cover it?
 

BrntWS6

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I may do this when I swap tops in the spring. Been thinking about it for awhile. I was thinking about 1/8" MDF as a backer with 1/4" foam board behind it.

I would like to save the templates and let people download them so others can save money. But I am not a tech guy and have no idea how. Prices for headliners are way too expensive.
 

Shots

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MDF is pretty heavy by volume compared to other materials. You may want to look at lauan (plywood) or even a sheet of HDPE (plastic). HDPE can be bought for about $38 for a 4x4 sheet, 1/8" thick. It's rigid and won't be affected by moisture like MDF or plywood.
If you want something a little more malleable LDPE is more flexible and runs about $2 less. Personally I'd stick with HDPE because the intent is obviously for it to retain the form, not sag or bend.
 

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Shots

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I've got a Sunrider so I won't be doing this on the front panels, but I may do it for the back. Yours turned out really well, great work.
 

Melny67

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I will be following this I thought about doing the same but I like the OEM look how close to it is it?
 

BrntWS6

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MDF is pretty heavy by volume compared to other materials. You may want to look at lauan (plywood) or even a sheet of HDPE (plastic). HDPE can be bought for about $38 for a 4x4 sheet, 1/8" thick. It's rigid and won't be affected by moisture like MDF or plywood.
If you want something a little more malleable LDPE is more flexible and runs about $2 less. Personally I'd stick with HDPE because the intent is obviously for it to retain the form, not sag or bend.
Yeah weight was my biggest concern with the MDF, even in 1/8". The HDPE looks promising as a backer and looks easy to cut. I don't really want to use just foam board by itself as it will crease or pop if its bent too much.

I had a hard time finding headliner board that is used in cars which is what hotheads appears to use. Plywood has a habbit of warping so I would try the HDPE first.
 

Dadgummit

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There are several headliner kits for the JL on Ebay that cost about $80.00. Has anyone tried one of those?
 
 



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