How to Repair a Drooping Headliner

If you found this post, I’m sorry.

Sorry that you are facing the dreaded ‘drooping headliner curse’! Your friends in the backseat, headliner mussing their hair. Little bits of foam sticking to your shirt before some important meeting. Not being able to see anything in your rear-view mirror. I’m not making fun, honestly.

I’ve been there. I feel for you…

BUT, I am here to help you! Follow this picture guide to reattach your headliner. This will cost you less than $50 and an hour or two max, of your time.

If you buy through links on this site, I may earn a commission, at no additional cost to you.

The Dreaded Drooping Headliner…

This is the situation I was faced with in my 2004 Honda Accord:

It could even be called a safety hazard since I had an obstructed view out the rear window…

Ideally you fix this problem by re-gluing the headliner in place as described below. If re-gluing is not your cup of tea, then my next recommendation is the button method. This cheap and easy solution looks much better than push-pins and will also hold up better.

Okay, with that out of the way, here is the procedure for re-gluing the headliner.

Re-Gluing a Drooping Headliner – Step-by-Step Procedure

Okay, let’s go ahead and get started.

Tools and Supplies:

• flat-bladed screwdriver
• 3M headliner adhesive spray
• Phillips screwdriver
• thin plastic putty knife (or credit card-type object)
• clean paint roller
• breathing masks

Here are the supplies I used.

You really do want to use the 3M headliner adhesive. It is fairly expensive, but it is worth it. Cheaper adhesives will let go over time, especially in the heat.

A single can might be enough if you don’t need to do the entire headliner. If you need to re-glue the whole thing, then you will need 2 cans.

Step-By-Step Procedure to Repair a Headliner Coming Loose

The headliner was loose at the back, and a few patches were loose near the front as well. So the first step was to remove the dome light. Use a flat bladed screwdriver to pry between the transparent part and the opaque plastic, and pop out the lens.

Remove the plastic cover.

This is what you will see. The two Phillips head screws will be removed next.

Use a screwdriver to remove the two Phillips-head screws.

The dome light housing will then pop out when you pry on it lightly with the flat screwdriver. Don’t pull it down right away, there is a power cord running to it that will need to be released first.

Next, unplug the power cord going to the light housing. Notice that it has a small tab that should be pressed down in order to remove it.

Set the housing somewhere where it won’t get sat on…

At this point, you have a decision to make, should you remove the other plastic parts on the ceiling, such as the handles, etc…? It really depends on how serious the problem of the drooping material is. If it is loose around these parts, then it is probably a good idea to remove those as well. In my case, the fabric was still holding in those regions, so I left them on.

by the way, the amount of headliner fabric required to re-cover your ceiling is around 2 cu. yds. (72″ x 60″) or 3 cu. yds. (95″ x 60″) if you have a sunroof.

The next step is to pull down the headliner enough so that you can reach all of the places where you need to spray the adhesive. If it is sticking well somewhere, leave it!  Don’t create extra work for yourself.

Note: You need to be able to spray the adhesive with the can 4″ to 8″ away from the surface that you are trying to glue. Spraying the adhesive further than this will cause it to clump up like silly-string and not adhere as well.

This is how far I ended up pulling my headliner down so that I could reach in far enough to spray adhesive on all the loose places.

Looking in between the headliner and the roof looks like this.

Here is the area around the dome light.

Be gentle when pulling the fabric out from around the pillar. You don’t want to stretch or tear it.

Alright, at this point, things could get a bit messy. Use an old sheet or a tarp, and spread it out over the seats to prevent as much dust and overspray from getting on them as possible.

There will be sticky foam still attached to the fabric.

This will not allow the adhesive to stick very well, so remove as much of that as you can just by scraping it off with your finger.

Once the fabric is cleaned off, we are ready to start spraying the adhesive. A couple of notes to make things work better for you:

• The adhesive works best if it is sprayed 4-8 inches away from the surface. More than this, and it will not stick very well!
• Work in small patches at a time. For example, in this case it was best to spray the adhesive on about 6-12 inches, let the spray set for about 5 minutes, then press it into place. Avoid the temptation to just do it all at once.
• Don’t start pressing the headliner on too soon. Wait about 5 minutes, otherwise it will be too wet and will leave wet looking spots in your headliner!
• Don’t wait too long, either! More than about 10-15 minutes, and the adhesive will begin to dry up too much.
• The adhesive is VERY sticky. You only have one shot at pressing it into place. Trying to pull off a spot that has already been glued will not end well, therefore plan well so that you don’t have to do this!
• Don’t let the headliner fold back on itself with adhesive on it! It will stick to itself (have you ever had duct-tape fold back on itself, sticky-side to -sticky-side?). It will not be easy to get it apart, and will never look the same! This is particularly important near the back, where you have loose end that can easily curl back on itself.

Okay, ready? Let’s do this. The spray is quite strong, so make sure you are working in a well ventilated area, and wear a breathing mask if possible. Roll down the windows or open the doors as well.

Take your can of headliner adhesive and spray about 6″ worth of headliner, then let it set for 5 minutes.

Spray in about 6″ sections at a time.

Here, about 6″ of spray has been applied across the width of the headliner.

Notice the ‘stringy-ness’ of the adhesive as it begins to set.

Then, from underneath, use the clean paint roller to press the headliner into place, starting from the front and working backwards.

Once that is looking good, spray another 6 inches or so, let it set for 5 minutes, then press that into place with the roller.

I used a smaller paint roller to get around the edges where there was more of a curve.

Continue doing this until you get to the back. Then, use a scrap of cardboard to catch the over-spray, and press that into place with the roller.

Near the bulkheads, use the thin putty knife or credit card to press the headliner back into place behind the plastic.

I got a bit of the adhesive spray on the plastic pillar… It was hard to get off, so try to avoid that if possible!

Take care along the back edge as well. If it doesn’t line up perfectly, don’t be tempted to pull it off and try again, it will not work! This will show how well you did in smoothing the headliner from the front.

Give the headliner plenty of time to dry, then put the dome light back on.

Put the power wire clip back onto the housing pins.

Make sure it is in the correct orientation and not backwards.

Gently press the housing back into place in the ceiling.

Re-install the 2 screws.

Fit the cover into the front first.

And snap the lens cover back in place.

Press gently until it clicks.

That’s it. I really hope you were able to get some amount of benefit from this post!

Tools and Supplies Used:

• flat-bladed screwdriver
• 3M headliner adhesive spray
• Phillips screwdriver
• thin plastic putty knife (or credit card-type object)
• clean paint roller
• breathing masks

For more maintenance articles on Honda Accords, check out these posts!

Still Not Working? Want to Try Something Else?

If the adhesive spray method isn’t up your alley, there is a simpler fix…

It involves installing buttons on the ceiling to hold the headliner up. It will take you about 30-45 minutes to install the buttons, and you will then have a more permanent fix. Ready to try it?

Here is the drooping headliner “Before and After:”

The kit comes with 60 push-pins and 60 buttons. Start by putting the push-pins in the center of the falling headliner, so that you have equal amounts of sag on both sides. This will ensure the headliner doesn’t get crooked!

After getting a line of push-pins down the center of the ceiling, then work your way outward with pushpins until the entire headliner is more or less in place.

Once you are satisfied that you will have enough headliner material on both sides, and one side isn’t shorter than the other, go ahead and start installing the buttons.

The buttons work by screwing the screw into the hard foam above the headliner. Use a Phillips screwdriver.

Tighten the screw until it is nice and snug, but don’t ‘strip’ it out, or it won’t hold tightly. It is pretty easy to feel where that point is once you’ve done a couple.

After the button is screwed in, press the button-snap on top of it.

Then remove the push-pins. Note that the push-pins leave a tiny hole. The holes aren’t as obvious once they’ve been out for a while, but if you are worried about it, install the buttons on top of where the push-pins were.

I recommend installing the buttons about 6-8 inches apart. A cloth tape measure is included with the kit.

Also, come up with a pattern ahead of time, and measure out so that the buttons get installed evenly.

Once you have most of the buttons installed, press the headliner back behind the trim using a credit card (Finally, a use for that top-golf membership card!).

The ceiling looks pretty custom once all the buttons are installed.

And best of all, no more drooping headliner!

This is the Headliner Button Repair Kit I bought and used.

I hope this helps if you have a drooping headliner!