Cleaning headliners

[wtilton]

Has anyone successfully cleaned a 1st gen(1998-2001) headliner without it coming off? If so what is the procedure? I would like to clean the headliner of my recently purchased 2001 to get the smoke residue out of it, but I am worried it will fall. I would rather not have to buy a new one at ~$400.

Any success stories out there?

Thanks

[Dana]

I haven't had to clean my headliner, but I've had friends that have used oxiclean and had good results.

I guess you would just spray a little at a time and lightly scrub it. The headliner in the V seems pretty tough to me and should hold up fairly well.

Are you just trying to get the smell out or do you have a problem with marks and smell?

Well, good luck!

[wtilton]

Both smell and marks - the smoking always leaves a large amount of discoloration that is pretty distasteful looking.

I thought maybe the foaming type of cleaner(preston/blue coral) might be less distructive since it dries quickly. But I really don't know what kind of adhesive they are use to hold it on.

Thanks

[2RedV's]

Go to an auto upholstery place and ask how much to glue it back in. Then, remove it and clean it.

[wtilton]

I don't think it is that simple. Is the board plastic or paper based? If it is paper based the board itself could get ruined. And if I am going to the trouble of removing the headliner board - I would probably just put a new stock one in myself anyway.

I am hoping someone on here has done this before and can give me some insight as to how they did it and whether it was successful or not.

[2RedV's]

slhondaparts.com, which is San Leandro honda, has it for $339. Shipping would be a killer though. See if your local dealer will price match it so you save on the shipping costs.

http://www.slhondaparts.com/images/PCI/13S100/012/7.jpg
.

[wtilton]

The best delivered price I have found is www.hondaautomotiveparts.com (majestic honda in RI) for about $320.

I have also found a few people on HondaSUV.com who claim to have shampooed their headliner with a hand held carpet cleaner with no ill effects - so I guess I will just try a standard upholstry shampoo route as opposed to the chemical foam cleaner(wet safer than chemical?).

I'll post how it goes...

[Geetarnut]

Any news? I'm interested to see how it turned out. :)