Best Headliner Adhesives: Neatly Repair Loose and Detached Headliners
Help your headliner hold up with these top headliner adhesives.
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A sagging headliner can turn your vehicle into an aesthetic nightmare. It looks bad, feels bad, and can turn an otherwise nice car into something that feels a little ragged. And it's, unfortunately, a common occurrence in modern cars. Lucky for you, there's an easy way to fix it right up with some headliner adhesives. Here are the best ones that we could find.
3M Headliner & Fabric Adhesive
This adhesive is specifically designed to hold headliners and fabric. It dries in 60 minutes. Comes in a 18.1-ounce can.
- Bonds heavier-duty fabrics
- Can work to bond plastic, foam, metal, and fabric
- The application is easy with a controlled stream
- Won’t work on sagging headliners that need replacement
- Can get too tacky and dry too fast to allow for adjustments
Tear Mender Instant Fabric and Leather Adhesive
This adhesive comes in bottles sized from 2 to 32 ounces. It creates an instant durable bond that’s flexible.
- You can use this adhesive on leather and fabric
- It’s durable as it’s waterproof, flexible, UV-resistant, and non-toxic
- Bottle may arrive with dried up glue
- When not dried up, the glue consistency is similar to water, which makes it runny and difficult to use
Permatex 27828 Body Shop Heavy Duty Headliner and Carpet Adhesive
This 16.75-ounce can of adhesive will work to bond plastics, carpet, rubber, fabrics, and foam. It’s resistant to temperatures up to 170 degrees.
- This adhesive can work on more than headliners
- Use it on door panels, trunk linings, and boat upholstery
- It’s resistant to water and extreme weather and climate conditions
- Comes in a can with a clogging spray nozzle
- This can result in an uneven and goopy application
- Glue can become soft and sticky in hot temperatures
Summary List of Headliner Adhesives
- Best Overall: 3M Headliner and Fabric Adhesive
- Best Value: Tear Mender Instant Fabric and Leather Adhesive
- Best Heavy Duty: Permatex Body Shop Heavy Duty Headliner Adhesive
- Best All-Purpose: Loctite General Performance 100 Spray Adhesive
- Honorable Mention: Polymat 797 Hi-Temp Spray Adhesive
Our Methodology for Selecting Headliner Adhesives
We scoured the most popular online shopping websites to compile a list of the best products we could find, regardless of price, brand, or website. Since professionals are generally the folks that handle repairing headliners, we made sure to look for their input and try to mimic the products they use so you can get the same results.
For more on how we came up with our lists of products, read more about our methodology here.
Best Headliner Adhesive Reviews & Recommendations
This strong adhesive from 3M is specifically designed to hold headliners and fabric. It can bond to the heavier-weight fabrics that are used in automotive interiors and foam-lined fabrics that are commonly used for headliners. It dries in 60 minutes. Each can is 18.1 ounces.
What’s nice about this glue is that it’s versatile, so it can bond to fabric, plastic, foam, and metal. It also comes out of the can in an even and controlled stream for uniform application. You can use this glue throughout your car, including the headliner, carpets, and any other fabric-lined area.
Unfortunately, this adhesive may not work to fix your sagging headliner. The directions state that it’s not meant to be used on inverted surfaces. It also won’t bond the headliner fabric that has already separated from its foam backing. The glue can also dry and become tacky very fast, which can make it challenging to get any wrinkles or imperfections out.
This bottle of instant fabric and leather adhesive comes in a wide range of sizes. You can choose from a bottle as small as 2 ounces or as large as 32 ounces. You can also buy a single bottle or packs of 12 or 24. The glue dries to a durable and flexible hold that’s usable in three minutes and washable in 15 minutes.
What’s nice about this adhesive is that it’s durable. It’s water-, weather-, and UV-resistant. It’s also versatile in that you can use it on a wide variety of materials, including fabric and leather. Use it either indoors or outdoors on household items.
The downside of the glue is that it can dry in the bottle. Then when you go to use it, it’s a useless solid lump. If it doesn’t dry out, the glue is very watery and runny, which makes achieving an exact placement of the glue challenging.
This 16.75-ounce can of headliner glue is designed to provide you with a heavy-duty adhesive. It bonds to foam, fabrics, plastics, carpet, and rubber. Once cured, it’s resistant to extreme weather conditions and is water-resistant.
This adhesive stands out for its heavy-duty ability to withstand high temperatures. It can stay securely in place in temperatures up to 170 degrees. This is important for vehicles that are in warm climates where the interior of the vehicle can get very hot. Having this adhesive around is useful because you can use it on more than just the headliner. It’ll work on door panels, trunk linings, and even boat upholstery cloth and carpets.
The downside of this adhesive is the can. You may find that the spray nozzle clogs easily. This can cause the spray to turn from a mist to a heavy spray and apply a thick layer of glue. The glue can also become soft and gooey in hot temperatures.
The Loctite 2235316 General Performance 100 Spray Adhesive comes in a 13.5-ounce can. This product can be used on your vehicle's headliner but has numerous other uses. It's great for arts and crafts as well as automotive repair projects. You can use it on fabric, foam, cork, cardboard, and certain plastic, metal, glass, and wood.
This translucent formula dries clear and quickly. It takes about 10 minutes to bond two materials together. You can use it for either temporary or permanent projects. It's tacky and sticks to almost anything; it effectively holds down fabric that has a lot of pressure on it. You can also remove it fairly easily, depending on the surface area.
However, it can cause a lot of mist, so it is a good idea to use it in a ventilated space. Also, if you don't clean the nozzle after using the adhesive, gunk can build up on the tip and it will no longer spray.
The Polymat 797 Hi Temp Spray Adhesive comes in a 20-ounce can and is an industrial-grade headliner and fabric glue. It can withstand temperatures up to 160 degrees Fahrenheit and is water-resistant, so it can also be used in marine settings. The formula can be used on headliners, vinyl tops, hood silencer pads, and more.
This adhesive is great for bonding carpeting, foam, paper, cardboard, etc. to metal, wood, and hardboard. It is tacky and dries quickly. Users report that it works really well and doesn't take very long to set.
Like other products on this list, it's a good idea to use it in a ventilated area. Also, the tip sprays in a stream instead of a fan pattern, which can cause the application to be uneven.
Our Headliner Adhesive Verdict
The one to get is the 3M Headliner and Fabric adhesive. It offers the best blend of price, quality, and longevity that will make sure your headliner repair is done in one attempt. It does require a few extra steps to do the repair right but will last much longer for it.
FAQs
Q: How can I dissolve or remove the old adhesive on my headliner?
A: Removing old adhesive can be a lengthy and often frustrating process. Once you have the headliner off the vehicle, we recommend using a clothing steam cleaner to separate the layers. This same process can be done within the vehicle, but you should take extra care to avoid areas where you don’t want to remove the adhesive.
Q: How long should I let the headliner adhesive set before I drive/use my car?
A: Read the instructions on the product as the manufacturer will typically include directions on set times. However, you should allow at least a day of warm temperatures to give the adhesive enough time to bond properly.
Q: Do headliner adhesives smell?
A: Most headliner adhesives are low in odor, but look for the low VOC content products if this is a characteristic you’re concerned about. If the odor is something you know will affect you, consider wearing a mask during application.
Q: Where can I take my vehicle to have the headliner professionally replaced?
A: Most professional body shops should have the ability to replace headliners. Each will have their own price and repair times. Though we encourage you to try repairing your own headliner before choosing the professional route, we understand it can be a large job for someone with little experience.
Q: Where can I find replacement headliners or order custom headliners?
A: If your vehicle is relatively new, your local dealership should be able to order and install a replacement headliner. Search custom upholstery shops in your area as well to see if they replace headliners.
Why Trust Us
Our reviews are driven by a combination of hands-on testing, expert input, “wisdom of the crowd” assessments from actual buyers, and our own expertise. We always aim to offer genuine, accurate guides to help you find the best picks.
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