transsam

iTrader: (5)

I am in the process of moving my interior upscale with vinyl wrapping to black, small bits of chrome, and gloss painted sections, some more too, but you get the idea.

The material I am using is not ideal for headliner use as far as I can tell.

This leaves me with 3 real choices - unless you can give me other ideas:
1. The new knit headliner material used in the 2010 Camaro, Impala, etc. - in black.

2. Headliner specific suede.

3. Ebony perforated padded vinyl/leather that matches seats well.

BlueBird346

iTrader: (13)

Id do the faux suede, or Alcantara if you havent thought of that yet.

transsam

iTrader: (5)

Alcantara doesn't have the stretch oroperties this material does. The faux suede is thin, allowing it to pull adequately, and as a headliner, I'd hate to spend the $200 that it would cost for the beautiful Alcantara!
But thanks for the vote. That is one for my wife's opinion. I just hate losing to her again. Oh well, she has better taste than me, which means you probably do too!

I don't have any other suede, fake or real, on the car as the design sits (for the impending winter), do you have any suggestion as to where to add suede to tie it in? As of now, is is really all "black vinyl."

I would welcome any places to tie the suede into the scheme that
you would have, other ideas would be welcomed as well.

Keep 'em coming!
Thanks,
John

TempleU_WS6

iTrader: (6)

I always had thoughts of wrapping some of the dash in suede. I think that would look pretty good. Especially if you get some French seams in choice places.

BlueBird346

iTrader: (13)

Maybe the inserts on the door panels? Radio bezel? IDK. Im wanting to do the same thing to mine. I hate the cheap grey interior.

PhantomR/T

iTrader: (6)

Id do headliner and the top parts of the door panels in the suede

LT4vert

iTrader: (3)

If you chose to use real alcantara, it would stretch more than good enuff to the headliner . I have a roll of the black flat knit headliner material and its not as stretchy as alcantara , and its still is able to conform fine to headliner . Ive had 5 different off brand microsuedes and alcantara is alot stetchier than any of them....abeit , not as stetchy as vinyl . If you dont wanna pay $105 per yd for alcantara , the suede headliner stuff would look decent as a headliner . I would not do the vinyl or leather . The material is heavy and would be prone to sag over a long period . A good subtle way to tie the suede in without going overboard , is the steering wheel rim , shift **** and e-brake . Unless you had suede inserts in the seats , I think door panel inserts would look out of place . I guess its all personal taste though really .

Whatever you do though , especially on the headliner ....avoid the spray can adhesives like the plague . They WILL let you down . Use Dap landau top and trim contact cement , go to harbor freight and buy a cheap $40 paint gun and spray it with a compressor like its supposed to be done . For the intended purpose of spraying glue , your compressor doesnt even need to be anything special .The chemicals needed to allow the glue to sprayed out of aerosal cans seriously dilutes the glue . The Dap stuff spray from a gun will actually get stronger over time and heat cycles , the spray can stuff will break down and fail over time . FWIW , the best spray can high heat stuff on the market has let me down more than a few times . So I wont touch the stuff anymore for automotive applications .

GL man .

Jeric

I'm in favor of the suede and look forward to seeing this done especially if that is the route you take. I've been wanting to do something with suede for a while now. The biggest concern I have is keeping it on a subtle/classy level and not going overboard and turning classy into tacky which I feel suede can do rather quickly. The perf. leather definitely isn't my taste, but that's JMO. Good luck in whatever you decide to do!

BlueBird346

iTrader: (13)

Be sure to post pics.

transsam

iTrader: (5)

I am coming around to the suede, honestly the perforated vinyl/leather was just above it, but it seems pretty old school and that isn't the direction of the car. I will post pics asap, but they won't be in the car.
Car interior finish date, lets just say it won't end in '10! School just started up again and I need to work on my GPA (damned 3.6 actually going to class this semester might help do the trick )
As soon as the material gets here, I'll get the headliner wrapped and post some pics in here.
Also, it is an ABS headliner, so I'll let you know how I think it would work on a 10 year old sun-beaten(if you have TTops) headliner. My first attempt with the fiberglass went south quickly.

MYSTIC-1SC

iTrader: (14)

Definetly go for the faux suede.

transsam

iTrader: (5)

The more I play with it in my head, the more I think the faux sued is the only good way to go. I'm in!

LT4vert

iTrader: (3)

Within an hour of trying to work with my OEM headliner ....I folded it up and thru it away . Definately take a special kinda patience I dont have , lol

If you want , I have a small section of alcantara I can send you . Not big enough to do anything with really , but its plenty to see if it fits your taste and will give you feel for its stretch properties . Then you can compare to the foam backed stuff from yourautotrim and not have any questions when you make your decision . PM me if ya want it man .