The result is not beautiful, but it works, and for a great price. Grosgrain ribbon trick.
The headliner in our car was sagging everywhere and threatening to fall and block the view out. The fabric was so thin and old that it would just tear (or really, disintegrate) around any small button-like support. So I bought some fairly sturdy 1/2" "grosgrain" ribbon and used nine of the screw-in buttons to attach each of four lengths of ribbon going from one side of the roof to the other. The ribbon supports the headliner along its full length, rather than just at the points where the buttons are, so the fragile headliner fabric does not tear. I didn't snap the covers on the buttons; they work fine without them and I can still access the screw head if necessary. With or without the covers, with the ribbon it looks a bit kludged if you look at the headliner from inside. But you can't see it from outside, and people inside don't seem to notice. When was the last time you looked up at a car's headliner? It sure beats having the headliner sagging down on your head and flapping in the wind! This car is not winning any beauty contests anymore, anyway, and this will work well enough until we replace the car. The screw-in buttons require some care to install neatly, but they work remarkably well in our 2001 Honda Civic. I suggest using a real, full-sized Phillips screwdriver, rather than the tiny one that comes with this kit, but that would probably work in a pinch. The kit also comes with spiral upholstery pins. I used the same type of spiral pins when the headliner first started to sag, but the screw-threaded buttons that also come in this kit work much better. The screw-in buttons are sturdier than the spiral pins and easier to install firmly in the location you want; the spiral pins tend to bend on installation and are prone to become loose and wiggle out, because the shaft is thin and smooth and the thin fiberboard above the headliner does not give them much to grab onto. The screw-in buttons grab the fiberboard much better, although you have to be careful not to over-tighten and strip the hole they make in the soft fiberboard. The screw-in buttons are the reason you would buy this kit. It comes with plenty of them for a single four-door sedan and probably enough for a larger vehicle like an SUV. They are well-enough made and simply do the job they are designed for -- which I did not find to be true of the spiral pins. This kit takes a little work to use, but if you are even a little handy, it is an effective solution at a very good price. Read more
