Headlinings go by many names. Headlining, roof lining, roof trim, headboard, and the list goes on. However, despite the varied names, they all share a common flaw — sagging.

Much debate goes into how or why, especially when some never drop and others do constantly, and the unfortunate reality is at the end of the day, it’s the luck of the draw.

In saying this, there is a few major contributing factors to their demise:

• Smoking — the chemicals in the smoke bind to all trim components. Aside from leaving a nasty smell and stain, it can degrade the glue and cause premature failure.
• Climate — it’s no secret that summer is headlining season. During winter the cold makes things brittle and tight, and as the sun comes out, everything warms, expands, and in this case, causes the foam backing to expand so much it delaminates.
• Fiddling/Tampering — yes, we’re looking at you kids! Whilst it may be fun to draw shapes in the squishy foam on the roof, run crayons over, or when it gets dusty, to have the adults come and try and clean it, but the short answer is to leave it be. YouTube is not your friend. Tampering, cleaning, fiddling, all of the above agitates the foam, disrupts its seal with the adhesive, and next thing you know you have a booking for two to roof sag city.
• Defects — now we’re not here to name names, but I think we all know the usual suspects for these repairs, and the answer never fails to surprise given their Aussie roots. Ironically, despite their notorious vehicular rivalry, the two big icons shared a manufacturer with their factory trim, and as such, they do share similar flaws and defects in the actual material, along with the trimming practices overall. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do, and they are outside of warranty, so it’s mainly just a buyer beware.
  

So can I do anything to prevent it?

Short answer — no. However, you can extend your headlinings life by not smoking in the vehicle, parking it in the shade or in the garage on super hot and sunny days (with the windows cracked ideally) and by ignoring it. Headlinings thrive on neglect, so leave it be, and it’ll leave you be.

It’s dropping but I'm not ready to fix it/ can’t afford to fix it?

Whatever you do, don’t use superglue, hot glue, liquid nails, cement, screws or other nasty stuff to hold it up! If you must, staples, or thumb tacks are your best TEMPORARY solution. They don’t damage the actual headlining board itself, meaning come time to repair, it saves you money in reduced labour time to repair the damage, along with not damaging the board making new trim look bumpy and tacky.

Do I need to fix it?

Legally, yes. Headlining sag is actually deemed a vehicle defect, and can have your car defected, leading to possible “canaries” or fines. It is a roadworthy requirement to have no parts of the vehicle obstructing the field of view of the driver. The glue and foam are also known to contain carcinogens and the dust that falls from the roof as it degrades tends to irritate respiratory and visual orifices, making it particularly dangerous to asthmatics.

Pricing

Headlining retrims start:
From $285 for utes
From $350 for sedans
From $440 for wagons
From $600 for SUV/4x4

CDA does not repair headlinings on vehicles with aftermarket sunroofs, however, we can trim and repair boards with factory sunroofs. Every sunroof gets a free service when a retrim is performed.


We also perform roof "blackouts" and "Star Light" upgrades for vehicles of many makes, so if you're looking to really jazz up your interior, enquire in store!