How to Clean Car Headliner. If you have been cleaning your car headline the wrong way and in search of how to clean car headliner, then this article is for you.
But before then, what exactly is a headliner?
Car Headliner
A car headliner is a complex material that is attached to the inside roof of cars or even yatch.
The headliners are made up of complex composite material. And these materials bring multiple functionalities together. Not excluding the stiffness, look, and sound reduction needed in a car.
Your car can be dirty just as your car gets dirty and that is why it needs to be cleaned often.
And here in this article, we have detailed steps on how to clean car headliners and I’m pretty sure you would enjoy this and start cleaning your car headliners effectively.
How to Clean Car Headliner
There are basically three methods on how to clean car headliner but these depend on how dirty your car headliner is. Anyways, let us take a look at the three methods for better understanding.
Spot Cleaning
The very first method is spot cleaning. No matter how careful you have been, you might still notice a or some spots covering a small area.
To remove these spots, a microfiber cloth and the right upholstery cleaner will help in getting rid of the spots.
To clean, start by brushing gently the spot and try wiping it using a microfiber cloth. Do not put too much pressure. The reason is you do not want to push the dirty more into the upholstery.
If you try wiping it this way, then you are good to go. If you didn’t, then carefully follow the next steps.
If the above step didn’t work out for you, then you will have to include the cleaner. To do this, put or sprinkle directly a little amount to the cloth and not the upholstery.
Then start cleaning the spot gently, without steeping deep into the foam. Now, wait for it to dry completely. This is to check if or not you wiped it completely.
If the stain still remains there, then you consider going for the next method.
Cleaning Headliner Surface
If after you tried spot cleaning and it didn’t come out as fine as you wanted it to, then you should proceed to clean your headliner surface.
Give your whole headliner a thorough surface cleaning.
The steps for surface cleaning are still the same as spot cleaning, however on a larger scale.
To do this spray an 18 inch by 18-inch square section of your car headliner using a very quality upholstery cleaner.
Make use of a soft-bristled brush to scrub the fabric gently, then wipe out the surplus using a very clean microfiber towel. Repeat these steps.
Also, if you have stubborn stains, you might have to put a second coat of cleaner.
Deep Cleaning
Deep cleaning is not something you want to jump into like that as this might affect the glue you used in holding your headliner in place.
To begin, you will have to get a good steam cleaning machine. You can rent one though.
Any machine you go for, fix a small fitting to the end of the hose and proceed to work the headliner in the same way you would do with the surface cleaning method.
Try moving the fitting over the surface at a rate of 2 inches per second. The longer you sit in one place, the deeper you are steaming, the more glue you will melt, and the higher the likelihood of your headliner sagging in the future.
Still repeat this same process until you have finished the complete headliner.
Once you have covered the whole surface, allow them to dry. If there is any way you can park your car in the garage, do so.
Then roll down your windows, and put some fan to assist in drying everything fast.
You may also notice that you have created some tracks in the fabrics of your headliner with your steamer.
All you need to do is to clean your hand over the fabric as soon as it is dry and you should then be able to bring it back to its proper shape.
And to also remove any leftover and dry fabric grains from the cleaner.
