Is your vinyl headliner showing it's age?

Timbeck2

Timbeck2

Final Approach
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Timbeck2
Not a shill or a spokesperson for the company, I happened across it online. My 47 year old headliner which probably came from the factory as white had quite a bit of yellow discoloration from God only knows what and it looked bad. Rub and Restore (link below) sells a vinyl dye in several colors that fixed my problem. Of course I had to remove a lot of the trim and tape the hat rack to do it but I'm glad I did. This stuff is water based and really easy to use and very forgiving. If you spill it on your clothes, it washes out. If you spill it on your leather or vinyl upholstery, it washes off with a wet rag. I would advise covering cloth upholstery however because I don't know what it will do or how hard it would be to remove it. I didn't take any pictures but it looks like I have a brand new headliner in my plane. Watch the video which shows them restoring a leather chair but it is just as easy for vinyl. Of course it isn't STC'd, PMA'd or otherwise prevents flying into a busload of nuns en route to a penguin petting but it is good stuff.

https://www.rubnrestore.com/
 
I drive older vehicles. Just rip em out. Who cares, I don't. Well maybe my wife's car.... :D
 
Now, can you solve the problem of chewing gum losing it's flavor on the bed post overnight?
 
danhagan said:
Appreciate you posting this Tim, I think I will give it a try!
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A couple of tips that I have found and assuming you have a Cherokee as in your avatar. Don't remove your overhead plastic all the way as it can be a PITA to disconnect the trim handle, the trim indicator arrow and the wires connecting your lights and speaker. Just unscrew it enough to drop it below the level of your headliner. Use a plastic putty applicator tool (sold for mixing and applying bondo and other fillers) between the plastic and the headliner and use the wedge foam brushes on a wooden stick to use in the tight places. I took out all the trim around the door and windows just to make things easier and masked off the rear bulkhead as taking that thing out is a major deal. Keep your sponge moist as they say on the instructions and I found that using the short end of the sponge works better than using the large side.
 
Timbeck2 said:
A couple of tips that I have found and assuming you have a Cherokee as in your avatar. Don't remove your overhead plastic all the way as it can be a PITA to disconnect the trim handle, the trim indicator arrow and the wires connecting your lights and speaker. Just unscrew it enough to drop it below the level of your headliner. Use a plastic putty applicator tool (sold for mixing and applying bondo and other fillers) between the plastic and the headliner and use the wedge foam brushes on a wooden stick to use in the tight places. I took out all the trim around the door and windows just to make things easier and masked off the rear bulkhead as taking that thing out is a major deal. Keep your sponge moist as they say on the instructions and I found that using the short end of the sponge works better than using the large side.
Click to expand...

Thanks Tim ... by the way, I'm flying the new open cockpit Cherokee;)
 
Clark1961 said:
STC or field approval to convert the Cherokee to a different manufacturer?
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I live in west Texas, we ain't got info on them thar STC's;)

It is usually a "Bubba" or "Cletus" approval ...if init is really difficult, maybe a "Marvin":confused:
 
danhagan said:
I live in west Texas, we ain't got info on them thar STC's;)

It is usually a "Bubba" or "Cletus" approval ...if init is really difficult, maybe a "Marvin":confused:
Click to expand...
Now yer pushing it. I'd believe Jesus or Jose but not Marbeen...
 
"water activates the dye" is another way of saying if you spill your beer your pants change color. OK for a headliner I guess.
 
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