: I just want to know one thing: Why do some manufacturers still build : cars with a roof liner adhesive that fails after so many years, and : others don't have this problem? I used to think they cheaped out on the : lower end products (Cavaliers, etc.) to punish the low-end buyer, but an : '88 Cadillac that I used to own did that. What's up with that!?
For many years a headliner was held up by rods that extended from side to side just below the inner roof. The rods were slid into fabric loops sewn into the underside of the headliner and it was suspended from above.
Sometime in the 70's GM started to experiment, first with perforated cardboard headliners in Novas and Camaros, then with the foam-backed knit cloth like in your Cadillac. That material was spray-adhesive attached to a styrofoam backer and the whole thing was simply held in place by the side garnish moldings. If you've ever seen one fail, it's not the adhesive but instead the foam backing on the fabric. The foam simply rots over time and the whole thing delaminates. Whether they (or anyone) still uses this method, I dunno.
-- Greg Beaulieu snipped-for-privacy@chebucto.ns.ca Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada