How To Clean Auto Headliner

Your headliner can get just as dirty as the rest of your interior upholstery and occasionally, it needs a good cleaning. In this article, we'll talk about why a headliner is important, what materials it contains, and how to clean a car headliner. Along the way, we'll also recommend some cleaning products.

Why are headliners important?

Believe it or not, your headliner serves a bigger purpose than just looking nice. Headliners can help insulate the interior of your vehicle, keeping cool (or hot) air in so that your air conditioner or heater can work more efficiently.

In addition, most modern headliners contain a foam backing. This foam insulation can help keep vibrations down and reduce the noise inside your vehicle. Many vehicles boast a "quiet ride" as a key selling point, but they usually don't tell you that the headliner is a big reason for that quiet ride.

Finally, headliners give your vehicle a clean, finished look. Without one, you'd just have a bare metal roof—far from aesthetically pleasing. Vehicle manufacturers have been putting headliners in cars for almost a century.

Manufactures construct the headliners using materials from leather to fabric upholstery and just like any part made from these materials, keeping them clean will extend their lifespan. Unfortunately, headliners are often the most neglected part of your vehicle when it comes to cleaning.

As such, your headliner can get coated in grime and absorb odors.

How are headliners constructed?

Headliners generally consists of three layers of material. It starts with a layer of foam, which will lay against the metal roof of your vehicle and help in the insulation and sound-deadening.

Next, there is the backing material. This layer is usually made of some harder material like fiberglass or cardboard and is meant to be molded into the shape of the roof itself.

Finally, the headliner material is attached and this layer can be made from fabric, vinyl, or leather.

Vinyl and leather headliners aren't quite as common as they used to be. If you happen to have one, you'll need to clean it using products and methods specifically designed to clean those materials.

For the purposes of this article, we'll be discussing how to clean the far more common fabric headliners.

3 Methods For Cleaning A Vehicle's Headliner

When it comes to cleaning your vehicle's headliner, the method you use really depends on just how dirty the liner is in the first place. If it's just a few spots here and there, you'll use one method, but if you've got some serious cleaning to do, you'll want to break out the big guns.

Below, you'll see the steps you need to take for all scenarios, as well as some product recommendations for each method.

Spot Cleaning

No matter how careful you are, at some point you're going to brush up against your headliner with dirty fingers or some other item. As a result, you're going to get the occasional smudge of dirt on your headliner.

The good news is that these minor blemishes are equally as minor to fix.

To start with, grab a clean microfiber cloth and gently wipe away any of the bigger pieces of dirt. The key here is to not grind the debris further into the fabric. You just want to knock loose the big pieces.

If you still have some dirt, spray a SMALL amount of a quality fabric cleaner on the spot or on one clean corner of your towel and wipe the dirt using gentle pressure.

If you're using a fabric cleaner, you want it to penetrate into the dirty fabric, but not so far that it soaks the foam. When you've worked up a slight lather, wipe away with a clean section of the cloth.

As for a specific cleaning product to use, we really like the multi-purpose foam cleaner from Tuff Stuff.

The foaming action makes it a great choice for gentler fabrics like the sort you'll find on vehicle headliners. It penetrates deep into the fabric and wipes away easily, taking those pesky stains with it. It really excels at cleaning upholstery, but it will work on plastic and vinyl too.

Plus, it's extremely affordable, so keeping a can in your trunk is a cost-effective way to keep the majority of your interior spotless.

Surface Cleaning

If spot cleaning hasn't worked, or if you have a larger area that needs cleaning, giving your entire headliner a good surface cleaning is the next logical step.

The initial steps for surface cleaning your headliner are the same as spot cleaning, just on a larger scale. Start by spraying an 18-inch by 18-inch square section of your headliner with a quality upholstery cleaner. If the product recommends letting the cleaner sit for a bit, simply follow the instructions.

Working on your 18-inch section, use a soft-bristled brush to gently scrub the fabric, then wipe away the excess with a clean microfiber towel. Move on to a new 18-inch section, slightly overlapping the area you just cleaned, and repeat the steps. If you've got some really stubborn stains, you might need to apply a second coat of cleaner.

If you're going to be cleaning your entire headliner, it's best to use an actual upholstery shampoo, and our favorite is Chemical Guys Carpet and Upholstery Shampoo.

Chemical Guys makes some of the best-reviewed vehicle cleaning products on the market. One bottle of their carpet and upholstery shampoo is more than enough to clean an entire headliner without breaking the bank. It's a gentle cleaner, so it's safe for virtually every kind of fabric, and it does an excellent job at eliminating odors. That's particularly handy if you happen to be a smoker or cruise around frequently with your dog.

Deep Cleaning

Deep cleaning is a method that you need to use sparingly—as in, "a 12-pack of grape Fanta just exploded in my backseat and nothing else is getting out the stains." The reason you don't want to immediately jump to the deep cleaning methods is that it can affect the glue used to hold your headliner in place.

Over time, your headliner will start to fall down and sag, and then you'll have to find a whole new article on how to properly use headliner adhesive to glue it back in place!

However, if your headliner is stained so bad that you have no other choice, here's how to give it a deep cleaning.

To start with, you need to get an actual steam cleaning machine. You can usually rent a machine, but if you're considering purchasing one, our favorite is the Dupray ONE Car Steam Cleaner. It will thoroughly clean your upholstery without the use of additional chemicals, and it works fast! It will produce steam at 303 degrees Fahrenheit in as little as 8 minutes.

Whichever steam machine you go with, attach a narrow fitting to the end of the hose and start working the headliner in much the same way you would with the surface cleaning method—using overlapping strokes and working about 18 inches of fabric at a time.

Try to move the fitting across the surface at a rate of about 2 inches per second. The longer you sit in one spot, the deeper you're going to steam, the more glue you're going to melt, and the higher the likelihood your headliner will start to sag in the future. Repeat the process until you've gone over the entire headliner.

When you've covered the entire surface, let everything dry. If you have the means, park your car in the garage, roll down all the windows, and set up a few fans to help everything dry out faster.

You may notice you've created a few "tracks" in the fabric of your headliner with the steamer. Simply run your (clean!) hand over the fabric once it's dry and you should be able to buff out those lines.

Final Thoughts

Cleaning your vehicle's headliner will not only having it looking great, but it will leave your interior smelling fresh and pleasant too! Hopefully one of the methods we mentioned above will take care of any pesky stains or odors you may have picked up in your vehicle.

However, there are some stains that even the best over-the-counter cleaners and home methods won't be able to take care of. In that case, it might be worth the bill to take your vehicle to a professional car detailer.

We highly recommend trying our methods first, though. Your car, and your checkbook will thank you!

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Tyson Hanks is a freelance writer who provides content on everything from conservation issues to digital marketing and pretty much everything in between. He's an avid car lover and amateur garage mechanic, and he can often be found in his own garage grinding, welding, and wrenching on his rat rod and the various motors he has strewn about. He also writes horror fiction and has been published in many anthologies and magazines over the years. His debut novel, Greetings from Barker Marsh was published in 2016. Tyson has a bachelor's degree in marketing from Southern Illinois University. Visit Tyson's website at www.tysonhanks.com for more information about his personal projects or to inquire about hiring him for your own writing needs.