What's the best contact cement for headliners, and auto upholstery

[Jan D]

Is there a contact cement that can be bought at your local Home Depot, or Lowe's that is safe to use on headliner fabric, auto seat cover fabric's, and vinyls? I usually use green glue which I had to order through the mail in 5 Gal. size, It's quite expensive, along with shipping it's more than I want to spend on a decent upholstery glue, and I'm not sure if suppliers ship glue anymore. If anyone would know this information, please give me the name of the glue, and let me know if you can spray it, or brush it on, and how do you thin it? to what consistency? I wouldn't want my headliner job falling on the costomers head when he drives away :o

[Bob T]

First, let me say, I have no experience with headliners, however I have bonded a lot of wall carpet and wall fabric.  The adhesive I've had the best luck with is: 3M™ Hi-Strength 90 Spray Adhesive .  It should be available at most Home Depot's and Lowes.

[Danny D.]

The standard glue used is Weldwood Landau top and trim adhesive.  You can use it on anything inside or outside of the car.  It's running about $100 or so for a 5 gal can these days.  What does work pretty good on the headliners is the 3M 8088 General Trim Adhesive in a spray can.  It's available at Walmart for less than $11 per can.  Use it like a contact adhesive, spray both surfaces and let it tack up, and it sticks.  I have used it for headliners and a lot more since the late '80s and haven't had any failures.  It's good stuff.

Danny D.

[Darren Henry]

Has anyone tried the 3M ™ # 80 spray adhesive? I've always had better luck with the 90 but we had a headliner to do and our supplier recommended the 80 because it stands up to heat. the second time I glued the headliner I used twice as much glue as normal and laid it down in 10-12 inch sections so that the glue was still wet and it finally stuck.The truck was headed for Alberta so I don't know if it stayed or not.

[DBR1957]

I stay away from any 3M glue except the Super 90. I say this because all of it
sprays out in a mist and goes everywhere. The Super 90 sprays out in a fan
pattern that is controllable. Low, medium and hi volume as well as horizontal and
vertical spray (just twist the tip). Comparable to spraying the green glue with a
gun.

Now that I've said that, the Super 90 is $13 - $15 per 16oz can at Lowe's or Home
Depot. If you put the 5 gal pail in perspective it would be 40 cans or $2.50 per can.