BMillar

Team - I picked up a front headliner panel the other day, its in great shape with minimal warping, but since my original is pretty badly warped, I thought I might play around with it and see if i could straighten it out. My plan is to get one or the other as straight as possible and then wrap in leather or vinyl. Since I am going to cover the panel, I don't mind scuffing, marring or even burning the panel a bit, so long as I can sand and fill in any damage prior to wrapping it.

What I am thinking about is clamping the trim piece with either some ipe wood (also known as ironwood, the stuff is nearly indestructible) or some 1/4 inch steel plates and heating the panel with a heat gun. I don't have an oven big enough to put the entire piece inside, so that isn't really an option, as far as I know.

Does anyone know what kind of plastic the interior trim pieces are made of? They seem almost like very stiff rubber. What I'm worried about is whether the plastic might have developed a memory and will it straighten out even with heat applied? Anyone have a better or different idea, or has success (or failure) in attempting this?

Tiger03447

Sounds like you are on the right track..You might want to keep a laser thermometer handy...You can fiddle around with the old part to see about what temp the substance deforms.. Once you know that, you can clamp it to the steel guide and heat away..just quit once you get there before it bursts into a gooey mess and flame