The joys of being a parent of a teenager!

I finally got my 17 year old daughter her first car. It's a 1992 Cadillac Sedan Deville. It only has 67000 original miles on it and it was $1900. Wow!! Everthing is clean and no mechanical problems other than the tranny which I'm having replaced. It's light blue and has the 4.9 Liter V8 which runs like a champ! No wrecks or dents...even the leather is clean and intact with no rips at all! The interior is very clean as well. Underneath the hood was well taken care of and I've had it diagnosed so the tranny is the only issue.

It comes with the alloy rims and they look okay but I'm wondering if there is a way to shine them up some more to where they don't look dull. Also the headliner needs to be done (it's fallen from the roof a bit so although we can see out the side and rear windows, it's still at little on our head) so does any have any advice on it? It's not ripped at all it's just fallen a bit. My exhaust is okay (it's the original exhaust with a single pipe) but I want to change it out and put some duals on it. Is that possible?

I'll post up some pics when I get home so everyone can see!

Thanks

Blue Lightning

 

Sounds like a sweet first car. The headliner has two options that i know of either get some headliner clips to hold it up or get the advesive to remount it.
The dual exhaust is possible like anything else as long as you have the money lol. Might want to check around and find a local exhaust place. They will come up with a way and cheaper than a regional or national chain. I had my stock muffler put back on and was half of the price that a national chain wanted and put my chrome tip back on at the local exhaust shop.

 

do not use adhesive on the old headliner. You will create a nightmare. The thin cloth that's up there has foam made on the back of it. That's where the problem lies. the foam has dry rotted allowing the cloth to separate and fall. You cannot glue the old cloth to the rotting foam rubber. It will create harden lumps of foam that will be next to impossible to remove after you see the mess you have created.
Here's a partial solution short of replacing the entire headliner with new material: use color matching thumb tacks placed in rows so that it doesn't look hideous.

 

They are right, with the spray adhesive you will just bond glue to old foam material which now has the weight of the glue added to it. Give it a week and the old foam will separate again and the headliner will fall-again.

Do not use regular thumb tacks-they could dislodge become blinding projectiles.

You could use a Motormites/HELP product that is a large screw like thing with a built in washer with finger hold that helps screw it into the cardboard under the headliner foam, but by the time your done and driving with the window open your headliner will look like the Atlantic Ocean in gale force winds with little black life boats in it.

You could have the headliner professionally redone. Probably not cheap.

Or I have an inexpensive way to suggest in helping you with the headliner problem-I Have done it to 3 different cars already and never had any complaints. One was an 84 TBird TC, one an 85 Olds Delta 88, and a 89 Rear wheel New Yorker. The process is the same for all foam based headliners. All it may cost is some time, patients, and 2 to 3 cans of paint.

If you are adventurous or have a friend who is, remove the headliner from the car. Entails removing all roofline side trim, coat hooks and dome lights.

Remove completely out of the car into an open area. Take the headliner cloth off to reveil the foam underneath. Use a large (3"x6"?) soft bristle brush and brush the foam to get all the "rotted" foam off yet leave a light layer still intact, some of the cardboard backer may just start to show, thats when you know that area is "cleaned". You want the texture to look like old fashioned suede sneakers.

Then using flat black spray paint (not primer) in light coats (use outside-lots-o-fumes) spray the headliner in a vertical, horizontal, and diagonal pattern. This way the small amount of foam left on the headliner gets completly covered. Let dry for about a week in a well ventilated area. When the paint smell goes away-reinstall in the car.

No one will notice-who looks up? And if they do it will just look like black material or suede. Black works the best, doesn't show dirt, and blends with any color car.

 

Thanks for all of the advice!!! I really appreciate it! I'm not a real handyman in that aspect so I'll probably have to check with maybe a body shop or a car upholstry shop and see.

Any advice on the rims? I don't want to change them out yet (hey she's gotta work towards somthing Ya know!) but I do want them to shine a little bit more than what they do.

Thanks

Here's some pics (not of her car actually) but the kind rather:



Those are not her actual rims! However the color is her color and this car looks exactly like hers!

Here's another one with the stock rims that she has:

 

Blue-

Congrats on getting your Daughter her first ride... I'm sure she is thrilled.. Good Choice, a sturdy "Tank" you got there..

Rims on the Blue Caddy Look Chrome plated.

The other caddy rims could be polished to a good shine, but need to have someone do it that has the know-how & equipment.. If they are Clear-Coated they can have that sanded off then polished.. But left bare will need attention here & there..

Just my .02

 

Big back seat.

 

For real!!!! No worries though!

Blue Lightning

 

Yeah, I had to get something like a tank just in case. Yeah, she has the stock rims like the beige car but the color is blue like the blue car. They are the original stock rims so they probably have never been polished at least in the past 10 years (the car is almost 20 years old).

Blue

 

Blue-

Good choice imo.. That blue is sharp looking.. IIRC, those rims came stock with that natural finish..
I made a rolling shop stool / tool carrier out of a similiar caddy rim...

They could certainly be polished up nicely...Just cost a few to have them done properly.. But would look good