How long did elastic used to be.

I have to replace some elastic, 14 years old, that isn't elastic anymore. It doesn't pull back.

Is there a way to determine how long the piece was in the first place. I want to duplicate the original.

I guess I could tug the new stuff until it's as long as the old stuff is now, and use that amount, but I'm not sure how taut to tug it. Is it okay to stretch elastic "as far as it will go"? I figure that will ruin it.

Some of the pieces are 1" wide and some were 1/2" but for that I bought

5/8" because that's all I found at Jo-Anne's
Reply to
micky
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What is this new elastic going in?

JoAnn Fabrics also sells elastic on rolls and I've bought elastic there as wide as two inches.

Reply to
ItsJoanNotJoann

It's going in my car, a 2004 Sebring. They used it to hold the top liner up against the frame. This was not a secret. I was planning on mentioning this in a later post, and this is a later post.

My first cars had no headliner and the two prior to this one used velcro. In one case the velcro wore out, well, one half of it did. I think it was the loops. I looked all over for velcro mounted on a stiff backing, like the manufacturer had used, but couldn't find it. Ended up drilling out the rivets that held the backing in place and using self-adhesive which stuck much better than I expected.

Elastic may be a better idea, but I can't tell because after 13 years, it's all stretched out.

It's funny, I looked at the elastic and a couple weeks later thought it was 2 or 3 inches wide, but when I looked again, it was only 1 inch wide, plus the part I hadn't seen before that was 1/2". So i got about

3 feet of each which I'm sure is enough. If it's not, they sell more. I am not sure yet how many placesy have it. So far I've only found 2 or 3 places per side. I wonder if there really is some 2" stuff that I haven't found this time. (It's been hot.)
Reply to
micky

My first answer to your post here doesn't actually get to the point. The elastic is used to hold parts of the headliner up when the top is up, so the elastic has to be short enough to hold things where they're meant to be.

But when the top is lowered and the metal frame of the top folds into three layers, the elastic has to be long enough, loose enough not to tear away.

So the best length seems to be what they used in the first place. But the straps are longer than they were originally; they have no stretch, so they're as long or maybe longer than their original stretched length. So I'm trying to figure out how long they were when first installed, to make mine the same length.

Reply to
micky

Pardon me for getting a chuckle from your post. Here I was thinking,"just put the new elastic around [body part], add an inch for overlap and done". I see now that it is not for clothing, but for some sort of automotive(?) function. You may get better instructions from a group for vintage car restoration, such as alt.autos.antiques or alt.autos.[car maker].

Or something.

Beverly

Reply to
BEI Design

:>On Sunday, August 13, 2017 at 7:41:28 PM UTC-5, micky wrote: :>> :>> I have to replace some elastic, 14 years old, that isn't elastic :>> anymore. It doesn't pull back. :>> :>> Is there a way to determine how long the piece was in the first place. :>> I want to duplicate the original. :>> :>> I guess I could tug the new stuff until it's as long as the old stuff is :>> now, and use that amount, but I'm not sure how taut to tug it. Is it :>> okay to stretch elastic "as far as it will go"? I figure that will ruin :>> it. :>> :>> Some of the pieces are 1" wide and some were 1/2" but for that I bought :>> 5/8" because that's all I found at Jo-Anne's :>> :>> :>What is this new elastic going in?

:It's going in my car, a 2004 Sebring. They used it to hold the top :liner up against the frame. This was not a secret. I was planning on :mentioning this in a later post, and this is a later post.

You can buy a complete replacement headliner for about $150 bucks. You can get a new top, complete, installed, for $500 or so.

Factor that into your futzing trying to get the elastic to work.

Reply to
David Scheidt

You can buy elastic in two widths for $6.

No, you can't. It's more like $1500.

Okay. Even if it were only #650 as you thought, it's worth two hours to replace the elastic.

Reply to
micky

Sorry, my answer might have sounded curt. I didn't mean to be that way, but I had just priced a new top.

The rear window detached from the cloth beneath it, and I thought I might either need a new window or I would have to glue it myself, which would be very hard to do, but I came across a top shop who offered to do it, for only $200 - $300. He didn't guarantee it but he said if it failed in 30 days, he'd let me apply half of that to a new top, (or rear window I guess, but it's cheaper to get them both at once). That was on the phone but at the shop he said $200 and changed the time to 6 months,

The top and window was going to be 1575. Then he said, "Of course I can't charge you the same price if I'm giving you credit for half of the

200. It would have to be 1650. I just laughed and laughed and managed to say, so then you're only giving me 25 back. That's all I said but while I was laughing he lowered it to 1600 and then to 1575 again.

The guy's a trip, but they've been in businss a long time. And they had lots of good-looking cars in the shop. And his guy did glue it and it's been 2 weeks and still looks good.

I also priced my previous car the same day and it was also about 1500. Even a top and window alone, so one can do it himself, for the Sebring, with a plastic window (this vendor doesn't have glass), which is far worse than glass and only good for 2 years if you park outside, is 460 or 520, depending on the fabric.

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and for the Toyota with glass it's 520 or 650
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Not installed, and no mention of a headliner, which they might not stock.

It's probably been a long time since you shopped for one of these. Prices keep going up.

Or 150 is actually what you said

I figure it will take about 2 hours, but no time will be needed to take it to the shop or pick it up. About 90 minutes round trip x 2.

Plus not everyone does but I like working on the car. I just bought it and I had to fix the windshield washer, wiring to one fog light, and the heater fan only had high speed. I fixed them all.

Reply to
micky

Those are good ideas. Still I thought you guys would have more experience with elastic that car people, who normally don't use it.

But I guess neither of you need to measure stretched elastic to figure out how long it used to be. Instead you decide how long you want to make it.

Reply to
micky

I just caught up with your post. I think you need to forget how long they used to be and measure how long you need them to be to do the job now. I guess that is what you have worked out.

Reply to
Claire in France

Me too!

Except I nearly always use quarter-inch elastic, so it's half an inch of overlap, at most.

Once I sewed both ends to tape so it could meet exactly end-to-end, but I've forgotten what I was making and why I did it.

Reply to
Joy Beeson

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