Headlining: The head lining was stained but in fairly good shape. The stains seem to be from application of Samad Bond at some time in the past so it was not possible to clean it. The other option was to replace the entire thing. A discussion with my regular poshish man turned out to be a bit disappointing. He pointed at the ceiling hung a/c evaporator and all the windows and said, “all this has to come out”. I had already tried to take out the a/c evaporator box earlier and was unsuccessful due to the brittle nature of the housing. Any amount of handling only made it more cracked than before. So I had already decided that I was NOT going to touch the evaporator anymore. On hearing this from Mr. Poshish Wala I was at a loss as what to do about it. I spoke to a friend or two about my headlining dilemma. Once again my angel in disguise (Mr. MB master mechanic) came up with the brilliant idea to dye it using a cloth dye. So began my education on how to dye this material. It was immediately evident that the dye had to be water based. Thinner based dye would actually dissolve the nylon impregnated headlining material over time – Not a good thing.
Enter my wife with her vast knowledge of paints and dyes. She put me on to acrylic paints. Next challenge was to find said paint and to try it on a small area to see what happens. All this is uncharted territory for me. Anyhow, one lives and learns. I checked around in all art and stationary stores only to find tiny containers of the stuff and not in the colour I wanted.
A few months later we decided to have a holiday in Europe to visit our kids. In the back of my mind there was the water based dye. While my wife was in an art store in Belgium getting her paints and supplies, I went about my own agenda. Success at last. I found what I was looking for. Light gray acrylic paint in a big packing. I bought two jars of the stuff. Why light gray you may ask? I thought off white may not hide the stains plus the van interior is already blue/gray so it will not look too bad. Picture below is the stuff I got:
Shade is called Neutral Gray, made in Holland
This stuff is very thick and needs water to dilute it for application. It can be applied with spray, brush or roller. Perfect I thought. On our return to Pakistan I just had to try it out. I did a test of the front part (driver and passenger) area. In the picture below, I have already restored the a/c outlet for the front occupants. In my humble opinion the gray and off white doesn't look too bad. At least better than before.
The headlining after being redyed light gray. I also had to match the sun visor. A/c cold air blows out of these vents
I showed this to Mr. Poshish wala who was very surprised to see the results as he never knew this was possible. I hope when I do the rest of the lining it will turn out OK. The application has been done using a foam brush I made by sandwiching an ice cream wooden stick in between two pieces of 1/4 inch thick foam stuck with Samad bond 
