PaulBe.

Hi, I'm selling my Reatta on ebay tomorrow. Should have listed it here earlier but I forgot to... It's 183,000 miles, blue/grey, not running properly currently. It's in Northern California, near San Francisco. Please check out the listing if you are interested. My ebay listing is this: Buick : Reatta : eBay Motors (item 330396864439 end time Jan-25-10 17:04:54 PST) - Paul

I've used vinyl SEM many times, have never had it flake off. I have had it wear through on items like seats because of all the abrasion. Are you sure you've prep'ed the surface by cleaning with solvent? If there is any silicone (armor all) on the surface that's really really hard to get off, but armor all has a solvent for that (I've used laquer thinner in the past and that's worked for me). My experience with vinyl SEM is to stick to the same color and dilute it to keep it looking new rather than painted. Let me know how the other products work if you try it.

I've replaced my headliner similiar to FastToro's description in the past. Still holding up after two years with no sags, used grey fabric from JoAnne's fabric store with 3M super spray adhesive, trick is to get rid of the layer of disintegrating foam so that you have a solid base to adhere to.

Most automotive paint stores should be able to match the grey color for you in SEM. Ask for a custom color match.

UPDATE...Problem solved...I brought car to muffler place and had cat. converter checked. It was bad so I let them change it out, car still ran bad though. Decided to go to Quality Tune, they diagnosed as coil pack/ignition coil problem, which I bought parts for ($300)and replaced myself. Car now running great, much better than before, way, way better! When I tore apart the old ignition module, it was horribly melted inside, can't believe it worked at all. Wanted to pass this on, thanks for the help.

Wanted to tap the knowledge base here one more time... Drove '89 Reatta to work, noticed car started running somewhat rougher than usual, parked at work, got out, lots of smoke coming from underside of car (not engine compartment). Checked coolant temp, was too high (230), added coolant (overflow tank was empty), coolant temp now OK (195 to 205), car still running rougher than usual, so I decided to change plugs and plug wires which seem to be the usual culprit here for my car. Car still not running great but OK. Went back to work, car still smoking when I got out, but coolant temp is fine...not sure what to do, maybe I fried cat. converter? trany fluid leaking on exhaust (just had fluid changed)? Something worse maybe. Any ideas out there? Thanks Paul