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I'm looking for a source or an idea for replacement for the headliner bow grommets. Previous owner(s) must have had the same problem when I took the headliner down to replace the wiring. The headliner bows were held in place with bailing wire.

I have emailed Steele Products as there is thread about replacing a headliner in a '49 coupe on The Packard Club website. The author said he got his grommets at Steele.

I can't locate them on the Merritt website or catalog nor at Kanter's. Also have done a variety of searches on the net, nothing found so far.

GM has a nylon and rubber backed, part # 10351052 upon further inspection I don't see how this one would fit.

Any ideas or suggestions? Photos below are the best grommet in the car which I removed to photo.

Thanks!

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If your sheet metal hole is the same 5/8 diameter as the 47 and Steele doesn't have something proper then there is a close but not perfect possibility with a McMaster grommet. Downside to McMaster is you have to buy 50 but at $10.50 even that would surely be less expensive than Steeles individual price total.

The grommet I chose for the 5/8 hole is spec'ed for a larger hole but still fits the sheetmetal nicely -- probably because it is for thicker metal and can squeeze in some. The bad part is it is a bit thinner and the center hole is larger than the bows. The wider hole does allow a very loose fit so the bow does wiggle a bit.

It may not be necessary since tension on the bows seems to prevent much movement once in place but for a tighter fit in the grommet there are some work arounds. If you have some you can slip a short length of old style fabric asphalt wire loom over the end of bow where it slides into the grommet. I believe the size I had was 1/4" ID. The OD on that size provides a very snug fit -- maybe too snug since it needed persuasion but it will go in and definitely takes up the slack. If you don't have any of the loom, the other possibility is to shrink 2-3 layers of heat shrink tubing over the end of the bow to fill some of the gap. Heat shrink will provide a smoother slip in and probably will be easier to obtain.

If you don't want to mess with loom or shrink then another possibility would be to double up and use a transition grommet sized to fit the bow and the hole. There are a couple of possibilities with the same wide on one side profile that would fit a 3/8 hole and 1/4 bow. You would need to do a bit of trimming on the narrow side of the extra grommet and probably cement them together but placed in between, it would fill the gap and provide a thicker total rubber cushion more like the original item.

Anyway, just a thought. If Steele comes back with something proper would appreciate if you would post the info.

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I have used the base of tire valve stems that have been cut off to length and they work very well. Be sure to get the wide base stems.

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Not a bad idea at all. Nice thick rubber too.

I have used the base of tire valve stems that have been cut off to length....

A+ for ingenuity!

Excellent suggestions! I knew you guys would have some answers. Thanks very much for the pointers.

Great answers!
THIS is the reason I joined---There seems to be a true spirit of helpfulness here that is )sadly) lacking on many other forums.