Headliner repair

[cultureslayer]

You deleted posts telling people a shop to avoid. That's great.

[zoner]

Originally Posted by roadrash

I'm a little confused on the color for the sunroof liner, I think this is for gray, and I couldn't find it in black. However, here are some more part numbers:

51448189218 - headliner (schwarz w. sunroof)
51448189229 - sunroof motor cover (schwarz)
54128191167 - sunroof liner (ANTHRAZIT '93)

Yes, 'ANTHRAZIT' (anthracite) is a dark gray- almost like a black, but not quite.

[1996 328ti]

Originally Posted by cultureslayer

You deleted posts telling people a shop to avoid. That's great.

I deleted posts with racist comments. If someone wants to repost the shop, fine.

[SNOWti]

If you're in SoCal avoid:

Armando's Auto Upholstery
1074 N Ardmore Ave
Los Angeles
90029

He takes a screwdriver to your interior trims and glues the actual fabric back into your cars interior to put it all together. I found broken pieces of the plastic inside tips - then glue them back to the interior trim and snapped them back in as they should of been. And then dealt with the epoxy stench for about a month, seriously.

And I made a comment about how hard it is to have something repaired with someone who does not communicate clearly. And that in my experience, certain cultures do not have high standards for quality work performed. There, thats a nicer way to put it. And I know, because I speak that language and know a different actual experience than others.

Aside from that, next time, I'd go to a more pro-collector car customer based upholstery place where I can get assurance nothing will be broken or simply find time and a place to do it DIY. I can't, I work and don't have the space to do it.

[bazar01]

I just got my headliner out of the car and cleaned all the remaining adhesive off the surface. What a mess!

Where do you buy the headliner material guys?

[Hwy1Strat]

I went here:

http://www.yourautotrim.com/

I bought the tweed. They have regular "padded" headliner material for the glue-on application. The tweed was awesome, but it doesn't stretch at all so you have to do the spray in small sections trying to do the valleys first.

I recommend using the High Temp Spray Adhesive they sell. The fabric is sold by the linear yard.


Cheers!

Mike R

[bazar01]

Originally Posted by Hwy1Strat

I went here:

http://www.yourautotrim.com/

I bought the tweed. They have regular "padded" headliner material for the glue-on application. The tweed was awesome, but it doesn't stretch at all so you have to do the spray in small sections trying to do the valleys first.

I recommend using the High Temp Spray Adhesive they sell. The fabric is sold by the linear yard.



Cheers!

Mike R

Awesome. I'll get the padded one. Thanks.

[bazar01]

I got the headliner out, cleaned and ready for the new material. I still need to pull out the sunroof shutter though.

[roadrash]

I'm slowly working up the courage to tackle this project and ran into a minor issue.

I e-mailed a couple of the online stores mentioned in this thread [1] and inquired about the fabric for the sunroof panel. Both places said I'd need 1/8" fabric for the sunroof panel, but they only carried 3/6" or 1/4".

I suppose I could buy a new panel from Tischer, the local dealer, etc. but I'm not willing to pay $100 for that one stupid panel when I'm already doing the rest of the headliner. Or, I could just skip recovering that panel since it's in good shape.... but I don't want to have to open the roof up again later.

To those of you who purchased new fabric for your headliner/sunroof panel, what thickness did you use for the sunroof panel and where did you get it? I just need basic black cloth and might do the A pillar covers at the same time so that everything matches.

[1] www.yourautotrim.com and www.stockinteriors.com

[hotmilk400]

you still did not do it? really? the thread started a long time ago man.

you needa jump into this project and get it done. on a scale to 1 - 10, its like a 2. it will take you longer to get the fabric, then to do it. haha.

you needa goto the fabric store first (this may be the hardest thing to do/find), the strange feeling of all the women looking at you as you looking around for fabric. the young girls asking you for help, since its probably the first guy that came into the store alone in months or years.

as far as thickness, the stores will only carry one thickness. i would NOT go with vinyl at all. it is so heavy, that the glue wont hold long, and it will fall apart. i personally would stick with fabric the whole way.

basically, just ask if they have headliner material. almost every fabric store has a small section in the back. they should have like 5 - 10 colors to pick from, just get any grey color you like. get alittle extra, like 3 yards, just to be safe. then get 2 bottles of the most expensive spray glue (like m3 or special headliner glue, should be like $10- $20 a bottle)

remove the old headliner, and if you have to, remove any glue left over.

lay the material on the base of the headliner, and cut along the edges (Not close, just so it is less material to work with), i would wait to cut the middle (if you have a sunroof)

its easier if you have 2 people, but you do not need to have 2 for this part.

start at one side, and spray alittle glue on the base and alittle on the headliner. not to much, follow the directions for the best stickiness. do not spray more then like 2 inchs at a time.

lay it, and spray 2 more inchs until you are done.

let it dry, and then finish cutting around the outside and inside. for the outside, you need to leave alittle bit more material so you can wrap it around to the back. (more on the very front and back, you can cut on the edges on the side if you want)

then just reinstall. i used a screwdriver to pull back the rubber around the door and edges.

make sure you do the front pillars so they match. use extra glue, and make sure you wrap the material around the pillar all the way around, so it does not come off later.


if you have a sunroof, now is the time to work on it/clean it out. my center panel was pretty close to the color, and the little it sagged did not bother me. i could have replaced it, but left it go. its something you have to do when you remove the panels, and takes awhile, so if u had no plans on taking the unit apart, then i would let it go. i had extra time, so i removed mine and cleaned out all the tracks and fixed the metal lines. the metal lines connect to a plastic base, and the plastic brakes very easy, and the lines push out. i put alot of plastic expoxy on all those lines, even the lines that were not broken away.

[bazar01]

Originally Posted by roadrash

I'm slowly working up the courage to tackle this project and ran into a minor issue.

I e-mailed a couple of the online stores mentioned in this thread [1] and inquired about the fabric for the sunroof panel. Both places said I'd need 1/8" fabric for the sunroof panel, but they only carried 3/6" or 1/4".

I suppose I could buy a new panel from Tischer, the local dealer, etc. but I'm not willing to pay $100 for that one stupid panel when I'm already doing the rest of the headliner. Or, I could just skip recovering that panel since it's in good shape.... but I don't want to have to open the roof up again later.

To those of you who purchased new fabric for your headliner/sunroof panel, what thickness did you use for the sunroof panel and where did you get it? I just need basic black cloth and might do the A pillar covers at the same time so that everything matches.

[1] www.yourautotrim.com and www.stockinteriors.com

Were you the original poster?
Thanks for starting this thread. It gave me the motivation to do it. My materials came in this weekend and immediately jumped on it. I finished it yesterday with the help of my daughter, (she drives it so we had fun working together) and it turned out very good. I'll shoot some pics when the sun comes out this morning.

[roadrash]

Originally Posted by hotmilk400

you still did not do it? really? the thread started a long time ago man.

you needa jump into this project and get it done. on a scale to 1 - 10, its like a 2. it will take you longer to get the fabric, then to do it. haha.

LOL... yeah, I know. The problem is that I live in an apartment and there's not a really convenient spot to do this. And I'm waiting for the weather to cool off a bit. Plus, from past experience, there's ALWAYS some odd little thing that happens that makes the project take longer than planned.

Originally Posted by bazar01

Were you the original poster?
Thanks for starting this thread.

Yes, I am the culprit. :-)

[hotmilk400]

haha, its alright man, just giving you a hard time to try to get you motivated. its understandable when you do not have a place to work on it. now is your chance tho, the weather is pretty nice, but it be cold out before you know it.

[bazar01]

Do not wait too long, when it gets cold, the adhesive may not dry too well.

Here are some pics.

No more sagging in the rear. I liked it.
The sunroof switch cover tabs all broke off, so I just ordered a new cover from Pelican for $16.

[Hwy1Strat]

If you look in the write up I did, I describe how easy it is to remove the fabric shuttle on the Moonroof. Once you give it a try it takes like 5 min to get it out and put it back in.


Mike R