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Headliner cost?

14K views 19 replies 6 participants last post by  BBNZ 
#1 ·
Does $320 seem a bit much for a replacement headliner panel? (From an MB dealer.)

I see no stains, I guess I can look at the actuators and linkages a bit more closely when I take the old one out . . . .

Thanks
 
#3 ·
That seems a reasonable price for an OEM headliner.

Why are you changing it out if there aren't any stains? . . .

The reason - for a growing droop from the rear corners.

I've seen "fix-it" kits for $155 and S&H, but the question then is how much time are you prepared to spend -v- how good is the result. (I'm much better with screws than upholstery.)

Thanks.
 
#6 ·
I had a 2001 where the vinyl dropped down due to the foam just gave way. Auto Upholstery shop recovered it for $80 with a nice cloth that looked some what like suede. Just some screws and it slides out and can recoverd and slides back in.
I wish i had that option, the cloeset shop was over an hour drive he said his rate was $65 hour and it would take 10 hours to glue the liner back to the base. :biglaugh::biglaugh: I'll be right there buddy!!
 
#10 ·
Headliner - Following up . . . .

Well I'm almost through with replacing mine and, although I think it was mostly a success, I do think that I spent too much on the headliner (HL) itself from the dealer. (Though I did trade the $$ for a bit of expediancy.)

The lowest I've seen for a complete HL has been like $250 + tax, S&H online. For me, (not wanting to wait for delivery) getting the HL complete meant that once I had it in hand, I was ready to start the replacement. (And hopefully the quality of the work is not in question. As opposed to me trying to do everything, rushing it and maybe create wrinkles or other problems.)

The main concern I had while doing mine was the swapping over of the foam pads/blocks on the top side edges of the HL shell. (I think these are in part to act as support/bump guards when people hold onto or hit their heads on the top of the door opening.) These pads were tougher to get off than I had expected, though perhaps I was trying to be too gentle. (I just slowly worked a thin putty knife under the edge and pried gently.) Also, and this would be the one good reason to recover the exisitng HL, getting the pads lined up on the new headliner (by hand, eye, and tape measure) is not a slam dunk.

(One side went well for me, the other is about 1/4" off at the front corner. The pads droop and stretch a bit as you handle them, and once they stick to the tape, they want to stay stuck! (I also used some spray adhesive since the tape seems a little out of place in spots.) I hope it's close enough. There is no built in way to locate these pads!! :mad:

There was a question as to the number of screws that had to be removed to get the HL out. I removed the 3 across the front and the 3 along each side, 9 total. (The rear most side screws are almost under some of the hinging mechanism. Becareful not to drop them!!) At that point the molding sagged enough to allow the HL to be pulled out. (With some attention needed in disengaging the contours of the foam pads from the side molding.)

I haven't put my headliner back in yet since I noticed a drop of oil coming out of the locking cylinder. Even though I saw no other sign of any leakage, I've decided to do the O-ring fix on that actuator. (Another $18 for the full kit off eBay.)

I'll make another post when I'm through, but the biggest thing on the cost of the headliner is from whom do you buy it, and/or how long or much work are you prepared to put into refurbishing the existing HL. (One can drive the car without the headliner though, so it's not like it has to be done all at one time.)

Hope that someone will find this information helpful . . .

(Thanks livefreeordie for the help!) :Beer:
 
#11 ·
Secret Handshake??

Anyone know how to get the two headliner guides out of the vehicle?

Since I have everything else so "apart" with my roof actuator issues, I'd like to get these out of the car so I can thoroughly clean them. I can't seem to get the very rear of the guides to "unhook" though. It seems like the roof folding mechanism is threaded through the plastic, but I'd hope that isn't the case. I know there is a screw way in the back and almost hidden; I've gotten that, so I think there are 3 screws to each side. Anyone ever get them totally out?

Otherwise I'll have to do it as best as I can in place . . .
 
#13 ·
Are you talking about the plastic trim pieces on either side that holds the headliner in place?
Talking about item 4 in the attached assembly - listed as the "Side Moldings" . . . (Item 5 is the foam rubber pad that goes between the headliner and the roof sheet metal.) Thanks
 

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#15 ·
There are three screws that hold it in. The back one is pretty deep in there, hard to see.
I've got all the screws out, but it just "feels" like the ends are wraped around the hinge linkage in some way. I was thinking alone the lines like maybe it needs to be pulled forward and twisted, or twisted and pulled forward, or that they can only be taken out with the roof in the full up position. (I was trying with the roof in the halfway up/braced position, which is why I wonder about the hinge linkage locking it in place.)

Are the back of these moldings slotted in someway where they can come out around the roof linkage?
 
#17 ·
Are you trying to remove the headliner #1 or #4? If headliner with the 9 screws removed 3 in front and 3 on each side the headliner with slide forward and out of the car.

No, no. The headliner is/was the easy part. (I have the old one out and a new one waiting to go in once I clean everything up.) You don't even have to take the rear screws out of the side molding to get the HL out. Just get the first two screws out on each side, then loosen the remaining two screws out enough to let the moldings come down and flex apart a bit. (Obviously you still need to get the front screws out of the HL.)

I'm wanting to get the side moldings #4 out of the car so I can clean them as thouroughly as I did the rear pillar covers, #6. The pebbled surface of the plastic tends to pick up a lot of black dust, and it's really tough to get out of the deep reliefs while they are in the car. Plus, some of the "felt" vibration strips are coming up off the plastic; so I'm gluing them all back into place as well. (Don't know if there are any on/behind the side moldings, but I can't tell if I can't get them out.)
 
#18 ·
Follow up follow up . . . .

It certainly would be easier to put the headliner back in with two people!! That said, I did manage it exactly in reverse of how I took it out.

First I raise the roof halfway, propped it and depressurized the hydraulics. (That way I could take my time.) I took the first 2 screws out of each side rail and loosened the back screw up as much as I dared. This let the side rails droop and spread a little . . . I then got the back of the HL started in the rear molding slot. Taking my time, I kept working the HL into the slot by pressing it in from the front edge. (Making sure that the edge was fully in the slot, not being split apart! A little plastic blade would be helpful to make sure the entire thickness of the HL’s edge is tucked into the moldings properly.) Then I closed in the rails till everything was snug and all the way home. It is a very tight fit with a fuzzy new (non-compressed material) HL.

Since I did bend the passenger side rail in one of my earlier attempts, I had to replace it for about $13-14, but you can see, even though I cleaned the rear slot molding as well as I could, it is still very yellow compared to the new HL and molding. I think I need to spend a few more bucks and get the other pieces new. If I hadn't bent the one part, they would have at least been similarly colored . . . or I could then have had them sprayed. (Which will probably be what we will need to do when the spares are no longer available.)

Also note the position of the one "blade" like portion of the trim that splits the hinge from the wiring and hoses. This is what got caught and bent previously; it's all very tight and I hope I got it all tucked back in correctly . . . if someone has a really clear picture of how the hoses and wires pass through the joint it might be helpful. (I think I have it, but my originally pictures weren't tight in enough on this area!!)
 

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#19 ·
Final Follow Up . . .

I received all the new plastic trim pieces last week . . . but was a little reluctant to swap everything out over the weekend. (I'm just a bit tired of putting things back together just to wind up taking them apart for some other reason. (But hopefully (barring one last potential issue) I should be done.))

Although I had the headliner up for a while, I was reluctant to try to replace the rear trim piece (the slot - Item 2 in the assembly - pictured old over new/top over bottom) with the HL in place because I didn't know how the trim was attached. I do now of course, it's attached with 5 of the little spring pin clips. If you have one of the proper pry tools, one could perhaps replace the trim without totally removing the headliner, but it still might be difficult. It takes a lot of force to get the pins to pop out and if you aren't close to the pin at the time, you might break the trim. (Not a problem for me in this case, but if you want to reuse the trim, one should try to be prying as close to the pin as possible.) I'll have to transfer the pins from the old to the new trim, and then it will just be remounting everything!

My remaining concern is with something I've noticed at the roof's rear fold point on the passenger's side. This is where the two latch cylinder hoses pass the hinge bars along with the wires for the limit switches. I think I have the switch wires in the wrong place. (?) The bundle seems to pinch up the small flange/blade on the trim piece (circled in blue/driver's side pictured) and I think that is what helped to get my original piece of trim caught and bent. (The blade tip seems to latch into the hinge a bit normally (from when I disassemble it on the passenger's side and every time on the driver's side - which doesn't have all the congestion) but it's not latching in now . . . and this is allowing the flange to be forced out of the hinge area a little every time I cycle the roof.)

Does anyone have a good picture of how the plumbing is all routed through this particular area?

Thanks,
:Beer:
 

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