headliner "lets make it sexy"

[DailyE36]

i'm redoing my headliner, pillars and rear shelf. i have it sitting on the floor right now and i can't decide on what material i should use. so i need ideas.

this is what it looked like in the car.



the rest of my interior is all black atm.
i was thinking about using a light colored vinyl or material for the roof and pillars.
and black for the rear tray lid.
i have other things in mind too, like custom material but not sure.
might go to the shop tomorrow to collect the upholstery.
so what will look good?

[hashi]

i'm redoing my headliner, pillars and rear shelf. i have it sitting on the floor right now and i can't decide on what material i should use. so i need ideas.

this is what it looked like in the car.



the rest of my interior is all black atm.
i was thinking about using a light colored vinyl or material for the roof and pillars.
and black for the rear tray lid.
i have other things in mind too, like custom material but not sure.
might go to the shop tomorrow to collect the upholstery.
so what will look good?

i just did my entire car in suede a b and c pillers and sunroof i love the way it turned out was deff work the time and money!

[Peiper]

Mine:


If you have black stuff, make the headliner from alcantara/suede. Its a nice and good material.

[DailyE36]

thats nice. how clean does suede stay?
also i'm trying to remove the material from the rear shelf but cant get it off. i have tried a heat gun, but that did nothing. i just had a look at a DIY and i didn't see anything about this. any tips how to remove the material from the rear shelf?

[chadb08]

might have to just take a razor blade and peel it off. cant harm it since your gonna redo it anyways right. im considering doing some thing of this sort as well but i said that 3 months ago as well. haha. i never have the cash to do it right is the prob

[flyfishvt]

Mine:


If you have black stuff, make the headliner from alcantara/suede. Its a nice and good material.

Wow!!! Ive seen a lot of these threads and this is definately one of the best jobs. I love that material. Where did you get it?

There was a thread a couple years ago and the guy had a tan interior. He used tan plaid bed sheets that color matched exactly. It looked really sharp.

Ok this isn't for everyone but it gives you some ideas that are a little outside the box.

Ive always liked this job and Ive referenced it often whenever one of these threads pops up.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1269561

[scooper]

not a fan of the quilted look. Get some suede though it may be harder to work with than regular automotive headliner material (what you're removing). Scraping that crap off is the worst part. Second worst is trying to cover the contours of the headliner. Go with what you like though.

If you really want to make it sexy get some chrome or mirrors for the pimped out look (while you're banging your chick in the back seat)...

[DailyE36]

that link that you posted up fly is pretty cool. things like that give cars character.
im not 100% sure on suede. and cant decide the colour too, i might go all black.

[flyfishvt]

It can be an afternoon job if you have everything organized and you read through some of the DIY's out there. It certainly doesn't have to take all day.

[keeslinger31]

Some really great ideas here I like the blocked suede or whatever it is looks very unique.
For some reason my headliner isn't sagging. I did however paint the A and C pillars with some interior cloth vinyl spray black turned out alright

[flyfishvt]

I have to redo my headliner. but first i have to figure out why the area around the courtesy light is always damp/wet...

Most likely your sunroof drains are clogged. Open the sunroof and slowly pour some water into each corner where the drain holes are. If it disappears down the hole and exits behind each wheel then it's not your drains. If you find a clogged drain do NOT stick a coat hanger or anything like it down there. You'll pike a hole in the rubber drain tube. Use a compressor to blow it out or take it to a quick stop mini mart and use there air compressor

[jathomas]

Most likely your sunroof drains are clogged. Open the sunroof and slowly pour some water into each corner where the drain holes are. If it disappears down the hole and exits behind each wheel then it's not your drains. If you find a clogged drain do NOT stick a coat hanger or anything like it down there. You'll pike a hole in the rubber drain tube. Use a compressor to blow it out or take it to a quick stop mini mart and use there air compressor

No sunroof on my car!!!

[flyfishvt]

Well I wish you had told me that before I wrote a three page essay

[jathomas]

Thanks for the advice. I can't see where in anything I wrote would lead anyone to think I my car has a sunroof!

[flyfishvt]

I know. Just picking on you. Its the first day we've had above 55 degrees and no rain in about a month. Warm weather and the thought of being able to put my top down does strange things to my brain

[jathomas]

Lol... glad to know at least one of us is having a 'good car day'...
Let the wind blow dude... why are you still behind your pc?

[flyfishvt]

Dinner time. Man's got to eat.

[DailyE36]

after running around to every shop i can think of, none of them sell 3M hi- strength 90.. they cant even get 3M products in . so i found Permatex headliner spray. gave it a test, and it sucks. and on top of that, Permatex headliner spray cost $20 a can.... WTF man! and ill need about 4 cans too!

i still cant remove the material from the rear tray behind the back seats. so i think i might get a upholstery place to glue on the material, and remove the material from the rear tray.
i estimate the charge to be $150 for the headliner, pillars and rear tray. i already have the material. oh yeah, i got micro black suede. feels so nice. hope it looks good.
so is $150-200 a good price for a professional job?

[scooper]

hope you got the orange/blue can of permatex. That stuff is good. 150-200 is cheap. Are they doing the sunroof area as well? I'm guessing no? going price here is 400-500 including sunroof (but not including rear shelf). Also make sure they scrape off all the old adhesive. That's the worst part of the job. For 150-200 I'm guessing they won't take the time to do that.

[DailyE36]

i'll remove all the old adhesive my self, clean the surfaces and everything is out the car. so all the upholstery people have to do is glue. so cost will be kept to a minimum. my car has no sun roof.
the upholstery people probably use some good glue, that should eliminate risk of sagging headliner. i only want to do this once.

[dohcdoh]

damn, wheres the option for velour? (tried to find a pic of zapp brannigan to go with this but failed)

[18rabbit]

When I redid my headliner a few E36's ago, I used Permatex headliner spray adhesive and spent some time over on VWVortex.com. There are some crazy headliners over there. Heat gun makes things much easier around the corners, and I don't think I removed the material on the rear shelf or the pillars, just glued new fabric to old. Good luck!

[DailyE36]

well i finally got some time to take pics of my headliner.










the lighting is bad, but you get the idea.
i think it looks really good. and if im ever in the car waiting for someone. i can pass the time by drawing things on the suede with my finger
next thing to do will be the seats..