My headliner is drooping pretty bad behind the sunroof in my 97 M3 and I wanted to see if you guys had any suggestions for a replacement or if there was a way to make my own headliner. What foam is used in the headliners and how could I find something that is the exact same color? I have the black interior with the dark greyish liner if you know what I'm talking about
CCBB
The color you are looking for is called anthracite.
You can buy OE grade headliner with foam from VeteranCo. BM134.
You can buy Alcantara for headliner applications in color code 9002 from Relicate.
Any product other than that is your own risk.
Last edited by shogun; 04-25-2021 at 03:20 AM.
Sweet! Could I get a link for that please?
Last edited by shogun; 04-25-2021 at 03:19 AM. Reason: unnecessary quote removed, pls use reply buttom instead of reply with quote
CCBB
Shogun tricks and tips for the E32 series are HERE!
Depending on how handy you think you might be with something like this, you might consider sourcing the headliner fabric yourself, but having an auto upholstery shop do the actual recovering part. That’s what I did, and it only cost about $200, including filling in the sunroof aperture (I deleted the sunroof). Money well spent for a cosmetically perfect result. I removed and replaced the headliner unit myself.
Neil
96 M3
I had an upholstery shop replace mine. I chose an alcantara material for it. It is nearly identical in color to the original, and alcantara looks a lot nicer. It adds a high quality look to the interior.
I actually removed and installed everything and just brought the headliner, Pillar covers, and sunroof panel to the upholstery shop. Taking the sunroof out was not too bad (following the instructions in Bentley), but installing it was tricky to get the cables back in place.
-rb
www.google.com
I literally spelled it all out for you. Do the rest of the work.
Last edited by Braymond141; 04-25-2021 at 01:45 AM.
This is great. I had mine done about 8 years ago and it's already completely failed.
I took it out and dropped it off at the shop, then came back for it. But I didn't specify what to use and now I'm having to do it again. Yeah, I'm in Texas, but I park in a garage at work and at home, so I haven't been out in the sun much relatively speaking. Just crappy materials.
I assume you get backed for the headliner and unbacked for the pillars? [Edit] Ah, I see it says unbacked for headliner - backed is for seating surfaces. Should have read a little more before asking.
Also, I assume that anthracite color is the near black from the factory. I guess it doesn't matter much if I'm replacing the fabric on both front and rear pillars at the same time.
Last edited by blckstrm; 04-25-2021 at 04:10 PM.
The stock interior fabric is not black. It is anthracite.
Braymond141 is right on - if you want OEM anthracite the headliner material can be purchased from Veterans in Los Angeles. You'll need 3 yards if you have a sunroof 2 yards if not...
Headliner Fabric: Part # BM134
If you are also doing the rear deck and/or A/C pillars you will also need 2 yards of
A Pillar/C Pillar/Rear Deck Fabric: Part # BM3109 (no foam backing)
Interesting to note if you buy a headliner or just the sunroof motor cover from BMW the fabric you will get today is just a touch darker (more black) than the original fabric (and Veteran's fabric).
Lastly, I'm not sure if Veteran's ships to end customers you will have to check. If you are in area or send someone to pick up will call for you I will note they are in the Skid Row fabric district of LA it's vey crazy there to get in and out of there. They have a parking lot so after weaving through the streets and chaos you will be able to drive right up to the address.
I bought my OE headliner material from https://www.headlinerexpress.com (Winter Park, FL). Excellent color match to the original, to the point that I was able to skip having the pillars redone.
Neil
in my sedan i did it all in alcantara and it looks awesome...
For reference these are some pics I took of the BMW/Mercedes fabrics from the book last time I was at Veteran's. Feel free to share anywhere.
Last edited by Braymond141; 05-07-2021 at 02:24 PM.
I'm finally getting to this.
You guys that have done this in alcantara - the website says backed is for seats and such, unbacked is for headliners. Got it. I'm planning to use the 9002 anthracite unbacked that's listed on the Relicate website.
What do you use for the A and C pillars?
Am I wrong in thinking the unbacked still has some foam padding on the back to make it suitable for headliner? Or is it sufficiently more substantial than normal fabric that it doesn't need it and you just use the unbacked all around?
I don't see another option that has
I too very recently bought from headliner express and it was direct shipped from Veteran. Just a heads up for future purchases you may just wanna give veteran a call for a price and shipping quote. It’s disappointing to learn how extensive the markup was just to be shipped from Veteran. If you’re looking for stock replacement this is the material you want.
Last edited by Nova1; 08-22-2021 at 11:41 PM.
IIRC the original headliner material is in fact backed. That's the stuff you have to get off the headliner "board".. It's just not as thick as the backing that comes on real backed, Alcantara.
I just let the shop deal with getting it right. I also had the windshield replaced at the same time The shop said it was much easier to do a good job with the glass out. Besides the windshield was original and sand blasted after 23 years when I had it done 3 years ago.
No matter where you go, there you are...
Here's my experience:
The original alcantara is backed with foam. That's the failing component that causes it to fall down. I didn't want that to happen again in a few years, because who knows if the new one is better after 10-20 years.
So I wanted to use non-backed, so no foam. But with that the glue comes through sometimes, becaue it's a fabric, causing marks you can see. Don't like.
So I thought I'd need a material that isn't backed, and also doesn't allow fluids through.
I end up using black imitation leather. That's the only material I could think of that doesn't use a foam that could potentially fail and is resistant to glue penetrating it.
It's not OEM, but for me durability is more important.
Last edited by importbanana; 08-23-2021 at 08:58 AM.
I don't know the word. English is my second language. Vinyl, artificial leather, it's a synthetic material intended to look like leather. Fake-leather.
Pleather! Lol
-rb
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