For anyone thinking of doing this, or in fact thinking of replacing thier sagging headlining, this is definately worth a shot. It was a much easier job than I expected and produced a very nice result, dare I say nicer than than the original headlining....
Tools:
Various screwdrivers
Scalpel
Long nosed pliers
Wheel nut wrench
Duct tape
Iron
A helper! (not essential but highly recommended)
Trimfix - 3 cans (£15 ebay)
Antracite coloured acoustic Carpet - 3m x 1.35m (£12 ebay) - I bought 3m but 2m would probably do
Total time taken: 3 hours
So the first job was to remove all the screws/fixings/bits of trim that hold the headliner in place
I wound the sunroof fully back for this
Sun visors
Rear view mirror - pull and twist firmly
Interior light - the light surrond should unclip and come away
Sunroof winder
Sunroof surround trim
Rivets above drivers door - use long nosed pliers
Handles x 3
Loosen and slide down pillar trim - remove seat belt with wheel nut wrench
Loosen front and back pillar trims also - the rear seatbalets need to be removed for this but the plastic trim does not need to be fully removed, it can be bent out of the way when removing the headlining
Plastic trim at boot
The final 4 rivets then need to be removed with pliers
Removing the headlining is the next step and this is the part where 2 people are required if possible, the healining is seriously brittle. Mine came out with a few cracks (inevitable I think) but once out the car these can be repaired using duct tape or similar on the reverse side of the headlining. In honesty the tape does not have to be super strong as once the new material is on, the headlining should be much stronger and better supported.
Pull the old material off carefully. I then used a brush to gently remove the foam left behind which is essential to ensure the new material sticks well. It is worth going over with a vacuum at this point to remove all loose debris
My material looked like this when removed from its packet
Easily ironed out
The acoustic carpet was a great choice, especially in anthracite, as it has enough stretch to work into the irregular shapes of the headliner backing, it looks great - very standard looking, and the bonus for me was I didn't need to recover the sunvisors, light surround or sunroof panel as the colours were a great match and compliment each other well.
Lay the material over the backing and fold half back on itself. Spray the trimfix glue to both the material and the backing and wait 3 minutes or so its not wet to touch.
Work the material into the shapes of the backing and then repeat for the other half
Which should leave it looking like this
Use the scalpel (or sharp scissors) to trim round the edges - it is worth leaving a few mm to be sure no backing will be exposed
Its important to leave about 1.5cm around the sunroof section to glue round the roof opening - I did not need to glue mine as the glue used to stick the original headlining was still present and stuck fine
As mentioned above the headlining is now much easier to move as it is reinforced by the material and is much less likely to be damaged. To my surprise it was much easier refitting it. To quote the haynes manual, "Refitting is the reverse sequence to removal"
This left me with a brand new looking headlining. I'm very pleased with the result, and it's one of my few projects that turned out much better than expected! Its a fiddly job but not too difficult; I would definitely recommend trying this before trying to source a good used one.
Thanks for reading
Pedro
