Kenny8.1
Member
I just wrapped up reupholstering my headliner. It's been slowly sagging for years and I have previously glued it back to the foam a number of times but the foam was just cooked so it was time to do it the right way. I decided against matching the OEM fabric, I helped a buddy do his C63 AMG and he found that faux alcantara is stupid cheap on amazon and I really liked that kind of fabric so I found a grey that isn't a stock color but still matches the greige interior really well.
Peeled off the original fabric and fortunately it came off almost entirely as one piece, most of the foam stayed behind which is expected as that is the point of failure for headliners, the foam breaks down and the fabric falls away. I have seen some people use a wire wheel to remove the old foam but I didn't want to risk damaging the headliner board with power tools so I used a wire welding brush by hand and because it was so old and weak it came off very easily. This was the easiest step for me.
After this I prepped the new fabric, rolled it out on a table and ironed the creases from being packed and shipped, I don't know for sure but I imagine if you skip or half ass this step you could have creased headliner which is lame. Then it's the glue up, this can be a bit tricky on the trunk panel there is a fairly deep corner that needs a bit of finagling to get to lay flat and the front panel is very large so it helps I have long limbs. Glued up the front and rear panels and the sunroof shade, then it's back together.
A small note, there are two wire harnesses that are adhered to the topside of the headliner, down the driver's side a harness goes down the side for the dome lights and goes to the overhead console in the front, on the passenger side the rear ac fan controls has a harness running up to the front overhead console. From what I have found the 'proper' way to remove the headliner is to take off the dash cap and remove the cluster disconnect it from the fuse box and pull the whole length of the harness out. This step is wholly unnecessary, you can easily peel the harness up off the headliner and leave it in place, then on reassembly just tape it back down.
It came out really well I'd say, way better than the saggy headliner and honestly I like the faux alcantara better than the stock fabric anyway. My truck was fully optioned out when it was new so I wanted to give it a more premium feel which I think this does well without being gaudy.
Peeled off the original fabric and fortunately it came off almost entirely as one piece, most of the foam stayed behind which is expected as that is the point of failure for headliners, the foam breaks down and the fabric falls away. I have seen some people use a wire wheel to remove the old foam but I didn't want to risk damaging the headliner board with power tools so I used a wire welding brush by hand and because it was so old and weak it came off very easily. This was the easiest step for me.
After this I prepped the new fabric, rolled it out on a table and ironed the creases from being packed and shipped, I don't know for sure but I imagine if you skip or half ass this step you could have creased headliner which is lame. Then it's the glue up, this can be a bit tricky on the trunk panel there is a fairly deep corner that needs a bit of finagling to get to lay flat and the front panel is very large so it helps I have long limbs. Glued up the front and rear panels and the sunroof shade, then it's back together.
A small note, there are two wire harnesses that are adhered to the topside of the headliner, down the driver's side a harness goes down the side for the dome lights and goes to the overhead console in the front, on the passenger side the rear ac fan controls has a harness running up to the front overhead console. From what I have found the 'proper' way to remove the headliner is to take off the dash cap and remove the cluster disconnect it from the fuse box and pull the whole length of the harness out. This step is wholly unnecessary, you can easily peel the harness up off the headliner and leave it in place, then on reassembly just tape it back down.
It came out really well I'd say, way better than the saggy headliner and honestly I like the faux alcantara better than the stock fabric anyway. My truck was fully optioned out when it was new so I wanted to give it a more premium feel which I think this does well without being gaudy.
