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E36 convertible hardtop head lining replace/repair

11K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  jon.spinks 
#1 ·
Hello again chaps and chapess's

i havd a hard top for my e36 but the headliner is sagging a fair bit and i am wondering if anyone knows how to restick it or what to do with it..?

hope someone can help...?

thanks

Chris
 
#4 ·
E36 Convertible Hardtop headliner replacement

A bit late to help the guy that started this thread but there is a great article with photos on the USA Bimmerforum site that shows you exactly what to do here...

DIY - Microsuede Headliner Recover - (e36 vert hardtop)

Having done it myself I have a few tips to offer:

1. It is not necessary to remove the locking handle, which was such a pig on mine I couldn't get the thing off anyway. Instead I used a Stanley knife to cut the fibre board from the handle to the front edge. You can then ease the board back away from the handle as you remove it. This is fine because once the whole thing is back together you will hardly notice the cut as it will be hidden behind the handle and where it butts up against the windscreen frame. Better than the naff job in the US article where he couldn't get the handle to reseat properly - if you look at the picture it looks a mess.
2. You probably won't be able to lay the microsuede (a.k.a. faux suede) they use onto the existing headliner. You have to peel off the old headliner, which is probably sagging anyway, exposing the old foam on the glass fibre board. You'll need to scrape the foam off with a decorating scraper, which is a horrible job, until most of the toffee-like gunge is off. Then use a scrubbing brush and hot soapy water to scrub it really clean. Then leave to dry thoroughly.
3. I used spray-on adhesive from my local Autofactors. In reality it is almost impossible to avoid some of the glue soaking through, leaving small dark spots. Therefore I recommend using a dark grey rather than the light grey faux suede I used, if you can source it (see no. 5 below on this). Also, if you have the patience then you may find that using a brush and a tin of contact adhesive , a bit at a time, doesn't suffer the same problem. However, I've not tried that but I did use that technique to stick the edges when folding them over onto the back side of the board. That worked a treat and no marks showing through at all - shame you can't see those bits!
4. You should find that the contours around the locking handle area are a bit tricky to do when sticking the material down so again, using a brush and a tin of adhesive is probably better for that bit. You should also find that the faux suede overlaps where you've cut the board because of the stretching over the contours. This is handy because you can fold the excess through the cut and stick on the back side, leaving a neat finish.
5. I got my faux suede (2 metres, 300 g weight) from this web site:

New Grey - Fabric Online

Be careful - that New Grey is much lighter than it looks in the picture. I would have preferred a charcoal colour but they didn't have that. Also I used the heavier 300 gram faux suede material.

I've yet to finish this job but when I do I'll try and post some pics.
 
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