Headliner/Pillars : Alcantara

I think i have found a good source for black suede fabric. I intend at this point to redo my A and C pillars, the rear shelf and the headliner in the Alcantara. Im a little wary of the black being too dark and imposing and coffin-like, as my carpets and seats and dash are now a very dark blue (indigo, BMW calls it) but i am willing to take a bit of a chance as the material is 40% off today and tomorrow so i dont have much time to decide.

My major concerns that couldnt be adressed by searching are:

1) The material doesnt have a padded backing and it doesnt seems to be stretchable at all, how will i make this work with the various indentations in the headliner? (im assuming its possible since i read some passing mention of JonK having done his headliner in alcantara)

2) what will i do about the visors? they are grey/tan as it is now so it will look a bit strange to have them sitting against a black background.

3) what glue will i use to attach it with?

A bit stretchable is of course of advantage for the curves.
A/B/C pillars are usually w/o padded back.

If you remove all old foam material etc. from the headliner and have it very smmoth, then you also do not need the foam. The foam is as I believe for a bit sound absorbing and it is a great help to cover uneven headliner board surfaces.
Some people buy the foam as separate item, glue the foam first on the board, then the fabrics onto the foam.

The glue must withstand temperatures up to 100 degrees Celsius later. That is the most important point.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alexlind123

I think i have found a good source for black suede fabric.

2) what will i do about the visors? they are grey/tan as it is now so it will look a bit strange to have them sitting against a black background.

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Heh. Get it! The unscrew the visors and wrap them separately.

Bump. JonK, are you there?

i don't think Jon has done his headliner yet. just pillars and rear shelf.

How do you get the headliner out, pull out rear/front window and do it that way?

It is all described on my website in detail.

I don't think the link is working shogun?

I just did this yesterday and it didn't go to bad. Remove all lights, hand holds, sunroof panel, and sun shades. The door seals have to be peeled back at the top and the trim from the A,B, and C pillars all has to come off. Most of this stuff just unclips. The one thing that took me a while to figure out was how the headliner was clipped at the rear window. After some study I pulled the headliner sideways and it slide off the 3 clips that were holding it at the back. I think I could have pulled straight down but I was afraid of tearing the headliner.

Do a search on headliner and there will be a link to a company that sells them but also has a nice write up on how to remove them ... 525i w/ sunroof.

I am going to bring my headliner, sunroof panel, and rear parcel shelf panel in to be recovered today ... if I can handle the price.

hth,

Dave Menheere

it works, here the direct links from my website:

http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/143565/
http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/143818/
http://www.wlsheadliners.com/tutorials/bmw/

Anbody have any instruction on removing the panels from the double sunroof in the touring?

On this German page is a maintenance instruction for the double roof. Even if you do not understand German, the pics will help
http://www.autotechnik-forum.de/topic.php?id=506&