BMW Headliner
Replacement
Wayne R. Dempsey

Difficulty Level: 5
Difficulty scale: Adding air to your tires is level one
Rebuilding a BMW Motor is level ten

[click to enlarge]

     If you own an E36 BMW, be assured that replacing your headliner is a much easier task than it appears. Although it may at first seem daunting to remove the large top panel from your car, it’s actually one of the easier projects to work on. Unfortunately, for E30 owners, replacing the headliner requires removing nearly all the car’s windows. In addition, the E30 headliner fabric must be carefully cut, glued in place, and tightened all at the same time. I tried this once, and although the results looked pretty good, it’s not a task I would ever want to do again (see www.101Projects.com for tips on replacing the E30 headliner).

     The good news for E36 owners is that newer technology has made the headliner replacement project a snap. The headliner material is made of a sponge/fabric composite glued to a fiberglass/cardboard pre-formed panel. The procedure involves dropping this panel, removing the old material, gluing on the new material, and reinstalling it.

     The first step is the removal process. Refer to Photo 1 for detailed instructions about what to remove and where it’s located—there are about 10 different parts connected to the roof that help hold up the headliner. Once you have the headliner released from the roof, you will have to maneuver it carefully to remove it from the car (see Photo 2). Wear gloves when handling the roof panel or you may end up with some nasty fiberglass splinters in your hands—nearly invisible, but no less painful. (If this happens, a removal trick I recommend is to wrap duct tape all over your hands and then strip it off like you’re tearing off a bandage. This will remove most of the fibers from your hands.)

     With the headliner removed from the car, move it to a spot in your garage where it’s safe to make a mess. Pull the old fabric off the panel. Using a dry rag or a tire scrub brush, simply brush off of the old foam; it shouldn’t take too much effort to remove the old, weakly attached foam from the fiberglass/cardboard panel. You can cut the material first and then glue it onto the panel, or glue it first and then cut it. I prefer to glue first, as it minimizes the risk of a cutting mistake. Use fine-tipped hobby knifes for this step, and make sure you have a whole bunch of new blades on hand as they tend to dull very quickly when cutting the foam—and you don’t want your new headliner material to rip.

     The glue I recommend for this procedure is Permatex headliner and carpet adhesive (which comes in an orange can with blue top). Other people have tried other adhesives with mixed results; the Permatex product is the only one that seems to have garnered no complaints. I’d hate for you to spend all this time replacing your headliner only to have the hot sun melt the adhesive in your headliner. One can should suffice, although I always like to have an extra can on hand in case I run out.

     Reinstallation is pretty much the reverse of removal. (For instructions on removing and recovering the sunroof center panel, see Project 78.)

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This photo shows all the various items and objects that need attention in order to remove the headliner: A: Start with the rearmost pillars of the car (C-pillar). The interior lamp can be simply pulled out of the rear pillar and unplugged. Then, using your fingers, gently pry out the fabric-covered side panel—it should simply snap out. Pull up on it, as it will be stuck in place at the bottom by the rear seat back. Be careful not to disturb the mess of wires underneath the panel as you remove it. Some people have told me they had to remove the rear seat panel and lower side panels to get at the C-pillar headliner, but I didn’t have to with my two-door coupe. B: Now turn your attention to the front of the car. Pull down on the small center panel and unplug the sunroof switch. The front light assembly can be simply pried out of its home and unplugged as well. C: The sun visor is attached at two points that have electrical connections integrated into the mounts. Remove the mounts and unplug the wires. Pull out the vanity mirror lamp from the headliner and unplug it. D: For each of the upper grab handles in the car, remove the small plastic covers that hide the mounting screws. These small covers have tiny plastic posts that can easily be broken if not removed with care. Remove the screws from both sides of the handle, and it should simply fall off. E: Pull back the headliner material around the edges of the sunroof opening. The sunroof is still attached to the car; you need to push the seal off all the way around the sunroof opening. F: The side B-pillar covering needs to be removed on at least one side of the car in order to gain enough maneuvering room to remove the headliner. Pull off the upper seatbelt cover and remove the bolt. This should allow you to remove the plastic cover and drop down the edge of the headliner. G: The front A-pillars near the windshield should simply pop off when you pull on them. They are gently wedged at their bottom into a slot in the top side of the dash.

Finally, the upper portion of the door seal covers the edges of the frame. Gently pull back on the door seal to release it from the edges of the headliner.

If you don’t want to recover your own headliner, you can purchase a BMW headliner piece from PelicanParts.com that is factory original and ready to install. It eliminates the hassle and work of cutting and gluing a new piece, making this a pretty good solution for anyone who is time conscious. The down side is you won’t be able to install any exotic colors or materials. This photo shows the dramatic difference between the old headliner and the new one.

Shown here is a particularly nice headliner installation using a faux-suede fabric that has become increasingly popular in recent years. The inner panel of the sunroof is impossible to remove without removing the entire sunroof, so most people leave it the same color as it previously was (see Project 78 on sunroof repair). In this case, the visors and the sunroof were kept the original color, which in my opinion gives a nice accent to the interior. Also, the black headliner typically looks better when you swap out and use black door seals and black pull handles (available from BMW). Beware, though—headliners have always been traditionally light colors so that light inside the car at night reflects off of the lighter fabric and illuminates better. You may be surprised at how dark your car feels at night if you install a black headliner. Rob Canova