Tools required :
1 flat screwdriver, 1 small flat screwdriver, 1 Philips screwdriver, 1 razor knife, pair scissors, 1 plastic/rubber hammer, 1 flat plastic trim tool, wire brush, paint scraper, clean workbench/trestles/table. 1 X 2m roll of suitable headlining (mine came from Woollies) and a large spray can of heat resistant glue.
Step 1.
Unscrew sun visors, clips, hand grips, open sun roof and take off winder (if you have one) take out interior light and lastly the grey plastic clip at the rear. All rubber door and tailgate seals need to be taken off under the headliner. Remove strip around sun roof.
Step 2.
Carefully loosen headliner, best done from the rear passenger seats until it comes completely free and let it sit on front seat headrests, carefully and slowly shuffle backwards out of the tailgate. Get out of car, go to the tailgate and extract headliner. (*** see below)
Step3.
Place liner on trestles (or workbench or table) and slowly, carefully remove old headlining material. Clean up old residue on headliner panel (scraper, wire brush) checking for any cracks, splits or broken parts, repair as necessary.
Step 4.
Place material loosely on panel and trim off at one end material, leaving approximately 2 inches overhang on both ends, keep large off-cut for later. Trim material along edges also leaving about 2 inches overhang, make sure you leave enough material (you’ll need that to glue to side and rear).
Step 5.
You have 2 choices, glue the complete panel and material and do in one go or (as I did) spray ½ half of the panel and ½ of the material (see picture) and do it in 2 stages. You’ll need to have very clean hands and/or wear clean gloves. Wait until the glue is dry to the touch then start laying the material on to panel board slowly and firmly pressing and working into all the curves and corners. Start from bottom to top and again from left to right until you see the material ‘cling’ to the shape of the panel. Once you are satisfied with the result leave for 24 hours to thoroughly dry.
Step 6.
Cover work surface with clean, soft, covering then turn panel over and repeat gluing process on overhanging material. If you have a sun roof mark about 2.5 inches from the opening and cut out the material. Cut slits for fixing holes, light, sun visors, etc. Don’t make them too big, about 1/3 – ½” wide, you can always adjust if need be later. Lastly glue a piece of material about 50cm X 30cm about 2/3rds at the rear onto the back of the panel to stop it rattling against the underside of the roof (see photo). Leave for another 24 hours.
Step 7.
Make a final check that everything’s done and how you want it, you can now place the panel back into the car. In effect the reverse procedure of how you extracted it. Start by fixing it with both the rear passenger hand grips, not completely tightened up, then the front passenger hand grip, both sun visors and rear plastic panel and rear seal. Once you are satisfied then tighten up all screws and put back all door seals and the interior light back in. With a thin plastic trim tool push panel (where necessary) over the pillar trim and tuck in material where necessary. If you don’t have a sun roof ignore Step 8, you’re finished.
Step 8.
Remove the thin plastic strip around the edging of the sun roof. Pull the liner material up and over the metal edges and ease the plastic strip back over the edges and material, this will secure it and give you a good finish inside the car (see photo). Do it slowly and carefully, you may need to use the plastic hammer to get it fitting properly, once you’re finished trim the excess material with a sharp knife. Check nothing is snagging the sun roof, then you’re done !
*** It may be your sun roof undersides also need recovering, will depend on state of the material on it, I didn’t change mine, that’s for a future date.
In total should take you about 6 – 7 hours even though that’s spread over 3 days drying time.
Here are some useful tips :
Good luck
Chris Lalor
Mechelen
Belgium 12 May 2020
1 flat screwdriver, 1 small flat screwdriver, 1 Philips screwdriver, 1 razor knife, pair scissors, 1 plastic/rubber hammer, 1 flat plastic trim tool, wire brush, paint scraper, clean workbench/trestles/table. 1 X 2m roll of suitable headlining (mine came from Woollies) and a large spray can of heat resistant glue.
Step 1.
Unscrew sun visors, clips, hand grips, open sun roof and take off winder (if you have one) take out interior light and lastly the grey plastic clip at the rear. All rubber door and tailgate seals need to be taken off under the headliner. Remove strip around sun roof.
Step 2.
Carefully loosen headliner, best done from the rear passenger seats until it comes completely free and let it sit on front seat headrests, carefully and slowly shuffle backwards out of the tailgate. Get out of car, go to the tailgate and extract headliner. (*** see below)
Step3.
Place liner on trestles (or workbench or table) and slowly, carefully remove old headlining material. Clean up old residue on headliner panel (scraper, wire brush) checking for any cracks, splits or broken parts, repair as necessary.
Step 4.
Place material loosely on panel and trim off at one end material, leaving approximately 2 inches overhang on both ends, keep large off-cut for later. Trim material along edges also leaving about 2 inches overhang, make sure you leave enough material (you’ll need that to glue to side and rear).
Step 5.
You have 2 choices, glue the complete panel and material and do in one go or (as I did) spray ½ half of the panel and ½ of the material (see picture) and do it in 2 stages. You’ll need to have very clean hands and/or wear clean gloves. Wait until the glue is dry to the touch then start laying the material on to panel board slowly and firmly pressing and working into all the curves and corners. Start from bottom to top and again from left to right until you see the material ‘cling’ to the shape of the panel. Once you are satisfied with the result leave for 24 hours to thoroughly dry.
Step 6.
Cover work surface with clean, soft, covering then turn panel over and repeat gluing process on overhanging material. If you have a sun roof mark about 2.5 inches from the opening and cut out the material. Cut slits for fixing holes, light, sun visors, etc. Don’t make them too big, about 1/3 – ½” wide, you can always adjust if need be later. Lastly glue a piece of material about 50cm X 30cm about 2/3rds at the rear onto the back of the panel to stop it rattling against the underside of the roof (see photo). Leave for another 24 hours.
Step 7.
Make a final check that everything’s done and how you want it, you can now place the panel back into the car. In effect the reverse procedure of how you extracted it. Start by fixing it with both the rear passenger hand grips, not completely tightened up, then the front passenger hand grip, both sun visors and rear plastic panel and rear seal. Once you are satisfied then tighten up all screws and put back all door seals and the interior light back in. With a thin plastic trim tool push panel (where necessary) over the pillar trim and tuck in material where necessary. If you don’t have a sun roof ignore Step 8, you’re finished.
Step 8.
Remove the thin plastic strip around the edging of the sun roof. Pull the liner material up and over the metal edges and ease the plastic strip back over the edges and material, this will secure it and give you a good finish inside the car (see photo). Do it slowly and carefully, you may need to use the plastic hammer to get it fitting properly, once you’re finished trim the excess material with a sharp knife. Check nothing is snagging the sun roof, then you’re done !
*** It may be your sun roof undersides also need recovering, will depend on state of the material on it, I didn’t change mine, that’s for a future date.
In total should take you about 6 – 7 hours even though that’s spread over 3 days drying time.
Here are some useful tips :
- Visualise the whole process and walk it through 2 or 3 times.
- Make sure worktable is free of clutter and all tools close to hand.
- Keep everything as clean as possible.
- Work slowly and with small steps when pressing material onto the board after gluing.
- Look for any blistering and correct.
- Consult pictures – does yours look like these?
Good luck
Chris Lalor
Mechelen
Belgium 12 May 2020
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