Jamiegreen
Well-Known Member
After my fill hole (sunroof) decided to start leaking I figured I better get it sorted, got the headlining out of the boot, about an hours work removing all the trims with a little help, there's many guides on how to remove it.
Fixed the pipe that had snapped off the drip tray with some sealant and 2 part glue and made sure they were clear.
Once I removed the headlining, I layed it flat outside (its a messy job), tip: do this on a day that isn't windy, its flimsy and will bend or worse..fly away.. and you don't want to look an idiot chasing your cars roof around.
You will need to remove the dome light/switch panel and the cargo nets, there are nuts on the back of the headlining that need to be undone, be aware the plastic "bolts" are weak and will snap under pressure so be gentle, then you can remove the metal brackets.
Peel the old headlining material off the fibreglass, it will leave a layer of foamy sh*t behind. I decided to use a "soft" wire brush drill attachment, and a washing up brush, if you have a wife you could even convince her its just like washing up a big plate and save yourself some work, cant guarantee it will work though.
If you use a wire brush, try not to scrape through the top layer of fabric stuff thats over the fibreglass, it just gets messy otherwise.
Took about 20 mins to get it all off, your then left with something like this.
I ordered some 3mm foam backed fabric from Ebay, which I then stuck on with some normal spray adhesive, (later to be removed...)
So this was once I spend an hour or so sticking the fabric on, looks alright in the photo but I wasn't happy with it for a number of reasons,
I cut the fabric to the edges, you are meant to fold it over the back or you will see the exposed edges when its refitted.
the material wasn't wide enough in the biggest part, this roof lining is a very awkward size and you may struggle to find material atleast 60" wide.
I didn't stick it down properly in 2 places so it was hanging down.
You should also use high temperature spray glue as it gets very hot in summer time, I did not.
My own stupid mistakes were enough to make me rip it back off, which took small amounts of the blue fabric with it.
I decided I should have just done what most people had said on forums, and just paint it black, and not have to worry about the fabric again.
If you want to paint it, I went to Screwfix and picked up some Flexible all material exterior paint in black, about £18 for a litre. get some cheapy mini rollers and a brush for around the sunroofs etc, and the rest is pretty obvious, I applied 2 coats, thats about as far as 1 litre goes.
Unfortunately because I had torn some of that blue material off, you can see it a bit through the paint, so I think im going to try and find some textured spray paint or something to go over with a final coat, which should hide any imperfections and give a nice finish. Thats as far as I got today, will see what else I can do to make it look nicer.
But from my point of view, unless you think you can do a nice fabric job, I'd leave it to some sort of car interior specialist, not that I've heard of one around here though, or go with the simple paint option.
Update: After seeing MagicGrotto's painted headlining, I decided to go for some textured paint, was going to use stone chip but then found some "stone effect" spray paint at B&Q, about £9 a can and took 2 cans. It has small white bits in it and leaves a rough texture when dry, I thought it looked quite nice and it hides any imperfections in the material.
Fixed the pipe that had snapped off the drip tray with some sealant and 2 part glue and made sure they were clear.
Once I removed the headlining, I layed it flat outside (its a messy job), tip: do this on a day that isn't windy, its flimsy and will bend or worse..fly away.. and you don't want to look an idiot chasing your cars roof around.
You will need to remove the dome light/switch panel and the cargo nets, there are nuts on the back of the headlining that need to be undone, be aware the plastic "bolts" are weak and will snap under pressure so be gentle, then you can remove the metal brackets.
Peel the old headlining material off the fibreglass, it will leave a layer of foamy sh*t behind. I decided to use a "soft" wire brush drill attachment, and a washing up brush, if you have a wife you could even convince her its just like washing up a big plate and save yourself some work, cant guarantee it will work though.
If you use a wire brush, try not to scrape through the top layer of fabric stuff thats over the fibreglass, it just gets messy otherwise.
Took about 20 mins to get it all off, your then left with something like this.
I ordered some 3mm foam backed fabric from Ebay, which I then stuck on with some normal spray adhesive, (later to be removed...)
So this was once I spend an hour or so sticking the fabric on, looks alright in the photo but I wasn't happy with it for a number of reasons,
I cut the fabric to the edges, you are meant to fold it over the back or you will see the exposed edges when its refitted.
the material wasn't wide enough in the biggest part, this roof lining is a very awkward size and you may struggle to find material atleast 60" wide.
I didn't stick it down properly in 2 places so it was hanging down.
You should also use high temperature spray glue as it gets very hot in summer time, I did not.
My own stupid mistakes were enough to make me rip it back off, which took small amounts of the blue fabric with it.
I decided I should have just done what most people had said on forums, and just paint it black, and not have to worry about the fabric again.
If you want to paint it, I went to Screwfix and picked up some Flexible all material exterior paint in black, about £18 for a litre. get some cheapy mini rollers and a brush for around the sunroofs etc, and the rest is pretty obvious, I applied 2 coats, thats about as far as 1 litre goes.
Unfortunately because I had torn some of that blue material off, you can see it a bit through the paint, so I think im going to try and find some textured spray paint or something to go over with a final coat, which should hide any imperfections and give a nice finish. Thats as far as I got today, will see what else I can do to make it look nicer.
But from my point of view, unless you think you can do a nice fabric job, I'd leave it to some sort of car interior specialist, not that I've heard of one around here though, or go with the simple paint option.
Update: After seeing MagicGrotto's painted headlining, I decided to go for some textured paint, was going to use stone chip but then found some "stone effect" spray paint at B&Q, about £9 a can and took 2 cans. It has small white bits in it and leaves a rough texture when dry, I thought it looked quite nice and it hides any imperfections in the material.
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