How to remove headliner? Has anyone removed their headliner? - I have a paintless dent guy coming Monday to take care of a roof dent. Any help here greatly appreciated.

Bond

01 996TT Polar Silver

 

if he is good he can do it without you taking out the headliner...unless it is right at the edge...

 

my dent removal guy was one of the best and he told me the headliner has to come out. Headliner is glued to a board right? I don't see how he can repair the dent without removing it.

 

it's not on the GT3 but it has less sound deadening and insulation everywhere...don't know about the tt...had a small dent in my roof fixed by paintless dent and he did it with the headliner in...sorry that no one has told you how to remove it..there was a post about it but the search function is still MIA...

 

There is no glue holing the headliner in.You must first remove the coat hook trim by pulling it gently.Then you must remove the a pillar leather trim by also prying it off. Next is the sunvisors and overhead console.The top of the rear quarter trim must be popped out to gain access to the rest of headliner,but the whole quarter trim does not need to be removed.Then the sunroof needs to be opened using the tool in the overhead console to allow the metal trim to be removed when taking out headliner.Next pop off the metal rods holding the headliner in (1 on each side of the a pillar and one in the middle just behind the sunroof.)Next pop the front part of the headliner off.(has similar clips holding it in as the a pillar trim)next pull the rear of the headliner off just next to the rear window by gently pulling towards the rear of the car and down(be careful this is a plastic support for the headliner and cannot be replaced without replacing entire headliner)finally the headliner should be hanging down like apiece of fabric with the only part holding it in being the sunroof trim.Pull the sunroof trim up from outside car with the sunroof open and tilt sending it back through the sunroof and inside the car.Hope this helps.It takes about an hour to remove and be prepared to replace some of the clips as they are made like crap.

 

Hi Joe - Well, I got a copy of the Porsche Service manual and found that its a major ordeal to remove the headliner on a 996!!

First, the A, B and C pillars (OK), then the usual clips, torx, etc - but there is a gasket and/or lip that stretches the headliner into the opening, and that has some strange arrangement that I only can guess releases tension when the other parts are disconnected. It is a rigid plastic ring that is on the inside lip. But wait - the best part is that you have to remove the sunroof to get to the back edge of the ring to disconnect, and here is where it gets nasty, with all sorts of warnings about damaging the roof drains, inner panel, inner side panels, aligning - 1mm in front and + 1mm in back and 0.5mm gap, etc.

I re-read your description and it seems like the sunroof stays in and there is a tool (?) clipped to the inside of the trim, do you use it manually tilt? - The sunroof fits snug to the front of the headliner when tilted and snug to the rear when slid back - do you remove the sunroof panel trim? (then have to deal with the little side flaps?). Does the sunroof trim around the opening become loose when the rods are removed? I wonder why the Service manual make no mention of the tool or being able to leave the dunroof in? (more labor hours??)

Thanks for your help!

Bond



Bond

 

Bond,100% the sunroof panel does not need to be removed.(just did this two months ago to install Tequipment cage and did not want to risk cutting headliner)The tool which is located in the overhead console when removed, is basically a allen wrench that is used to adjust the roof motor as you stated,i.e. closing points and tilt points.Use the tool to slide the roof all the way rearward (by inserting the tool in the motor which is located directly under the overhead console)so that the metal trim located inside the sunroof opening can be lifted up and tilted to be passed through the hole and into car.Ofcourse this must be done when everything else is removed and the headliner is hanging like a piece of fabric with the only thing holding it in being the sunroof trim.Also the quarter trim does not have to be removed,you can just pop out the first 3 clips starting from the coat hook.Just a thought but you probably won't need to remove the whole headliner and can get away with just letting it hang down or just removing one side depending on where the dent is. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks Joe - I played around with the electronic sunroof control today to get an idea of the various positions that can be attained - there is only one "center" position that briefly lifts both the front and back sunroof trim away at the same time from the headliner lip, and then only 1/8" - 1/4". I imagine that I can use the manual wrench to dial in this point accurately, but is this the approach? I imagine that the headliner trim ring unclips once the tension is removed and slid back, but since the sunroof trim is tight against when returning to closed position in order to tilt and release back, I don't see how to release the trim - did you take off the sunroof trim or scrape it against the headliner trim when trying to close to get to the tilt function to release the back?

Bond

 

Are you trying to remove the fabric from under the sunroof panel itself or the entire headliner?If you are trying to remove the entire headliner you need to open the sunroof all the way to the rear to access the headliner trim which is located under the sliding sunroof panel when it is all the way open.itjust pops out when everything else is removed i.e. tox bolts a,b,c, pillar trim, sunvisors and overhead console.

 

Hi Joe - I am trying to remove the headliner only without removing the sunroof or sunroof trim. When I slide the sunroof all the way back, I imagine I can just lift the front and sides of headliner ring out of opening and into passenger area when everything else is removed, but the back ring is tight against the sunroof trim when sunroof is back. My question is, if you remove as much of the sunroof trim as possible with the sunroof all the way back, how can you slide the sunroof forward to get it to tilt the back end up when half the trim is disconnected and inside the car and other half still trapped in back until moved forward and tilted, wouldn't the area where the trim is hanging into the passenger area get caught? - I envision a flat plastic trim that is getting tilted at an angle and scraping against the sunroof as you are trying the get it to move forward to release the back edge. Thanks

Bond

 

That,s what the allen key is for ,to turn the motor manually and move the sunroof panel all the way rearward (more than it goes electrically).Then the trim will lift right out without touching the sunroof panel.The trim only needs to be tilted when passing through hole and not because it hits panel when lifted(should lift right out without touching panel).P.M. if you still don,t get it out

 

Joe - I really do appreciate the support here - now its clear. I think I was confused by the "official" factory procedure in the Porsche Manual which insists on removal of sunroof and makes no mention of any wrench, or that sunroof can be manually driven past the electronically limited point!

Thanks for the PM offer, hopefully it will be smooth sailing!

Bond

 

Joe - removed headliner today thanks to your help!

Greatly appreciated!

Bond

 

How did you remove the Sunroof Trim, I tried to pry mine out and doesn’t seem to give, mine is. 997, which might make a difference?

Thanks