I happened to look into the rearview mirror today to notice an unusual looking headliner in the rear. Since I never enjoy sitting in rear of the car, typically I never notice things in that part of the car (rely on kids/wife to bring up questions).

So went to back and noticed, that the part of the headliner, above rear seats (where the headliner recess is - above rear passenger head), is sagging a bit. About half of the recessed area is sagging.

SO, now I need to figure out how I can repair this. Wonder if anyone has done this type of repair. have questions too:

1. can this be done DYI?
2. If yes, how intensive is it?
3. Does headliner need to come out or can I glue it back on some way without taking the darn thing off
4. if have to take off, is there a DYI that will help with this?


Thanks for help, again, will try to put up a pic asap to let you see what I am talking about.

 

Ive done a headliner on past cars

1. usually done with the windshield removed so i can slip out, if not it will take some manuvering to slip it out the rear as in bending pushing and pulling.

2. you will want it out of the car to apply some spray glue/adhesive to both sides, meaning the fabric and the cardboard.

3. when attempting to remove it you need to first remove the side pillar's the wholly S#%@ handels on each door, sun visors, clips and any other plastic. Basically this is what holds your headliner up and in place.

4. If its sagging in some sections you may be able to get away with just taking off those sections of plastic to get access to it and spray some adhesive in there and glue it back.

5. go to an upholstry shop not porsche and not a snooty shop... a regular joe maybe somone who does hot rods or custom interiors all day long. Old school guys are the best for this and wont give you a stupid "YOU OWN A PORSCHE PRICE SO YOU MUST BE RICH" price then decide hey maybe I can do this myself if the price is out of wack or that old school guy might give you some pointers and glue to use

 

Any upholstery shop that does cars would be perfect. Perfect is what I would look for.

 

My 04 with the Alacantra headliner is also sagging in the rear of the vehicle. Took it to the local specialty upholstery shop (this is a decent 30-year + shop that does restorations, the local Porsche indy uses them as well) and had them look at it. What they told me was that the heat-related breakdown of the original adhesive material that Porsche used left a powdery, gooey substance between the headliner material and the backer and essentially there was nothing there useable to glue to with the nasty powdery stuff in the way. They recommended 100% replacement, and told me any gluing that would take place in a short amount of time would work loose and probably make more of a mess as it would probably saturate through the headliner material.

Thoughts anyone?

 

...looks like were in same boat on this.

 

...lol, yes, we all want it perfect, I assume, but as long as it does not exceed 'realistic pricing' for the job.

 

I have the Alcantara headliner also that is sagging.

The problem lies in the thin foam layer that resides between the Alcantara and the fiber panel that comprises the headliner. The foam dry rotts and allows the Alcantara to separate from the panel.

Nice how it flaps in the wind isn't it?

My solution will be to remove the headliner, and do one half at a time. Removing the old foam from the Alcantara and the panel, gluing new foam to the panel and then gluing the Alcantara to that.

I would suggest that 3m spray 90 be used instead of 77 as the latter will not hold up to the elements over time.

 

What foam will you be using to do this?

 

I have not decided yet. I'm pretty sure that the foam layer is no more than 1/8 inch thick. The foam that is used is an open cell kinda like a tan sponge.

I'm going to try and find a more robust/dense closed cell foam that may hold up a bit better over time. I just have not found the time to tackle this. I will tell you that after removing the carpeted cover on the back of the hatch and all the plastics surrounding the window to replace the hatch latch actuator, that the clips Porsche uses are very strong. They are also in abundance on the plastic panels and spaced closely. All that plastic has gassed off and become brittle over time also so removing the panels without breaking the tabs is very difficult. I believe there is a special tool for just this purpose and I plan to source one before I go any further.

Autozone has these little screw things that are made to hold up a sagging headliner and these work well to prevent more damage. It is really like cancer and spreads fast. You will notice that indented areas of the headliner where the material is stretched will pull first. If you run your finger over the material you will see what I mean.

Don't forget that when these are manufactured it happens in about half a sec. on a giant vacuum machine where one piece of fabric is sucked down and glued/stretched onto the panel instantly. Thus, as the material starts to fall it will also shrink, making the repair proccess more difficult. This is why I suggest that you pin up what you can to stop the weight of the material from causing more grief.