The ceiling fabric on my '97 4-door sedan has come unstuck and is now sagging.Actually its now resting on the top of my head, which is not a great look.I recently took it to one specialist car upholster.They've quoted $600 to repair.Should it really cost this much to stick fabric back to the car roof interior!Can anyone recommend someone who does this type of work (in Auckland)
quickstitch,
Jul 27, 3:31am
$600 is over the top. has it got a sunroof! if not then $350 is the going rate. you may find someone that does it for $300 if you shop around. they dont stick up the old fabric, they wil replace it. look at my auction for how it is done
andrewph,
Jul 27, 3:33am
The cost is not so much in the fabric but the time it takes to remove the old cloth and foam underneath. This is common to many bmws. what happens is there is a layer of thin foam between the cloth and backing board. This desolves leaving a sticky lumpy mess under the cloth. you can see this if you try pressing it back into place.All this mess has to be removed before laying on new cloth. It takes time. It will be cheaper if you remove and fit headliner and pillar covers. You may need to remove one of the front seats to get the headliner out and in. Try round, there will be at least one that your panelbeater or mechanic can recomend.
kohi5656,
Jul 27, 3:40am
Yes I'd been told it was a common problem.Thanks for the suggestions
doug207,
Jul 27, 6:39am
Shop around. I've done a few now, easy job. (On E36 3 series) What model is yours! 3 series or 5 series! (I'm betting 3)
budgel,
Jul 28, 12:55am
My mate had his non sunroof 3 series done for around $400 by an auto upholsterers in Henderson.
quickstitch,
Jul 28, 1:00am
yeah our shop price was $350+gst. I don't work there anymore so i can recommended them, Kiwi Auto and Marine upholsterers in Onehunga.
magoo2,
Jul 28, 1:03am
$300 down here in Levin
kohi5656,
Aug 2, 2:29pm
This looks competitive.Many thanks.
kohi5656,
Aug 2, 2:29pm
Yep, 3 series
saxman99,
Aug 2, 2:43pm
I completely removed the fabric, cleaned off all the old glue and left the panel bare.You'd be amazed how many people ride in the car and never notice it's missing.We have the light grey interior so that helps disguise it I guess. Probably wouldn't work with a dark/black interior.
kazbanz,
Aug 2, 4:52pm
Kohi 300-600 is all within the ballpark-but now some more bad news for ya.have a good look at the door liningsaround the handles. have a good look at the two front pillars Yup the fabric will be starting to sag away there too. It is pretty much as described-the foam "insulation" between the cloth and the cardboard has broken down to mulch. I have done a not so pretty repair myself by removeing the lining and vacing the foam off the cloth/card then used glue to refix the cloth in place.I then put 4 seat "buttons" in the four corners of the roof lining to stop the sag. Not ugly but not a perfect match either
friendly_prawn,
Aug 2, 6:19pm
last time it happend to me, I got quoted $300 to buy the whole hood lining. Thats with fabric stuck to the board thingy that goes against the roof of the car. Just a matter of pulling the old one out and putting swapping it for a new one.Far simpler than trying to patch up the old one.
I opted for a simpler solution.Got the old staple gun out and stapled the sagging hood lining to the roof - board / foam thingy that hood lining normally sticks too. Worked a treat and freeeeeeeeeeeee!
Staple guns all you need if you dont care what it looks like. All be it not the prettiest but it was a permanent fix.Who looks at the hood lining while driving anyway eh. Bit like looking at the mantle piece while stoking the fire.:-)
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