So my headliner decided to fall yesterday. I turned around to back up and saw the right rear (where it comes down to the C pillar) was all baggy, wasn't done cursing that when I look up and the sunshade fabric is half pulled off

I've done headliners before, am tempted to get the glue and reattach the rear portion, but how do I get to the sunshade? The headliner board has to come down? Anyone have any advice for that? Do I just remove the pillar trim, handles, console and it falls down?

Considering just taking it to get replaced since my repair will likely be short lived as the rest of the glue fails. If I have to take the whole thing down it's probably worth getting it all replaced now. Anyone have a good trim shop recommendation in the Raleigh area?

Thanks,
-Michael

 

Sympathize. Acquired mine with the same sort of baggy right-rear, and have seen it on other used cars on the lot. Every headliner in my 'fleet (five now) has had worse failure yet, so no tears here, but a few observations:

1) Many vehicle makers advise vacuuming headliners. Don't EVER do that.
Soft brush, as in paintbrush or (clean) shoe brush, only - not even the more aggressive clothes-brush. Also avoid sprays like the plague, not to mention scrubbing.

2) Problem is that the cloth is foam-backed. It isn't the adhesive that fails. The foam itself degrades and comes apart. The least grab from a vacuum-cleaner from year 2 or 3 onward, and tears can indeed ensue.

3) Trapped-in-cabin volatiles from carpet and general cleaning 'stuff', leather-conditioning, human 'humidity', local humidity and extreme temperature swings of a closed-up vehicle must accelerate the deterioration of the foam, and 'Bigtime'. Headliners from the '80's onward have far shorter lives than they had before foam-backing became the norm, and BADLY kept-up vehicles often have tighter headliners than those scrupulously maintained. Catch 22.

4) Deterioration in the area around the sunroof MAY have been exacerbated by blocked drains that service the trap-tray around and below the glass. Wise to check those and keep them clear.

There is at least one step-by-step of another Jaguar headliner DIY re-do here on the forums, but the X350 is not one of the simpler ones.

Just run your fingertips over the various 'details' in the headliner. Around visors, grab-handles, sunroof, overhead console .... sensors ..

I am planning to try to put-off a full re-do for a few years by trying a local 'patch' from within the vehicle:

- layout and temporarily reinforce with upward pressure of a plastic bow (roofers shingle edge strips work) a straight line across at the rear, baggy side and good alike, just ahead of the sag.

- razor along the plastic strip.

- glue-hem the forward 'good' part, anchor the edge, probably with a tape or thin rib.

- treat the remaining area to the rear of that with a separate 'patch', even if colour-match is imperfect and a visible plastic strip has to be incorporated at the seam.

Might not be elegant. (What passenger looks up anyway?).

Could save the sag from pulling-down the rest of the liner for another year or three. Perhaps longer.

The process will also allow a recce to see if there is evidence of water damage... Commercial shop has a hard time arranging a similar look-see for you - often can't even allow a non-employee into their work areas (insurance thing).

If there is evidence of water damage, I'd rather plan the more-complex DIY, warts, stress, swearing, and all as a wintertime exercise ... just to insure I can also lay a Mark One Eyeball on the rest of the roof, sunroof 'system', etc whilst in-work.

BTW 'reglue' of a saggy portion without at least a full peel-back, can be a fool's errand. If one doesn't get the old foam bits out, adhesion is lousy - even lumpy. If one DOES get it out, appearance, texture, fit, colour, or all of the above are altered, and not for the better.

Worse, the REST of the headliner is actually likely to go wonky at a faster pace...

 

I just had mine done by South Carolina Mobile Headliner Service. He did it in the car in my driveway in about two hours. His web site is Home.

Recommend you cover up everything with a sheet when he does it because there is a lot of old foam to vac out afterwards.

Unfortunately he lost one of the chrome clips on the over door hand strap. I am still trying to track one down.

 

Dollars to doughnoughts it never left the vehicle .. main fate of parts that 'vanish' ..but you'd probably have to tear it to bits to find out where it is being harboured, and even then not be able to extricate it, so...

Clean bedsheet to protect the 'pholstery, cheap-enough soft-back plasticized paper painter's 'drop cloth' atop, then a good deal of care in shaking the both of them out so as to recover all the hard-to-finds that they can - hopefully - trap. That applies whether in in-situ repair OR a pull-out, BTW.

Someone finally sorts out cheap and reliable anti-gravity machines, space-travel will have to wait. Fortunes will first be made selling 'em for auto-repairs so one can turn 'em downside up and shake the loose bits out of crevices.

 

This is just an idea I had, so it might be useless but...

Would it be possible to use a syringe, inject some mild adhesive and glue the headliner without removing it? All this talk of cutting, patching, etc...it doesn't seem necessary.

 

In the middle of this myself.

Once the header board drops, there will be an electrical plug to be undone at each corner pillar. These are difficult to get to, especially in the C pillars. Then, you have to carefully curl the whole thing up just to get it out of the car.

Once out, the fun just got going. The entire sunroof/motor assembly has to be dropped down to get to the sunshade. This is where I ran into trouble. There are 4 small nylon skids that attach to the shade itself. These allow it to glide along the tracks, instead of grinding the fabric. They will likely be broken and tend to fall out as you remove the shade. Snag these before they get lost.

Agree with the other posters. The foam has died, and the only solution is to have the entire headliner redone.

 

Doesn't work. The space between the loose fabric and backing-board will be populated with 'crumbs' of the foam that has died and not-yet found its way to Hell. Some is still stuck to fabric, some is still stuck to the backer, some is arf-n-arf, some is wandering about, loose.

Glues tend to penetrate any fabric missing its foam, altering the colour and leaving a discontinuous surface.

Worse, the adjacent foam will be on the verge of crumbling, so the job goes into B****y-Hell! mode right off..

One simply has to take that first sag as the sign that the foam - overall - is on its way out, and plan accordingly.

Other than 'exotic' materials, neither new fabric, nor proper adhesive are particularly pricey, BTW. The labour, OTOH, is a royal PITA on the first go at any new-to-you motorcar.

Those who do it as a Day Job do accumulate various tricks and bespoke tools as well as practice, but still ..

....significant hourly rates apply, not just DIY patience and determination.

 

Thanks, appreciate the pointer. So do the seats need to be reclined or the console removed to get the backer board out? I see in the FSM that it goes out the left rear door. Is it actually flexible enough to "bend"?

 

Not-yet-Jaguar experience, but headliner backers in general tend to crack once past a certain age. Others find it expedient to cut them in a place they can CHOOSE. Repair is not hard.

Either way, at removal-time there is not a great deal of concern for the old fabric.

Installation - usually done at the factory before seats and windscreens are even in-place, is more demanding in the post-final-assembly environment. Now EVERYTHING is in the way, so having the front seats clear out of the motorcar would be a blessing.

One doesn't want to rip the newly-glued fabric or tear its foam from the backing as a result of extreme bending.

When the day comes, I shall simply cheat and re-engineer it to a sectional design with detectable, but not overwhelmingly ugly ......would you believe ....seams.

Can't see the point of not allowing for those when there is SO much other 'busy' detail all over the headliner already.

 

...time to replace the headliner and the sunroof together. It's inevitable. Hopefully, the pillars and sunvisors are fine. The foam has deteriorated and wil become worse with time. No amount of glue will hold it --- it's just crumbly.

If you take it to a non-Jaguar repair shop, ensure they have the same material/color. I had mine replaced and to save a few dollars I used a recommended upholstery shop which they did a great job but the material and color were a shade off. The off color is not noticeable unless you know it --- similar to a dent/ding on the door. I would've taken it to the dealer but planning to sell the vehicle soon and don't want to invest any further.

Good luck!

 

Yeah my car's liner is definitely on its last leg. The sun visors are baggy, and I noticed the headliner is droopy in most other spots, but being held up by all the bits attached to the ceiling. Pillars are fine. I looked through my records, the previous owner actually had the dealer repair (just repair, not replace) the headliner over the driver's head while it was under the new car warranty. I don't think the Miami heat is good to this foam. Nor is is much better in NC...

I've done headliners in the car before, and those turned out fairly well, though would prefer to take it out of the XJ since there's so many crevices and details. Will see what happens.

 

I have to park under a tree in my driveway because the cat is to long for the garage and HOA rules prohibit leaving the garage door open.....

Think you have it bad with headliners....every month or so I have to pull the back half of mine off to clear the rear drains.

 

faced with a similar problem, I looked at cheaper options but a quote to get it replaced was one of the cheaper repairs I have done,

" taking it to get replaced since my repair will likely be short lived as the rest of the glue fails. If I have to take the whole thing down it's probably worth getting it all replaced now."
That would be my plan.

 

All,
After all the headliner talk and looking at my sagging liner too long I came up with this quick and easy "fix," so to speak. At least it should prevent further release of the two back corners....

I notice with the rear windows down it makes the loose fabric flap in the wind. This should help stop the damage from moving across the headliner.

Not an approved Jaquar repair, but as someone else mentioned, who really looks up at the liner anyways. Plus, this could actually pass for stock in a Chevrolet.

I stopped at the Car Quest and picked up the plastic "buttons" for .16 each.
Looks really good at the visor, I can live with the look of the sagging corner.



Tom

 

Well.. long-ago, perhaps. Before they, too, figured glue was cheaper than buttons...



But it is a brilliant result!

Will copy, thanks!

... And for another 48-cents plus tax and a few minutes of contortions, do the same on the other side of the rear-window overhead.

Should balance the look, reduce probability of future sag.

I shall, however, resist the temptation to put aspirin-cell LED artificial candles onto the tops of the buttons... 'Growler' logos, OTOH...

 

Had the headliner half down this weekend, what a mess. I can't believe that Jag used that soft yellow foam as the backing. Absolutely disintegrated.

So, what is the trick to get the overhead console off? The FSM is not too helpful. I have to remove the light lens first? Or does the whole outer frame come off 1st?

And what is the trick for the clips at the center of the ceiling, right under the sunroof? The headliner has to slide forward to unclip from those?

 

Foam was probably white or grey, and much firmer when new. Not a great many other options for volume automakers, really.

No specific experience, but 'in general' fasteners will be concealed in the corners of snap-clip removable light and switch housings, so having them open and use of a strong light source may show the way.

Again - 'generalizations' - but that MAY require CAREFUL removal of the inside rear-view mirror from its clips so as to allow dropping the leading edge of the backer to get enough forward movement.

 

Mhamilton,

The sunglass/garage door opener/dome light unit comes down as one piece. Sometimes it will come down along with the headliner...just don't put too much pressure on the board while tugging on it. Otherwise, find a plastic spackle knife or stiff credit card and pry it down from the front (the edge nearest the rear view mirror).

I don't recall the clips in the middle that you are talking about. Have a pic?

 

No need to remove the mirror, it comes down easily with it in place.

Re: The upper center console, see my above post....it pops out as a unit, no screws.

 

Thanks, I had gotten the front edge down but the back edge didn't feel like it was coming loose, I didn't want to break the plastic. So does the colored plastic trim attach to the headliner board? Or to a separate piece that's mounted to the roof?

No pictures of the center clips--I ended up doing a temp fix on the loose liner and putting it back together. These were definitely attached to the sun roof frame, looked to be about 3 across the width of the car. I tried just gently pushing down, but felt like they were attached to the backer board. They were not simple snap-clips like the one near the center brake lamp. I couldn't quite tell if the board needed to move to unhook them.

Oh--another thing. I had the sun visors down, but the clips that hold them next to the console did not want to pull out. I had the covers off and could press the release tab, but they would not budge. Am I missing something simple with those?


I don't know, I'm basing my experience on other cars I've owned. GM figured out how to adhere foam headliners back in the mid '80s without problems, and I haven't seen issues with Ford cars or truck headliners in recent memory. Just really annoying that this one has failed, it's a flashback to my 1980 Chevrolet with the yellow foam everywhere.