Roof Lining(sp?)

[Dpnova]

Hi,

I hate the roof lining of my car, but i dont want to have none atall, is this an easy job to recover it and if so what material do i use,

Cheers,

Denny

[Jim]

I cant see it being an easy job to recover. I'm suppose to be doing the roof lining for a friend, but I've not got round to it yet. There are companies that will recover the roof lining, I'm not sure who they are though, sorry.

Perhaps a better solution would be to remove your current roof lining and then paint the roof? Be warned, there is a load of fabric underneath the initial lining that acts as sound deadening and cusioning. Every inch of it is glued on, so removing it might be more hassle than it's worth.

Jim

[wisewood]

I may be wrong but i think that ade did a retrim of his roof during his last 5 week rebuild.

[ade]

what an amazing memory you have wisewood!

:D

Yep recovered my roof lining in biatch copper purple suedette.

Looks a peach and soft to touch 0- changes colour when you brish it

Its an easy job to make a new one (my mum did mine!) - use the old one as a template - its in 3 sections. Front, middle, rear.

Do you have a sunroof? this can cause probs.

1 - remove all glass inc windscreen (be careful with windscreen cracks v v easily). Need to do this coz the roof lining is filded round the edge of the shell and held in place by glue and the window rubbers.
2 - remove the rubber from round the doors and hatch
3 - remove the interior pillar trims A, B, C pillars (all)
4 - if you have sun roof, remove the inner mechanism (I had a tilt up one not slide back so not sure about slide back one)
5 - carefully peel the roof lining edge from the edges.
6 - its held up by 3/4 metal wires that are in turn threaded through loops of material sewn at the joins on the lining. These are held in place by sharp vagged V points. If you run your finders along the back seem, you can feel them. You need to carefully prise these back. I think you can see them if you carefully pull the lining down fromthe hatch and look in. Dont worry if the foam pad falls from the roof - its only hed up with spray glue. theres 2 of them
7 - work from back to front unclipping the roof lining. the rods are secured at the sides of the car in little holes, just pull them out carefully.
8 - remove from car
9 - unpick each
10 - lay out on new material the right way and cut out allowing for the seems
11 - sew together making sure you sew in new hoops for the rods
12 - refit starting from front to back reconnecting rods and reclipping them in. Use pliers carefully to push V grips back on rods.
13 - you now need to tension the lining - double sided carpet tapes the best for this - you need to pull it so it overlaps the window frame edges and secure it - I recommend tacking it in place with masking tape first because you'll find that one side will be too short so you need to slide it over - get a couple of m8's to help you. Prob best to start from the pillars. You may need to trim excess material - you Dont want too much overhang because the window rubbers wont seal and you'll get leakages! Dont cut it until your certain its all lined up!
14 - tack down using tape
15 - reattach the door/hatch rubbers
16 - reattach the pillars and then refit glass.

I got a windscreen guy to do the glass - cost me ?70 for the lot.

hope this is useful!

Ade

:wink:

[ade]

ph - the sunroom - pop up one - you need to cut a hole obviously - leave too much matial though. You also need to make a surround if you want for the metal rim - this is a pig to fit. The lining needs to be screwed inot the frame.

Just observe how the existing lining is assembled and take pics so you can remember how it goes back together.

Ade

[dave.gsi]

lol, can anyone hate their roof lining enough to go through all that?

[Dpnova]

Cheers lads, i do have a sunroof and ive decided to give my roof lining a second chance :lol: i might try it soon, i will see how things go