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I've read a few write-ups on DIYs of this and also seen a noticeable jump in questions/posts from owners about the sagging headliner issue (likely due to age).
Another write up won’t hurt anyone either way, and I can share my experience.
Note: I read about a factory 'zip' at the front of the headliner, however I didn't find this... so this may be a difference between the B8 and facelift B8.5.
Bold text is the ‘TLDR’ version if you just want to ‘get on with it’.
Link to PDF with images: B8.5 A5 Cabriolet Headliner Repair Guide.pdf
Duration:
I have heard of one place in the south of England (Cayman Autos), who repair this (I think in a similar way), and it takes 1/2 a day without full removal.
I visited a trimmer / auto upholsterer and he estimated 1-1.5 days labour, but this involved removing the complete headliner from the car, stitching on a sewing machine, then reinstalling (I have no idea how he intended to reinstall the headliner when fully stitched, and as it would be sewn on a machine, I'm not sure if the stitching would have been visible when finished?). This would have been ~£600 and given what I thought was required tipped the scaled and made me attempt the DIY.
The Issue:
The OEM cabriolet headliner is glued to 3 'ribs' the run across the width of the roof.
2 of the ribs are metal, the one at the rear is attached by elastic, but all three have fabric 'tabs' running their length which are glued to the headliner from the factory.
There is a 4th attachment point at the front, but the headliner is OEM stitched to a 'pipe' which slides into half of a full-width bracket (as it's not glued this doesn't require repair)
The glue which holds the headliner to the 'ribs' fails with age, resulting in the headliner sagging - mine accelerated and got progressively worse once it started.
Solution Summary:
Stitch the headliner back onto the 3 'ribs' (in-situ) to serve the purpose of the OEM glue that has failed.
Step 1 – Preparation:
Make sure you have all of your tools/bits for the job, better if they're in the car & accessible.
Fold down the rear seats and use cushions between the seat backs and seat bases to prevent dents in your leather. Be careful when moving about in the car, somehow I caught the top edge of one of the backrests and it left a mark… <bangs head>
Identify you 'plank of wood' or similar and check what position it will hold the roof open - doesn't have to be a specific length, just use whatever you have that is suitable and won't mark the windscreen frame.
Step 2a: Disassembly – Front Trim
Partially open the roof to reveal the entire black plastic cover / rubber seal at the front of the roof (the bit that locks into the top of the window frame / houses the locking motors).
You can’t prop the roof open at this point as it will prevent you removing the trim, but you should have at least 10 minutes before the hydraulics start to lose pressure and the roof goes ‘limp’.
The plastic cover needs to be removed, and it is held in place by:
They're made visible by lifting the flexible part of the rubber around the front of the trim that is to be removed.
Don't be fooled by the x5 Torx 30 bolts in a very similar location - these do need to be removed, but not yet - you can tell the difference due to the smaller size of the x2 Torx 15 bolts, but also that they don't bolt into the silver metal bracket and only visibly screw through the mounting points of the black plastic trim.
Second, remove the x2 Torx 25 bolts that attach the ‘arms’ of the trim to the roof frame.
The plastic trim is one single piece, running the width of the roof at the front (covering the locking motors), and along each side to part-way along the front side window top edges.
The x2 Torx 25 bolts can easily be seen when the roof is partially open, just at the end of the first/front part of the roof frame.
I didn’t notice the 4 plastic trim clips actually being clipped in when I removed my trim, but they’re the same kind of clips as used on door cards (if you’ve ever removed one of these you will know that they give you the impression you’re as likely to snap the door card as remove the clips, so use a measured sharp pull to release the 4 plastic trim rivets if needed). You can buy replacements if you break any during the process on eBay or similar.
These 4 plastic clips/rivets are along the front edge, underneath/behind the edge where you removed the Torx 15 bolts.
Note: You don’t need to remove the x5 Torx 30 bolts that hold the headliner in place at the front before removing the plastic trim. If you did, I don’t think it would cause an issue, it’s just not needed yet.
Once the front plastic trim is ‘free’, it may take a bit of persuasion to remove it from its ‘slot’. For this you need to ‘feel your own way’ but it’s not rocket science, just be steady and don’t snap it.
Step 2b: Disassembly – Front ‘rib’ (shouldn’t need repair)
With the front trim removed, you should be able to see the locking motors/mechanism and importantly the silver metal strip that runs the width of the roof.
You’ll see the metal strip attached by 5 Torx 30 bolts, and that it’s attached to the front of the headliner.
What you can’t see at this point, is the ‘S shape’ of the bracket, which allows two corresponding plastic ‘pipes’ to slide along its length, one on the headliner and one on the roof frame.
Remove the x5 Torx 30 bolts
With the metal bracket ‘free’, it now needs to be slid out sideways.
This is a bit tricky, and you need to carefully find an angle where you can slide it out through the side of the roof frame (you may need to adjust the opening angle of the roof to make this easier).
Once slid out, you’ll see the two plastic ‘pipes’ and S-shape of the bracket, and it’ll all make sense!
Step 2c: Disassembly – Front corner rivet removal
In addition to the silver metal bracket that hold the headliner & keeps tension across the full width, there are two anchor point rivetted in each front corner of the roof.
Each rivet secures 3 things:
The rivet metal is pretty soft, so go slowly and the head will just pop off and allow the 3 items it’s securing to come free.
Note: On one side the fabric sheath of mine had been rivetted in-place, and so didn’t come off easily, I had to man-handle it and cut it free from the ‘stem’ of the rivet.
If you’re careful when drilling off the head of the rivet, you should avoid the need to put a new rivet in when you come to re-assembly as the ‘stem’ of the rivet is hollow and still in-place / attached to the roof frame.
At this point, depending how much of your glue has failed, the headliner should come off and hang freely in the car. Mine had completely failed on the front & middle ‘rib’, so access to the rear ‘rib’ was easy, but if your is still attached in places you will need to separate the headliner along the full width in order to access the rear ‘rib’ and start the repair.
Step 2d: Disassembly – Propping the roof open
The hydraulics that open/close the roof will retain pressure for some time if you partially open it (can’t say specifically how long, and it may vary, but I’d guess 5-10 minutes).
As you’ll be stitching for a good few hours, you need to prop the roof open to avoid it closing when the hydraulics lose pressure.
Identify your ‘plank of wood’ or similar, position it on the top of the windscreen, and carefully close the roof onto it so it A) holds the ‘plank’ in place, and B) will support the roof in that position.
Step 3: Repair
You start at the back, repairing the ribs closest to the rear window first, and work your way forwards.
Step 3a: Repair – Rear / elastic ‘rib’
Other write-ups I’ve rear didn’t touch this, but as I could see the glue on the rear-most ‘rib’ had failed on the sides (still attached in the middle), I stitched this also.
Note: This is BEHIND the rear seat courtesy light, the 2nd / middle ‘rib’ is connected to the courtesy light, so you need to work at arms-length to find the rear one attached with elastic straps and stitch it in-place.
I cut the thread to approx. twice the width of the roof, to make sure I had enough to ‘tie-off with’ at the end. This is a bit of a pain to pull through at the start, but you’ll be thankful you’re not working with 4 inches of spare thread at the other side!
Tie-off your thread (triple knot in the end), and thread it into your curved needle.
Find where the factory glue starts on the headliner, and on the ‘rib’ attached to the roof.
Begin stitching.
I found it ‘best’ to move the front seats all the way forwards and kneel on the folded down seat backs for this ‘rib’. I didn’t find it comfortable to sit down, as you’re working at arms-length for this one.
It’s a good idea to do 2-3 stitches close together at the start to make sure there is a good anchor point.
I went through the ‘tab’ on the headliner first (towards the rear of the roof), and then back through the ‘tab’ on the ‘rib’ (towards the front), putting the stitch as close as I could to the OEM line of glue – I tried stitching through the glue itself, but the needle struggled to easily go through the glue and I didn’t fancy making every single stitch more difficult throughout the job.
The headliner has got what appears to be 2 layers, but to avoid the stitch itself being visible you’re only ‘tacking’ through the rear layer, so you want to make shallow stitches in the rear of the headliner (but go all the way through the ‘tab’ on the ‘rib’ as this is hidden anyway & single layer).
I started at one edge and worked towards the middle.
You’re essentially going to do a ‘running stitch’ across the width of the roof, nothing fancy. It’s purely functional, replacing the OEM glue, and because it won’t be directly visible when complete it doesn’t have to be super neat - Someone may comment and say the stitching should be better/neater/different, but this is what worked for me and I’m not a seamstress.
The first few stitches are the most difficult, as there isn’t enough friction to keep any tension and hold the headliner close to the ‘tab’/’rib’. On my first ‘rib’, I left the stitching loose until I was ½ way across and then used some long nose plyers to work the slack towards the middle so the headliner was held close to the ‘rib’, however I don’t think this is necessary if you pull the slack through as you work your way across after the first ~3 stitches.
Note: You don’t want it really tight, as the headliner will ‘bunch’, but if you pull each individual stitch tight as you do it, as you move on it will naturally slacken off a bit to leave you with a ‘just right’ tension.
I may have just been lucky, but if you find your stitching is either too tight or too loose, you can rework sections until you get the right balance. It’s also useful to check from the visible side of the headliner every few stitches to check the tension, and if you think you may have accidentally gone through both layers of the headliner and have a visible stitch.
My headliner is light grey, but when you look closely, within the layers there is already thin white stitching (presumably part of the structure), so if your stitching through the back layer ends up visible through the perforated holes it really isn’t noticeable once you’re finished (and who really looks that closely at a headliner that is not sagging on your head?).
In terms of spacing the stitches, I don’t think there is a ‘rule’ here. I think mine were 1-2cm apart, but you could do closer (will take longer) or further apart (quicker but may not keep the headliner quite as taught).
The trick is always stitch left of your previous stitch vs your previous stitch (or right, depending which side you start), so that the stitching is never pulling back on itself and you don’t risk the headliner having ‘bunches’ – it’s just a taught running stitch holding 2 pieces of fabric together.
The glue hadn’t failed in the centre of my rear-most rib, so I tried as best I could to stitch along this area to pre-emptively account for future failure – the amount of OEM glue still stuck will vary for you but do the best you can.
When you reach the other side (congratulations on your 1st ‘rib’!), you’ll need to ‘tie-off’ the thread.
It’s important to check the tension across the width of the roof at this point to make sure it’s not too tight/loose (you can adjust with long-nose plyers if needed, working the thread back and forth), and ensure that when you tie it off you don’t leave the final end/knot loose (otherwise the tension you’ve worked carefully to get right may slacken over time).
Before making the final knot, you can lift the headliner and check how it looks from the visible side to check you’re happy with it.
Step 3b: Repair – Middle ‘rib’ & courtesy light
Much the same as 3a, and now you’ve done 1 the 2nd & 3rd will be ‘rinse & repeat’.
The middle ‘rib’ is attached to the roof frame itself (not elastic like the rear), but the fabric ‘tab’ you’re stitching to is exactly the same principal so not much to say here.
My courtesy light was still fixed in place, and I couldn’t work out how to effectively stitch it, so I didn’t. I’ve read another post in which someone drilled 2 small holes in the plastic and stitched through this to secure it in place, I leave it to your discretion whether you do this.
I also found some useful rivets on either side of the middle & front ‘rib’, which I used to help provide a secure anchor point, optional so I leave to your discretion.
I found it ‘best’ to sit on the rear seat backs, with my legs into the boot, and adjust the front seats to use as a backrest to minimise fatigue.
Step 3c: Repair – Front ‘rib’
Nothing more to say vs step 3a & 3b.
Adjust the front seat position to support your back and avoid fatigue.
Step 4: Reassembly
In simple terms, it’s the reverse of disassembly, and given you’ve already done this it should be straightforward.
Step 4a: Reassembly – Silver metal bracket
Slide the silver metal bracket back into place through one side of the roof frame – be careful not to damage the roof frame/headliner edging whilst doing so – threading the two plastic ‘pipes’ into each side of the bracket as you go.
Keep the bracket facing the right way – screw mounting holes at the front.
It’s useful to have a 2nd person for this bit.
Re-attached the x5 Torx 30 bolts and secure the silver metal bracket in place.
Don’t over-tighten, you don’t want to strip the thread of the mounting holes.
Step 4b: Reassembly – Rivet replacement
As said in Step 2c, you should still have the ‘stem’ of the OEM rivets in place on both front corners.
If you haven’t, or they’re loose, I suspect you’ll need a rivet gun & some rivets to replace the OEM ones – unfortunately I can’t help with this as I didn’t need to myself.
I used some small / short screws that I had lying around, and an M6 nut as a spacer, to screw into the ‘stem’ of the OEM rivet. Check the sizing before screwing in, you don’t want it so large in diameter that it splits the ‘stem’, but it needs to be thick enough to be able to screw in.
There rivet points are only keeping tension in the headliner front to back, so left-to-right isn’t under any significant load and I don’t see this replacement option causing any issues (it’s just a retention ‘peg’).
Once you’ve identified a suitable screw & spacer (washer, nut, or similar), take the three items you need to hold in place and put the screw through them in order (spacer on the screw before you add any of the 3 items):
Step 4c: Reassembly – Plastic cover
I started by slotting in the front-most edge of the plastic trim and securing the x5 Torx 30 screws.
It can be a bit fiddly and require a bit of ‘persuasion’ to get the trim into the slot correctly.
Then reinstall the x2 Torx 25 screws on either side of the trim (along the top edge of the side window / roof frame).
Remove your wooden plank (or similar) and close the roof.
You should be able to re-secure the 4 plastic rivets with a firm fist but ONLY when the roof is locked into the top of the windscreen.
Step 5: Admire your handy work
Now you’re done.
You can check the full motion/function of the roof (but as you’ve not touched the mechanism there should be no issues), and that the headliner is now nicely taught and back where it should be!
Another write up won’t hurt anyone either way, and I can share my experience.
Note: I read about a factory 'zip' at the front of the headliner, however I didn't find this... so this may be a difference between the B8 and facelift B8.5.
Bold text is the ‘TLDR’ version if you just want to ‘get on with it’.
Link to PDF with images: B8.5 A5 Cabriolet Headliner Repair Guide.pdf
Duration:
- 4-8 hours
- I did it start to finish in a day with breaks and a late start
- 4 / 10
- Once you get started and find a rhythm, it's just time consuming
- T15 Torx
- T25 Torx
- T30 Torx
- Drill & 3mm HSS bit
- Nylon Thread & curved needle
- Scissors
- Rivets or small screws + washers / small nut
- Weather cover (garage, gazebo, etc) / guaranteed no-rain
- Plank of wood / something to hold the roof open when the hydraulics lose pressure
- Patience & a good playlist
- Self-confidence if you've not attempted anything similar
- Basic DIY
- Very basic sewing skills (you don't need to be able to alter clothes, the stitching isn't seen when complete so doesn't have to be that neat).
- A friend to help is useful, but it is mostly a 1-person job
I have heard of one place in the south of England (Cayman Autos), who repair this (I think in a similar way), and it takes 1/2 a day without full removal.
I visited a trimmer / auto upholsterer and he estimated 1-1.5 days labour, but this involved removing the complete headliner from the car, stitching on a sewing machine, then reinstalling (I have no idea how he intended to reinstall the headliner when fully stitched, and as it would be sewn on a machine, I'm not sure if the stitching would have been visible when finished?). This would have been ~£600 and given what I thought was required tipped the scaled and made me attempt the DIY.
The Issue:
The OEM cabriolet headliner is glued to 3 'ribs' the run across the width of the roof.
2 of the ribs are metal, the one at the rear is attached by elastic, but all three have fabric 'tabs' running their length which are glued to the headliner from the factory.
There is a 4th attachment point at the front, but the headliner is OEM stitched to a 'pipe' which slides into half of a full-width bracket (as it's not glued this doesn't require repair)
The glue which holds the headliner to the 'ribs' fails with age, resulting in the headliner sagging - mine accelerated and got progressively worse once it started.
Solution Summary:
Stitch the headliner back onto the 3 'ribs' (in-situ) to serve the purpose of the OEM glue that has failed.
Step 1 – Preparation:
Make sure you have all of your tools/bits for the job, better if they're in the car & accessible.
Fold down the rear seats and use cushions between the seat backs and seat bases to prevent dents in your leather. Be careful when moving about in the car, somehow I caught the top edge of one of the backrests and it left a mark… <bangs head>
Identify you 'plank of wood' or similar and check what position it will hold the roof open - doesn't have to be a specific length, just use whatever you have that is suitable and won't mark the windscreen frame.
Step 2a: Disassembly – Front Trim
Partially open the roof to reveal the entire black plastic cover / rubber seal at the front of the roof (the bit that locks into the top of the window frame / houses the locking motors).
You can’t prop the roof open at this point as it will prevent you removing the trim, but you should have at least 10 minutes before the hydraulics start to lose pressure and the roof goes ‘limp’.
The plastic cover needs to be removed, and it is held in place by:
- 2 Torx 15 bolts
- 2 Torx 25 bolts
- 4 plastic trim rivets/clips
They're made visible by lifting the flexible part of the rubber around the front of the trim that is to be removed.
Don't be fooled by the x5 Torx 30 bolts in a very similar location - these do need to be removed, but not yet - you can tell the difference due to the smaller size of the x2 Torx 15 bolts, but also that they don't bolt into the silver metal bracket and only visibly screw through the mounting points of the black plastic trim.
Second, remove the x2 Torx 25 bolts that attach the ‘arms’ of the trim to the roof frame.
The plastic trim is one single piece, running the width of the roof at the front (covering the locking motors), and along each side to part-way along the front side window top edges.
The x2 Torx 25 bolts can easily be seen when the roof is partially open, just at the end of the first/front part of the roof frame.
I didn’t notice the 4 plastic trim clips actually being clipped in when I removed my trim, but they’re the same kind of clips as used on door cards (if you’ve ever removed one of these you will know that they give you the impression you’re as likely to snap the door card as remove the clips, so use a measured sharp pull to release the 4 plastic trim rivets if needed). You can buy replacements if you break any during the process on eBay or similar.
These 4 plastic clips/rivets are along the front edge, underneath/behind the edge where you removed the Torx 15 bolts.
Note: You don’t need to remove the x5 Torx 30 bolts that hold the headliner in place at the front before removing the plastic trim. If you did, I don’t think it would cause an issue, it’s just not needed yet.
Once the front plastic trim is ‘free’, it may take a bit of persuasion to remove it from its ‘slot’. For this you need to ‘feel your own way’ but it’s not rocket science, just be steady and don’t snap it.
Step 2b: Disassembly – Front ‘rib’ (shouldn’t need repair)
With the front trim removed, you should be able to see the locking motors/mechanism and importantly the silver metal strip that runs the width of the roof.
You’ll see the metal strip attached by 5 Torx 30 bolts, and that it’s attached to the front of the headliner.
What you can’t see at this point, is the ‘S shape’ of the bracket, which allows two corresponding plastic ‘pipes’ to slide along its length, one on the headliner and one on the roof frame.
Remove the x5 Torx 30 bolts
With the metal bracket ‘free’, it now needs to be slid out sideways.
This is a bit tricky, and you need to carefully find an angle where you can slide it out through the side of the roof frame (you may need to adjust the opening angle of the roof to make this easier).
Once slid out, you’ll see the two plastic ‘pipes’ and S-shape of the bracket, and it’ll all make sense!
Step 2c: Disassembly – Front corner rivet removal
In addition to the silver metal bracket that hold the headliner & keeps tension across the full width, there are two anchor point rivetted in each front corner of the roof.
Each rivet secures 3 things:
- The headliner itself
- A sheathed metal spring (which attaches to the edging of the headliner)
- A foam ‘pad’ which I can only assume is to stop rattles / rubbing etc.
The rivet metal is pretty soft, so go slowly and the head will just pop off and allow the 3 items it’s securing to come free.
Note: On one side the fabric sheath of mine had been rivetted in-place, and so didn’t come off easily, I had to man-handle it and cut it free from the ‘stem’ of the rivet.
If you’re careful when drilling off the head of the rivet, you should avoid the need to put a new rivet in when you come to re-assembly as the ‘stem’ of the rivet is hollow and still in-place / attached to the roof frame.
At this point, depending how much of your glue has failed, the headliner should come off and hang freely in the car. Mine had completely failed on the front & middle ‘rib’, so access to the rear ‘rib’ was easy, but if your is still attached in places you will need to separate the headliner along the full width in order to access the rear ‘rib’ and start the repair.
Step 2d: Disassembly – Propping the roof open
The hydraulics that open/close the roof will retain pressure for some time if you partially open it (can’t say specifically how long, and it may vary, but I’d guess 5-10 minutes).
As you’ll be stitching for a good few hours, you need to prop the roof open to avoid it closing when the hydraulics lose pressure.
Identify your ‘plank of wood’ or similar, position it on the top of the windscreen, and carefully close the roof onto it so it A) holds the ‘plank’ in place, and B) will support the roof in that position.
Step 3: Repair
You start at the back, repairing the ribs closest to the rear window first, and work your way forwards.
Step 3a: Repair – Rear / elastic ‘rib’
Other write-ups I’ve rear didn’t touch this, but as I could see the glue on the rear-most ‘rib’ had failed on the sides (still attached in the middle), I stitched this also.
Note: This is BEHIND the rear seat courtesy light, the 2nd / middle ‘rib’ is connected to the courtesy light, so you need to work at arms-length to find the rear one attached with elastic straps and stitch it in-place.
I cut the thread to approx. twice the width of the roof, to make sure I had enough to ‘tie-off with’ at the end. This is a bit of a pain to pull through at the start, but you’ll be thankful you’re not working with 4 inches of spare thread at the other side!
Tie-off your thread (triple knot in the end), and thread it into your curved needle.
Find where the factory glue starts on the headliner, and on the ‘rib’ attached to the roof.
Begin stitching.
I found it ‘best’ to move the front seats all the way forwards and kneel on the folded down seat backs for this ‘rib’. I didn’t find it comfortable to sit down, as you’re working at arms-length for this one.
It’s a good idea to do 2-3 stitches close together at the start to make sure there is a good anchor point.
I went through the ‘tab’ on the headliner first (towards the rear of the roof), and then back through the ‘tab’ on the ‘rib’ (towards the front), putting the stitch as close as I could to the OEM line of glue – I tried stitching through the glue itself, but the needle struggled to easily go through the glue and I didn’t fancy making every single stitch more difficult throughout the job.
The headliner has got what appears to be 2 layers, but to avoid the stitch itself being visible you’re only ‘tacking’ through the rear layer, so you want to make shallow stitches in the rear of the headliner (but go all the way through the ‘tab’ on the ‘rib’ as this is hidden anyway & single layer).
I started at one edge and worked towards the middle.
You’re essentially going to do a ‘running stitch’ across the width of the roof, nothing fancy. It’s purely functional, replacing the OEM glue, and because it won’t be directly visible when complete it doesn’t have to be super neat - Someone may comment and say the stitching should be better/neater/different, but this is what worked for me and I’m not a seamstress.
The first few stitches are the most difficult, as there isn’t enough friction to keep any tension and hold the headliner close to the ‘tab’/’rib’. On my first ‘rib’, I left the stitching loose until I was ½ way across and then used some long nose plyers to work the slack towards the middle so the headliner was held close to the ‘rib’, however I don’t think this is necessary if you pull the slack through as you work your way across after the first ~3 stitches.
Note: You don’t want it really tight, as the headliner will ‘bunch’, but if you pull each individual stitch tight as you do it, as you move on it will naturally slacken off a bit to leave you with a ‘just right’ tension.
I may have just been lucky, but if you find your stitching is either too tight or too loose, you can rework sections until you get the right balance. It’s also useful to check from the visible side of the headliner every few stitches to check the tension, and if you think you may have accidentally gone through both layers of the headliner and have a visible stitch.
My headliner is light grey, but when you look closely, within the layers there is already thin white stitching (presumably part of the structure), so if your stitching through the back layer ends up visible through the perforated holes it really isn’t noticeable once you’re finished (and who really looks that closely at a headliner that is not sagging on your head?).
In terms of spacing the stitches, I don’t think there is a ‘rule’ here. I think mine were 1-2cm apart, but you could do closer (will take longer) or further apart (quicker but may not keep the headliner quite as taught).
The trick is always stitch left of your previous stitch vs your previous stitch (or right, depending which side you start), so that the stitching is never pulling back on itself and you don’t risk the headliner having ‘bunches’ – it’s just a taught running stitch holding 2 pieces of fabric together.
The glue hadn’t failed in the centre of my rear-most rib, so I tried as best I could to stitch along this area to pre-emptively account for future failure – the amount of OEM glue still stuck will vary for you but do the best you can.
When you reach the other side (congratulations on your 1st ‘rib’!), you’ll need to ‘tie-off’ the thread.
It’s important to check the tension across the width of the roof at this point to make sure it’s not too tight/loose (you can adjust with long-nose plyers if needed, working the thread back and forth), and ensure that when you tie it off you don’t leave the final end/knot loose (otherwise the tension you’ve worked carefully to get right may slacken over time).
Before making the final knot, you can lift the headliner and check how it looks from the visible side to check you’re happy with it.
Step 3b: Repair – Middle ‘rib’ & courtesy light
Much the same as 3a, and now you’ve done 1 the 2nd & 3rd will be ‘rinse & repeat’.
The middle ‘rib’ is attached to the roof frame itself (not elastic like the rear), but the fabric ‘tab’ you’re stitching to is exactly the same principal so not much to say here.
My courtesy light was still fixed in place, and I couldn’t work out how to effectively stitch it, so I didn’t. I’ve read another post in which someone drilled 2 small holes in the plastic and stitched through this to secure it in place, I leave it to your discretion whether you do this.
I also found some useful rivets on either side of the middle & front ‘rib’, which I used to help provide a secure anchor point, optional so I leave to your discretion.
I found it ‘best’ to sit on the rear seat backs, with my legs into the boot, and adjust the front seats to use as a backrest to minimise fatigue.
Step 3c: Repair – Front ‘rib’
Nothing more to say vs step 3a & 3b.
Adjust the front seat position to support your back and avoid fatigue.
Step 4: Reassembly
In simple terms, it’s the reverse of disassembly, and given you’ve already done this it should be straightforward.
Step 4a: Reassembly – Silver metal bracket
Slide the silver metal bracket back into place through one side of the roof frame – be careful not to damage the roof frame/headliner edging whilst doing so – threading the two plastic ‘pipes’ into each side of the bracket as you go.
Keep the bracket facing the right way – screw mounting holes at the front.
It’s useful to have a 2nd person for this bit.
Re-attached the x5 Torx 30 bolts and secure the silver metal bracket in place.
Don’t over-tighten, you don’t want to strip the thread of the mounting holes.
Step 4b: Reassembly – Rivet replacement
As said in Step 2c, you should still have the ‘stem’ of the OEM rivets in place on both front corners.
If you haven’t, or they’re loose, I suspect you’ll need a rivet gun & some rivets to replace the OEM ones – unfortunately I can’t help with this as I didn’t need to myself.
I used some small / short screws that I had lying around, and an M6 nut as a spacer, to screw into the ‘stem’ of the OEM rivet. Check the sizing before screwing in, you don’t want it so large in diameter that it splits the ‘stem’, but it needs to be thick enough to be able to screw in.
There rivet points are only keeping tension in the headliner front to back, so left-to-right isn’t under any significant load and I don’t see this replacement option causing any issues (it’s just a retention ‘peg’).
Once you’ve identified a suitable screw & spacer (washer, nut, or similar), take the three items you need to hold in place and put the screw through them in order (spacer on the screw before you add any of the 3 items):
- Headliner fabric 1st
- Foam pad 2nd
- Sheathed spring 3rd/last – you may need to re-sheath the spring before doing this, can be fiddly but not hard.
Step 4c: Reassembly – Plastic cover
I started by slotting in the front-most edge of the plastic trim and securing the x5 Torx 30 screws.
It can be a bit fiddly and require a bit of ‘persuasion’ to get the trim into the slot correctly.
Then reinstall the x2 Torx 25 screws on either side of the trim (along the top edge of the side window / roof frame).
Remove your wooden plank (or similar) and close the roof.
You should be able to re-secure the 4 plastic rivets with a firm fist but ONLY when the roof is locked into the top of the windscreen.
Step 5: Admire your handy work
Now you’re done.
You can check the full motion/function of the roof (but as you’ve not touched the mechanism there should be no issues), and that the headliner is now nicely taught and back where it should be!
