Old CSL Headling that will not fit

[Marc-M]

Just putting my CSL black headliner back in after many years – and it’s shrunk a lot.



I have given it a good clean and treated it to vinyl car products – its still a bit crispy round the edges but I can’t get it to fit as its shrunk, has anyone got any ideas on what to do – I have heated it up but it seems to make it more pliable but also shrinks it! And its miles off fitting……

I don’t know if it can be fitted or if I have to get a replacement – but I believe the replacements are not perfect copy – Any feedback would be appreciated as I’m at a cross roads with this.



Regards



Marc

 

[Keshav]

Hi Marc,
pm sent. @merlin32 has a RHD CSL black (used) original headliner for sale.

Keshav

 

[Krzysztof]

It might not be possible in the end.

It is recommended to do such assembly in hot sunny days as the "plastifiers" in the old vinyl at least partially disappeared.

Some say it is impossible but I know some were successful.

Will keep for You!

 

[eriknetherlands]

Having some plastic education in my background, it is not uncommon for foils to shrink. The only way to correct it, is to heat the material entirely, then while keeping it at temperature, stretch it at the same time, then let it cool down keeping it stretched.

I think it needs to over- stretched by a few percent even to allow for some post treatment shrink to occur.

I will check which temperature you need to achieve: edit around 80 degrees celsius it starts to get workable, dont go over 120, celsius, that seems to be the limit.

Basically the molecules need to be reset in their new position.

 

[craterface]

Years back (5?), I had SMS auto fabrics in Oregon make a copy of my headliner material from my CSL. It was a near perfect copy of the pattern and texture, and I used it on my coupe. They may still have some. They know nothing about BMW E9s, so you would have to make it very clear the pattern you want, and that it is black. Maybe they still have a file with my name, Scott Crater, on it. If they have it, they can send you a sample. They are known to be a little prickly to deal with, just a heads up. But I had no issue.

@coupeguy in Colorado bought some to keep in inventory back then, and he may still have some as well.

 

[Wes]

Mine shrunk also. I suggest you put it in warm and slightly soapy water for a while then try to install while wet. I know water and E9s seems counter intuitive but we got at least 2 inches extra play for each edge doing that and it fitted up fine.

 

[mark99]

Years back (5?), I had SMS auto fabrics in Oregon make a copy of my headliner material from my CSL. It was a near perfect copy of the pattern and texture, and I used it on my coupe. They may still have some. They know nothing about BMW E9s, so you would have to make it very clear the pattern you want, and that it is black. Maybe they still have a file with my name, Scott Crater, on it. If they have it, they can send you a sample. They are known to be a little prickly to deal with, just a heads up. But I had no issue.

@coupeguy in Colorado bought some to keep in inventory back then, and he may still have some as well.

I bought material from SMS and ended up not suing it, it is 'close' to original pattern, probably the closest you will find, but not quite the same
The features are a bit soft
I didn't find them prickly, just slow and maybe not too careful, I sent them a sample of the white I wanted and the first one they sent was a weird gray / green

 

[bluecoupe30!]

Mine shrunk also. I suggest you put it in warm and slightly soapy water for a while then try to install while wet. I know water and E9s seems counter intuitive but we got at least 2 inches extra play for each edge doing that and it fitted up fine.

That's a great tip! Smart way to re-use original material.

 

[Henrik]

I had the same problem with my headliner last year. It had been stored for about 10 years and had shrunken 60-70 mm. I was pretty desperat since similar vinyl is unobtainable, so I gave it a chance.
First I glued the rear part to the rear window frame, as normal. Then I cut some straps from a roll of vinyl I had laying around and glued them to the front end of the headliner. by doing this I had 4-5 places I could use to pull the headliner closer to the window frame without damaging the headliner. (I glued them about 15-20 mm into the headliner). I then tightened the headliner forward and clamped the vinyl straps to the frame by wise grips or similar.
The next step was to place a heater with fan inside the coupe and blind of all openings with blankets. I also had a thermometer inside. When the temperature reached 68-70 degrees Celsius the vinyl was cooperative and I managed to pull the headliner closer to the window frame, millimeter by millimeter, in several sequences. At the same time I also made sure that the left and right side matched and fastened them temporarily with binder clips. To my surprise the headliner was stretched into position without any damage and it sits like a drum head without any wrinkles at all. It was remarkably easy to peel off the straps after the operation, despite this, they were firmly in place throughout the operation.