original headliner perforated?

[coupelady]

Hi folks,

It might be time for me to change my headliner although it is in not bad shape. In talking with the trim shop I think highly of, I called GAHH at their suggestion. The lady there showed that the original headliner (1972) was an embossed diamond pattern. I have a perforated pattern and strongly believe that it is original. I have owned the car for 32 years but not the original owner. (2002s I have owned of the same year also had the perforated headliner.) Since I do not have a sunroof, there may not have been a reason to replace it in the past before me. I did the restoration in 1990-1992. At that time it looked good after cleaning so it was left alone. SO my question is: do you have a perforated headliner?

Amy Lester
coupelady

 

[Gernstetter]

Hi folks,

It might be time for me to change my headliner although it is in not bad shape. In talking with the trim shop I think highly of, I called GAHH at their suggestion. The lady there showed that the original headliner (1972) was an embossed diamond pattern. I have a perforated pattern and strongly believe that it is original. I have owned the car for 32 years but not the original owner. (2002s I have owned of the same year also had the perforated headliner.) Since I do not have a sunroof, there may not have been a reason to replace it in the past before me. I did the restoration in 1990-1992. At that time it looked good after cleaning so it was left alone. SO my question is: do you have a perforated headliner?

Amy Lester
coupelady

I don't believe they were perforated....since the sun visors were not perforated that I have seen...

 

[Stevehose]

My headliner, original 1972:

 

[Nicad]

You have a Sweet headliner Steve.

 

[Stevehose]

Thanks but the flash is telling me it's time to oxyclean!

You have a Sweet headliner Steve.

 

[tomcolitt]

Steve's picture shows the only 3.0 CS headliner material I have ever seen (and I've seen and worked on many). It matches the header panel and the sun visors. Call it perforated or not, but it does have a diamond pattern of little crosses stamped into the material which has an embossed cross-hatching line pattern as well... Not used on any other BMW or any other car that I know of....

 

[m5bb]

My headliner, original 1972:

My 72 is the same as Steve's. Must be original. Too bad there is a hole above the passenger.

 

[HB Chris]

I see perforated Xs and cross-hatching but no diamonds.

 

[Arde]

Perforated, original. What is oxyclean?

 

[Stevehose]

My header panels and visors are also perforated:

Perforated, original. What is oxyclean?

 

[tomcolitt]

You were probably kidding Chris, but the diamond pattern is in the arrangement of the perforations that from the diamond pattern, unlike most German headliner materials where the holes are arranged in a square pattern. Interestingly, the material on the header panel and sun visors is rotated by 90 degrees on the actual headliner material....

 

[HB Chris]

Actually I see rows of Xs, the mind has to visually connect the Xs to form diamonds.

 

[coupelady]

Headliner perforated it is

Thanks for the pictures and sharing your experiences, that is greatly appreciated! I guess you could call the arrangement of the perforations a diamond pattern but it is not embossed in my opinion. I have become very attached to the perforated headliner (yup the whole car) I did find out the BMW is offering a 1.5 meter bulk material approximately $30.00. The info, other than that it is Weiss, does not say what it looks like.

For information: I learned that the headliner can be sprayed dyed by a professional or an aerosol by the owner but obviously the entire interior needs to be taped and covered for this procedure. Rather scary to me. To replace the entire headliner, according to Dave (highly recommended)at the trim shop I went to yesterday, to do the job correctly on replacement both front and rear windows should come out. So my advisement to anyone who is doing a full restoration at this time, go ahead and do a headliner replacement now while your CS is apart. In the opinion of 2 trim shops the discoloration that you might have on the edges and on the shoulder seat belt holder is probably the original glue that had dried and bled through. I have some of that, I am surprised that I don't have more as the car was driven daily for 5 years and parked in the hot Atlanta sun while at work during the day.

Now, the sun visors show NLA for a long time. I would love to hear any "stories" experiences on their replacement. Dave said the stumbling block on recovering to keep the originality is the heat seal around the edges and the foam deterioration within the visor itself. And those plastic clips that holds it in place! that break so easily! Hope this info helps someone.

 

[rsporsche]

Amy,

the embossing is the light pattern (set at 45 degrees) to the perf. pattern. its very subtle, but that is a roller embossing.

vinyl painting the headliner is going to be difficult to do well (IMHO). its going to hide the embossing ... might even make it more pronounced as vinyl paint tends to be a little thick.

the plastic clips that hold the sunroof in can be purchased from LaJolla (Bimmerdoc) and possibly coupeguy and coupeking ... not sure which for sure ... but i remember seeing some on one of their sites.

 

[inovermyhead]

My coupe had a bad discolouration in the head lining and I tried a few products on in to try and remove it, from dishwasing liquid to cream cleaner and finally shower cleaner, none worked. I stripped all I could out from the roof, mirror, grab handles, light and seat belt mounts then masked up and wrapped everything with painters plastic drop sheet, took a good couple of hours to get it right. I used SEM vinyl paint, three or four thin coats, looks a million bucks, cost twenty, most difficult bit was masking around the 'lip' on the headlining at the rear window.

John

 

[Nicad]

I used Mister Clean foam pads on my 2002's headliner , followed by a water rinse and it did a great job turning it white.