Xeniczone's Interior Project

[Xeniczone]

Intro I was going to wait a little longer before posting this, but someone asked about removed the headliner and how hard it was to so the headliner in suede. Turns out it is quite hard and time consuming.

WARNING: I should note before starting this, it is very easy to put the sunroof back together wrong and not have it function properly anymore. Once you get your sunroof back together, open it by hand by turning the motor manually. Do NOT try to open it using the electric motor. If the sunroof was put together improperly you risk the chance of something breaking as the electric motor will not stop.

DAY 1
First step in removing the headliner is to remove all the accessories from the interior roof of the car. O'Shit handles, Lights, Sun Visors, etc have to be removed. You must also removed the A, B, and C Pillars.



You have to removed the sunroof's glass. It is being held on with six T20 screws. In order to see these screws you must removed the rubber in front of them. It is removed from the top only, not the bottom. I can't figure out how exactly to remove it. I've read that you are suppose to slide it back and forward and it will fall out, but I didn't have any luck with that. I ended up tearing the rubber and glueing it back together once the glass was out.

Quote from boosted 528.

Xenicone- Removing that piece that you tore on the sunroof is easy, pull it out from the top front of the sunroof and it will slide out.

Remove this T20 screw to remove the rail that holds the rubber cover on. The other side of the cover is on a rail. Just pull it out, you will have to hammer it back in. You can see in this picture how I had to tear it. On this particular side the thing fell out after I tore it all the way to the end.



There are four more T20 screws below them. These remove the interior sunroof cover.



SIDE NOTE: If your sunroof doesn't go into tilt mode, this is why. A new pair of these cost around $60 last I checked. All you are doing is replace the already weak plastic with some more weak plastic. I will replace these once someone decides to make the brackets out of steel.



Now you can finally reach the last 4 T10? screws that are required to remove the headliner. You should be able to reach the other 8 with the sunroof open and not removed.



YEAH!!!



Turn it sideways and pull it out of the back door. As you can see in the previous picture I have the seats folded all the way done for this. I should also note I have the rear seats removed. I'm not sure if this is required in order to get it out the back door, but you may as well remove them anyway because you need to in order to get the rear deck out. Which I assume you are redoing in suede also.



That's it for now. The removal of the headliner. Just to note. I don't plan on make this thread a tutorial thread. The only reason I did it for the headliner is there are no good tutorials for removing the headliner and it is a little tricky.

EDIT:
UPDATES:
UPDATE 1: Installing the Suede

UPDATE 2: Installing the headliner and some trim

UPDATE 3: How I did the roof handles

Helpful Links:
Removing the Sunroof

Removing the headliner (E38) NOTE: this is pretty much the same procedure that you use on the E39, but DO NOT pull on the headliner around the sunroof. The E39 uses the screws under the sunroof to keep it in place. The headliner should just fallout if all the screws are removed. No screws required.

[R2dmax]

Looks good. Hopefully its the same to remove that one as it is for my touring. How long did it take to get out?

[Alpina540i]

Sweet!

A few questions for you.

1. I noticed the other day the rear center part of the headliner near the top of the rear windshield was a bit low. I could push it up but it didn't stay. So what holds the rear center of the headliner up?

2. Could you take two pics one of the forward half of the roof and the rear half. Without the headliner in place of course.

3. Is there any sound insulation in there?

Thanks

-Anson

[Xeniczone]

Looks good. Hopefully its the same to remove that one as it is for my touring. How long did it take to get out?

Took me probably 2-3 hours to get out. That includes doing research, getting stuck finding out why I can't get it out, etc. I could see an informed person doing it between 30-60mins.

Touring is probably similar except the headliner is longer. And is probably easier to get out because the rear door.

Sweet!

A few questions for you.

1. I noticed the other day the rear center part of the headliner near the top of the rear windshield was a bit low. I could push it up but it didn't stay. So what holds the rear center of the headliner up?

2. Could you take two pics one of the forward half of the roof and the rear half. Without the headliner in place of course.

3. Is there any sound insulation in there?

Thanks

-Anson

1. The only thing that holds the front of the headliner in place is the sun visor screws. I will update the first post with some links that will help out with removing the headliner as I didn't explain removing the roofs accessories.

2. I already have the new headliner installed. I'm just feeding you the information slowly so I can keep continuous updates. An update twice a week or more interesting than a update every month. The only thing under the headliner is the sunroof cartridge. Look on eBay for "E39 sunroof" and you will see what it looks like under the headliner.

3. No sound insulation under the headliner. The only thing under it is the sunroof cartridge. When you remove the headliner the only thing you see is a sheet of aluminum with the motion sensor attached to it.

[MKpoto]

awesome thread, im planning on redoing my interior!

[MKpoto]

awesome thread, im planning on redoing my interior!

[MKpoto]

awesome, im planning on redoing my interior!

[MKpoto]

awesome, im planning on redoing my interior!

[volodka1985]

wow ^^

[Alpina540i]

So is any one else planing on redoing their interior?..........lol

Xenicone-

Thanks for the answers, I was wondering what holds up the rear center of the headliner? anything?

Do you think there is enough space for any sound insulation?

Thanks

-Anson

[boosted 528]

Xenicone- Removing that piece that you tore on the sunroof is easy, pull it out from the top front of the sunroof and it will slide out.

I found that the suede headliner isnt as easy as it looks. How are you avoiding all the creases?

[Xeniczone]

So is any one else planing on redoing their interior?..........lol

I know right. Everyone is redoing their interior.

Xenicone-

Thanks for the answers, I was wondering what holds up the rear center of the headliner? anything?

Do you think there is enough space for any sound insulation?

Thanks

-Anson

O the rear, sorry I misread that.

The rear is held up with just the lip of the headliner The headliner in the rear is shaped like this.

______ <-lip
|
|
|______________________________________________

When placing the headliner back in you have to slide the lip over the back then screw everything else back in. You cannot simply put the lip back into place. When you have your headliner out also check to see if it has been ripped or torn. The headliner is made out of light material. Two reasons I can think of is one to just be light weight and two so that when the side curtain airbag is deployed it can easily tear through it.

I think you could fit some sound insulation in there without any issue out all. What kind of noise are you experiences? I'm pretty sure most of your road noise will come from the floor boards than the roof.

Xenicone- Removing that piece that you tore on the sunroof is easy, pull it out from the top front of the sunroof and it will slide out.

I feel special now. Thanks for the tip.

I found that the suede headliner isnt as easy as it looks. How are you avoiding all the creases?

I like the look of suede if you vacuum in it so all the same direct or do a lawn mower look with lines going different directions

->
<-
->
<- etc.

I cheated for the, what I call, o'sh!t handles. (If someone is driving around like crazy you grab them and say "o'sh!t." I created two cuts and ran the suede next to each other to hide the seam. The front turned out pretty good except in a few locations where the glue let go because I didn't use enough and wrinkled. I'm considering possible solutions. I'm thinking of putting epoxy in a syringe and injecting it into the wrinkle to hold it back down. The glues that I can use are limited. You can't use glues like super glue, which is what I would normally use on leather to do small fixes, because it will sock through the fake suede.

[Alpina540i]

No real noise but I thought it could help cut down wind noise.

[Xeniczone]

DAY 2

Goodbye sun bleached tan.



Hello black suede.



Now when glueing it, do it in small bites. Do not try to do it all at once. Use plenty of glue and follow the instruction on the back of the glue bottle. Repositioning is not possible, Wait for the glue to become tacky before trying to lay it down or it WILL soak through and ruin the suede.



Here is a map of how I did mine.



Here I'm using a plastic fusion spray paint to do all the plastic pieces. The advantage to using the fusion stuff to just using a good ol' sanding and adhesion promoter is it doesn't need to sand the plastic to make it stick. This means anything plastic inside my car that has a texture on it will not be ruined by sanding. The only issue with the stuff is it takes 7 days to cure and produce a chip free finish!



Also, to remove the handle from the sunroof interior cover pull up on it and it will pop out. Redoing the interior cover in suede shouldn't require a tutorial. It is just a flat piece of metal I think you can figure it out.



That's all for today folks. I've decided that I will try to post updates every Monday and Friday. Some will be smaller than others, but either way I will try to make an update.

[oekundar]

Nice work!..can't wait to see the completed project.

[Xeniczone]

DAY 3

Well it is friday again that means another update.

Last time we removed this plastic piece and painted it black. Now we have it painted and have waited at least a week to make the paint chip proof. At least as claimed by the manufacturer. To install everything you just need to do the reverse of how you removed it. The sunroof can be a bit tricky, but I posted a link under "helpful links" that will assist with reinstalling it.



Now it is late at night and you have just realized, you didn't install the motion detector mount. Now you have two options. Remove everything and start again, or try to wedge it in there. I choose to wedge it in there.









Got the lights for the sun visors painted and installed also. You may noticed I forgot to cut out the wholes for the sun visors. Whoops, but no big deal.





Lastly was the main lights and map lights. This piece I could not get apart. The glassy acrylic would not come off the the other plastic. I decided to tape off the light portion and go ahead and paint it. I wasn't a fan of having half flat and half glossy anyway.

[boosted 528]

Great job!

[shagy30]

That looks awesome! Makes me wanna do my headliner. What's the total cost to do something like that if you don't mind me asking?

[jamesthebikeguy]

Man
that looks good. Unfortunately I know I would end up buchering a job like that. Nice work!

[Alpina540i]

How do you keep it from creasing around the odd contours?

I wrapped my A pillars (I think they are called that...... the front ones) in suede and they were tough to get wrinkle free.

-Anson

[pjfox23]

Question. Looks like you have a regular 5-series (no touring). Did you ever look into swapping an ///M alcantara headliner in? It might be a direct swap, or did you want to cover with your own material?

[Xeniczone]

Thanks for all the positive comments.

That looks awesome! Makes me wanna do my headliner. What's the total cost to do something like that if you don't mind me asking?

The total cost right now for just the headliner and rear deck (not shown) was... This is considering I bought the suede for 50% off.

Suede ($12.50)x(5yrds) = $62.50
3M Trim Adhesive ($9)x(2cans) = $18
Black Plastic Paint ($4)x(2cans) = $8
Flat Black Paint (97c)x(2cans) = ~$2
Total ~$90.50

The main thing that really saved me a lot of money was the suede being 50% off from JoAnn's Fabric. Though is isn't particularly the best suede, artificial suede I should mention, to use because it is rather thick and doesn't give much. It makes stretching a big challenge and for the door handles I had to cheat. I will take pictures of this for my next update.

Man
that looks good. Unfortunately I know I would end up buchering a job like that. Nice work!

Throughout the project, I've had my up's and down's. While doing it I would think "OMG, I'm just ruining my car" then I will get it all put back together and it will look so good I will jump for joy. So for me anyway it his its up's and down's.

How do you keep it from creasing around the odd contours?

I wrapped my A pillars (I think they are called that...... the front ones) in suede and they were tough to get wrinkle free.

-Anson

I've been swapping between 3M General Trim Adhesive and Loctite 300 Professional. I like both of them for different reasons, but the 3M has a few more features like controlling how wide the spray is.

Like I was showing in the pictures from Day 2. I spray in small sections at a time. A little on the fabric and a little on the cardboard head liner. Wait ~2-5 mins for the glue to become tacky and slowly run my hand over the fabric laying it down. Once you give that a second to dry. I really didn't have any issue with the A Pillar. The hardest ones for my were the Rear Deck and the Headliner everything else was a breeze.

A little advise is not to be afraid to use too much glue. Glue is cheap compared to fabric. and not using enough can make air bubbles later on where the glue lets go. I will take some pics of this later. With that being said, be sure not to use too much glue otherwise it will soak through the fabric and ruin it.

Question. Looks like you have a regular 5-series (no touring). Did you ever look into swapping an ///M alcantara headliner in? It might be a direct swap, or did you want to cover with your own material?

I actually didn't know the M5 had suede interior from the factory until I started this project. With that being said I looked into it and was a little scared off from sticker shock. The M5 headliner is around $300-$500 and would cost another $100 to ship it. To do my whole headliner, rear deck and pillars, by myself was less than $100 plus I still have some suede left over to try some other stuff like steering wheel

[toi]

man you got too much spare time in your hands

good job

[Xeniczone]

DAY 3.5

I know I said Money and Friday will be the updates, but I meant Tuesday and Friday. Tuesday will be small updates if any update at all while Fridays will be the main updates.

Here is how I did the handles. If you look very carefully you can see the seem where I cut out the extra material. If you are having trouble seeing it look below the handle where it mounts to the car.

[Xeniczone]

Day 4

First, I got a measured a sheet of suede for the rear deck. My mom was nice enough to stitch in the M logo.



Following the same technique I used before, I got the suede glued to the rear deck. I'm not sure why, but when I removed the rear deck fabric my hands itched for like a week.



Since I am doing a Polk only sound system I thought I would add some Polk Audio logos to the rear deck speaker grills since the grilles that come with the speakers don't fit. First step was to get some polk audio logos. I found these on eBay. They were taken from a 1981 Polk SDA1. The neat thing about these logos is they are made of metal not plastic.

They were nice, but they needed to be restored. The face was corroded and the paint has lost it deep black appearance. Which is weird because my dad has a set of 1981 Polk SDA2-A's and the logos on them are in really good condition.

To restore them I first painted them black using a black primer. Then I used 2000 grit sand paper to sand the face until the paint and corrosion were sanded off. I sanded in one direction only to get a brushed metal look.



Painted all the plastic bits black and installed the Polk logo.



Installed all the plastic pieces.