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Open the top half way and keep it in this position.
Remove 5 torx screws holding the front edge of the headliner to the hard top.
Ease the left and right rubber moldings bordering the headliner that the windows when up meets.
Push the headliner downward and the left and right sides will unclip with little persuasion.
And with little manoevering the rear end of the headliner will drop when the clips holding it the the top are undone.
And Voila.
Just be careful throughout the removal process not to bend or crack the headliner.
Holding it from the center will help. Two guys on the job is a major plus.
Good luck.
David... I have the same rattling problem on a 2008 SL/550. Visual inspection shows that all of the rear headliner retaining clips have become "detached" from the headliner. Lee provided excellent instructions for removing the headliner. I was wondering if you had gotten into the project and found the same situation with your rear headliner clips. If so, have you "fixed" them and how did you go about the fix.
Steve
Sorry for the tardy response. The SL happened to be in the shop and I mentioned to the dealership. The indicated they did something (vague) like adding some padding up there. Regardless, it's not rattling anymore.
I haven't taken the headliner off to investigate, but would think with Lee's instructions and perhaps some additional padding, it would do the trick.
Hello David, Thanks for the reply. Glad you got the rattling fixed. If you want to check to see if your "clips" are detached (like mine), simply retract the top into the trunc and look at the back of the top where the headliner is "attached". If you can see the clips, then you have detached clips as well. I'm going to use Lee's instructions and remove the headliner and see if I can find a body-shop that will "hot glue" the clips back into place and then reattach the headliner (or put some padding up there are call it a day )
I too have a 2005 SL500 and my headliner (6) clips are all detached. Is this normal? How would this happen without someone detaching them? Can I reattach them using the disassembly instructions mentioned earlier?
The car also has a disturbing rattle at 1500RPM. It seems to be coming from the rear of the car. I was told (by a non-MB shop) that the rattle was my passenger-side muffler. I don't necessarily think this is the case, but it drives me nuts.
dmingo777 - I took my 2008 SL 550 to a headliner shop and they first tried to "hot glue" the clips back to the headliner. This did NOT work. They came detached two days later. Like [groves73], the shop ended up using a two-phase epoxy glue to secure the clips and then re-attached the headliner to the convertible top. Cost me about $100.
I bought some 3m Headliner Spray put some rags around some 2x4's and used them to snug the Headliner tight to roof over night, no issues now all summer.
Mine were detached & since I had to remove it anyways for the replacement of the front hydraulic cylinder repair, I figured
it could be better than factory, which was pretty poor to be honest!
I used 2 part plastic epoxy and #3 screws 1/2" and a 1/16 drill hole. I am pretty sure that will be the end of shake rattle & roll
from this headliner
I need to remove my headliner to repair the lock cylinder. I went to the local dealership to get a few of the clips in question on this thread and they could not find them in their system. Go figure? Does anybody have the part number for these clips that could break during removal of the headliner?
Another question, I think the "clips" being referred to are kind of flat with a notch cut out in the center and glued to the headliner itself. Photos would be helpful. Where/what do the clip onto? Do these break too? Again photos would be helpful.
Spyder,
The clips are part of the headliner. There is a part number stamped on the headliner.
Give them that part number. The clips should have been stuck to the white pins that
protrude from the back edge of the roof top. I suppose you could alternately remove
the pins along the back and drill holes in the headliner and directly just use the pins
to hold it attached.
I need to remove my headliner to repair the lock cylinder. I went to the local dealership to get a few of the clips in question on this thread and they could not find them in their system. Go figure? Does anybody have the part number for these clips that could break during removal of the headliner?
Another question, I think the "clips" being referred to are kind of flat with a notch cut out in the center and glued to the headliner itself. Photos would be helpful. Where/what do the clip onto? Do these break too? Again photos would be helpful.
Thanks in advance.
The "Clips" are just as PopTopClk pictured and were originally glued to the Headliner but become unglued with age. PopTopClk smartly drilled the clips and attached them with both glue and screws, pretty much guaranteeing he won't have to redo the job again in the future.
These clips attach to standard interior door panel connectors like these that are inserted into the roof top panel: Euro Door Panel Clips
From the factory, the open end of the clip in picture #1 is mounted facing downward. This means the only way to reinstall the headliner is to 1st install the door retainer clips in picture #2 into the white plastic clips in picture@#1 then line up the retainer clips with their respective holes in the roof panel and press towards to front of the car. That works without issue on reinstallation, but pretty much guarantees you'll break either clips, or force to come unglued, during another attempt at headliner removal. My personal solution was to mount the clips in picture #1 with the open end facing upward, then I cut a piece of bicycle innertube and put it in the "U" and then installed the clips in picture #2 into the roof panel 1st, then simply pressed the rear of the headliner upward into place. The piece of inner-tube isn't necessary, but I just wanted to make it as secure as possible and eliminate any potential squeaks. Now removal of the headliner can occur in about a minute when necessary, and the whole unit is fully secured in place when installed without nary a squeak. And no threat of breaking clips all over again should the headliner need to be removed in the future.
Last edited by Aussiesuede; 04-10-2018 at 12:04 AM.
Hello David, Thanks for the reply. Glad you got the rattling fixed. If you want to check to see if your "clips" are detached (like mine), simply retract the top into the trunc and look at the back of the top where the headliner is "attached". If you can see the clips, then you have detached clips as well. I'm going to use Lee's instructions and remove the headliner and see if I can find a body-shop that will "hot glue" the clips back into place and then reattach the headliner (or put some padding up there are call it a day )
Yep...I looked at my roof whilst it was stored in the trunk and to my sadness I can see that the trim clips are not attached to the roof and then noticed that while the roof is closed the rear is hanging down a good inch to inch and half...dammit..!!
That's gonna be fun isn't it.
While tackling the headliner unglue issue, I found that the rear clips were going to be difficult to get reattached. I
did something that I may regret, but made the liner much easier to install. I installed the back clips upside down. This
allowed me to slide the clips in by pushing the liner up. I used gorilla superglue to reattach the clips along the back and
side. We'll see if it holds up. Many thanks to the members here supplying information, which made this job much easier.
Sadly I didn't get particularly good pictures, but maybe they will help someone.
View of back clips missing. The old glue just gave out
One of the back clips mounted upside down, helped me reinstall
View of the side clips while I wait for the glue to dry
After reading the thread I too noticed I had a loose rear section of roof and when roof was in boot could see that the retainers were in place but that the male trim clips had fallen out.
So I was able to sort of engage the new clips into the hole in the roof and line the trim clip up into the retainer as I pushed it all back together and voila in went back together...I consider myself lucky this time
$150,000 car and Mercedes used Elmer's glue to hold the clips together. Mine have all detached as well, while taking off the liner to replace the roof lock cylinder O-ring.
$150,000 car and Mercedes used Elmer's glue to hold the clips together. Mine have all detached as well, while taking off the liner to replace the roof lock cylinder O-ring.
agree with your comments ...over engineered except for the common sense stuff.
I just noticed this as well while checking out my liner..I hear a clunk from the roof on the right side sometimes when going over bumps..like a click! Can I pop it back into place based on the video.
I just noticed this as well while checking out my liner..I hear a clunk from the roof on the right side sometimes when going over bumps..like a click! Can I pop it back into place based on the video.
No, It can't simply be popped back into place since Mercedes in their great wisdom mounted the clips with the open end facing downwards instead of facing upwards.thus pretty much guaranteeing that you'll either break the clips themselves, or cause them to come unglued upon headliner removal. It's for that reason that both Chad500SL & myself chose to reattach the clips with the open end facing upwards which allows one to simply pop it back into place as you wish to do. The Headliner is primarily secured by the Torx screws on the front, and the rubber molding on the sides. There isn't enough pressure on the rear to cause the headliner to detach at the rear when you remount it with the clips facing upwards. The upside is that you can remove and reinstall the headliner much more easily in the future without fear of breaking the clips or causing them to become unglued. This would have been the smarter orientation coming from the factory imo. I've done about 20,000 miles since reorienting the clips and haven't had a headliner squak nor rattle since doing so. I had to remove the headliner to replace the seals in my lock cylinders this past weekend and it literally took me about a minute to complete the removal with the clip reorientation and about 2 minutes to reinstall, and since I secured the clips with screws, I'll never have to worry about them coming unglued again.
No, It can't simply be popped back into place since Mercedes in their great wisdom mounted the clips with the open end facing downwards instead of facing upwards.thus pretty much guaranteeing that you'll either break the clips themselves, or cause them to come unglued upon headliner removal. It's for that reason that both Chad500SL & myself chose to reattach the clips with the open end facing upwards which allows one to simply pop it back into place as you wish to do. The Headliner is primarily secured by the Torx screws on the front, and the rubber molding on the sides. There isn't enough pressure on the rear to cause the headliner to detach at the rear when you remount it with the clips facing upwards. The upside is that you can remove and reinstall the headliner much more easily in the future without fear of breaking the clips or causing them to become unglued. This would have been the smarter orientation coming from the factory imo. I've done about 20,000 miles since reorienting the clips and haven't had a headliner squak nor rattle since doing so. I had to remove the headliner to replace the seals in my lock cylinders this past weekend and it literally took me about a minute to complete the removal with the clip reorientation and about 2 minutes to reinstall, and since I secured the clips with screws, I'll never have to worry about them coming unglued again.
nice, what redneck fix is there?
Can i I just stick in a double sided 3m between there and push? Haha
Taking the headliner out and gluing it doesn't take very long. Putting the clips on backwards is still holding fine on my car and it sure made it easy to put back together. I'd be worried about gluing it in the car as you might get something difficult to take apart later.
08-04-2012, 02:33 PM
Rear Headliner Clips Detached
)
Clip Fix on rear headliner $7
mounted the clips with the open end facing downwards instead of facing upwards.thus pretty much guaranteeing that you'll either break the clips themselves, or cause them to come unglued upon headliner removal. It's for that reason that both Chad500SL & myself chose to reattach the clips with the open end facing upwards which allows one to simply pop it back into place as you wish to do. The Headliner is primarily secured by the Torx screws on the front, and the rubber molding on the sides. There isn't enough pressure on the rear to cause the headliner to detach at the rear when you remount it with the clips facing upwards. The upside is that you can remove and reinstall the headliner much more easily in the future without fear of breaking the clips or causing them to become unglued. This would have been the smarter orientation coming from the factory imo. I've done about 20,000 miles since reorienting the clips and haven't had a headliner squak nor rattle since doing so. I had to remove the headliner to replace the seals in my lock cylinders this past weekend and it literally took me about a minute to complete the removal with the clip reorientation and about 2 minutes to reinstall, and since I secured the clips with screws, I'll never have to worry about them coming unglued again.
