smiledr996s

I thought these days were over. But starting to get a saggy headliner at the very back on both sides by the hatch as well as both sides up front under the sun visors. My vehicle is black and up until a year ago was mostLy parked in the shade.

curious if any others with this issue. I could only guess the the cost to replace. Hopefully an upholstery shop could repair.

Max Blast

cant say that I do - I have two 2007s and their headliners are still pristine. I live in the Pacific Northwest coastal climate - and am very familiar with drooping headliners of some 80s and 90 SAAB and GM products occurring in this climate - but not on 2000+ MB products. Having done three headliners on other types of cars I will say that the right way is a complete removal to scrape all the old dried glue off the roof biscuit - it’s basically a pressed fiber insulation board - and that necessitates full removal.

in the x164 that is accomplished by having to remove all a, b, c and d pillars while being aware of the curtain airbags in the windowline.

Not a trivial job for a DIYer and lots of labor if you’re having it farmed out - if you do so; make sure they literally do not cut corners.

interested to know your model year and climate.

sak335

My experience on German cars is that replacing headliners is tedious but not difficult; the process is exactly as MaxBlast suggests. The hardest part of the job is sourcing the correct material. In the US the headliner material most commonly used is fabric with a thin (2-3mm) lightweight foam material bonded to it. German cars, however, typically use plain fabric that is glued directly to a much denser foam mold backing. The problem with using the US material is that it ends up too thick and areas that have large radius bends are difficult to achieve the correct look. Now I say this not having done the headliner on an X164 and it's possible that since it's built in Alabama, that they may have used a US supplier. It's worth pulling down a corner to see what's under there before you source the material.

machadosl

I have a 2007 GL500 here in Brazil and this year, the headliners started to drop in the back, maybe due to the climate that is very hot and humid and the age of the car. I have the same problem you have in US to find the proper material to replace it and of course, a professional that has the ability to do this service.

DarthVaderpa

The headliner of my 2007 GL started falling in the back around the speakers and around the sunvisors about three years ago. I live in Florida, hot and humid, and that accelerated the damage. I started to look for options, I found a couple of shops that could do the work for around $1500-1700. The problem was that the GL has several air bags plus a lot of wiring for the GPS, satellite radio antenna, the sunroof, speakers, and risk of breaking them are high considering the age of the vehicle. If you don't care about GPS and radio, any good auto upholstery shop might be able to repair the headliner do the job. I decided to contact the dealer and after a long negotiation I was able to get the liner installed for $2500, which included a new headliner with factory warranty (parts and labor) and I even got a loaner while they did the job.

DennisG01

I thought this was quite interesting and might be worth a shot...

Max Blast

That may not work, depending on how the fabric has loosened - if it’s just the fabric weave separated from the foam backing, then yes. Be careful with the application of glue otherwise it’ll soak through and dry hard on the surface.

The worst failure mode to repair is when the foam itself starts disintegrating and no amount of glue will hold the crumbling foam and fabric on the biscuit board. At that point a clean scrape and new fabric is in order - perhaps the smarter play is to just buy a new panel from MB and do the install yourself, aided by WIS.

DennisG01

It should work even if the fabric is falling because the foam has separated from the board. Which should be easy enough to feel. Actually, that might make the process a little easier/safer since there would be less chance of soak through. But, yeah, if the foam has deteriorated then nothing is going to help.

In the video, he points out (a few times) about being careful with the amount of glue. Also the darker the color is, the better chance you have of NOT seeing a glue spot.

This is likely an "every day" type job for a decent upholstery shop. As mentioned, it's not really "hard" - just time consuming - and patience is important here. If you can at least do the disassembly, that would cut the cost down considerably.

If you end up replacing the entire thing... you may not HAVE to get the exact headliner. There's nothing stopping you from getting a different pattern, material or even a different color. I've seen some cars with contrasting headliners and they pretty darn nice.

Certainly worthwhile to give the glue thing a try, first. Do like the guy in the video did - get some cheap headliner material and practice.

sak335

Sorry, but that video above is a joke. That's the lazy man's fix and won't last. Also note he's using 3M Super 77 which will fail in short order, so he clearly has no idea what he's doing.

I mentioned that I have done this myself several times on other German cars (BMWs) and that it's not really hard, just time consuming. You can get the material off eBay or from upholstery supply companies on the internet. Use 3M 76 Hi-Tack Adhesive (not the the 77 or the stuff you find at Home Depot - those WILL NOT last.) You can get it on Amazon or from the same places you buy the material.

I would have ZERO worries about messing with the airbags and antennae. Those sit underneath the headliner. Once you pull the A, B, C, D pillar trim and the sunroof trim, the headliner will drop down and you can pull it out the rear hatch.

Thoroughly clean off any remaining foam from the core (which is a high density foam these days) then it's a matter of spraying your adhesive onto the headliner core and carefully adhering the fabric and trimming the excess. It should be said, to be explicit, that you wrap the edges over to the other side and glue them down on the back side so that you don't end up with the edges showing.

DennisG01

I (and other employees) have actually done pretty much the same thing (we used syringes... but I like this guy's way better) with boat headliners many times. Some of them have been cloth - others have been foam-backed stuff. In all cases, it's worked really well. I think it's absolutely worth a shot to try it - worst case, you're back at square one and replacing it with no harm done.

I didn't take notice to the glue he was using, but we have always used the 76 stuff you mentioned, as well.

Vaelithe

Fake news. If you hope to have an upholsterer go in behind your shoddy job at some point, never try your own half hearted glue attempts. You could end up costing the shop more labor trying to clean your now(likely) ruined board. I see this crap all the time; seriously, if you take a shortcut it will show in your work and I am sick of being accused for ruining something that was ruined before I touch it. Do it right or take it straight to a professional. We don't want to have to clean up a hack job and then sign our name on it. Back in the day you could get away with syringes but these are not that kind of headliner so just don't. Source: me, an upholsterer

grubster

If anyone needs a headliner replaced, I had an amazing shop replace mine in my 09 gl550. He did an amazing job, sourced a perfect matching material and price was fantastic. Shop is in chicago north suburbs. Unfortunately, GL got totaled 2 months later.

Max Blast

Hey, so all these headliner issues - why?
water leakage?

wannawagon

Sunroof drains being clogged

eric_in_sd

Moisture swells the fiberboard base of the headliner, and thus the fabric falls down, taking a thin layer of headliner substructure with it?

This is seen when people use particle board for flooring underlayment. It is tempting, but when water gets in, the whole thing just comes apart. Ditto for laminate wood-grain flooring.

Max Blast

Yeah it seems asinine to tell people how to redo headliner without a root cause determination of why it failed in the first place.

eric_in_sd

If you have a polyurethane foam backed fabric, I could see how the foam would degrade simply due to heat and oxygen. If the fabric, usually polyester, which is highly inert, is glued directly to the substrate, it should last a very long time. So if it is falling off, finding the root cause is probably important. The reupholsterer probably won't think of the root cause because there are many such causes, and besides, one does not make money from preventing future problems.

eric_in_sd

Dennis said it worked, and I trust him more than you. What's the name of your shop? People might want to know.

However, the advice is generally good. Too often people embark on repairs without taking the time to figure out how to do it right. The JustRolledIn channel on Youtube streams the results constantly. Remember, you are doing it for the first time, while the shop is doing it for the thousandth time.