Drooping Headliner Fix

At 43,412 miles and 10 years of age our 2007 Cayman headliner collapsed. I found a WONDERFUL shop in Los Angeles that replaced the liner in less that four hours for $300.00 + tax. I had a choice of color and materials. Some materials might be more expensive. I went with Black and it looks great with the gray interior. Shop Info: "Best Way Upholstery" 5600 Venice Blvd., #B, Los Angeles, CA 90019 [phone removed], [email removed] Ask for George. Jim D Loving

One of the few times I wish I was on that coast. Prices I'm getting in Naples, FL range from $900 to $1250, depending on the material and place, for the identical service. If anyone can make a recommendation within 50 miles of Naples, FL I'd be most appreciative. Mine just started to sag at the 10 year anniversary. :cheers:

Right at $300 here in Knoxville, TN as well. I didn't think that was bad at all.

Update from Naples FL regarding headliner replacement. After a few hours research yesterday, the price range for replacement went from $350 to $1250. None of the half dozen estimates were from the local Porsche dealer. All came from auto upholstery businesses in the area. After seeing how many folks on Planet 9 did the same in the $300-$400 range I decided to check out the $350 guy's business. Yikes. His lot looked like a small salvage yard and just trying to get onto the property looked like an accident waiting to happen. Fairly quickly I decided I wasn't going in and there was no way in h_ll I would leave my car there. Then went directly to my independent Porsche mechanic, who after a few visits seems very competent and honest, with the intention of getting a referral. Well.....of course they have a guy they use who is supposed to be very good. They of course will handle everything because their guy really just does dealer referral work and not walk ins. Because they have done right by me in the past, I agreed, left the car this afternoon and will have it back with an new oem headliner on Friday. Cost is $620, including I'm sure, their handling markup. Not in that $300-$400 range I was hoping for but also not $1250. This independent does lots of German car ( Porsche , Mercedes, Audi , VW) maintenance and sales so they do know the business. I'll let ya'll know how it looks on Friday.:cheers:

Just to close this thread until someone else has the problem, I got my car back this morning and $600 later, the job was done damn near perfectly. It looks and feels great, had no collateral trim damage, and my independent mechanic's source for this kind of work was spot on. I can't help but notice there wasn't a lot of interest regarding this subject but at least now if it happens to you, you'll have some additional information and be able to make a more informed decision. Just do a search for headliner sag and this will come up.:cheers:

Glad it worked out for you at a reasonable cost and the job quality was good. I'm amazed that the local dealer had the OEM liner shell in stock and in your color. Also, I thought the shell alone was close to $600. AFAIK you can't just buy OEM fabric, so I wonder if they just re-upholstered it with a similar fabric. Doesn't matter - in-fact non-OEM is probably better. Porsche headliners don't seem to be primo quality to begin with.

Well they claim it's OEM and that they had it shipped overnight but who knows. It wasn't a deal breaker either way and it's not noticeably different in look or feel. Color is black so even harder to tell. I'm happy so I guess it doesn't matter. Hard to feel good about the headliner sitting on top of your hat driving down the road. LOL. :cheers:

Can you post any pics. I'm wondering how that looks as I have gray interior. Thanks!

Headliner pics are really difficult, particularly in black. I know your request was directed to CarmonaRed but just for giggles I just went out to my poorly lit garage to see what a pic might look like. Black interior with new black headliner and it was almost impossible to see what the pic was even about. Perhaps with lots of extra lighting focused on the headliner and even a different camera that's not an iPhone , could result in something usable but even that would be difficult. Maybe Carmona will have better luck.:cheers:

I have extreme interest in this subject. I registered so I could respond! My newly acquired 2010 has its liner sagging on the passenger side. I'd like to get the name of the installer as I'm a Naples resident as well, perhaps see your car's install beforehand.

Firefox.....I responded to your private message. DeBold German Auto Sales and Service on Airport Pulling Road (no affiliation just a happy customer) is my maintenance independent. Check with Eddie, the service writer and tell him the gray 2008 guy sent you.:cheers:

I need to go into business fixing Porsche headliners! I did mine myself for about $30 in materials. Although the 1,000%+ markup is probably worth the time and frustration involved. [emoji28] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just did my headliner, and cost about $50 Australian (about $30 US) Took about 4 hours to do, but imitation suede looks and feels really nice. youtube is your friend if you have not done this before. Was pretty easy to do. Cheers, Ken

Did you just glue the old one back up, or did you need to replace it?. If you glued it, what glue did you use and has it lasted until now (5 years+)?

My 2009 CS OEM black fabric headliner's foam backing just gave up the ghost. Here is Marin County (across GG Bridge from SF), I just got a $1,500 offer to remove the old fabric, backing and glue, and replace it with a comparable foam-backed fabric. The guy said it would be a lot of work (around 6 hours). So, I'm thinking, "That's $250/hr of after-tax income to me." To steal a Garry Shandling joke, "For that kind of money, I expect to see breasts pressed up against my windows on demand." I'm retired, so my time costs nothing. So, youtube education to remove roof panel: 1 Hr. $0. Actual panel removal: 2 Hr. (I am very, very incompetent). Cloth removal: 30 seconds. Foam removal: 2 Hr. FYI: isopropyl alcohol dissolves the foam and mobilizes the OEM glue to form a fabulously-viscous black goo of snot-like consistency. Removing this goo with an old credit card or gift card, and/or a metal putty knife works well, but removing all the little snot balls is about as fun as changing a stranger's baby's diaper. So, while it worked, I'd opt for a dry-removal process instead (wire wheel bit in a cordless drill seems to work). So, now the big question that I haven't seen answered yet: What's the minimum thickness of headliner material needed in order to keep all the plastic trim pieces from rattling around following re-installation? Standard foam-backing is 3/16" thick. I'm going to replace with genuine Alcantara fabric, but the Alcantara "panel" grade fabric (1 mm thick), which Alcantara describes as the right stuff for premium automobile headliners, is an unbacked, foamless fabric. The backed Alcantara product is described as appropriate for seats, but not specified for headliner panels. But, the "backing" which Alcantara is referring to here is NOT a foam material, it is a thin, bi-directionally woven mesh which adds strength (not girth) to the 1 mm-thick Alcantara fabric. So, to do a correct install, do I also need to purchase a 3/16" sheet of foam backing, glue that foam sheet onto the Alcantara fabric, and then proceed to glue the foam-backed Alcantara panel into the headliner panel? Or will this foam backing layer just assure that all my hard work will fail again for that same, original cause? Is there a pre-Y2K foam backing source capable of withstanding the brutally-harsh atmospheric conditions of an atypically-temperate west coast garage? Did foam backing go "gluten-free" at the turn of the millennium?

So I have a question. Did you disconnect the ground wire to the battery before working on the headliner? The only reason I ask is because the doors and trunk lid remain open for a long time

Where at in Knoxville, TN, please?