Had the sagging headliner, and I read through many forums trying to figure out how to do this. The hardest part is removing all the trim, especially if you have never done it before. It is sort of hard to know which direction to pull or push, how much force you should use, etc. I am hoping that these pictures will help a little bit.
I recommend using plastic trim removal tools to assist with this, although there are some places where your hands are the best tools to carefully pull the trim off. The
Porsche
trim plastic is extremely tough! I am amazed at how much force I applied as I tried to do this job, and didn't break a single piece. Having said that, I would try to be as careful as possible as I am sure these trim pieces are not cheap.
If you read the service manual, it really doesn't go into much details, it expects that you have done these before (and work for
Porsche
!). So here are some pics and steps to complete that I hope helps any first-timers:
1) Remove A-pillar. To do this, I found it a little easier to carefully pry the A trim away from the body above the door (there are two clips). This trim pulls out into the car (not downwards). I also was able to pull a little bit of the C-pillar loose near the top (easier to do standing outside the car and leaning in from behind in the hatch area), to give some more room to work. Once you pull these sections from body, the hardest part was to get the A and C pillars to separate at the joint. The A pillar trim covers the C pillar trim, so you have to essentially lift the A trim away from the C trim by slipping a wedge between them. I followed the service manual (
http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/supermechanic/2012-04-03_152751_removing_and_installing_a.pdf
) and slipped the plastic tool into the seam and pointed directly to back of car. There are three clips that hold these pieces together. They can be tough. Fortunately none of them broke - they can deform and new ones are cheap.
The two holes that the clips go into above the door:
A picture of the three clips that hold the A and C pillars trims together.
This is the section of the C pillar that the A pillar connects to (A pillar and headliner removed in pic).
2. After detaching the two trim pieces from each other, then it gets pretty easy. Work your way down the A trim and you will find another clip at the corner, and two more down the post next to windshield. Gently pull these with your fingers, you will soon get the feel for the appropriate amount of force needed. Then the whole A trim piece can be removed.
The third clip location that is near bend of trim as we work our way towards from out car.
Two more clips left as we complete the removal.
(Continued in next reply)
3. Now you remove the C pillar using instructions here:
http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/supermechanic/2012-04-03_152821_removing_and_installing_c.pdf
I choose not to remove the C pillar trim, however, it ended up being a mistake, and now I wish I would have. I had to actually bend stuff a little to get headliner in and out and if doing it again would take the time to do it right. Next you remove the visors (a small torx screw on each side), pry out the homelink opener and cabin light with small screwdriver, they just pop out. (these will be hanging by wires and threaded back through headliner when you remove it).
This from hatch showing top of c-pillar (I did not remove it, but in hindsight, I should have), I just unclipped near top (I undid two clips). Trim is on bottom right corner of the pic:
4. At this point, your headliner should be ready to remove. It will be loose and you very carefully pull it out the back, through the hatch area. Probably better if you get a helper (I didn't, but would have made it a little easier). It probably helps to have the seats as low as possible, and also may help to recline them when removing the headliner from the car.
Here is top side of headliner with all those plastic pieces exposed. There are the ones that like to come loose:
5. Take it to a local upholstery shop. Mine quoted me $120 to install a normal headliner material, and he had a bunch of colors to pick from. I just matched it to old headliner material color. Some are using suede, and you can probably do that for around $250, and it will look really nice. While you are in there, you will probably have several pieces of the plastic that are attached to headliner that will be loose. It is a great opportunity to re-glue all of that to eliminate any future rattles. Many of mine were very loose. Finally, some are installing sound deadening material on roof before reinstalling headliner. I bought some material from Amazon and will apply that tomorrow and let you know how it goes.
Installation is reverse of this process, and I haven't done that part yet. It should be much easier because I now know how it all goes back together. I will post again when I get it all back installed.
Thanks for this info, treiberg! Really helps to have this available when it's needed.
I read this all the way through before realizing "Wait a minute! I have a
Boxster
."
Sent from my
iPhone
using Tapatalk
If I could resuscitate this sleeping thread: my
Cayman
rear hatch liner is off its backing.
I just ordered some grey headliner material and adhesive.
Does anyone have a how-to with the rear hatch internal panel removal, and A+C-pillar recovering?
Bit of a thread necro, but my headliner just started sagging and thought I’d add a couple tips to the R&R. First of all, mine too appears to have foam separation, not glue failure:
And it happened at some point over the past two weeks..not stored in the sun, etc. Fine last time I drove it, and when I went to take it out a couple days ago noticed it sagging over both seats; still tight in the middle.
Regardless, concur with the assessment above re: removing the c-pillar molding as well. You can get the headliner out without removing it, but it’s a lot easier with the trim completely out of the way. Toughest part was removing the connectors for the home link and overhead light switched up near the windshield.
Also, there are three little bolts with T-20 heads per side that need to be removed, one on the C-pillar trim where it connects to the trim around the seatbelt anchor, and one each in the mounts for the sun visors. Only tricky one was the one where it clips in (non-pivot side). There’s a little “flap” that pops down from the edge closest to headliner covering the screw:
This is what the screw head looks like (cover removed here of course; screw back in place so I don’t lose it):
