Headliner Repair options? Who has tried them, and what was your experience?

So my headliner decided it was done this weekend. Looking around here it is pretty obvious that this is a common problem, and I am seeing mention of replacing with alcantara etc, but I have not seen anything about where to purchase these different solutions, and whether they have been lasting well or not. A quick search brought up a company called headliner magic who offers an alcantara kit for example. If you have had this issue and have the time to add your thoughts on where you bought your products, whether you are satisfied with the results, etc, I would really appreciate hearing about it to assist in my decision on how to proceed with repairing mine.

recommended thread.... http://www.planet-9.com/987-cayman-and-boxster-chat/107301-987-1-headliner-replacement.html alcantara goes with more alcantara so its a slippery slope

I had a local shop that I found by Googling "headliner repair [my city]" and that had very good reviews on Yelp. They removed and repaired my 987's black headliner while I waited (took a couple of hours as I recall). It was several years ago and I can't find my receipt, but it probably cost around $100-$150. jD

Mine died about a year ago. I took it to an upholstery shop with Porsche experience. Cost about $200. Hey, take this as an opportunity to get creative.:hilarious:

Thanks for the pointer. I have looked at quite a few threads so far, but finding any kind of consensus has been elusive. They seem to be more filled with rants about Porsche 's lack of quality(understandably so in my opinion) on this than anything. I'll check it out in a few minutes. That Headliner Magic place mentioned in my OP is in Garland Texas. I saw your location and it made me wonder if that was the place you took your car? If so, I would be curious about their product, as they sell a replacement alcantara headliner kit for $69 online. If the product if of good quality, I don't have any problem doing it myself. At least that way I have nobody to blame but myself if I break a clip or the like, and I can take the opportunity to install some felt in the joint areas to hopefully get rid of a squeak I have coming from right behind my head. I see a chartreuse paisley patterned headliner in my near future LOL! Seriously though, trying to figure out if black would look correct in my car. The factory one is gray, but my interior is a stone gray/ black combination.

By way of an update, after looking at my options I decided to go with an alcantara replacement. I ordered the material, thinking I may be able to perform the job myself, as I have some experience wrapping things in vinyl and the like from a past life as a car stereo installer. The alcantara is much stiffer than I imagined though, and would not easily conform to the shape of the headliner, so I ended up having to take it to a local professional. He said that the only way to get it to behave is with an industrial steamer to soften it up, and is currently working on getting mine sorted. I will try to post some pictures when it is finished.

I know Alcantara comes in a headliner thickness and a seating surface grade but found a few more. Maybe your vendor sent you the wrong one. Alcantara Pannel: A single layer of Alcantara with a bi-directional stretch along the width of the roll. Perfect for DIY wrap jobs, headliners, hard plastic covering, and anywhere stretch is required with little added thickness. Alcantara Cover: Alcantara with a woven backing to prevent stretching and to add strength. The best choice for sewn items such as seating surfaces, shift/brake boots, and complicated shapes that require seams. Alcantara Perforated: Alcantara that has been perforated with square or round holes. Perforated Alcantara has a black woven backing to prevent visibility through the perforations but still allowing for air flow. Alcantara Starlite: Perforated Alcantara with a silver reflective backing for aesthetic purposes. Alcantara Multilayer: Black Alcantara Pannel that is made slightly thicker with a thin, felt like backing specifically created for steering wheels. Also great for projects where greater strength is needed while maintaining stretch. Alcantara Avant: Alcantara designed for contract and marine applications. Avant is treated with an anti-microbial application and resists mildew. It also features a similar backing to Alcantara Cover. Alcantara Master: Alcantara designed for aviation purposes treated to meet certain fire and smoke resistance ratings. It does not feature a backing material.

I went with the "pannel" material, which is supposedly the one for the task. The stretch to it is very minimal. The upholstery guy said it is absolutely possible to make it work on the headliner, but that you need a steamer to have a chance. I shared the information so that others will have more information at their disposal and understand that it is not an easy DIY for a headliner in a Cayman . It might work without much trouble in another vehicle with less complexity of curve shapes, but on the Cayman , it would be really tough as a DIY.

On a different car I had the headliner repaired by a competent auto upholstery shop. The liner was replaced and I looked at samples in a book and picked out material that was an exact match. In that car, the rear window needed to be removed in order to do the job right. I hired a glass shop to remove and reinstall the rear window.

Long time no post but it is my wife's car. Pulled the headliner today as it let go about a week ago. She has an ' 06 Cayman S so I wanted to replace the fabric with the same stuff. Ordered it from Headliner Express. Took about 15 minute to get it out of the car after viewing the two vids on youtube. If you are pulling it yourself the rear of the headliner is held in by two Velcro tabs and a clip so you need to work the headliner straight down in the rear to be truly free of the car. The fabric was pretty pricey but if you are going with something else its not too bad. Local shop quoted me $100 to put the new one on but the guy from the fabric place assured me this is a pretty simple process. Cleaning the board took about 1/2 hour. If you need or want any pics just ask.

Mine was starting to sag and I had planned to get it fixed and even got a qoute for it.When I did so, you could only notice it if you looked up.I didnt drive my car for a couple of days and when I got in it this morning I noticed part of my view when looking at the rearview mirror was blocked.So mine also decided to give up.Im surprised how quickly this issue can turn from barely noticable to priority fix in a matter of 2 days. Living in the Caribbean certainly accelerates the proccess, but still, that was almost in an instant.Also, seeing what some of you have been qouted, $400 for mine seems like a bit steep, it is a competent shop that services luxury and exotic cars though.

Just finished this up. As a side note I have enough glue and hounds tooth fabric left for someone who has that color cloth to do their headliner. Removal took about an hour. The back of the headliner is held up by one large plastic in the center of the car and two Velcro fasteners, one on each side. I have the nylon tools but the paint is so soft you mark it up even with them. Took some shots so i will share. You can get behind the a pillar trim with your fingers and pull it straight out, towards the center of your car. Down side to this is that the metal clips that secure the trim are pretty flimsy and you can break the channels that hold them in so the nylon pry tools do have that going for them. When you pull the trim out of the car you must move it back towards the rear of the car to free the bayonet mount in the front. It is possible that you do not have all of the clips free and when you slide the trim back they will come out of the channel and remain secured to the car. You can get these out if you are careful by pulling them straight out. If you **** them up or down they can fall into the car and are gone for good unless the reward you with a reminder rattle. Bayonet in the front of the trim Metal clips that hold trim in place. They have a rubber skirt around them Clip left in/on car Velcro on the rear of the car that hold the headliner up Sun visor anchor Sun visor swivel attachment point. There is a clip on the post that snaps in to this square hole and then the screw is fastened with a T25 head driver.

Forgot to post my results until now. I got the headliner wrapped in the black alcantara , and it looks very good. There is just one odd thing about it. You can barely see it. The color is so flat black, that when you look up, it is as if you are just staring into the abyss. You can only see a little surface texture when it is really bright outside, and even then it is a little hard to make out. It matches fine with my black and gray interior though, so no problems there. Overall, if I had it to do over I might select a slightly less dark color, but I was worried about color match so I went with the one that I knew would go with anything.

Reviving this old thread. Removed the headliner on my 2008 987 Cayman today and noticed the C-Pillar trim had 2 clips not shown in the downloadable PDF removal guide. I found this image of the backside of the C-Pillar trim online and added the red circles showing where these 2 clips are located. Hopefully this will make someone else's life easier in the future.

My headliner just died - seems unattached from the roof. Has anyone in Los Angeles had their headliner repaired or replaced? Any suggestions appreciated.