Headliner Repair and Replacement (All Models)

Introduction
Repair of Old Headliner (Classic)
Replacement with New Headliner (All RR models)
Replacement with New Headliner (Classic)
Replacement with New Headliner (P38)
Replacement with New Headliner (RR III and RR Sport)

Photo at Right: Sagging headliner on David Cairns's P38/P38 Range Rover (note repair attempts with pins).

Introduction
After one or two hundred thousand miles your headliner can begin to sag. Kevin Kelly has contributed a description of how you can repair it well enough to last a few more years. When it gets bad enough, Dan Howard contributes a description (below) of how to replace it. More recently, new players have come into the market and Headliner Express has made available very inexpensive model specific kits for all Land Rover models from the oldest to the very latest. The sections below outline the various options.

Repair of Old Headliner (Classic)
Kevin Kelly reports: "When my headliner first started to sag on my Classic like most people I tried to glue it back up with spray on trim adhesive that did not work at all. I now know that even the best spray on adhesive will not get the headliner to stick back up once the foam between the cloth headliner and the hard shell starts to disintegrate. When the headliner fell on my head a temporary (but not very elegant) fix was to use my staple gun to staple the cloth to the hard headliner shell. I was planning to pay the $300 or so to have an upholstery shop recover my headliner shell when I decided to see if a few of the OEM Land Rover headliner plugs (the plugs that hold the edge of the headliner and the shell to the roof, LR part # MWC8228LG) would work to fix the sagging areas.

I bought a half dozen of them from British Pacific for about $10 and after I pulled out the staples I punched holes in the center of the sagging areas with an awl and popped the plugs in with my thumb (if you look closely at the photos above, especially the one at left, you can see the holes from the staples). Over the next few years I bought about another dozen plugs to fix more areas of the headliner as they started to sag. If you use the plugs as soon as an area of the headliner starts to sag you can delay the replacement of the entire for years."

Replacement of Headliner (all RR models)
In August 2008, I found out about a new headliner shop that specializes in Land Rovers and other European designs that normally have sunroofs and require totally different parts and materials to the typical American designs. Headliner Express sells the specific parts required for Rover headliner replacement, and their free advice makes installation extremely easy. They have model-specific kits for all Range Rover models including the latest RR III and Sport. 

Replacement with New Headliner (Classic)
The new factory headliner can be obtained for about $238 complete from Headliner Express, or you can get the headliner material from other sources and do a bit more work yourself. For example, Kevin found the Headliner Mart at 408-978-5103 in California has headliner material for all model Range Rovers for about $120 several years ago (prices may have increased by now). For those in the LA area, Romero's Custom Upholstery, on Atlantic Ave. in Lynwood have the headliner fabric for approximately $7.50 per yard. Replacement takes about 3 hours plus the time needed to do the sunroof.

Removal: First remove the grab handles by prying up covers at each end and removing four screws in each handle. Remove sun visors.  Remove two push-in type panel retainer buttons on each side of headliner near the rear of the vehicle. Remove rear finisher panel on earlier models. (Also on 1988 and earlier models, you need to remove the rear view mirror which is mounted to the ceiling and helps hold the headliner up. Gant Redmon found that to get it off, you have to twist the arm holding the mirror either clockwise or counterclockwise. Using a spray lubricant makes the job easier. It pops off and exposes the base that is screwed into the ceiling. Remove the two screws and release the base and the job is done.) Remove front and rear interior lights. Remove press on wind lace trim from around sunroof opening.  Remove small metal clips holding headliner to metal lip around sunroof. Make special note of the way in which this join is made.  It will be the most difficult part of the reinstallation process. Using a wide putty knife gradually work the headliner shell down from the roof on one side.  Remove spare tire. Open rear hatch and tail gate. Remove entire shell through the rear of the vehicle. You may have to bend the shell slightly to get it out, but exercise care not to kink or crease it.  Strip off old headliner from the shell, and using a wire brush remove all old foam rubber.

Replacement: Lay new headliner on shell and line it up.  Fold half of headliner over on the other half lengthwise.  Spray shell and exposed portion of liner with 3M 8090 adhesive. Immediately fold headliner over onto sprayed section and press in place.  The most difficult part is getting the headliner down into the depressions in the shell made for the sun visors, etc., so do this part first, starting at the front of the shell.  Do not cut out the hole for the sunroof at this point! Repeat process for other half. Turn shell over and glue down folded over material on shell edges.  From the top side slip a nail or other sharp object through the screw holes for the sun visors and center retainer as well as for the grab handles.  Turn shell over and mark these points on headliner with chalk.  It will make it much easier to reinstall these items.  Reinstall shell, grab handles, sun visors, etc. Working from the top and using a sharp razor blade, cut out the hole for the sunroof, leaving an excess of about three inches all the way around. Using great care, spray glue on edge of opening and stretch material up to fold over metal lip.  Do this in small segments all the way around.   Replace the press on trim and cut off excess material from above. You may see dents or depressions in the headliner caused by your fingers having compressed the foam backing.  These will gradually disappear over a period of weeks

Replacement with New Headliner P38
David Cairns experienced the headliner sagging problem on his 1997 P38 Range Rover. Initially,  he went through the phase of pinning it back up to the roof as a temporary repair. When this became a losing battle, he removed the old headliner and replaced it with new material. David was kind enough to photograph and write up the entire procedure in a very detailed manner for RangeRovers.net readers; his complete illustrated description is available as a Word file on the P38 Headliner Page (this is a large Word file so allow some time for download).  If you are looking for the parts and materials for this job, I recently discovered that Headliner Express sells model-specific kits for all Range Rover models including late models including the P38/P38, and are willing to offer help and advice on installation.  

Replacement with New Headliner (RR III and RR Sport)

In August 2008, I found out about a new headliner shop that specializes in Land Rovers and other European designs that normally have sunroofs and require totally different parts and materials to the typical American designs. Headliner Express sells the specific parts required for Rover headliner replacement -- they have model-specific kits for all Range Rover models including late model RR III and Sport  SUVs.