Rewrapped my headliner- Fitment is all off 🙁 What are your experiences?

[05CherryM3]

I went to a reputable upholstery shop and wrapped my headliner, a, b, and c pillars. I got everything back and it just fits terrible. The headliner material they used is somewhat thick and the pillars look horrible. The c pillars went on somewhat okay but the b pillar left the door panel slightly outwards and the a pillars don’t line up at all. Even worse he didn’t cut out the stupid airbag strip to size and just made a slit for it so it looks horrible and thrown together with what I did to try to get them on. I don’t get it. Was the original material that thin and that’s why I had so many troubles? To make matters worse the material was thick and spongy and the pillars that took extra finessing to somewhat fit left impressions from me trying to get them on even with as careful as I was.

I’m at a loss. Is this normal? What were your experiences?

[TexaZ3]

No, they used a foam backed fabric, that is completely wrong for pillars. Pillars should be wrapped with non-backed fabric. BM134 is the fabric you want to the headliner, and it comes with foam and without. But honestly, for the pillars, its easier to just buy new parts, while they are still available.

https://www.europeanautointeriors.com/search.asp?keyword=bm134

[jet_dogg]

I went to a reputable upholstery shop and wrapped my headliner, a, b, and c pillars. I got everything back and it just fits terrible. The headliner material they used is somewhat thick and the pillars look horrible. The c pillars went on somewhat okay but the b pillar left the door panel slightly outwards and the a pillars don’t line up at all. Even worse he didn’t cut out the stupid airbag strip to size and just made a slit for it so it looks horrible and thrown together with what I did to try to get them on. I don’t get it. Was the original material that thin and that’s why I had so many troubles? To make matters worse the material was thick and spongy and the pillars that took extra finessing to somewhat fit left impressions from me trying to get them on even with as careful as I was.

I’m at a loss. Is this normal? What were your experiences?

How much did you pay?

[Laminads]

Damn i feel you bro. That must be frustrating. Get back in touch with the shop and ask them kindly how they can fix it. Part of the premium you paid for is for the customer service 👍

[05CherryM3]

No, they used a foam backed fabric, that is completely wrong for pillars. Pillars should be wrapped with non-backed fabric. BM134 is the fabric you want to the headliner, and it comes with foam and without. But honestly, for the pillars, its easier to just buy new parts, while they are still available.

https://www.europeanautointeriors.co...?keyword=bm134

That explains it. When he showed me the material he would use I did question how it looked thicker, but he said mine looks different to me because of the age so I went with it. It is a very nice fabric and the top headliner looks great, but I cannot look at these pillars the way they are right now. ECS has the a, b, and c pillar for $700 shipped. That's just insane.

[05CherryM3]

How much did you pay?

$400 which sounded extremely reasonable. I should've questioned it. But he had an E36 in the shop and said he works with older BMWs a lot /:

[jet_dogg]

I guess you got what you paid for unfortunately.

[fattycharged]

I guess you got what you paid for unfortunately.

I disagree. $400 isn't out of the touch for this job if you're bringing them the pillars and headliner. A headliner recover should be no more than $200 for labor, if it were, you might as well just order a new one.

He used the incorrect fabric as has been stated for the A,B, C pillars and just FYI, the foam backed and non backed fabric I currently have in hand for this job, they do not match perfectly and neither do the BMW pieces from what I have seen.

[jet_dogg]

I disagree. $400 isn't out of the touch for this job if you're bringing them the pillars and headliner. A headliner recover should be no more than $200 for labor, if it were, you might as well just order a new one.

He used the incorrect fabric as has been stated for the A,B, C pillars and just FYI, the foam backed and non backed fabric I currently have in hand for this job, they do not match perfectly and neither do the BMW pieces from what I have seen.

My bad, I thought it was for alcantara.

[fattycharged]

$400 which sounded extremely reasonable. I should've questioned it. But he had an E36 in the shop and said he works with older BMWs a lot /:

Have the pillars redone with the correct fabric, the airbag "slit" is still available to purchase and is likely your best bet, that piece is difficult

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-bmw-parts/a-pillar-airbag-cover-black/51437902805/?gclid=CjwKCAjw-8qVBhANEiwAfjXLrgN9-d1rNiirxa3nQIk1ZYDLLU1ojsl989mI0u3gjTg7DTiWd6sx8xoCGSoQAvD_BwE