Alcantara headliner or stock?

[kokgo20]

How does the thin screws cover on the A pillar look wrapped?

[old///MFanatic]

How does the thin screws cover on the A pillar look wrapped?

Pretty decent. In my photo they are not locked into pillar. If you end up using foam backed Alcantara on the pillars you'll need to remove the foam from around this area before or it'll probably be too thick.
As you're probably aware the thin cover strip has very delicate tabs that lock into the A-pillar. These break taking it on/off over time. If yours are bad just buy new ones, grey ones are $20 each from ECS, or $25 each from FCP Euro w/Lifetime warranty. Since you're covering them anyways figured go for the cheaper grey interior ones as black ones are slightly more expensive.

[old///MFanatic]

Stock, prefaced, the parcel shelf does match the headliner and pillars!
I just went through my photo library and don't have a ton of great pics.
I can take some there, if you want better shots.

Thanks, yes one can't really see it well enough over all to make a visual decision.

I have had two pre-faced E46s and the material on the parcel tray is not a match to the headliner. Different materials. I know the ETK has it named as antracite but it's not the same. Infact on my first E46 Coupe it had the grey headliner stock with that same blackish parcel tray.

[kokgo20]

What does everyone feel about the material used in the F30?

personally, I’m not a big fan of how the Alcantara looks when it’s not brushed in one direction. Looks spotty.

[Obioban]

What does everyone feel about the material used in the F30?

personally, I’m not a big fan of how the Alcantara looks when it’s not brushed in one direction. Looks spotty.

I think the material used in the F30 looks cheap-- worse than the stock e46 headliner material, imo.

[eljay]

Does anyone have a good source for OEM equivalent headlining foam-backed fabric?

[Nate047]

Veteran Co, they have the worst website in the known universe but call them.

https://www.veteranco.com/

looks like they did their regularly scheduled quarter century site update

[Casa de Mesa]

Anthracite 9002 seems to be the way to go for wrapping interior bits (A, B, C pillar, etc.). A few questions here:

1. For everything except the headliner, do you go with backed or unbacked Alcantara?

Backed 9002
Unbacked 9002 <-- My assumption is this, due to it's workability around tight corners, creases, etc.

2. I have a brand new slick top headliner. I can go over the top of the existing material, and not have to remove the factory material?

3. If Yes to #2, presumably I'd use the same Unbacked 9002 stuff. If no to #2, presumably I'd need 1 yard of the Foam Backed 9002?

4. To do everything in the "greenhouse", I need 3 yards total? Everything = A, B, C pillars, headliner, rear parcel shelf.

5. Does anyone have any experience with Dynamica Suede that is mentioned in this video? If I'm doing it... might as well go with Alcantara but figured it was worth asking.

[jet_dogg]

That's something an upholstery shop would know but you're right in your assumption. Tricky pieces require the unbacked for positioning on contours and such, some portions of seats and others.

I would think backed is fine for the headliner, unbacked for pillars, visors, trim.

[old///MFanatic]

You want the unbacked on the A/B/C pillars. You want this for the reasons you mentioned but also so the pillars don’t look puffy. Upholstery shops can do the backed Alcantara but it’s harder for them. You especially don’t want the A pillar foamed backed as you have the center screw hiding strip that insets there. “Backed” makes this look more obvious being puffy and not fitting flush. You want that to look one piece and backed makes it harder because material is thicker.

As for adhering it to the new factory fabric. That’s up to your shop. But would very much expect they want the bare headliner board to use adhesive to affix their glue to. Doubt the fabric soaked with glue would work as well. It would also basically make the Alcantara then foam backed doubled up on the factory material.

I would check with your shop first before buying.

[Casa de Mesa]

That's something an upholstery shop would know but you're right in your assumption. Tricky pieces require the unbacked for positioning on contours and such, some portions of seats and others.

I would think backed is fine for the headliner, unbacked for pillars, visors, trim.

You want the unbacked on the A/B/C pillars. You want this for the reasons you mentioned but also so the pillars don’t look puffy. Upholstery shops can do the backed Alcantara but it’s harder for them. You especially don’t want the A pillar foamed backed as you have the center screw hiding strip that insets there. “Backed” makes this look more obvious being puffy and not fitting flush. You want that to look one piece and backed makes it harder because material is thicker.

As for adhering it to the new factory fabric. That’s up to your shop. But would very much expect they want the bare headliner board to use adhesive to affix their glue to. Doubt the fabric soaked with glue would work as well. It would also basically make the Alcantara then foam backed doubled up on the factory material.

I would check with your shop first before buying.

All great points. Appreciate the input. What I'm hearing is, check with the shop before I order.

I thought about trying to do this myself, but I'm somewhat pressed for time so have opted to let the pros handle it. Probably a good thing - I've never done this before and if I screw it up, even if a small detail, it would drive me insane on the interior.

Thanks fellas.

[George Hill]

VeteranCo replica material was used on this ZHP... very happy with the results, will continue to go this route in the future.

[Casa de Mesa]

VeteranCo replica material was used on this ZHP... very happy with the results, will continue to go this route in the future.

Hey George, thanks for posting this. Shots looks great. That looks like regular headliner material? (i.e., not Alcantara)

I went over to VerteranCo and tried to look at their products. They don't have any images, so how do you know what you're buying?

https://www.veteranco.com/product-category/fabric/

Sidebar: Having owned an online small business in the past, I'm always amazed when retailers do not include photos of their products. If this is a veteran-owned company (as their name implies?), I 100% would prioritize buying from them. No mention of this in their website though.

[George Hill]

Yes, this is replica of the OE material for a stock appearance.

Their old website had pics of all the options, but the new website is better in many ways, but worse in others, lol. They did send us a sample of a few materials we requested.

I'll double check with Larry on what pn# we used and get back to you.

Check out this post by Matt, he has a S54 swapped touring I built and is VERY particular on details like this, his opinion is what drove us to try this out on the ZHP.

https://www.e46fanatics.com/threads/anthracite-headliner-retrofit.1270839/#post-18890691

[George Hill]

***I always assumed that Veteran came from some guys last name, like Phil Veteran or something like that, haha, no idea if they are actually owned by a Vet.