Originally Posted by 03Indigo

same thing, just a different variation....I think the B pillars were the hardest, complete PITA.







thanks for the inspiration to get my project going. I had been "working on it" for months before you all posted up this thread...finally got around to the first part, head liner and pillars.

Originally Posted by SnYpR

I cant really understand why my interior is so dark on the lower half and almost white form the pillars up.

Originally Posted by pimpedout97x

it works too kinda lol. my interior looks smaller now with all black interior.

Originally Posted by ChrisMCS04

Has anyone ever thought of "quilting" the headliner like Ferrari
That is exactly what I plan to do when I get it done.

Originally Posted by 03Indigo

I did not see a how to anywhere when I did mine, but I do have a Bently, so that helped. You need to basically tear out the entire interior to do it. Starting with the back plastic panel on in the boot, then the rear seats, then the rear side interior panels. From there you can pull out the a,b,c pillars. Careful doing that, the metal clips that hold them in are a PITA. The c pillar has 4 clips, one of them is an airbag tether, meaning it has a small nylon loop that attaches the trim to the metal clip in the body of the car. I used a sharp exacto blade to get in there and cut it. Then you need to undo the seat belts in the back, the lower more forward position, it takes a big torx bit. Then you can slide the pillar off the belt. Same thing with the b pillar, but there is only one phillips screw on the bottom holding it in place. Then it slides down and inwards in the car. Also undo the seat belt rail. There is a bolt on the front of the rail, also a torx bit, the belt loop will fit over the bolt, slide that off then you can feed the belt out of the b pillar. For the a pillar, there are 3 metal clips. But first, you need to remove the dash cover. There are 2 torx bolts on each side of the dash under the black plastic side panels that just pop out. Undo those bolts and the dash cover comes right out. Then start pulling at the bottom of the a pillar, there are 3 of those stinking metal clips. The top 2 have the nylon tethers, i reached in there as well and cut those as well. The bottom of the a pillar has 2 vertical tabs that slide into the dash base, so as you get it all loose, you need to pull it straight up to get it to come free. The tabs are about 3/8" high, so it has to come up quite a bit. Once all that stuff if off, you get to pull the interior trim pieces off the car, starting with door moldings, and boot molding....the rubber seals. Then pop off the covers to the rear handles, they are attached via a thin plastic hinge on the outer edges (front and back) and pop off more on the inside of the handle, at the base where they meet the headliner. I used a thin screwdriver with a taped edge to pry them open. they open like clam shells to the outside of the handle...kinda like a 2 sided draw bridge. If that makes sense. The hinges for the covers are on the "banks" and the handle is the middle of the river. There are just 2 phillips screws holding them in. If you have a sun roof, you need to pull of the black plastic rings, the come out pretty easy. There is a wire connecting the roof control on the front piece, just disconnect the wire and it will come out easy. One of those quick connect things. Then the mirror. grab the base, when looking up at the headliner, back of the car is 12 o'clock and the front of the car is 6 o'clock, turn the entire mirror counter-clockwise, about 90 degrees and it will pop off. Make sure you are grabbing the base so as not to snap the mirror off the pivot. Then the visors. I used a small razor blade to reach into the little plugs, 2 on the main mount, one on the clip. pop those out and then you will see the corresponding phillips screws. they are wired, just pull gently and you will see the clip, take that apart. There is cloth tape on the wire, you won't need to undo that, just unclip it, one for each side of the car. Depending on the year, the clock is different. For mine, I pulled the headliner down, the clock is fitted into the headliner, I went slow and was able to unplug the wire from it, but left the clock in place for the time being. For the center dome light, it has 2 plugs that clip it in place, holding the center of the headliner in place. I just pulled and it came free. You can also pull the plastic light covers off and then un-do the phillips screws and the cover will come out, freeing the headliner. Either way works. On the rear in the center, there is a funky cover about where the antenna is. not sure what that is for, mine was empty, but had a wire connection in a plastic dummy plug. I just pulled that domed square cover off and slid the black wire clip out. Then I gently pulled the headliner down, making sure not to put a crease in it. To get it out of the car, I put the seats all the way forward. lowered the headliner, dropped the left side/driver side all the way down and held the right side/passenger side up and pulled slowly out through the rear hatch.

OK, there you have it. hope that makes sense . That is what I did...to the best of my recollection, hehe.

Originally Posted by 03Indigo

yup, read the post above

Originally Posted by Wake|MCS

Thanks for the tips. I do have a sunroof so I'm not too concerned about sagging.

Big difference in price with Alcantara being nearly $100/yd.

One more question, I think, what are you all using to "dye" the pillars? I'll need to dye all the headliner parts (clock, dome lights, oh shyt handles, etc.)

Originally Posted by shooler

I just ordered the anthracite pieces from Mini. That way all the interior trim pieces are a consistent color. If you choose to paint, I highly recommend SEM trim paint for color and durability.

Originally Posted by 03Indigo

I needed the chrome to fill in the space between the 2 materials, the blue and black. It is more of a brushed chrome. Very hard to take a good pic of, but in person, it divides them up really well. Not for everyone, but I have some accent/contrast left in the car, so I wanted to carry it over into the side panels, that and the silver speaker grills