Headliner material + Driver door panel

[thecarshrink]

Hello 500 E land

I live in LA and had my interior guy who I use for many projects pull my headliner and he seems to be having a tough time to find a good match with the OEM stuff.

He showed me some vinal stuff but it looked like crap. Any suggestions? I was going to do Alcantara but then the handles won't match, and as you guys know you need to do the sunroof which on my car is perfect.

Also back in the 90's somebody thought it was a great idea to drill a cup holder into the door. Looked online for a black center door panel but yet to find a black one.

Also a real problem is my guy is good but not cheap.

Any help suggestions I am open to.

Thanks

 

[nocfn]

Car is black but headliner is off-white? There are plenty of materials that do not match inside a car. Plastic doesn't match leather, nor does it match vinyl or fabric or synthetic fabric like carpet. Get it close IMO or go with the new headliner fabric in the main color of the interior. It will not match perfectly but it never could due to age and fade rates car by car. Alcantara is a pricey option but as you noted, it wont match perfectly.

 

[gerryvz]

I found this years ago when I re-did the headliner of my E500. There is no exact match material that is easily available.

I strongly considered Alcantara, but decided to go with the same material that more modern Benzes go with, a light gray, foam-backed softer material. Never given it a second thought since I had the headliner redone. Looks fine and is very close to the original color.

For the door card/leather, you're best off getting a used door card and replacing it wholesale, rather than trying to replace the leather section. Talk to @captruff.

 

[Dunnik]

I too am in the process of replacing and/or repairing the vinyl headliner, B-pillar liner, and door pocket liners. My interior specialist says that he can repair the B-pillar and pockets, keeping the original material, but that he cannot source the OEM type vinyl to replace the headliner. So I've gone with Alcantara, in a very light grey that is between the off-white of the original and the medium grey of the rest of the interior. The price difference between the cheapest material and Alcantara leather was actually not bad at all, though obviously your mileage may vary depending on where you're at and what connections your installer has.

 

[gerryvz]

As I recall it, there was essentially no price difference for me to install the Alcantara and the light gray headliner fabric that I went with.

 

[JCM1]

I just ordered the MB gray vinyl and also the foam backing.
1986-1995 Mercedes E300, E300D, E320, E420, 260E/TE, 300D/E/TD/TE, 400E, 500E - Headliner Express

 

[thecarshrink]

I went with the Alcanta in light grey. Just easy and clean and not that much difference in price, although now I am doing the sunroof as well.

I have yet to find the door pad/ insert for the drivers side door. If I don't find it this week, I'll just have him recover the door. Cost a little more but at least it will be done.

 

[TimL]

I bought a brand new black driver side OEM door card from MB a few months ago and haven’t had it installed yet, so it’s still in original packaging. If the price is right I might be willing to sell it. Let me know if that is of interest to you and we can chat about it.

 

[thecarshrink]

Yes please. Into getting it right away. Started new convo to discuss.

 

[ricsim]

I just ordered the MB gray vinyl and also the foam backing.
1986-1995 Mercedes E300, E300D, E320, E420, 260E/TE, 300D/E/TD/TE, 400E, 500E - Headliner Express

It seems to be exactly the same material as original headliner
Have you received it ?

 

[JCM1]

Hi Ricsim
It has not yet arrived. Vendor indicated that it was shipped from Germany last week and will be supplied with separate foam backing that will have to also be attached.

All the best,

Joe

 

[dionphaneuf]

Need to do this too. I was told off a good shop in SF by a friend, Val's Auto Upholstery. Took the car to the place, it looks fine, they quoted a bit less than $750 for a textured vinyl replacement (like what's in modern cars, it has a almost a hexagon pattern), and $800 for alcantara. I'm leaning slightly towards alcantara but not too picky. Looking to hear about that OEM replacement material JCM1. Also happy to hear of any other Auto shops in the bay (close to SF if possible) that would do a good job of this.

 

[Jlaa]

Need to do this too. I was told off a good shop in SF by a friend, Val's Auto Upholstery. Took the car to the place, it looks fine, they quoted a bit less than $750 for a textured vinyl replacement (like what's in modern cars, it has a almost a hexagon pattern), and $800 for alcantara. I'm leaning slightly towards alcantara but not too picky. Looking to hear about that OEM replacement material JCM1. Also happy to hear of any other Auto shops in the bay (close to SF if possible) that would do a good job of this.

Say Hi to Mike @ Val's for me! He might remember my red car. His shop re-upholstered my two front seats a few years ago. I remain very happy with the job that they did --- they steamed the leather in al the right places to make it nearly indistinguishable from OE. All too often, upholstery shops fit upholstery that doesn't look quite right because they don't take the time to stretch / steam / shrink the upholstery. These guys do a fine job.

At the time, Mike critiqued the headliner replacement on my car that was done by a shop on the East coast a few months before I bought the car and took it to Val's --- Mike is very proud of his work and he told me a few areas where the East coast shop could have improved. Regardless if possible, I seem to remember him also quoting me a $750 price for headliners.

 

[dionphaneuf]

Glad to hear a second word of support for Val's. He's going to order some larger swatches for me to play around with.

Is the sunroof portion particularly tricky? I know it needs to be done too, but is there anything I should make the shop aware of before they do it (or replacement clips/trim pieces I should order for them should any be likely to break)?

 

[thecarshrink]

Update to all on thread. I got a new door card insert through mbpartscenter.com which is as I'm sure some of you know is MB Scottsdale. Part came quick about 10 days, I think I paid about $150 which was quite a bit less than my local LA dealer wanted to charge.
For the headliner I went with Grey Alcantara, I also redid the leather door posts as well, not that cheap to do but it looks great. I'll put up some pics of the headliner soon and attach a random shot of the door no longer with the cup holder!!

 

[MB V8]

Do you have an invoice with the part number for the doorcard insert?

 

[thecarshrink]

See attached invoice Part number and all info. Part Number 124-720-77-62-9A84.


Their site is very user friendly.

Here is a link the their site

Mercedes-Benz Parts - MB Parts Accessories & Lifestyle Collection | MB Parts Center

Mercedes-Benz Parts - MB Parts and Accessories Mercedes-Benz Lifestyle collection. Fast affordable shipping and directly from a genuine authorized dealer.

www.mbpartscenter.com

 

[gerryvz]

See attached invoice Part number and all info. Part Number 124-720-77-62-9A84.


Their site is very user friendly.

Here is a link the their site

Mercedes-Benz Parts - MB Parts Accessories & Lifestyle Collection | MB Parts Center

Mercedes-Benz Parts - MB Parts and Accessories Mercedes-Benz Lifestyle collection. Fast affordable shipping and directly from a genuine authorized dealer.

www.mbpartscenter.com

Why did you pay $17 shipping when you could have gotten the same identical factory part from mboemparts.com (MB of Naperville, IL) for FREE SHIPPING using our web site code "500EPROMO" at checkout? They also sell the part for $2.00 more, but you'd have saved $15 on the total bill with the zero shipping cost. That's almost a 10% savings over what you paid !!!!

Interior Door Panel 124-720-77-62-9A84 | MB OEM Parts

124-720-77-62-9A84 - Interior Door Panel

www.mboemparts.com

P.S. Mboemparts.com uses the same Revolution Parts software that the dealership you ordered from uses.....it's very common.

 

[thecarshrink]

I had no idea. I guess that's why I am a Newbie! Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Kyiv]

Hi Ricsim
It has not yet arrived. Vendor indicated that it was shipped from Germany last week and will be supplied with separate foam backing that will have to also be attached.

All the best,

Joe

Do you have an update regarding quality and match of material from headlinerexpress?