500E Headlining

[Greg1980]

HI,

What should be the correct colour of the headlining for 1991 model. Car has currently black headlining but I think it has been retrimmed with some shitty material which I don't like.

Many thanks

 

[gsxr]

Depends on the interior color, but it should not be black.

Edit: Unless it's one of the rainbow-colored flying unicorns co-owned by Bigfoot and Elvis, in which case it could be black fabric, as noted in posts below.

 

[Greg1980]

Interior is black leather

Depends on the interior color, but it should not be black.

View attachment 162184

 

[gsxr]

Factory color code per EPC chart above is 7C53 which is a light gray color.

 

[gerryvz]

The factory headliner is a light gray plasticy fabric with a pattern in it that you can feel with your fingertips. As far as I know this fabric is no longer available. I replaced my sagging headliner many years ago with a gray fabric that was used in 202s and newer MB cars, which is a close match color-wise but with a different and softer texture.

I considered light gray alcantara at the time (becuase it was the "in" thing 10-15 years ago) but ultimately decided against and to go with a close match fabric to the original headliner.

 

[036]

For historical sake - there were couple of 500s, ordered with black velours headliner ( link), so feel free to choose the colour

FOR SALE - FS: 1992 500E Special Paintwork (000U) / Black Leather, 385tkm, €17,5k - Poznan / Poland | Cars for Sale - 500E / E500 ONLY

Hello. I have this car for sale. I'm the owner for almost 2 years now. Current milage is 384 000 km. The car was repainted and it's rust free. It's in really good shape and the interior is just excellent. As far as I know, it was originally bought by the Hubert BURDA Media group (thats why...

www.500eboard.co

 

[gerryvz]

For historical sake - there were couple of 500s, ordered with black velours headliner ( link), so feel free to choose the colour

FOR SALE - FS: 1992 500E Special Paintwork (000U) / Black Leather, 385tkm, €17,5k - Poznan / Poland | Cars for Sale - 500E / E500 ONLY

Hello. I have this car for sale. I'm the owner for almost 2 years now. Current milage is 384 000 km. The car was repainted and it's rust free. It's in really good shape and the interior is just excellent. As far as I know, it was originally bought by the Hubert BURDA Media group (thats why...

www.500eboard.co

I should amend my above statement so that it is applicable for US-spec cars.

However, no E500E for any market ever left the factory with black leather headliner material.

 

[036]

Who was talking about leather?

 

[Eno]

HI,

What should be the correct colour of the headlining for 1991 model. Car has currently black headlining but I think it has been retrimmed with some shitty material which I dont like.

Many thanks

I just did my headliner two weeks ago on my ‘92 500E Midnight Blue.
I am happy with the results as I also changed many sunroof components including two new arms.

 

[gerryvz]

Who was talking about leather?

See post #3 in the thread.

 

[036]

See post #3 in the thread.

So why are you quoting my post? A bit misleading.

 

[TerryA]

@036, gerryvz, If I am reading correctly, in post #1 @Greg1980 said in the headliner was black. He didn’t say it was leather but did say he thought it was replaced w/ a shitty material.

@036 just questioned if the material was leather.

Nothing else but a mistaken interpretation of facts.

Take Care

 

[TerryA]

I just did my headliner two weeks ago on my ‘92 500E Midnight Blue.
I am happy with the results as I also changed many sunroof components including two new arms.

@Eno, Your headliner looks great!

PS: I’m due for a new headliner and my sunroof needs service. I have a broken component that fell in my lap one day. It might be helpful to me if you can show a pic of the arms you replaced?

Thanks

 

[Eno]

@Eno, Your headliner looks great!

PS: I’m due for a new headliner and my sunroof needs service. I have a broken component that fell in my lap one day. It might be helpful to me if you can show a pic of the arms you replaced?

Thanks

Thank you sir. Unfortunately I did not take lots of photos during the whole installation process.

 

[LWB250]

For those who have someone nearby that offers the service, I would encourage you to have a professional replace your headliner (fabric.) I say that because a great deal of the cost is the removal and replacement of the headliner "shell" itself. If you can remove the headliner from your car, and I believe nearly everyone here is capable of doing so, and take it to a professional, you'll be far happier with the results - especially a couple years from now when the headliner you did yourself is sagging...

I've done my own headliners, but living primarily in Florida, I learned too quickly that no matter how good a job I did, within a few years the material would come loose.

I think the last W124 headliner my upholstery guy did that I carried in to him was around $200. That was 2-3 years ago, so I'm sure the price is higher now. I no longer have the car, but I'm sure the headliner is in very good shape.

 

[Greg1980]

Factory color code per EPC chart above is 7C53 which is a light gray color.

Thanks, on another note could you educate me on those colour codes please. I have also access to online MB official catalogue through my local dealer. I couldn't work out those codes.

 

[Greg1980]

@036, gerryvz, If I am reading correctly, in post #1 @Greg1980 said in the headliner was black. He didn’t say it was leather but did say he thought it was replaced w/ a shitty material.

@036 just questioned if the material was leather.

Nothing else but a mistaken interpretation of facts.

Take Care

No, it isn't leather. It is just some fluffy material which is awful. I'm tempted with black alcantara. I like the look and feel of it. I personally think black headlining looks better.

 

[Greg1980]

For those who have someone nearby that offers the service, I would encourage you to have a professional replace your headliner (fabric.) I say that because a great deal of the cost is the removal and replacement of the headliner shell itself. If you can remove the headliner from your car, and I believe nearly everyone here is capable of doing so, and take it to a professional, youll be far happier with the results - especially a couple years from now when the headliner you did yourself is sagging...

Ive done my own headliners, but living primarily in Florida, I learned too quickly that no matter how good a job I did, within a few years the material would come loose.

I think the last W124 headliner my upholstery guy did that I carried in to him was around $200. That was 2-3 years ago, so Im sure the price is higher now. I no longer have the car, but Im sure the headliner is in very good shape.

oh yes, I wont be doing it myself.

 

[LWB250]

oh yes, I wont be doing it myself.

Good idea. It's horribly messy, too. And one of the reasons why I have my upholstery guy do it is the difficulty involved in removing ALL of the old adhesive. If you don't get the headliner panel surgically clean, the new adhesive won't stick.

I've seen his employees spend the better part of a day cleaning old glue and foam off of headliner panels. He is fanatical about this, and says he learned many years ago that this is the most critical part of doing the job to assure that the fabric stays glued for a long, long time.

Dan

 

[sheward]

My panel cleaned up fairly easily. I suspect that was due to the black wrap and Florida sun baking the adhesive to powder. I was able to remove it quick with a wire brush. Not typical. That's all I did. That and re - install. I let a professional recover it.

Ironically, I spent the better part of today re-affixing the part of the headliner at the back of the sunroof. There is an aluminum channel that attaches the liner and I had installed it wrongly. Take note of that area if you are removing or re-installing.

 

[TerryA]

@Eno,

Thanks for the pics but I couldn’t spot the part that fell in my lap.

 

[Eno]

@Eno,

Thanks for the pics but I couldn’t spot the part that fell in my lap.

Send a photo of the part and I believe I can help you with the part number.

 

[gsxr]

Thanks, on another note could you educate me on those colour codes please. I have also access to online MB official catalogue through my local dealer. I couldnt work out those codes.

Look at the screenshot in post #2. The 3-digit numbers are your interior color code from your datacard. The first digit indicates upholstery type (1xx is velours/fabric, IIRC; 2xx is leather). The third digit is the color: 1 = black, 2 = blue, 5 = cream, 8 = gray, etc). So, 261 or 271 is black leather interior.

After you find your interior code, now look below at the blue highlight "NO. XXXX". This is the color code for the headliner. Black interior would have headliner color 7C53. This gets appended to the headliner part number. So, the full part number including color code would be 124-690-32-50-7C53.

This is all academic since the headliner is NLA new.

 

[TerryA]

Send a photo of the part and I believe I can help you with the part number.

@Eno,

It will be a while but the part number is stamped on it. I will have to find it first. More than anything, I have been wondering where the part came from or fits.

My car sat for almost 3 years while I was recovering from 2 surgeries. I just started to drive it again about a year ago. When I started to drive it I discovered that the headliner fell down and was flapping in the breeze. So I need a headliner and it’s time to fix the sunroof also.

The sunroof part is buried somewhere in the car with a lot of other parts that need to be installed. Mostly engine parts like emission hoses, valve cover gaskets, aluminum lifter tubes, upper chain tensioner and a new upper harness ect;

A I haven’t had a lot of enthusiasm lately to get started on all this stuff but have to get to it as soon as the weather warms up a bit in April.

It’s hard to get excited about tearing stuff apart when the car actually runs great. Probably because I have never disturbed anything.

Take Care

 

[Eno]

@Eno,

It will be a while but the part number is stamped on it. I will have to find it first. More than anything, I have been wondering where the part came from or fits.

My car sat for almost 3 years while I was recovering from 2 surgeries. I just started to drive it again about a year ago. When I started to drive it I discovered that the headliner fell down and was flapping in the breeze. So I need a headliner and it’s time to fix the sunroof also.

The sunroof part is buried somewhere in the car with a lot of other parts that need to be installed. Mostly engine parts like emission hoses, valve cover gaskets, aluminum lifter tubes, upper chain tensioner and a new upper harness ect;

A I haven’t had a lot of enthusiasm lately to get started on all this stuff but have to get to it as soon as the weather warms up a bit in April.

It’s hard to get excited about tearing stuff apart when the car actually runs great. Probably because I have never disturbed anything.

Take Care

Mr. Terry, I am glad you are recovering well and wish you speedy recovery and get well soon. Take care of your health.
When I go to my garage I will take some photos of some extra sunroof parts I have and maybe you can remember your part.
Kind regards

 

[Roma_500E]

Reupholstering headliner is not easy task.

The biggest PITA is to remove old residue which is sticky shitty thing that is hard to remove.

Most of the shops do not like to work on old/saggy headliners.

 

[Roma_500E]

The factory headliner is a light gray plasticy fabric with a pattern in it that you can feel with your fingertips. As far as I know this fabric is no longer available. I replaced my sagging headliner many years ago with a gray fabric that was used in 202s and newer MB cars, which is a close match color-wise but with a different and softer texture.

I considered light gray alcantara at the time (becuase it was the in thing 10-15 years ago) but ultimately decided against and to go with a close match fabric to the original headliner.

I think alcantara in e500e is completely odd thing.

Usually young and fancy folks who wants to be "cool" buy e500e or any other classic cars and put tons of alcantara .

It feels and touches nice but does not fit to classic benz. IMHO

 

[Roma_500E]

Always want to know:

Why is everybody so desperate to have a black headliner ?

I have no clue but always curious why and whats magic behind it , lol

 

[dionphaneuf]

I'm going to plant my foot in the alcantara style camp. My original headliner was sagging so in May of 2020 I had it recovered by a local shop that has sadly since closed. As others have found, the original material is NLA, so the choices were 'alcantara like' and then a textile with a very fine diamond weave that almost felt like a mesh. I thought about this for a while and in the ended decided on the ligher grey alcantara like material. I'm quite happy with it; they used a similar material on 140s and it provides a more premium feel to the 500E interior that, while nice, is otherwise quite similar to that of other 124s. This provides some differentiation. I also think you'd be hard pressed to say it looks out of place without detailed knowledge of the car. That said, I think either option works and will help refresh the interior quite nicely. To each their own!

 

[Greg1980]

Always want to know:

Why is everybody so desperate to have a black headliner ?

I have no clue but always curious why and whats magic behind it , lol

Because I think it suits the car more than grey headlining. I have done mine in black.

 

[Roma_500E]

Because I think it suits the car more than grey headlining. I have done mine in black.

Could be the case .

The question here is all around car guys buy G class E class CLS, bimmers , porsches etc and first thing they do is black headliner.

97% G in the region I m currently at are black alcantara custom headliners .

I believe there must be some magic or miracle behind it... lol

To me light colors make car more comfortable and somewhat cozy.

 

[sheward]

In response to dionphaneuf
I went with Alcantara for the same reasons and I'm very pleased with the look in my creme beige interior.

 

[TerryA]

What about “HEADLINER EXPRESS” in Winter Park, FL? headlinerexpress.com They supposedly have the authentic German E500E headliner material. Has anyone tried them lately?

Edit: Just checked them online. They supply two grey colors MB42-perforated and MB59. Currently out of stock on MB59 but expect some in June or July. They also have a couple of other colors

 

[r44raven]

I bought some MB59 headliner material from "Headliner Express" some three years ago, with a view to recovering mine. To be honest, it's sat on my garage shelf since delivery, as I haven't got around to getting it done! However, from what I remember when it arrived, it looked the real deal. I think the covering material and the backing foam came in two separate rolls.

 

[duuder]

i plan on ordering from headliner express later this year for a winter project. will dismantle and hand off to an upholstery guy to have him install it

 

[kegmankipp]

Im going to plant my foot in the alcantara style camp. My original headliner was sagging so in May of 2020 I had it recovered by a local shop that has sadly since closed. As others have found, the original material is NLA, so the choices were alcantara like and then a textile with a very fine diamond weave that almost felt like a mesh. I thought about this for a while and in the ended decided on the ligher grey alcantara like material. Im quite happy with it; they used a similar material on 140s and it provides a more premium feel to the 500E interior that, while nice, is otherwise quite similar to that of other 124s. This provides some differentiation. I also think youd be hard pressed to say it looks out of place without detailed knowledge of the car. That said, I think either option works and will help refresh the interior quite nicely. To each their own!

Agreed! My headliner was sagging 12ish? Years ago and with my black interior I decided to go black as the grey felt out of place with all the black and dark burl wood.

I choose the alcantara for a different reason though. Sound quality. While the black made the interior appear smaller, the alcantara made the interior sound larger! Reduction of the high frequency scatter with the windows up was quite apparent while just talking, more so with the stereo on as there is better clarity to the highs, and with windows down the wind noise is less prevalent.

Although I did not have good luck with it on the sunroof panels though as the alcantara I purchased was too thick for the sunroof to function smoothly. I ended up using black satin SEM paint over the factory grey with great results visually and wear wise.

 

[ninetytwo]

I bought some MB59 headliner material from Headliner Express some three years ago, with a view to recovering mine. To be honest, its sat on my garage shelf since delivery, as I havent got around to getting it done!

I'm in the same situation. My Headliner Express package is waiting. I think I can remove the headliner from the car myself but won't attempt removing & replacing the material.

Can anyone recommend an auto upholstery shop in New England? A general searching brings up a fair number but having someone here offer an opinion will help.

 

[Jimbo]

I went with Alcantara for the same reasons and I'm very pleased with the look in my creme beige interior.

I am heading down this route soon...it's time to end the Turkish bazaar I got going. I will be letting a professional do it all.

Same here, OE-ish creme beige faux-suede.