Question Raegarding W463 Headliner Materials???

[600Eric]

Question Regarding W463 Headliner Materials???

Alright guys here with G wagons (or knowledge of them). So although I am very happy with the overall condition on my G wagon it did come with one very $$$ surprise that of course the dealer failed to mention to me. The headliner is sagging pretty bad in the front right section and will need to be replaced.

Anyways my current headliner is the same cheap velour looking / feeling material that I think pretty much came standard in the entire MB line up around that time (MY 2003). However Captruff and I looked at another G wagon here locally a couple months ago and that one had a very different headliner. We recall it being fairly hard (maybe even no padding at all) and it appeared to be made out of some sort of nylon or vinyl type material. Whatever it was it definitely looked like something one would find in a "commercial" type vehicle and we both thought it looked really good in a G wagon. However the problem is we both cannot recall what year that one was but we suspect it must have been a 2002.

So if anyone knows what I am talking about can they please chime in here? If the 02's indeed came with this headliner it seems like it must have been a 1 year deal that MB carried over from the 460 (which again would make sense based on it's appearance). Or maybe it was a Euro thing although the one we looked at did not appear to be anything special or out of the ordinary. Regardless I am just trying to figure it out and get a VIN number so I can look up part numbers on EPC (and pray they are still available).

 

[gerryvz]

Hi Eric,

I'll reach out to you today on this.

My gray-market G-wagen (which FYI was not optioned with a sunroof, not that it matters) has a twill type headliner fabric with no padding. It's definitely more "industrial" than the softer, padded headliner material that you see on more recent trucks. I believe this was the "stock" material they used approximately through the end of the 1990s.

I think the newer trucks used a headliner setup that was more like the sedans -- a separate headliner board with the softer/padded fabric glued to it that was then mounted to the roof of the truck. It sounds like that is what yours is. Since your truck is a 2003 model, it sounds like it is a second-year MBUSA G-wagen.

I know my friend Thomas' 1990 300GE (first generation W463 with M103 engine) in Germany also has the same headliner material as mine.

Perhaps 8899 can also chime in with a description of his headliner, as I think he has the typical padded one. I think his is newer, around 2005 or 2006? I'll take some photos of my truck's headliner for your reference. It is glued to a thin piece of fiberboard that is affixed to the roof and I don't think it would/could ever come un-done. There is ZERO padding on my roof -- only the fabric and the fiberboard backing. My truck also uses pretty much the same overhead console as the 124s (E500E) do, as well (it has a blank in it where the sunroof switch would go).

I've attached photos I took this morning of my headliner -- apologize for the shadows, but it was 0755 so the sun was rising.....

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[600Eric]

Yep that is it Gerry. As always thanks Gerry for the detailed info and pics. Again I'm fairly certain the G wagon Jeff and I looked at was an '02 and I'm certain there was nothing "special" about it. So I will do a little research on EPC using VIN's from some '02's and maybe even some '04's - '06's (which I would assume would have the same part number for my '03) and compare them. If indeed the '02's come up with a different number I think I will be in business.

 

[ace10]

On my '13 G wagen, gravity got the better of the rigid headliner. Multiple times. Always just aft of the sunroof.

The first repair by the dealer was a removal and reinstall. I think they refreshed some fasteners. That last a short period of time. The second repair was a replacement. Which also failed.

When I sold the rig back to the dealer, the headliner was sagging yet again.

 

[jaymanek]

Sorry I cant help on the commercial type.. But mine was the same and I removed it, had it trimmed in Alcantara suede and it has made the interior 100x better.

 

[8899]

My 2008 G55 had a sagging headliner when I bought it last summer. It is a soft material with some thin padding between it and headliner board. Anyway, I paid $850.00 to recover the headliner and also two-piece sunroof with a very similar (gray) material.