E93 Headliner Repair

[M3amigos]

The middle section of the headliner in my E93 came loose from all of the mounting clips and is hanging down about 6" in all sides by the cords. It appears that all the adhesive that secures the clips to the fabric liner has come loose from the Florida heat. The replacement part from the dealer is $750, so I'll be attempting a DIY repair. Has anyone seen this issue before? Any tips on how to glue the clips back on? I'm thinking epoxy might do the trick, but I'm not sure if it will stick to the fabric. I'll try to get some pictures of it this weekend.

[M3amigos]

[M3amigos]

I took the headliner section out... its a little tricky to remove all of the cords but I did find some decent instructions at workshop-manuals dot com. Took me about 2 hours taking my time not to damage anything.

Two of the cords, one on each side, (see pic above) were really worn so I ordered some replacements from ECS for about $17. According to some other posts, these have been upgraded with stronger steel rope so it shouldn't wear out again so easily. See part number 54377277475.

I was able to epoxy all of the clips back on successfully, 15 total. I was careful to try to align them properly, hopefully the reinstall goes smoothly. I'll report back again after its done.

[safarisunit]

I have the same issue. What kind of expoxy did you use for clips?

[M3amigos]

Just standard epoxy from home depot/auto zone with the two tubes that you mix. It’s still holding up well.

[M3amigos]

Update: The epoxy failed again in the hot florida summer heat, so I ended up drilling holes through each of the clips as well as the headliner and inserting small nuts and bolts to hold it together. The bolt heads show on the inside, but it doesn’t look too bad and I could probably cover them with black cloth stickers if I felt the need later on.

Note I had a few broken clips (the round push in ones) and apparently they arent available individually, you have to purchase an entire hardware kit for $100+. I just left it with a few missing clips and it seems to be holding up for the time being. Anyone have another source or replacement for them?

[Bigjaybird]

I just had to replace mine with the same exact problem. If you take the headliner down, scrape off all the old excess glue from the headliner and the clips, get some a heat resistant Apoxsee for plastic and fiberglass re-Apoxsee, all the clips back to the headliner let it sit for 12 hours, if some of your circle clips break don’t spend the 400 or $500 for the kit for $1.16 you could use door clips for the BMW if anyone has any questions or need helps with a headliner feel free to pee on me or drop it, I just went through this nightmare

[FLKev]

I’m
Going through this right now. I have the clips. Bd new cord and the glue I’m
Gonna use but have no idea how to get pressure on the headliner panel so the glue will hold with the top in a vertical position

[FlaBMW]

I know this an old post, but how did you hold the liner up while the glue cured?

[FlaBMW]

Has anyone found an epoxy that actually works?

[flysmith]

Reviving the thread a bit - the same thing happened to me from the extreme summer heat of 2025, so it took me a couple of failed attempts, but i have a working solution.

Here's what I did -

First attempt - I cleaned the original epoxy residue from the clips and headliner as best as I could and then used 3M SJ3560 250 Reclosable Fastener 'velcro' 1/2" width (what you use to affix EZ-Pass and similar transponders to your windshield) cut to the size of the clips and put those pieces at every original contact point. I used this approach so I could remove the headliner should the need ever arise in the future.

This held for less than a day, but the adhesive on the back of the velcro wasn't strong enough so the headliner dropped again with the velcro pieces still attached to each other.

Next, I purchased JB Weld high-temp epoxy from the local hardware store and slathered that on the back of the cut velcro strips and re-affixed them to the roof clips and mounting points on the headliner. I let them sit for a day to cure.

The final step was simply pushing the headliner up into place and applying pressure at each of the mounting points to lock in the velcro pieces to one another.

This solution has been in place for about 3 months now, so I know it works in standard temperature conditions, but the real test will be next summer when we hit the 90+ degree days. I expect the JB Weld epoxy to hold up given that it's made for high temps, but will report back in about 7-8 months!

The 3M velcro was ~$13 at amazon and here's the link for what it's worth today, at the tail-end of 2025 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0141MQRGI...2Block%2B&th=1

The JB Weld Highheat epoxy - google it!

[FlaBMW]

Originally Posted by flysmith

Reviving the thread a bit - the same thing happened to me from the extreme summer heat of 2025, so it took me a couple of failed attempts, but i have a working solution.

Here's what I did -

First attempt - I cleaned the original epoxy residue from the clips and headliner as best as I could and then used 3M SJ3560 250 Reclosable Fastener 'velcro' 1/2" width (what you use to affix EZ-Pass and similar transponders to your windshield) cut to the size of the clips and put those pieces at every original contact point. I used this approach so I could remove the headliner should the need ever arise in the future.

This held for less than a day, but the adhesive on the back of the velcro wasn't strong enough so the headliner dropped again with the velcro pieces still attached to each other.

Next, I purchased JB Weld high-temp epoxy from the local hardware store and slathered that on the back of the cut velcro strips and re-affixed them to the roof clips and mounting points on the headliner. I let them sit for a day to cure.

The final step was simply pushing the headliner up into place and applying pressure at each of the mounting points to lock in the velcro pieces to one another.

This solution has been in place for about 3 months now, so I know it works in standard temperature conditions, but the real test will be next summer when we hit the 90+ degree days. I expect the JB Weld epoxy to hold up given that it's made for high temps, but will report back in about 7-8 months!

The 3M velcro was ~$13 at amazon and here's the link for what it's worth today, at the tail-end of 2025 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0141MQRGI...2Block%2B&th=1

The JB Weld Highheat epoxy - google it!

Hey flysmith, just wondering how the repair is holding up?