OK so a buddy and I just recently removed our headliners in order to paint them black to get rid of the unsightly beige. His is a 2010 Speed 3. Mine is the 2011 mz3 hatch. was a bit too preoccupied to take pictures for this and hadn't thought of making a tutorial until it was brought up in anothe thread. This is my first one so be gentle :stuart: lol.
Your first step is to remove the interior pillar covers. i started from the front and worked back but it really didnt seem to make a difference. For the front pillars, you pull some of the weather stripping away from the door seal, and work your fingers behind the now exposed lip, pull firmly and it will pop out about 2 inches until its stopped by an evil little tab :argh 1: the tab is there to keep the pillar from becoming a projectile in the event of airbag deployment. I've found after doing it four times, the easiest way to get the pillar all the way off is to use a pair of needle nose pliers, and grip the lanyard right below where it enters the pillar cover, and twist slightly. having a flat head screwdriver helped as well by using your other hand to manipulate the driver to coerce the connector to line up with its exit hole. :yes:
now that the fronts are off, go have a beer.
welcome back, now for the b pillar. dont worry this ones much easier. pull up weather seal along sides of this pillar, and pop off your scuff plates. then grab the lower portion of the pillar, (the black portion) and pull aggressively, its a bunch of tension clips so its loud and scary but nothing breaks. From here, you need a wrench. the seat belt slider, guide thingy, has to be undone for the middle pillar to come out. i believe it was a 14 mm. to get to that bolt use a short flathead screw driver to pry along the top at the back edge and along the sides until the cover pops out. the cover can then be gently manipulated so as to come off entirely, just needs to be tweaked around the center portion. now proceed to drop your seat belt, and dont worry the bolt will never actually let go of the guide, so youll never lose it. now just grab the bottom of the remaining portion of the pillar and pull out, all the clips should come loose, and then you just lift the bottom up and out and the top portion will work its way out from behind the headliner. just be careful not to crease the edges of your headliner. creases are no bueno.
and with the current seatbelt laws, if you think you may need to drive your car before you get it all put back together, reattach the seat belts now so as to save you the pain later.
ok, on to the c pillar. as a warning this one will probably piss you off a bit. i think there are better ways to do this but im going to explain my way becuz its the only one i know lol. First, there is a pop in pin on the front face of the black plastic seat belt shroud. flat head to pry out the center of it, then it just lifts out. there are two or three more throughout this pillar so keep an eye out. I have to admit, i ended up with two extra clips when i was done because i couldnt remember where they went. :argh 1: but after you pull that pin and any other you see right off the bat. pull up the weather stripping at the door and just pop out the lower pillar as far as you feel you need. i left mine mostly attached.
from there, its either on to the window shroud, or the seat belt shroud. im recalling all of this from memory because my car is under a foot or more of snow :sad 1: so i apologize for any inconsistencies in this portion
if it is indeed the seat belt shroud like i think it is, check for pins all the way down it to the back near the hatch. while your back at the hatch, grab a phillips head screwdriver and reemove the single screw from the little flip down hanger at the very back of the piece. i found that you can leave the screw in this little compartment and just close the hanger. kept from losing both those tiny screws this way. now the seat belt shroud should just pop off like everything else.
now heres the part where it gets to be a pain. and those with bose systems stay tuned till the end of this part before you go ripping on your window shroud. the shroud should just pull out to release the clips, but youll find that it snags on all manner of plastic around it. i was able to carefully but aggressively flex and maneuver the plastic tabs and connector areas around the surrounding bodies to get it off. it remains fairly flexible but just be careful not to snap anything off. i was able to put alot of force into some parts and was safe. working that part out and when you get to putting it back, will more than likely result in some pinched fingers and various fits of cursing.
FOR THOSE WITH BOSE, BE CAREFUL NOT TO RIP OUT THE CONNECTOR FOR YOUR REAR SPEAKER!!! It does not allow for much slack so just pop the pillar out a slight ways so you can get around to undo the connector along the wall and release the clip pinning the wires to the wall.
thats it for the pillars. now onto the easy-ish part. your headliner is now being supported by a couple tension clips in the very front, a few push pins in the rear, the oh sh*t handles, and the visor clips, and a strap right in the middle. undo the pins near the hatch, and i had my buddy up front get the clips up there. Then the visor clips (where you snap the edge of the visor so it doesn't flop around) need two flat heads to push in gently on either side, you should be able to see the two points as indents, and while pressing, wiggle it back an forth until it starts to break free and then you should just be able to wiggle it out with fingers. And as far as the oh sh*t handles. Pull the handle down, and there are covers over the two anchor points, pop those out with a flat head, and just pull, from there you can just grabthe handle and wiggle it aggressively up and down until the clips break loose. now heres where i would definitely recommend having a second person. one of you lie down in the center of the car and lift slightly, while the other pulls the headliner or uses a long tool to reach the strap to unhook it from the hook on the ceiling. nows a good time to tell the guy with his hands in the air holding the headliner, that he is stuck for a bit. :w00t 1: the person who is free to move around now should proceed to the front passenger side and begin untaping and pulling the washer fluid tube off the headliner. it makes lots of tearing sounds but its just the fuzzy stuff tearing, no damage. just pull evenly so you dont crease the headliner. be sure to poke the guy holding the headliner a few times. make sure he isnt sleeping. once you get that detached. the rear driver side is a connector that i didnt pay much attention to what the wires ran to but it had a quick disconnect. undo it. and then to the front driver side. your console/sunglass case thing, and your bluetooth speaker are wired from a bundle leaving the front pillar area, you can either weasel your hand in there and disconnect it from the console that way, or actually pop the console out. your call. once its all disconnected, go to the rear and start finagling the headliner out gently and slowly. while we did it both of our headliners rubbed the sides of the hatch opening but there was no damage, so just be cautious and keep an eye out for any flexing.
tada!! thats it. if i missed anything please feel free to let me know so i can throw it in. and be sure to reattach the lanyard for the front pillar when it goes back on. dont be lazy. that pillar could do some very serious harm to you if your curtain airbag had to deploy. safety first!! Let me know if this works out for you! would love to see what everyone else does with theirs.
Your first step is to remove the interior pillar covers. i started from the front and worked back but it really didnt seem to make a difference. For the front pillars, you pull some of the weather stripping away from the door seal, and work your fingers behind the now exposed lip, pull firmly and it will pop out about 2 inches until its stopped by an evil little tab :argh 1: the tab is there to keep the pillar from becoming a projectile in the event of airbag deployment. I've found after doing it four times, the easiest way to get the pillar all the way off is to use a pair of needle nose pliers, and grip the lanyard right below where it enters the pillar cover, and twist slightly. having a flat head screwdriver helped as well by using your other hand to manipulate the driver to coerce the connector to line up with its exit hole. :yes:
now that the fronts are off, go have a beer.
welcome back, now for the b pillar. dont worry this ones much easier. pull up weather seal along sides of this pillar, and pop off your scuff plates. then grab the lower portion of the pillar, (the black portion) and pull aggressively, its a bunch of tension clips so its loud and scary but nothing breaks. From here, you need a wrench. the seat belt slider, guide thingy, has to be undone for the middle pillar to come out. i believe it was a 14 mm. to get to that bolt use a short flathead screw driver to pry along the top at the back edge and along the sides until the cover pops out. the cover can then be gently manipulated so as to come off entirely, just needs to be tweaked around the center portion. now proceed to drop your seat belt, and dont worry the bolt will never actually let go of the guide, so youll never lose it. now just grab the bottom of the remaining portion of the pillar and pull out, all the clips should come loose, and then you just lift the bottom up and out and the top portion will work its way out from behind the headliner. just be careful not to crease the edges of your headliner. creases are no bueno.
and with the current seatbelt laws, if you think you may need to drive your car before you get it all put back together, reattach the seat belts now so as to save you the pain later.
ok, on to the c pillar. as a warning this one will probably piss you off a bit. i think there are better ways to do this but im going to explain my way becuz its the only one i know lol. First, there is a pop in pin on the front face of the black plastic seat belt shroud. flat head to pry out the center of it, then it just lifts out. there are two or three more throughout this pillar so keep an eye out. I have to admit, i ended up with two extra clips when i was done because i couldnt remember where they went. :argh 1: but after you pull that pin and any other you see right off the bat. pull up the weather stripping at the door and just pop out the lower pillar as far as you feel you need. i left mine mostly attached.
from there, its either on to the window shroud, or the seat belt shroud. im recalling all of this from memory because my car is under a foot or more of snow :sad 1: so i apologize for any inconsistencies in this portion
if it is indeed the seat belt shroud like i think it is, check for pins all the way down it to the back near the hatch. while your back at the hatch, grab a phillips head screwdriver and reemove the single screw from the little flip down hanger at the very back of the piece. i found that you can leave the screw in this little compartment and just close the hanger. kept from losing both those tiny screws this way. now the seat belt shroud should just pop off like everything else.
now heres the part where it gets to be a pain. and those with bose systems stay tuned till the end of this part before you go ripping on your window shroud. the shroud should just pull out to release the clips, but youll find that it snags on all manner of plastic around it. i was able to carefully but aggressively flex and maneuver the plastic tabs and connector areas around the surrounding bodies to get it off. it remains fairly flexible but just be careful not to snap anything off. i was able to put alot of force into some parts and was safe. working that part out and when you get to putting it back, will more than likely result in some pinched fingers and various fits of cursing.
FOR THOSE WITH BOSE, BE CAREFUL NOT TO RIP OUT THE CONNECTOR FOR YOUR REAR SPEAKER!!! It does not allow for much slack so just pop the pillar out a slight ways so you can get around to undo the connector along the wall and release the clip pinning the wires to the wall.
thats it for the pillars. now onto the easy-ish part. your headliner is now being supported by a couple tension clips in the very front, a few push pins in the rear, the oh sh*t handles, and the visor clips, and a strap right in the middle. undo the pins near the hatch, and i had my buddy up front get the clips up there. Then the visor clips (where you snap the edge of the visor so it doesn't flop around) need two flat heads to push in gently on either side, you should be able to see the two points as indents, and while pressing, wiggle it back an forth until it starts to break free and then you should just be able to wiggle it out with fingers. And as far as the oh sh*t handles. Pull the handle down, and there are covers over the two anchor points, pop those out with a flat head, and just pull, from there you can just grabthe handle and wiggle it aggressively up and down until the clips break loose. now heres where i would definitely recommend having a second person. one of you lie down in the center of the car and lift slightly, while the other pulls the headliner or uses a long tool to reach the strap to unhook it from the hook on the ceiling. nows a good time to tell the guy with his hands in the air holding the headliner, that he is stuck for a bit. :w00t 1: the person who is free to move around now should proceed to the front passenger side and begin untaping and pulling the washer fluid tube off the headliner. it makes lots of tearing sounds but its just the fuzzy stuff tearing, no damage. just pull evenly so you dont crease the headliner. be sure to poke the guy holding the headliner a few times. make sure he isnt sleeping. once you get that detached. the rear driver side is a connector that i didnt pay much attention to what the wires ran to but it had a quick disconnect. undo it. and then to the front driver side. your console/sunglass case thing, and your bluetooth speaker are wired from a bundle leaving the front pillar area, you can either weasel your hand in there and disconnect it from the console that way, or actually pop the console out. your call. once its all disconnected, go to the rear and start finagling the headliner out gently and slowly. while we did it both of our headliners rubbed the sides of the hatch opening but there was no damage, so just be cautious and keep an eye out for any flexing.
tada!! thats it. if i missed anything please feel free to let me know so i can throw it in. and be sure to reattach the lanyard for the front pillar when it goes back on. dont be lazy. that pillar could do some very serious harm to you if your curtain airbag had to deploy. safety first!! Let me know if this works out for you! would love to see what everyone else does with theirs.
