Interior roof trim

[Graham]

Hey everyone, I've finished putting some trim in my door inserts and the next thing I want to try is the roof.

The sheets I have won't be large enough to cover the whole roof so I'll need to join them, what would be the best way to do this?

Overlapping them (probably would look tacky)
Stitching it (Which I wouldn't know where to begin with )
Putting something over where it "joins" to hide it

And also does anyone have a guide on how to take the roof off?

I'll have a look through my manual when I get home or try look through the service manuals aswell.

Cheers

[tadz0rz]

I was also thinking of doing my roof, but probley in a dark coloured seude or something. I know ofey has removed virtually his entire interior so im sure he could give you a good idea on how to remove it. But i rekon youd have to be removing the back seats, parcel shelf and rear pillars, roof handels, side pillers etc. So it might take the better part of a day to do.

And with putting the material together...Wouldnt be too hard to stitch together i would imagine, even take it to a tailor or something, im sure they could join it for a small price. You could make the stitching semi decorative depending on what colour your going for n stuff.

I was thinking for mine like a dark seude colour and doing some sort of decrative stitching around the dome light to join the 2 materials together but sorta disguise it?

even if you hit up a car interior place maybe they can give you a better answer and tell you what they do...

[Hoggy]

IMO your only option is to find a sheet big enough, a join in thin material will be seen

[Graham]

Cheers for the info

I was thinking of doing it the same colour as my door trims and MAYBE leather in the future, but it would probably cost me an arm and a leg, the suede I have in there at the moment will suffice for a while

Hmm that's a good idea I could measure it and take it to a tailor and stitch it with some black string, maybe have two or four pieces, have the stitch going from the B Pillars or going from side to side then front to back at the dome light.


EDIT:
I don't think there would be any sheets big enough but i'll ask next time i'm at the fabric shop to see if they could custom order it

[Bandit]

Putting a dark roof trim colour within the already relatively dark interior confines of the CJ will make it feel like you're driving around in a cave IMHO!

[Graham]

Putting a dark roof trim colour within the already relatively dark interior confines of the CJ will make it feel like you're driving around in a cave IMHO!

That's okay, my footwell LEDs will keep it bright

[billyboy]

Trust me you wouldnt want to have seam lines, do it in 1 piece.

Getting he lining out is pretty easy, all its being held up with is sun visors & oh shit handles. Concord Customs had to pull out my front seats & centre console to get it out of the car, that was a bit of a bitch.

Putting a dark roof trim colour within the already relatively dark interior confines of the CJ will make it feel like you're driving around in a cave IMHO!

Not to me mate, loving it!

[Graham]

Trust me you wouldnt want to have seam lines, do it in 1 piece.

Getting he lining out is pretty easy, all its being held up with is sun visors & oh shit handles. Concord Customs had to pull out my front seats & centre console to get it out of the car, that was a bit of a bitch.

I lol'd at the "oh shit" handles I'm used to people calling them JC or jesus christ bars

Hmm hopefuly I won't have to do that as taking the seats out would be a pain, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

I'll measure the roof today and I'll go down to my local spotlight and talk to them today maybe.

Finishing at 12:50pm =
Waking up at 3:00am =

[jhiace]

Suede can be purchased from a roll so why do you buy a pre-cut 'sheet' from a fabric shop? Go to a motor trimmer and buy X amount off the roll and it will be enough. The hoodlining will fit out through the passenger side front door once you get everything else out, a,b and c pillars, grab handles and sun visors etc.

Don't go putting joins in it unless you have a decent pattern or shape that you want to have in it. And as for doing it a dark colour, it does make it feel cosier inside but it is alot nicer then the standard colour in there.

Here's a pic of a Honda accord roof lining i did, might give you some ideas.

[Graham]

WOW that roof lining is very good! are those two lights in the corner customised?

I originally bought 2meters from a roll but I don't think that the roll will be big enough to do the roof with the one sheet.

[jhiace]

You would need just under 2 metres i would imagine to do the lancer lining.

That roof lining had 4 downlights fitted, can only see two in that pic but it looked very good at night. It is done in suede with the pleated leather pattern cut into it, no point wasting money on doing the whole roof lining in leather.

[Graham]

I wouldn't mind custom fitting some lights in the lancer but the wiring and fitting would be too much for me, and I'd need to cut holes in the roof which I'm not too keen on.

Out of curiosity how did you fit the leather? did you put it over the suede or cut the pattern from suede and put leather in where you cut?

Cheers

[jhiace]

The fitting of the lights is not hard if you have some basic knowledge. In that job i removed the normal interior light plus grab handles to make it alot smoother looking.

As for the pattern you see there. Once the roof lining was out of the vehicle i drew the pattern on the roof lining, then cut it out with a jigsaw with a small blade, i them trimmed it down alot to allow for the leather thickness.

Then i trimmed the roof lining board in the red suede and folded the suede around the cutout in the board. The pieces i earlier cut out were then covered in the leather and pleated and then glued back into place in the board.

Similar things can be done with the parcel tray etc aswell. if you want to see some images i have a few that i can post or send you if you would like.

[Graham]

I have a little bit of knowledge about that sort of stuff, I would probably feed the wires along the sides and down the a pillar if I was to do it

The leather idea sounds complicated with the gluing back on but it definitely looks good.

Sure, images for parcel shelf would be great, cheers.
+1 rep for you too

[Speedie]

Head of to a car trimmer and buy of the roll. Shouldn't cost more than $50 for material for the roof and pillars.