Headliner Material - what is it ?

[db9]

The headliner sky is falling ...

I've started looking for headliner material for our 95 e34 Touring - realizing that OEM Pergament (beige/sand) headliner is NLA - I'm wanting to source material that is reasonably close to recover the headliner and pillars. ( not interested in a color change )
I tried contacting headliner express in FL but get no response and with World Upholstery no longer I looked at GAHH but I see a number of material type options - what is the difference between Bowdrill, Dane, German Bowdrill? For those who may know - what type may be the closest to OEM in texture?
I have found that Alcantara may be available but not really sure I want to go with that texture.

Thank you in advance...

[stuartinmn]

World Upholstery has been taken over by Newark Auto.  It's not clear if they're up to speed yet but you could contact them to see if headliner is available, see this discussion:  https://forums.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?p=1538621&hilit=world+upholstery#p1538621.  Another possibility is Veteran Company - alpinass mentioned them in the final post of the same discussion.

One other possibility is SMS Auto Upholstery in Oregon.  They specialize in US cars, but they may have inventory for other makes too.  https://smsautofabrics.com

[db9]

All good ideas, thanks 
it may take some time but I’ll post what I find out​​​​​​.

[Philo]

Visited Veteran Co. this morning and they have lots of headliner material to choose from but not quite exactly what came in our cars.   I looked at lots of sample cards and these days most headliner material is the soft foam style.  The Mercedes book had some solid black vinyls that are close but the embossed pattern is different and the material is thicker.   I actually found a black vinyl that is smooth and semi matte on the finish side and textured matte on the backside with a kinda similar pattern to the E28.   You make the call.   I'm going to recover the sunroof panel and see how it looks. 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/5rlm0isv ... jnn0p&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6vg42zdp ... 151pq&dl=0

Original Headliner
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/4rmrrk33 ... tewww&dl=0


 

[db9]

Figure I'd better update .. short version of our story  - maybe it will help others

I contacted GAHH but had nothing appropriate and they suggested Veteran.
I did contact and got samples from SMS and Newark but nothing really close (Pergament).
I decided to contact BMW Classic and see if they had any suggestions or see if they could clarify material type (bowdrill, dane) or some definition so I could better describe what I was looking for. Ultimately no luck but they did give me a couple of suggestions for vendors who may supply restoration shops.
I did contact, sent photo's, received a number of samples and ultimately purchased what we think is a very close match to the OEM colour and texture (e34 texture)
The website is in German but email communication was in German (my wife is fluent in German) and then english. 
I have no affiliation .. (can I post a URL?)  And does not imply Classic BMW endorsement for this company 

www oldtimer-textiles dot de


YMMV

[Philo]

I reached out to a bunch of companies in Europe but not this one.  Can you please post pics of the embossing pattern and also the backing material.   This sounds promising!

[db9]

We no longer own the 28 so I can't compare but compared to your photo the e34 headliner is different. The 34 headliner is "glued" to a backing board (maybe the 28 is the same but never got to that task before it went to the new owner)

The e34 material looks like this.. 


 



with the new material ...


 

the big difference compared to original is the foam backing on the original with the “new” having no foam.. we can live with that.
You could always email with a photo and see what they in may suggest or sample..

Let us know..